Moving the Rocks
I spent most of the summers of my youth at my grandma’s cabin on Oregon’s beautiful Row River. When the temperature got up above 90°, we’d throw our air mattresses on one of the river’s swimming holes and bask in the bright sun. Full of energy and ignorance as a teenage boy, I’d inevitably start to seek a more thrilling experience. Trekking upriver one day, we found a band of churning rapids that fed into the pool, which made a perfect natural waterslide that we enjoyed that entire summer. But then winter came, and as the waters rose, they shifted the rocks, and the perfect waterslide formation was lost. That’s when the long hours of work began—hauling rocks around until we had rebuilt the perfect funnel of water in anticipation of summer’s return. And so it went every season: rebuilding and reshaping those rock formations, engineering the perfect slide into summer.
Bear with me as I get metaphorical here, but isn’t this somewhat reminiscent of the business cycle? Outside factors change the environment around us, and we must adapt with that environment in order to achieve our desired outcomes. In those seasons where the rocks are swiftly shifted, we go gladly to the task of reforming them so that the river flows the way we want it to.
In this metaphor, I suppose the river’s water is really our resources in business. When the water level was high, the changes in the rock formations are disguised—those problematic changes are still taking place, but they are out of sight. It’s when the water level drops that we are forced to interact with and acknowledge the fact that changes have occurred that may be impediments to a desired degree of flow. By “resources,” of course, most would agree we mean cash flow and capital, but in today’s bizarrely reformatted world, it could also be human resources or even something like the space you work within, things we would have taken for granted just a few weeks ago.
The great news for advisors (my clients and most of my readership)—your clients need you! They look to you when the winter’s water shifts their rocks into new and unfamiliar formations; your professionalism and rational approach is a remedy to the discomfort that comes with confusing, threatening change. They feel that you understand them intimately—their tolerances for risk and volatility, and their aspirations for reward and growth. And they know you will revise their plan, as needed, in real time, just like we would work to reorganize the rocks on the Row River all those years ago.
Some rocks are small and light—they were easily moved out of their place in the perfect formation, and they’re easily returned to it. Other rocks are much heavier—many may even be immovable, because they’re bedrock (think deep, systemic challenges over which we have little or no influence), or because we lack the strength or manpower to move them back (at this time). But you’ve implemented this process before—this is not your first summer on the Row River. So you’ll deal with this season’s chaos just as you dealt with the last’s. It’s all part of your durable process.
Of course, our current circumstances are, at least in some very real way, unprecedented. Attempts to fit COVID-19 into a historical framework with other viral pandemics seem fairly pedantic, at least to me—no one alive has been through anything like this, let alone in a media-driven era where everything is enormously amplified and incredibly fast. But, we all have overcome impediments. Massive disruptions to our business or households. You did that in 2008. Many of you did that in 2001 and 2002. Some of you did that in 1998 or in 1990 or in 1987. And you’re still here, applying the same disciplined process that ensured you and your clients emerged from those challenging times. Keep up the good work. Keep letting your light shine out.
This world needs you.
Written By: Chad Ramberg
Today’s BPI Advice: The rocks on the Row River represent the ever-changing environment in which we do business. Recognize the rocks for you and your clients. Identify which ones need to be moved and which ones you need to work around.
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