Misty Business

Fall brings about certain feelings in each of us. This time between summer and winter allows for personal reflection - the fun in the sun just passed, and the falling leaves and snowfall await. It is part of a natural cycle in life, full of emotion. How does this phenomenon affect your work? Do you happen to be feeling misty today?

Autumn Equinox

With the passing of the autumn equinox earlier this week, we are reminded of the end of the summer season. Only about 80 or so of them are enjoyed in a lifetime - if you are lucky. Being outside feeling the water and soaking in the sun may have brought back fond childhood memories and a sense of restoration just days ago. Businesses go through this too. How does it feel when familiar, warm-hearted customers or clients appear? Or an old colleague reaches out to do business with you? They happily hear you out and get involved utilizing your service or owning your product. Conversations with them are restorative, as you are known and appreciated – something we all long for in life.

There is a feeling of clarity and empowerment. You know where you stand with your client and you are both empowered in the relationship. To keep that going, it is best to maintain your own and your company’s integrity. Operationally, do things work and work as well as you’d like? How often are you checking on things? Does anything need to be repaired in either a physical or intangible sense? What about your people? So many are dissatisfied and want to quit working today. People have been dealing with all sorts of challenges for a long time. You really need to observe and listen intently if you want to have people ride with you. Perhaps they are feeling misty for reasons that have nothing to do with the seasons.

Misty or Foggy?

Mist is beautiful. Small droplets of water are suspended in the air typically when moist warm air experiences a sudden chill. Think of when you breathe out on a cold winter day. That’s mist. If you ever see it on a countryside or along the banks of a river you will notice you can almost see through it. Mist tends to be more transparent and less dense than its oft confused friend – fog. It is important to make this distinction because fog will tend to last longer and inhibit your view of reality. Fog is heavy and dark. In English, we may say “I was in a fog” meaning dazed or unaware. Feeling foggy would not connote a good situation, if that were a phrase we used. And you certainly don’t want “brain fog” where your ability to concentrate and remember things diminishes, among other slippery challenges. A business in a fog would have no vision, right?

Meanwhile, feeling misty summons that nostalgia for how things had been. It is an opportunity to get in touch with the happy people or places in your past. Why would you want to do that? Maybe to appreciate the incredible life you are living or the amazing people you get to do business with for a period of time or the fantastic career you are building. It is all up to you to be inspired by what you experience in business and life. You can choose to live like you are lost in a fog, or you can live feeling misty from time to time. The choice is yours.

Look At Me

Some may say getting misty may leave them as helpless as kittens up a tree. They may foolishly follow the sound of violins they begin to hear playing as they reflect back on what it took to bring joy and fulfillment to their business in the past. But commerce is about human activity, and the more you can include all of it responsibly, the better.

This fall, embrace that misty feeling that sweeps the air and keeps fog at bay. Look at me, this is what I do. Now, what can you do while feeling misty to keep your vision clear this new season

Here's to you and your awesome future.

Until then, keep your feet on the board and keep riding your wave!

Robert J. Khoury

CEO Agile Rainmakers