Back in 1960, when I bought a small envelope company with dreams of becoming a gazillionaire, I could not imagine a world where people just turned on a machine, clicked through some instructions and paid the electric bill.

I didn’t think that I could have a contract signed and returned to me in a few minutes instead of dropping a paper document in the mail and waiting a few days. I was operating in a time when catalog orders went into an envelope back to the retailer to be processed.

In other words, I didn’t anticipate the changes ahead -- and neither did my competitors. Had I read a book like Daniel Burrus’ “The Anticipatory Organization,” I might have considered investing in developing computer technology.

But over the years, I wised up and learned to follow trends, even predict a few. I was perhaps a little late to the party with some of that wisdom, but it made a big difference when I could start to see what was coming my way.

“Organizations of all types and sizes have traditionally relied on their ability to react as quickly as possible to shifting challenges, the demands of the marketplace and other types of disruptions,” Burrus says. “That’s often referred to as agility."

But in today's increasingly disrupted and disruptive world, agility alone no longer cuts it, he asserts.

So, he asks, “Would you rather have merely reacted as quickly as possible as change took place, or anticipated it and crafted well-thought-out plans to take advantage of its game-changing opportunities?”

Burrus cites plenty of very recognizable examples to back up his ideas. For instance, he tells about the introduction of the iPhone. Reporters asked the CEO of BlackBerry, which then dominated the cellphone market, if he was concerned about a threat to his business. His response might amuse us today. He didn’t think anyone would want to watch a video on a phone, and couldn’t imagine the appeal of watching on such a small screen. As of November 2018, the last time Apple released sales figures, more than 2.2 billion iPhones had been sold worldwide.

When you adopt an anticipatory mindset, you learn not to focus on your competition. When you do that, Burrus says, you will be tempted to adopt or adapt what they do, and look like them. Instead of imitating, you should learn to innovate by intentionally focusing on what the competition is not doing.

Consider this: Only four companies that made the Fortune 500 top 10 list 20 years ago remained on the list last year. Apple and Amazon are on the current list, but they weren’t there just 10 years ago, even though both were in existence. Certainly there were computers, cellphones and bookstores aplenty during that time span. But they didn’t adapt to get ahead of trends.

I’ll be the first to acknowledge that, sometimes, just keeping up with trends takes an enormous amount of energy. As I mentioned earlier, envelopes seemed to be a pretty safe commodity when I went into business. Fax machines emerged as a threat to paper transactions, and then email and texting. Automatic bill paying, the decline of direct mail and online ordering cut further into our industry. We’ve had to reinvent ourselves time and time again, and I’m fairly certain that we will continue to do that as long as we are in existence.

As Burrus points out, “We’re going to be spending the rest of our lives in the future. Given that reality, why do we spend such little time or energy trying to anticipate what it has in store for us?”

He also emphasizes that “all the technology in the world is secondary to interaction between people -- constructive, trust-based interaction. Without that, what good is the most amazing technology?”

That’s music to my ears. I never want to be part of a business that puts technology ahead of people. I love interacting with my employees, customers and even competitors. That’s how I get some of my best ideas. That’s where I see my future.

If you see your future somewhere else, read and study this book. I anticipate that you’ll love it.

Mackay’s Moral: The future belongs to those who are prepared for it.

A man entered a shoe repair shop and said to the owner, “I just found this claim ticket for a pair of shoes I dropped off -- 10 years ago.”

“Oh my,” the shopkeeper chuckled. “Let me take a look at that,” he said as he inspected the ticket. “I hope we still have them. I’ll go in the back and check.”

The shopkeeper could be heard rummaging through boxes before he called out, “They’re still here!”

“That’s great!” the man said when the shopkeeper emerged from the back room holding a pair of dusty shoes. “How much do I owe you?”

“They’re not ready,” the shopkeeper replied, “but I can have them back to you by next Tuesday.”

We’ve all been in that man’s shoes, metaphorically. We do business with an organization, only to find out the customer isn’t really the most important person to them. Regardless of how often I speak or write about service, the response is most often centered on personal experiences that have disappointed. On rare occasions I hear about truly amazing service, and it just reinforces how important it is to share these stories with our sales force.

