OK so you think “Izzo has finally lost it”-Boiled Frogs! You all have probably heard that if you put a frog in boiling water they instantly hop out, but that if you put them in cold water which you slowly warm to a boil, they will simply die in the water. Well, trust me, I have never tried this experiment nor should you try this at home, but I did think of it when I recently viewed a documentary film titled-How to Boil a Frog.

The metaphor is simple and powerful—it looks like everything is fine but every year we deplete the earth a little more, the water gets a little hotter (along with the weather) but we hardly notice it until we have pushed the earth too far.

Now leaders face the same challenge of the “boiling frog” problem every day. Take RIM as an example. The company is currently going through a crisis of layoffs and diminished expectations as Apple eats their lunch in the smart phone market. Yet I am guessing the water has been boiling for years. North American auto manufacturers lost market share to the Japanese over a twenty year period as every year the gap grew until finally it became a crisis. The job of leaders is to help people see the need for change before the water boils.

I have often said that the difference between a good leader and a great leader is that great leaders help people see the crisis that has not yet arrived. IBM recently reported record earnings. The stock is up 19% this year alone! What is interesting about IBM is that they felt the water getting warmer as their margins eroded on the hardware side and as their bureaucratic culture got in the way of innovation. Their turnaround is one of the great success stories of our modern era but almost no one thinks of it as a turnaround because they changed before the water boiled!

The boiling frog problem happens in more subtle ways in our personal lives as well. We get addicted to checking email and allowing for constant interruptions without noticing how it is sapping our productivity at work. We get addicted to work, spending more and more hours, even during our off time, until our neglect of family presents us with a crisis.

Ironically the boiled frog problem has real consequences. It is a lot easier to adapt to changing business conditions before you are sitting in a pot of boiled water. It will be tougher now for RIM or Nokia to regain their advantage as they cut costs and fight fires. A person who neglects family for years will have a tough time winning back trust. A species that pushes its planet to the brink of collapse won’t like the consequences.

So here is a great question for you? How is the water getting warmer in your life? Where is your business feeling the heat and not responding?

As for the film How to Boil a Frog –it was written and directed by TV producer/writer Jon Cooksey about the plight of the planet and what each of us can do to help solve the ecological challenges facing us. The film accomplishes with wit and humor to show each of us how we can personally help humanity solve the challenge of 6.5 billion people living on a planet with limited resources. It faces the brutal facts yet focuses on how each of us-young and old-can help solve the problem. We have already made some genuine changes in our house from watching the film. Every person who cares about the future should see the film. http://www.howtoboilafrog.com

Be well, do good work.

John