Business Motivation for Getting America Back to Work

The Biz Desk
Is Tiger Woods back to his winning ways? The jury is still out. But his recent tournament win is a good start. Woods hadn’t won a major championship in two years. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, American Airlines recently announced that it plans to file for bankruptcy.

Woods has had to work hard to recapture his magic. American Airlines will be doing the same using the “reinvent yourself playbook:”

1. Rethink – How you see yourself affects how you sell yourself
2. Regroup:- Starting over doesn’t always mean from scratch but definitely from below the surface
3. Retool:- Figure-out what you need that you don’t have and what you have that you don’t need
4. Replay – Let’s see you perform again like old-times, just upgraded to the present time.

They say “you can’t teach an old dog a new trick.” That’s not always true for dogs, for people or for businesses. For Woods, American Airlines or someone unemployed to return to their past glory days, they might have to learn a few new tricks in order to be among the top picks.

The Biz Desk invites you to post your comments below or you can send a personal note on Facebook or Twitter to @DocCunningham; on Linkedin to @DOCCommunications.

Work Life
Woods has been one of the most dominant pro golfers in modern times. He’s rack-up championship wins even faster than some of his predecessors. Advertisers were thrilled to sponsor his events and fans were pumped to watch him play. Then things went sour for reasons you already know.

He took some time-off from the spotlight to rethink and regroup. He made some changes to his support team and equipment. He spent time re-tooling his swing by watching video replays of past performances. It’s almost as if he had to ask himself the question, “What are you looking for career-wise?” The answers he had to choose from include:

• A rigorous skills assessment
• Being the boss
• Attending Self-taught University
• Networking in aisle 10

Woods’ play is not out-of-the-woods (pardon the pun) quite yet. He’s got to keep on working on himself as well as his game to be a top contender again.

Life’s Work
On a recent post-play interview, Woods was asked about his normal day. There was a time it was tough to get a scoop from his personal life. His response said something about his ongoing personal growth. He took pride in sharing how he was taking his daughter to dance lessons.

Maybe Woods wants to be an example of having balance in your personal and professional life. He may now think it’s better to give both the attention they deserve than to be good at work but lousy at home. Similarly, your vocation in and outside of your day’s work brings more meaning to your life’s work.

Street Talk – (Social Commentary driving change!)
Grandma is upset with the TSA! It seems on recent trips to the airport, a few senior citizens were given the frisk search. They were surprised by how much “touching and feeling” had to occur. So grandma is planning to file suit or at a minimum work on her strip tease routine.

A few weeks earlier the complaint came from a family with a toddler. They felt that the agent went too far. Most people feel there’s got to be a better way. Has common sense been thrown out the window (like throwing out the baby with the bath water) or is airport security a “hard to please everybody” situation?