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Adversity

Adversity can be your best friend

Nearly three thousand years ago, the classical author Homer opined, "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant." Homer is something of an expert on adversity, having penned the great story of the Trojan War in The Iliad and The Odyssey.

On the other side of the world, the Chinese symbol for crisis has a dual meaning: danger and opportunity. That's an intriguing thought, really. Life is fraught with both danger and opportunity, and when cool heads prevail, opportunity wins most of the time. An Asian adage says, "When fate throws a dagger at you, there are only two ways to catch it: either by the blade or by the handle."

Remember Mother Teresa's response to dealing with adversity? "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."

As you can see, coping with adversity is not unique to any particular culture or any specific era. Modern commentator Paul Harvey put it this way: "In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these."

Adversity is a constant in this world, and none of us are immune to it. It can also be the precursor to wonderful change. A business associate told me he has just learned to "cooperate with the inevitable." More often than not, he has conquered the inevitable with that attitude.

Retailing giant J.C. Penney was asked the secret of his success. He replied, "Adversity. I would never have amounted to anything had I not been forced to come up the hard way." I've dealt with my own share of ups and downs. I'd have to agree with Mr. Penney: The tough times have not only made me smarter, they've made me stronger.

I'm not very adept in the kitchen, so I was curious when a friend sent me a cooking story. She heard it in a sermon at church and thought I'd get some inspiration from it. It inspired me, to be sure. But more than that, it reminded me that no matter what adversity comes my way, the way I respond will mean the difference between defeat and triumph.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as soon as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each one on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first she put some carrots, in the second she placed some eggs, and in the last she added ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

In about 20 minutes she turned off the burners. She took out the carrots and placed them in a bowl. She removed the eggs and put them in a bowl. Then she poured the coffee into a bowl.

She asked her daughter, "What do you see?"

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she found the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "So what does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same challenge: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

I'll still let others take care of the cooking, but I will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

Mackay's Moral

When adversity is on the menu, make sure you order it well done.

Bouncing back from deflating times

Failure is all too common in business. Anyone who has ever run a business wakes up regularly with nightmares about the what-ifs.

Successful businesspeople, however, know that even if adversity strikes, they can work around it. They are resilient.

In the mid-1990s, Microsoft was dominating its market and Apple Computer's sales were sagging. Steven Jobs, who had co-founded Apple in 1976, left in 1985 after a power struggle with the board of directors. Apple struggled too, until Jobs returned as CEO in 1997. He recognized the big problem and fixed it by establishing a spirit of innovation at the company. If brands like iMac, iPod, iTunes, and iPhone ring a bell, you'll know what Jobs had been up to at Apple. And you will see one of the best examples of resiliency in an ever-changing industry.

Tylenol currently controls about 35 percent of the North American pain reliever market. But in 1982, you couldn't give Tylenol away. A psychopath put cyanide into some Tylenol capsules, causing eight deaths. Although it was clear that Johnson & Johnson had done nothing wrong in the manufacturing of the pills, the company accepted responsibility and pulled more than 31 million bottles from the shelves at a cost of $100 million. The company also offered to exchange the capsules for tablets, taking another financial hit.

But their response, putting customer safety before corporate profit, helped restore confidence in both the company and the brand. Then-CEO Jim Burke said, "It will take time, it will take money, and it will be very difficult; but we consider it a moral imperative, as well as good business, to restore Tylenol to its pre-eminent position." Sales recovered quickly. Resilient? You better believe it.

Sure, those are two extreme examples. But if those companies can bounce back on such a large scale, they should inspire others facing smaller challenges.

Sales slumps, production slowdowns, labor issues, and changing customer preferences affect many businesses. The strong survive not because they are determined to conduct business as usual, but because they find ways to rise above the issue at hand.

Remember, you can't live life with an eraser. You can't anticipate every possible problem, no matter how hard you try. But you can resolve to face challenges as they arise. Keep your mind wide open for solutions, listen to those around and under you, reprogram your brain for success, and dig in.

Remember, you can't live life with an eraser. You can't anticipate every possible problem, no matter how hard you try.

Many events and technologies could have spelled disaster for envelope companies like MackayMitchell Envelope Company. Fax machines, email, instant messaging, online catalogs, online bill paying, the 2001 anthrax scare, 9/11, recession-you name it. There was one threat after another. We could have been in the tank 20 times.

But we changed our business focus as necessary, cultivated new business, and managed to survive and thrive. Sometimes during great challenges, the same work hours did not always apply, vacations for our employees were put on hold, and wages held in check. It wasn't forever, but it was survival. We would have had a hard time telling our employees that we weren't resilient enough to provide them with jobs. It wasn't just about us. We had a lot of families depending on our flexibility. And we still do. We are always looking for ways to protect our business against the next threat, even if we haven't identified it yet.

When it comes to dealing with adversity, keep in mind this story of the oak tree:

A great oak grew on the bank of a stream. For 100 years it had withstood the winds, but one day a violent storm felled the oak with a mighty crash into the raging river and carried it out toward the sea.

The oak came to rest on a shore where some reeds were growing. The tree wondered how the reeds still stood after the strong winds.

"I have stood up against many storms, but this one was too strong for me," the oak said.

"That's your problem," the reeds replied. "All these years you have stubbornly pitted your strength against the wind. You were too proud to yield a little. We, on the other hand, knowing our weakness, just bend and let the wind blow over us without trying to resist it. The harder the wind blows, the more we humble ourselves, and here we are!"

It is better to bend than to break. Companies and workers who can bend and not break have the gift of resiliency that lets them bounce back from adversity.

Mackay's Moral

Don't let hard times turn into end times. Let them lead to your best times.

The worst failure is the failure to try

Failure can become a weight or it can give you wings.

That is the message I hear every spring when I attend the Horatio Alger Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C., where 10 new members are inducted annually. I was honored to be one of them in 2004. During the short...