March 26, 2012
The clock’s ticking; can you hear it? At midnight tonight, you’ll only have 432,000 “ticks” left until the end of the first quarter of 2012. Midnight Sunday marks the moment of truth, for many…
In the Magic Kingdom of Corporate Life, time is punctuated on a fiscal clock. “Tax Years” take the place of real years, out in the “other world.” Kids are raised to get into the alternate reality through their classroom years; “Academic Years” break from the calendar confines to begin in September (or, thereabouts) and end in June (or May, if you’re closer to the Atlantic than the Pacific).
Fiscal Years are created in Board Rooms, under the influence of CFOs. An argument is made that the peculiarities of an enterprise make it better to reset the corporate calendar out-of-step with the ball drop in Time Square. Even when that re-alignment is made, it normally shoves the new reality into sync with a conventional calendar’s quarters. March 31 will finish a quarter; whatever its relationship to a Fiscal Year – 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th – it incites an emotional reaction in the person who lives with one eye on the countdown clock. Up there – at the end of the field – is the Objective Eye that rules your life: points on the board, and seconds on the clock are the crucial factors in the formula of success.
How is your quarter going? What impossible expectations – imposed by your corporate higher-ups, or proposed by your own swing-for-the-fences personal demands – are awaiting your fulfillment before the weekend? How is this quarter wrapping-up, for you?
Whether you’re the one making the assessment, or it’s an outside official who will call the winner, the reality is the same: the judge doesn’t declare outcomes until all of the time on the clock is expended. The score won’t count until the time is up; when time runs out, the score will be all that matters…
For some who read this, I’ve just succeeded in raising your blood pressure by a dangerous margin. We who live for accomplishment – rather than choosing to live benefiting from the accomplishments of others – we self-regulate, based on the scoreboard. The risks we are willing to embrace rise and fall based on the time/score relationships. With time running down and a score that won’t win, long-shot play calls become a strategic necessity. Smart moves: get the best players off the bench and in the game… and then call the plays that offer high risk/high reward potential.
A couple of weeks ago, I heard from a TMP grad/friend from Chicago who was going to be in SoCal for a few days; we tried to connect while he was in my neighborhood. It didn’t work out, but we committed to make it happen soon. Five days after our attempted meeting, he was back home… and suffered a major stroke. Last Friday, it was “game over,” for Paul. He was born three months before me; he was a “young” 59… and had no indication that he was in the last seconds of the game when we talked…
Are these the “Last Days,” in Bible calendar lingo? Corporations determine their fiscal calendars, but God sets the history calendar on His sovereign terms. There are two run-clocks in operation, all the time: the countdown of our personal time on Earth, and the countdown of God’s plan, that is being exercised on Earth in “time and space.”
My buddy Paul Sweas left the field last Friday; he went directly to the Owner’s Box, where he’s now watching the game in style. I think I know what he heard when he was taken up the elevator and got off outside the Suite: “Welcome, My Son! Well done, good and faithful servant; you’ve been faithful…”
I knew him; I knew his works; I watched him take risks, score points… and I think I saw the Owner – high above the press box – smiling…
Bob Shank