Thriving on the Challenge of Change

by Joe Bonura

	A few years ago I had the opportunity to hear David Jacobsen speak.  This gentle hospital administrator was held hostage for 17 months by Arab terrorists.  Jacobsen’s message, entitled “The Seven Strategies for Thriving in a Crisis”, was an enthralling journal of the coping mechanisms he developed to deal with the hopelessness that accompanied his imprisonment.
	While listening to his message, I couldn’t help thinking how similar his strategies were to those I incorporated when I almost lost my advertising business in 1977.  I had opened Bon Advertising Agency in 1972 and it grew and prospered, however I had the mistake of depending on 70% of my billing from one client.  This burgeoning fast food chain was always very pleased with our work, but after five years of working with us, they decided to try another agency.
	I was devastated.  I lost 70% of my business in one swift moment.  The only thing that kept me sane was falling back on the principles I used to build the business.  The following are some suggestions that may help you if you’re wondering how to win in the face of change.

Don’t Be a Change Victim

	Be a Change Activist and not a Change Victim.  Jacobsen was always one step ahead of his captors because he did not consider himself a victim of circumstances.  Instead, he accepted his imprisonment and worked on improving himself.  He knew he could not always change his circumstances - but he did have the power to change himself.  
	I was channel surfing once when I stopped on a talk show where a man with half a leg was being interviewed.  Apparently, his leg had been bitten off by a shark.  The interviewer said, “I bet you would like to go back and kill that shark!”
	The man replied, “No, not really.”
	Puzzled by his unexpected answer, the interviewer asked, “Why not?”
	“The shark was only doing what sharks do.  As for me, I just need to learn to live with one leg.”
	This man would not allow himself to be the shark’s victim.  The circumstances around you will always be changing.  What are you doing to “live with one let”?

Never Give Up
	Jacobsen recalled Winston Churchill’s famous (and brief) speech by repeating, “never give up” three times.  Jacobsen added that we must never give up hope.  He knew it was possible to someday be released from his chains, so he kept his hope.
	This was one of the most-used strategies to get my business back into shape.  I lived then and today by the Three Greatest Rules of Sales Success:
1. 	Make Calls
2. 	Make More Calls
3. 	Make Many More Calls

Instead of sitting in my office, watching the business fall apart, I made calls on 
potential clients.  Our business began to grow again.  Never give up hope, even when the circumstances seem hopeless.

Use Your Brain Power

	Our brain separates us from the rest of the creatures inhabiting this wonderful planet.  No other living beings have the creativity and resourcefulness of human beings.  We are amazing miracles!  Yet it’s interesting to know that most of us only use 10% of our brain in a lifetime.  Just think of the possibilities if we could only exercise the other 90 percent.
	Lew Miller, a friend and author of Miracles Can Happen to You, uses his brain power more than anyone I know.  He experienced challenging physical changes after suffering from life-threatening injuries during World War II.  Lew could no longer speak, walk, or think straight.  During his hospitalization, he prayed for healing and images of past successes flooded his mind.  Lew realized that each success occurred because he pictured the desired outcome in his mind before the event and believed it would happen.  Lew understood that in order to heal, he had to visualize himself healed.  
	He pictured himself confidently conversing, walking straight and steady, and singing like Al Jolson and Maurice Chevalier.  He recovered completely from his paralysis by learning to move one finger at a time, one hand at a time, one foot at a time.  How many of us could rejuvenate the quality of our lives and our businesses by using just a little more brain power?

Relax and Keep Your Sense of Humor

	When you’re feeling the stress of change, instead of taking it out negatively on your body or other people, release it through humor.  You’ll feel much better and so will the people around you.  
	How can you add a sense of humor?  A local business woman, Tiffany, shared her strategy with me.  Whenever she’s feeling stressed, she closes her office door, dons a pair of giant Mickey Mouse ears, plays a cassette of Disney’s “Laughin’ Place”, and sings along.  Could you stay upset while singing a song called, “Laughin’ Place”?  
	Not all of us have the time or space to escape to Disney like Tiffany.  So be creative and devise ways you can use humor where you work.  Tack up a funny saying or picture.  Skip down the hallway when no one is looking.  Lighten up!

Seize the Moment

	In the movie “Dead Poet’s Society”, Robin Williams plays a wise and untraditional professor who encourages his students to “seize the day”.  Jacobsen took the point one step further by saying we must “seize the moment”.  Live every moment in your life as if it were your last.
	I know a person who never changes his life no matter how much he hates it.  Tim talks about how he hates his job at the factory, and someday he’s going to do what he really wants to do – become a commercial artist.  Tim’s artwork is spectacular and he has the education to follow his dreams.  Yet his Someday attitude has caused 20 years to pass by unnoticed.  Don’t let your dreams die.  Change the things in your life that you hate.  Seize the moment and you won’t ever look back and say, “What happened to the last 10 years of my life?”
	
Out of the Ashes

	My story has a happy ending.  Soon after we lost our major client at Bon Advertising, I decide to take the family on a vacation.  We stayed at the glamorous Peachtree Hyatt Hotel on our way through Atlanta.  I awoke at 3:00 a.m. and looked our window at the glittery thriving city.  It was then that I realized 128 years ago Atlanta burnt to the ground.  Great minds and muscles rebuilt it out of the ashes and turned it into an even greater city than before the fire.  Atlanta was alive, pulsing and still growing with high-rises and skyscrapers. I decided then to survive the flames of change and rise out of the ashes.  I set a goal to build the business.
	One year and three months later, the staff and I succeeded.  Four years after that, the client came back to us.  Eleven years later, I sold Bon to my associates after becoming the second largest agency in Kentucky.  Today I have a thriving speaking business where I teach others how to win during change.

© Copyright 2002-2005 Joe Bonura All rights reserved. Used with permission.

About the Author

	Joe Bonura is an internationally known speaker who teaches companies how to increase sales and improve service.  He’s based in Louisville, Kentucky at 
1-800-444-3340.