Many enterprises reach their goals by very circuitous routes. This progress normally requires a lot of trial and error. These diversions mean that your progress is slower and more costly than if you were able to move straight toward your goal. The usual result is similar to taking a narrow, winding byway rather than following a wide, straight road with a high speed limit. While on the byway, you also run a risk of missing a curve you don't anticipate and having an accident. That result can delay your arrival at your goal even more.

Part One Introduction: Irresistible Force Stalls: Causes and Solutions May the Force be with you. - George Lucas The toy business is full of hits and misses as well as fad toys that quickly come and go. Witness, then, the wonder of Barbie's durability, having been a top toy and head of a top line of related dolls and merchandise for many years. Although all toy makers would like to create long-term toys, only a few have succeeded in overcoming the irresistible force of the changing tastes of children (and their parents) to experience such on-going success as have Barbie and her doll friends. In this part of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, you can learn how to overcome the behavior in your organization that keeps you from creating the kind of continuing irresistible growth compared to competitors that Mattel has achieved with Barbie. Irresistible forces are unstoppable events and factors that shape our opportunities and challenges. In a physical sense, they include things we cannot change like the tides, winds, and powerful storms. In a human sense, they include the emotional patterns that almost all of us follow, such as feeling sad at the loss of a loved one or elated by winning. In an organizational sense, irresistible forces include difficulties in communicating in a foreign language, lack of knowledge among new employees about how your organization does things, and conflicts of interest among those who are looking out for themselves ahead of customers' needs. In businesses, irresistible forces include trends in the development of technology, globalization, shifts in buying power of consumers in local markets, and increasingly demanding customers. Interestingly, each enterprise is subject to the irresistible forces in different ways. No one prescription will suffice for all, as a result. Sometimes we initiate irresistible forces, such as when we encourage a new fad, but we usually have little impact on them after they begin. Irresistible forces are so powerful and so important to use as resources for success, that you must avoid both opposing and being buffeted by these forces. Bad thinking habits, or stalls, of individuals in organizational settings are the primary reason that enterprises succumb to irresistible forces, rather than turn them into powerful allies and tools for faster, more profitable growth. The dangers from and opportunities provided by irresistible forces are growing and will probably continue to do so. Evidence of this pattern is the rapidly decreasing amount of time it takes for a start-up organization to reach a billion dollars in revenues (as measured in constant buying power). Once this achievement required decades (without acquisitions). Now companies can do it in months by making good use a rapidly growing means of communication, the Internet. Within a few decades, the same will be accomplished in days, or even possibly in hours. Therefore, overcoming irresistible force stalls is one of the most important management skills needed for ascertaining the opportunities and responding positively to them now and in the future in a timely way. Even an organization that starts out in perfect alignment with irresistible forces will need to be agile in adapting to changes in those forces and the arrival of new forces over time. With the help of this part of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, you'll learn how to identify the most common and dangerous stalls vis-à-vis irresistible forces. You will also develop skill in quickly eliminating these stalls by changing your thinking habits through the use of new questions, so that you and your enterprise can not only survive, but enjoy irresistible growth. The concepts presented in Part One will be easiest to understand and apply if you focus first on one important area where irresistible forces are proving to be head winds (retarding your growth) or crosswinds (pushing you off target from where you want to go) for your organization. Then reread the material with a second irresistible force issue in mind and continue reviewing the material for other issues until the application of this material becomes a new habit for you.