Make no mistake, this is tough

Business owners make mistakes in operating their business.
Some make big ones that really clobber the profits, from which the business may not recover.
Others make mistakes that have a minor effect on company profits, allowing the business to bounce back.
Recognising mistakes, why they happened and learning from them is a great way to energise a business.
In the SLAM business model, the business owner has the skills (S), leadership (L), qualities and positive attitude (A) to overcome business mistakes (M).
Are you a business owner who tries to be one of those people, who always tries to make the best of a situation?
As they say, stuff happens to a business which can be positive or negative.
Some of this is beyond the control of the business owner.
The challenge is to leverage the positive and find ways to dilute the impact of negative stuff.
The issue is not so much the propensity to make mistakes, but to acknowledge that they have been made, why they were made and learn from them.
I am a fan of the futurist Joel Barker, who has a real knack of embarrassing companies who failed to move beyond their paradigms.
I'm thinking of Kodak which rejected the Xerox technology, when it first became available, and the Swiss watch manufacturers who rejected the digital watch, even though Swiss engineers invented it.
I read an excellent article in the Bay of Plenty Times recently where Johann Hari pointed out that humans are wrong in how we think about being wrong.
He said: "You have a choice about whether to face your error in terror so you suppress, ignore and repeat it ... or make it your honest ally in trying to get to the truth."
All businesses have to make choices in operating their business.
Mistakes can and do occur in the way management evaluates and selects the choices to energise their business (or not to energise).
New Zealander Graeme Hart - Australasia's richest business entrepreneur - made many choices in building up his considerable packaging business.
While other factors certainly influenced his success, such as gaining an MBA from Otago after dropping out of high school, he demonstrated the ability to overcome mistakes.
He just escaped from wiping out his investment in Burns Philp by persuading a consortium of lenders to give him some breathing space to recapitalise the business.
That enabled Burns Philips to eventually purchase Goodman Fielder, a major Australian baker.
From there he made a huge strategic choice - to exit food for packaging.
Now he is poised to pounce on the acquisition of Pactiv.
Who is wrong in the decision to reduce the number of car parks on The Strand to make way for the proposed waterfront development?
On the one hand, some local businesses claim this is a travesty as it will cause people not to visit the CBD because of the restricted parking facilities.
On the other hand, the Tauranga council is revamping the Willow St bus terminal allowing for better movement in and out of the vicinity close to The Strand, and attempting to entice more people to enjoy the waterfront and close-by shopping.
Only time will tell who is wrong.
But let's hope that someone has the humility to say that they were wrong.
Cliff Osborne and Associates is based in Tauranga. He can be contacted by email: cosborne@watchdog.net.nz
Or view: www.cliffosborne.com