BIG

I am going to make this a big week. Simply because it is up to me, as captain of this platoon, to set the course. I am free to choose. Fair winds, following seas or impossible odds are not essential elements. They merely provide color, drama and challenge. Bullets will fly, skills tested, blood spilled. As my friend Ian Anderson was fond of saying, Nothing is Easy. If you want easy, stay in bed. 

The decision to make this a big week in based on necessity. It has to be. Sales elements need to be put in motion, irons set precisely into the fire, consensus to build, deals to close, creative caps to don. Bridges to take. I need to shake up, plant seeds, and establish a solid partnership or two. In some circles this is called a joint venture, in others a strategic alliance, and in extreme others (there are a lot of others it seems), a synergistic vertical integration. 

Yes, I need some work. And if it is to be, it is up to me. No one is going to drive down my gravel and dirt road and knock upon my door begging me to join their team. No one yet has called in inquiry as to my availability. I have no lawyer screening calls or an agent taking bids. I act as my own receptionist. I am also the janitor and chief financial officer. And while performing the tasks of the former yesterday, I held an impromptu ways and means face to face with the latter. Resulting in the facts that the company needs both more cleansing and more operating capitol. Dirty business comes clean! What was once propaganda is now truth. 

Acting on this revelation, the directing board immediately began to clean house. The janitor replaced the CFO and the Supervisor of Facility Maintenance is now the Director of Marketing. All support staff was let go and all leaves cancelled, effective immediately. It is time to get lean and mean. This economy does not play nice. It is war. The big one. 

And I plan on surviving to tell the tale.

Do you remember the scene from Saving Private Ryan where Tom Hanks is laying wounded on a bridge and with his last few breaths continues to fire rounds from his sidearm at a German tank? I think I remember having my heart in my throat the first time I watched Spielberg's epic portrayal of courage under fire. 

I am going to keep that scene in mind this week. 

Because, much like another Hanks film It needs to be Big.