Now What?

A short reflection on one of the most powerful questions in strategy

I’ve been cleaning up some old posts over the last week and pulling out a few articles from the archives. It’s fun to read what you were thinking a few years later, and useful to reflect on “how things felt back then” as the environment that you’re working in slowly shifts over time.

It’s also fun to ponder the work that you’re especially proud of and ask what you like about it. This post from February of last year is favorite of mine and a good example of an important concept I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.

I created this checklist after recording a podcast with Andee Harris, CEO of Challenger, where we spent a bunch of time talking about how to sell in an economic downturn.

Our interview centered around the question of how sales and marketing teams can respond to changes in the economic climate. The crux of our interview was this: "Times are tough out there and selling is harder than it was before... Now what?"

Since then, I've returned to that checklist with several of my companies - in good times, bad times, and just plain weird times - as a tool to help explore the answer to all the different flavors of that simple, powerful question:

"...Now what?"

I love that question. We all ask ourselves “Now what?” for all kinds of reasons.

Sometimes we ask "Now what?" after an "oh sh!t" moment.

Sometimes we ask "Now what?" when we finish a big project.

Sometimes we ask “Now what?” after our team or our job changes.

And sometimes we ask "Now what?" when good things are happening and we want to find a way to sustain the momentum.

So, sure. That article? It was written in response to a specific point in time. It’s a tactical list of choices you can make to more effectively sell through a downturn. And I'm positive I'll post it again when we hit another economic rough patch - whether that's a few months or a few years from now.

But stepping back, I think there’s more to it than that. The real value in a list like this is in the cycle it encourages: Noticing the change, asking the question, giving yourself options, and choosing a response. It’s an example of what it means to have a set of tools you can keep on the shelf until the circumstances of the job necessitate their use. It’s a menu of potential moves you can select from whenever the time comes to ask yourself your own version of that simple, powerful question:

“…Now what?”

And wanna know the fun part about that question?

The answer is completely up to you.

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This article was inspired by a lecture from one of my favorite authors and sports-minded thinkers, Dan John. If the idea of “Now What?” resonates with you, I highly recommend checking out Dan’s work, especially his podcast and his free “Now What?” workshop on Youtube.