Chapter 24
The Gordian Knot Perspective
By John Counsel
Legend has it that Gordius, king of Gordium in ancient Phrygia, tied a massive, intricate knot that an oracle declared could only be unravelled by the man who would rule Asia. Any man who attempted and failed was put to death.
Alexander the Great, who obviously understood this useful perspective, simply drew his sword and, with a single blow, cleaved the knot cleanly through the centre, the strands unravelling as they fell to the ground.
The moral is simple: when it’s riskier to do nothing than it is to act – but you have no choice, you have to act – the wisest course is to take prompt, decisive, creative action!
I had this principle dramatically reinforced for me on my first day with a new company, back in 1980. I include it here in the hope that it will help you understand the principle more clearly in its more modern, business applications. Small business is full of such opportunities, every day.
After an induction briefing with the business manager of the group I had joined as marketing and advertising manager, I was taken to my new building and introduced to my staff. Then I was ushered into my office and shown my very large desk… and there came face to face with my own Gordian Knot!
In the centre of an otherwise bare desk was an in-tray containing a pile of papers at least a third of a metre (about 13 inches) high, held down by a large, lead paperweight.
I burst out laughing at this ludicrous spectacle, half suspecting that it was a joke.
Then I learned the terrifying truth about that pile of paper, and why I hadn’t been told about it when I was headhunted for this position.
The business manager explained that my immediate predecessor had suffered a nervous breakdown because of it, after only three weeks in the job. His predecessor had lasted about three months before succumbing.
It was suggested that l had no more than three days to take decisive action before I, too, joined the growing ranks of willing, but unable, heroes. I flicked through the papers. They were requests for marketing and advertising support from the fifteen divisional managers within the group.
One thing was abundantly clear to me: here was a situation where I had nothing to lose by taking prompt, decisive, creative action. In fact, if I didn’t act, and soon, I’d become one more victim of this lethal "Gordian Knot".
I asked the business manager, who was near the door, to have my secretary bring her pad and pencil into my office. He obliged, turning back in time to see me thrust the entire pile into the waste paper bin beside my desk.
You could almost hear his jaw hit the plush carpet.
"What do you think you’re doing?" he demanded, scandalised.
"Fixing the problem," I replied.
Addressing my next remark to my secretary, who was equally stunned, I asked her to send a memo to all divisional managers explaining who I was, that I’d just found a pile of requests on my desk, that I had no idea how urgent or important any of them were and, if any of their requests were still current, to please resubmit them.
I received just THREE requests in response.
Sure, I took a risk. It could have been a total disaster. It could have cost me my brand new job.
But it wasn’t. And it didn’t. In fact, it earned me lots of "brownie points" with those other managers, especially after the frustration of so many months of inaction.
Never forget... most people admire and will gladly co-operate with leaders who take prompt, decisive, creative action in high risk situations.
(Provided that the action is rational and intelligent, of course... the right thing, for the right reasons.)But, even if you make mistakes, the goodwill you enjoy will buy you the opportunity to fix them. People trust you.
The Gordian Knot Perspective and the Hat Pin Perspective go hand in hand. They’re really just different vantage points from which to view the same situation… opposite sides of the same coin.
Here’s another perspective that might prove helpful…
- "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. "
William Shakespeare
Taken from
“Don’t Go Into Small Business
Until You Read This Book!”
by John Counsel
Small Business Books 1996
© 1996, 1997 by John Counsel
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