Today I was in San Francisco sitting with family and chatting and the topic veered towards our parents and I remembered my dad who passed away from cancer. At one time it was just too much for him and he said that he wanted to stop all his medications, as it wasn't working for him. He didn't last very long after that. But it made me think about cancer and remembered theologian Walter Brueggemann who told the story of Toots Shor, a very famous New York salon keeper who died of cancer. Brueggemann said, "A few days before he died, Toots told the people around him – 'I don't want to know what I have.' That's the form that denial always takes – you don't want to engage in the things that are around us. We put ourselves in a hole, cover ourselves and say that whatever is going on around me doesn't exist."
That got me thinking! I wonder whether denial exists in the market place. Are there times when we look at all the signs and refuse to acknowledge them, look at all the people who are talking about things and refuse to listen to them? I began to do a bit of research and found that denial has played quite a major part in the collapse of many businesses. Henry Ford is a classic case of denial.
What is denial? The Mayo Clinic helps when it says, "Denial is a coping mechanism that gives you time to adjust to distressing situations." But here's the key. "Staying in denial can interfere with treatment or your ability to tackle challenges." It is sometimes good to use denial because it gives you a little bit of space to determine what to do. But if it only ends up freezing you, then you lose the ability to respond.
John Kenneth Galbraith, one of America's most famous economists and also an ambassador to India during the Kennedy era says this about denial, "It's when one's view of the world remains with the comfortable and the familiar, while the world moves on." So true!
Coming back to our look at the market place, what would be some of the signs of denial? John Kotter, a professor at Harvard Business School says, "The classic symptom of denial in the market place is:
· A high level of complacency
· A low sense of urgency.
Tedlow goes on to say, "A firm that deals with bad news by literally or figuratively dismissing the person who bears it, is both in denial and in trouble. Not only will that news go unheard but potential truth=tellers will quickly learn to keep quiet. Or get out." That's a good place to pause and reflect about people around us. When they bring bad news to us or criticize something, is our gut response to just shut them down? Or are we able to deal objectively with them and see if their point is valid or not?
In the article that Tedlow wrote, 'Leaders in Denial', he says, "If you are running a company at the top of your industry, now is the time to ask whether you are on the right path. You may be riding the express train to oblivion. It is no accident that only one firm from the original (1896) Dow Jones Industrial Average is still on that list. According to the economist Paul Ormerod, on average, more than 10% of all companies in America disappear each year. Denial is a major reason – perhaps the major reason – for this constant failure."
What happened to Henry Ford? In 1908, he brought out Model T, which was so successful – 15 million cars sold in 20 years. He was going great guns, but Henry Ford refused to see what was in front of everybody else. In fact, one of the top associates came to him and said, "Times are changing. We have got to move." And Henry Ford said, "No! All that the public needs is a car to get them somewhere and get them back; nothing else but functionality. He forgot what was at the key of products: the core, which is the product's primary use and the augmented, which is the additional functions and features.
I remember during my travels, I met a man who was very wealthy; had a huge house, many cars. I asked him what he did and he said, "My job is to sell people stuff and accessories for their cars that they don't need at all. That's how I make my money, by selling them things that they don't need." But that was the key. That was the augmented part – what the public was beginning to need. Both Chrysler and General Motors recognized that and they started introducing different colors into cars and other aesthetic things, accessories, and they stole the market for the next 22 years.
Then the market changed again from 1950 to 1970, where luxury cars began to come in. again companies that didn't see it, kept on going with the small cars when the public really wanted those huge cars that were gas guzzlers but had all the bells and whistles.
Sometimes when we look at what's happening around us, we fail to recognize the signs of the times; that people have changed, that they want something else. Many companies have fallen by the wayside because they have refused to see those signs. Coming back to you and me, to where we are, maybe it's time to ask the question: Am I in denial about something? Am I failing to see the signs that I should be seeing?
I remember reading about what Sigmund Freud said about denial and thinking: Here's such a well-known psychologist. When asked about denial he said, "It's a state of knowing but not knowing. The distance between the world as it is and the world as you want it to be is simply too great and you freeze in your tracks." Freud saw denial in the words of his leading biographer Peter Gay, "As a state of rational apprehension that does not result in appropriate action." Here's the thing – even with Freud. Freud himself was the victim of the very 'knowing but not knowing' that he described in others. He kept smoking cigars even after his oral cancer was diagnosed.
Tedlow ends his article by saying; "Both Ford and Freud were smart successful men who paid a terrible price for denial. Don't let it devastate your company too." And I would take it a step further. I would say: Don't let it devastate you. Sometimes we lose out on what's happening. We miss that window because we don't want to see it. We don't want to acknowledge it. That's how denial can be such a huge mistake for you in the corporate world.
So as you go through this day, I wonder whether you need to remove the filters that you had about comments coming to you. Remove the filters over your eyes that you had, about seeing some of the things that you've seen. Look at them through new eyes and new ears: let them in, see them and hear them. Make sure that you are not in denial about anything. Maybe there's something valid that a colleague or even somebody who's working for you, has been talking to you about. Ask the question: Is it valid? Is it something that I ought to be taking cognizance of? In all of this, you always hear me saying, "Lead on God's wisdom. He is the one who can give the wisdom we need to make the right decisions. Ask Him to open your eyes, as I ask Him to open mine. Let's look at the world through different lenses today so that we make sure that we haven't frozen in our tracks while the world is moving on."
May I pray with you? Almighty God. On each one of us on this call, pour Your wisdom in such beautiful ways that our eyes will be opened, our ears will be unstopped and we will see and hear what we need to see and hear, so that we don't get into a rut while the world passes on. Through that, help us to be more effective in our places of work. I pray a blessing upon each one on this call and make this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
• "Denial: When it Helps, When it Hurts." http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/adult-health/in-depth/denial/art-20047926
• Richard S. Tedlow, "Leaders in Denial." http://hbr.org/2008/07/leaders-in-denial/ar/2
• Other quotes taken from previous Corporate Capsule segment: http://corporatecapsule.blogspot.com/2010/10/addressing-denial.html#more
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