Chasing Greenlights

Recently, I read Matthew McConaughey’s book called Greenlights. The philosophy of “catching greenlights” is looking at those moments when life says “yes” and cruising into success to pursue your destiny. I’m not here to dissect the meaning of life or tell you what that is; more, I pulled the book's direct relationship to sales, and the journey your prospects take when they explore a new product or process.?

The first instance for sales is looking at what defines a green light. We all want to hear the words “send me a contract” (heck, I’ve debated naming my first child DocuSign) to try to increase the luck in my life. But is that a green light? Or are green lights discovered sooner? For me, I feel like green lights are found in the discovery. The critical business issue unearthed, that proves to be too large of a hurdle for the business to overcome. The item that causes the scale to tip further in one direction, prompting a catalyst to look somewhere else. There are so many different ways and intersections that we can find these green lights, but we’re always chasing them.??

What’s a red light? I’ve received my fair share of red lights, something that causes all the momentum to stop and freeze in one place. Whether that be an additional stakeholder entering the mix, a change in business condition, or simply just economic uncertainty. We’ve all had red lights that play over and over in our heads, and we ask ourselves: What could I of changed? What could I have done differently? The truth of the matter is we’ll always run into red lights. The goal shouldn’t be how to avoid them entirely, it should be how to better understand the navigation so when that red light comes. You can overcome it.?

And then you have yellow lights.. Where you don’t know if you should slow down or put the pedal to the metal and speed right through it. I’ve found that speeding right through it, and not stopping to take in why the light is yellow, doesn’t work for me. Sometimes I need to slow down, circle back, and better understand the catalyst, the business issue, and what the end goal is.?

I am ending it with a quote from Matthew McConaughey “This is a book about catching green lights and realizing that the yellow and the reds eventually turn green.”??