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The hardest battle of all to fight is that first little skirmish following a great triumph. Ask a coach who's won a national championship. You may have seen this incantation in an earlier ADG column; we repeat it from time to time. When a first-time program director has a smashing success in his or her first Arbitron we high-five, maybe even sip some champagne, then revisit the notion that each success we encounter only buys us a ticket to a more difficult challenge.
Over the past decade we experienced the global shocks of transmogrification; shifts and changes that can violently tilt relationships and business trends. Sometimes a body of leadership simply can't withstand repeated attacks of prosperity. Some retire on the job while others are extinguished in small degrees, fading into the afternoon shadows of complacency. The temptation to slack often occurs after a winning season, glowing financial reports or a glittering review. Never a planned thing, loosening of the chinstrap just happens for some while others are on an endless vigil to be pre-active as opposed to proactive.
The subtle unspoken internal permission to slack off begins when you start believing in your organization's infallibility. After a long campaign to reach your apogee in a format war when your department heads and talent are fatigued, your company is spent emotionally and financially, it's only natural to hear the siren song whispering that's good enough. But rare leaders at the very top recognize this silent hunter, recognizing it's only an illusion that the struggle has ended or that you might coast for a "just a little while" to recharge. Someone wants what you have. Just last week following the industry's excited curiosity over Merlin's new Chicago strategy to launch an FM spoken-word format CBS responded in kind, announcing the venerable WBBM would be FM simulcast. Just when we think we've crossed home plate a predator is in the wings. Baseball manager Sparky Anderson had it right: just when you think you're on top you forget the world turns over every 24 hours.
In its early stages company self-satisfaction is hard to detect, sort of like a small amount of carbon monoxide; minimally dangerous but not lethal. When these symptoms come creeping into the break-room or the boardroom our capacity for self-denial rises and we look the other way as the psychology of entitlement rears its head.
To avoid the graveyard of complacency: (1) never allow your core group to tamper with your building's work ethic as if it was a light switch rheostat. (2) Don't squirrel-away major energies and efforts for so called "future threats." In doing so you may find the batteries drained when that moment arrives. (3) Never serve up the opinion, "It can't get any better than this," because it can.
There is always someone ready to replace you on the medal stand because for the complacent, all glory is fleeting.
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