When ‘Don’t’ stops working

A story: a colleague came to a business meeting with a child. The boy was about 7–8 years old.

She sat her son on the sofa and gave him a bottle of water and a sedative (iPad).

And said: “I’m going to a meeting for about two hours. Important: you can only pour water from the bottle into your mouth. You cannot pour it on yourself or on the sofa. Understand?”

The kid nodded his head, that he understood. But it didn’t look like he did.

The child was left with the instruction “Don’t” for two hours. But without the instruction “What to do if bad happens” ;)

And I thought: it’s not just about this kid. It’s about all of us.

In life, business, reputation — everyone is like that: “The main thing is that nothing happens”. And when it does happen, it’s we are freezing.

And you seem to be an adult, a serious person, but you’re sitting in the middle of a crisis, like a kid, with water spilt on the sofa.

Without a plan, without a rag, you just sit there and think: “Maybe it will somehow dissolve on its own?”.

And the crisis is like this: “No, bro, I’m here for a long time. Let’s find a rag”. But there’s no rag, because you didn’t buy one at all.

So you run, tear the cosmetic napkins out of the box, throw them on the stain. And you understand the sofa is ruined.

As a child, we were taught to “don’t”. You don’t spill water. You don’t play with scissors. You don’t wear socks with sandals.

But what do you do when the bad has already happened? The void. An absolute black hole of knowledge.

So what if the water is spilt?

Who knows? Maybe God.

But He is silent…

About author:

My name is Sergii Bidenko. I am a reputation and crisis advisor to business owners, top executives, and members of supervisory boards.

Reputation crises are a business process and my area of speciality.

Anyone can have a crisis. A business that fears risk is a bad business.

I support your right to take calculated risks and make mistakes, your right to run your business boldly, on your terms, and your right to correct mistakes.

Your moment of calm and confidence comes when a crisis has been turned into a comprehensible problem that can be solved in a business-as-usual way.