Your leader. Who are you following? A rabbit or a coyote?
A rabbit grazes the best patches of clover… eats, poops and breeds… eats, poops and breeds. Very successfully. When the patch becomes less desirable the rabbit hops on to a new one. They flee danger. Always the path of least resistance.
Coyotes are resilient, they adapt to a changing environment. They adjust to changes on their turf. They defend their turf. They find a way.
Decades ago during an oil shock, the legendary Jack Welch of GE (yes, you can’t say Jack Welch without the legendary) was told the bad news that GE’s oil rigs were worth pennies on the dollar. I can imagine the conversation….. “so you are telling me we are going to lose hundreds of millions of dollars because our oil rigs are now worth 10 cents on the dollar? Wait a minute, so if we buy everyone else’s for ten cents on the dollar, they will be worth 10x when oil recovers?”
He did just that. He seized the opportunity. And GE was set for huge gains when oil prices bounced back. A pure coyote move… adapting to your new environment… a rabbit would have run.
Not a perfect analogy, but good enough. Both rabbits and coyotes are wildly successful. But a coyote leader looks to defend the turf. How can we turn bad news into good? How can we save a business during tough times? Few businesses never have tough times.
A rabbit leader gives up on the challenging. Exits businesses in a tough economic cycle. Concentrates assets on the businesses showing the largest immediate returns. Trouble is… businesses are not clover fields. Being the rabbit leading a portfolio of businesses can death spiral into “Buy High, Sell Low”.
Who do you follow? A rabbit or a coyote?