Get outside

Chuck Bowen

Last month, I spent a few days at PLANET’s Leadership and Executive Forum meetings in Florida, where the theme was innovation.

The meeting kicked off with a keynote from journalist Carmine Gallo, who spoke about Steve Jobs and his work at Apple. The best point from the presentation, titled “Innovate or Die,” was this: The best way to stay ahead of the game, to keep innovating, is to seek out diverse experiences.

It’s easy – especially in the winter – to get stuck in a routine. Now, on some level, routines are OK. Routinely getting your oil changed, or paying your employees, for example, are great things to do regularly. 

But the day-to-day demands of running a business can start to limit you after a while. You talk to the same people, visit the same properties and start thinking in the same way all the time. Again, that can be good for running your company today. But what about your company next year – or five years down the road? What does it look like? What services are you offering? Who’s working there?

Wayne Gretzky has a quote attributed to him that says he was so successful not by skating to where the puck was, but where it was going to be. I’m no good at hockey, but I like the idea, and the only way to figure out where the proverbial puck is going to be is to get outside your normal, comfortable routine.

That means getting outside your office, literally and figuratively. It means talking to new people and learning about new things that have nothing to do with plants or pavers or even business.
For our March issue, I sat down with Brad Johnson, who runs Lawn America in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He spent five months hiking more than 2,100 miles along the Appalachian Trail – not a bad way to get away from the office.

Now, you don’t have to go spend half a year in the woods (and it’s a good idea most of us don’t). But whatever you do, the goal is to engage your brain in new ways. You’ll start thinking about and approaching problems differently.

In the end, that’s how you’ll innovate your company and set yourself apart from your competition.
 

– Chuck Bowen