“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”

– Andy Grove

“When a great team loses through complacency, it will constantly search for new and more intricate explanations to explain away defeat.”

  -Pat Riley

 

By: Gina Angeli, Bay Tek Games

Take a look around you- the general state of the economy is very good. Businesses are having an incredibly difficult time keeping up with demand; they can’t find enough people to work; they can’t get enough, fast enough from their suppliers. Over and over, I hear the comment being made “how long can this last?” There is the temptation for some leaders, after clawing and scratching for every order, every customer and having to make some very difficult decisions just to keep the doors open just a relatively short time ago, to be thankful  for a bit of a “breather.” As tempting as this might be, it is often the beginning of the end.

 

Andy Stanley, founder of North Point Ministries, describes the process he led his church leadership through a couple of years ago. He founded his church in Atlanta just over twenty years ago. and, since its inception it has grown to serve over 70,000 people world-wide. One might say he and his team were ready for a “breather.” Andy instead challenged his team to not take anything, especially success, for granted. He asked his team to, in essence, do an “autopsy” on their success.

 

Andy’s challenge to his people was to dig deep to understand what is working and why. His belief is that, if you don’t understand this, you will never be able to fix it when it is broken. If the only time you seek to understand why you are getting a particular result is when you are struggling, all you will learn about is the struggle and what not to do. To understand how to be great, you must take the time to dissect success and continuously be willing to learn and upset the apple cart to avoid the temptation of complacency.

 

How willing are you to take on this challenge? Ask yourself and your leaders “If you were to do it all over again, what would you do all over again?”

 

To learn more about Andy Stanley go to: www.northpoint.org

To learn more about the Global Leadership Summit go to https://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/