Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

"Hard times give you the courage to think the unthinkable."

There can be three major responses to going through hard times in a company; you can either give up, do things the same way you've done them in the past, or as Groves says, "think the unthinkable."

The first two options are really one in the same, as far as the end results go. Doing things the same way may come from working and trying hard, but in the end, if you're working on the wrong things, it doesn't matter how hard you try, you'll end up the same place you would if you simply gave up.

Now thinking the unthinkable, that starts with courage, and hard times can be the driver of courage if we allow us to dive in to the uncontrollable river.

That's where courage comes in. To think the unthinkable is to bring ourselves to the place of having little control. Thinking the unthinkable brings with it, it's twin called the "unknown."

This doesn't mean we don't know where we're trying to bring things, it means we're entering territory where we can't be sure of what the results are, as there aren't any markers to specifically guide us on our way.

We shouldn't be afraid of hard times if we're willing to think beyond what we've ever done before, and remain willing to try a variety of new things to work our way out of it. In those cases hard times can be the key driver that continues us on the road to success.

After all, hard times means we need to find new answers. Thinking beyond our current circumstances is the doorway to bringing us to the new path we are to follow. We just need to have the courage to walk on an unknown path with no guarantee we're going to make it.

The first two options guarantee that eventually we'll come to the end of success. If Grove hadn't changed the course of Intel (INTC), they would have barely been a footnote in business history.

Other Andy Grove Resources:

Andy Grove's Rational Exuberance

What I've Learned: Andy Grove

The Digital Age . . . driven by the passion of Intel's Andrew Grove

The History and Influence of Andy Grove

The Education of Andy Grove

Churning Things Up

Grove Quotes

Andy Grove's Re-entrance

Q&A: Andy Grove

Andy Grove enters new post-Intel role as activist capitalist

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