friday musing

Becoming a butterfly

Paul Dreyer 

I have been using a Franklin Day Planner for probably 15 years.  I used to be very diligent in planning each morning.  Identifying all my A, B and C priorities, gleefully checking of my As, never getting to my Cs.  Today I wrote down three priorities, including this blog post.  It is clearly not all I have to do but when I get them all done I will feel like I had a good day. 

Despite the fact that the Planner reminds me to buy my new insert in September, I never get around to it until December; a good time because no one else is shopping then.  I went to the store, the day before Christmas to pick out the insert and was disappointed in the selection.  In the past I had purchased a Dilbert insert, an ESPN insert, a Far Side insert, something that added some enjoyment to each day as I would flip the new page.  But this time it was all serious, business like, mostly black and white or gray.  You may know that Steven Covey and Franklin Planner are linked now, so maybe the less than serious stuff needed to go.  I haven’t read his book but maybe The 8^th Habit doesn’t allow you to have fun.  Maybe Steven Covey doesn’t like Dilbert or sports. Who knows. 

Anyway, I bought one…the Leadership-Classic.  Each page is laid out with a small picture of some rather imposing sheer faces of a mountain and each day there is a quote from famous and not so famous people.  Let me share two from some famous people.                               

                                                     

          “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.  If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”  Warren Buffett 

 

          ” My counsel on the subject of credibility adds up to this: Don’t think about it.  Focus instead on honesty, perspective, and performance.” Katherine Graham 

At Friday Morning we have been talking to lots of people about the current state of the relationship between pharma and its key customer, the physician.  The relationship is not so good and we should be “doing things differently.”  Credibility has also declined and a focus on “honesty, perspective and performance” sounds like a winning solution.  Most of the clients we are talking to agree that things need to change and they want to know what is the magic solution.  Believe me, we are good, but we are not magicians.  There is no single solution that is going to make every day sunny.

I think this quote on my January 20 date page from this not so famous person gives us the way to go.   

        “How does one become a butterfly?” she asked pensively.  “You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”  Trina Paulus 

You can’t continue to be a caterpillar.  You know that things must change.  If you want to make the changes, it you want to fly, then give Friday Morning a call.  We can come in and offer actionable insights into an important step you can take right now. We call it Your First Best Thing.™

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