Are We Creatures of Habit?

Pay attention and you will find out that you are doing #things in certain order without thinking, for example, we always put on the #socks in the same order, we start to soap ourselves in the #shower in the same order, we put on the left/or right shoe first, and so on.

We are also #creatures of habit when it comes to #business; we do the same things the same way, #year in year out!

SO WHY DO YOU EXPECT DIFFERENT RESULTS WHEN YOU KEEP DOING THE SAME THING YEAR IN AND YEAR OUT?

Is this not the definition of insanity?

“Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results”

Last month following the NAFTA talks “success”, I had a long talk with an old friend who has been doing business worldwide for the last 40 plus years, I asked him about his opinion re the new #NAFTA agreement (USMCA), and Canadian business in general.

Following is the gist of our exchange:

When he was working around the #world markets (#East/#West #Europe, #MiddleEast, The Americas) he noticed certain patterns of behaviour that were distinguished by geography and cultures.

For example, when he was meeting with a #Canadian company and making a presentation – the response was usually – “How much money will it cost?”

The following day he was meeting a similar #USA company of same size, #south of the border – he would make the same presentation – the response was usually – “how much #money will we make, what is the ROI?”

What a difference in how business #culture affects decisions – the following year the Canadian company was history the USA Company was doing very well.

In general, my #friend says that in his opinion (that is based on over 4 decades of international business) the decision-making process in #Canada and Canadian companies is slow and uncreative and definitely lacks imagination. There is a – “Don’t rock the boat attitude, when I don’t move I can’t make mistakes”, and worst of all, bad timing and lack of understanding of international markets – being so close to the #USA makes Canadian companies blind to the rest of the world – there are 7 #billion more #people out there, Canada.

With the new #USMCA agreement Canada is no better off than it was a year ago, #tomorrow the USA can squeeze #Canada as much as it wants, and Canada will have no one to blame – only itself.

Opening up to the #world, Canada can grow its international markets and make the USA less detrimental to the Canadian economy.

Canada has the largest territory in the free world (#Russia is not a free economy with all due respect).

Canada has some of the richest resources in the world buried in its soil (#oil, #gold, #diamonds, #gas, #uranium and so on) – Canada has one of the best-educated #human #resources in the world, there is no reason why Canadian companies cannot be as good or better than any other company in the world.

Given all these points Canada must grow its international network of business and rely less on the USA, keeping the Canadian eggs all in one basket puts Canadians in an inferior position in any future negotiations with the USA.

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