My son had one of the leads in his high school musical this weekend, Into the Woods, a Stephen Sondheim musical that intertwines several Brother Grimm fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk (my son’s role), Rapunzel, and Cinderella. What does this have to do with our business lives? Alot…
The lyrics of the title song say “Into the woods- you have to grope/ But that’s the way you learn to cope/ Into the woods to find there’s hope/ Of getting through the journey/ Into the woods, each time you go/ There’s more to learn of what you know…”
As we enter uncertain economic times that we have not seen since the Great Depression, many of us feel every day that we go blindly forward “into the woods” of business and our lives. It can be a bit scary many times, but just the same, we must go. We really have no choice- we must take action and move ahead calling on customers and prospects. Each time we venture out, it gets a little less scary as we learn what works and what does not work over time.
Sondheim knew this was the real lesson from all those fairy tales. No matter what the business situation, we can usually find a way thru and out or to the next side, that is out of the woods. We can always find actions we can take to give us a chance of success