Let me give you an example. In the envelope manufacturing business, of which I’ve been a part for 50-plus years, we win or lose customer jobs by pennies per thousand. When most of our customers are purchasing between tens of millions to, in several instances, over 500 million envelopes annually, the pennies do add up to thousands of dollars of cost difference.

With our product and pricing so dramatically close between customer options, it truly does come down to quality of service and flexibility in adapting to the “ordering off the menu” requests by customers.

But the sale only begins when the customer says yes. In addition to the sales force, every person who has a hand in the production, packaging, delivery and post-sale customer service needs to be on board with the company’s philosophy and promises. Otherwise, that customer probably won’t be a customer for long.

Keeping employees motivated to consistently provide high-quality customer service is absolutely essential for any company that plans to stay in business. Here are some basic considerations:

-- Hire the right people. The rule is you either hire smart or manage tough. Hiring smart is much, much better, but it requires you to know what you’re looking for and to recognize the skills and attitude you want. Look at experience and listen to your gut. If you still aren’t sure, ask yourself if you’d want that person to be working for your competitor. If the answer is no, then you know your answer.

-- Keep score. Measure performance, or your team will be in perpetual warm-up mode. Let employees know what they’re being measured on and how it’s relevant to them, their customers,and the organization’s bottom line. Clear expectations eliminate misunderstandings.

-- Recognize employees. Make sure you reward the desired outcome. For instance, if you want your salespeople to create relationships and long-term accounts, reward them. We have a designated parking spot with their name near the door for the salesperson of the month. A “wall of fame” is great motivation for displaying the above-and-beyond attitude you want to encourage.

-- Practice what you preach. If you want a motivated customer-service rep, you need to be motivated yourself first. You need to love your customers, because if you’re not sincerely motivated yourself, you’ll never motivate other people to provide service excellence.

Steve Hardison, who went on to become a successful executive coach, began his career in sales at Xerox. Product returns were against company policy at the time, but according to a story in the Chicago Tribune, one day, Hardison decided to let one of his customers return a copier regardless of the rule. When his boss demanded an explanation, Hardison said, “If I lose a job because I took care of a customer, then I never had a job.”

The next day his boss’s boss called him into his office. Hardison fully expected to get fired. Instead, the executive said, “I wish I had more people like you.” His reputation for honesty and integrity was made.

Mackay’s Moral: There is no such thing as too good where customer service is involved.

In life, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the University of Minnesota head football coach P.J. Fleck. I asked P.J. what he looks for when he recruits players. P.J. said he wants kids who have faced adversity and gone through a lot in their young lives.

Maybe that’s why the legendary college football coach and my longtime friend Lou Holtz, said: “Show me someone who has done something worthwhile and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.”

I have never yet met a successful person who hasn’t had to overcome either a little or a lot of adversity in his or her life. I want people who can accomplish their goals. I want people who are tougher, better, smarter, harder-working and more able than the competition. If people believe in themselves, there’s hardly anything that they can’t accomplish.

When asked the secret of his success, retail magnate J.C. Penney replied, “Adversity. I would never have amounted to anything had I not been forced to come up the hard way.”

Everyone faces adversity, pain, loss and suffering in life. When you go through those periods, it’s hard to remember that the emotions you’re feeling are only temporary. The best thing to do is to develop a plan for what you will do when these times hit and find your way to the silver lining -- the place where you can feel hopeful again.

First, examine whether you have:

-- A personal sense of commitment in life.

-- A feeling of control over life.

-- An ability to let go when appropriate.

-- A strong personal support system.

-- Strong values.

Without these attributes, even small stumbling blocks can magnify everything to the point of inducing failure. Work at developing these traits.

Keep in mind, there are plenty of things you can’t control, such as traffic, the number of hours in a day, your age, other people’s whims and reactions and, of course, death and taxes.

But you do have control over some significant areas that will minimize the adversity you encounter, such as your treatment of others, the way you spend your time outside of work, your self-image, when and how to share your feelings, how to let others know you’re stressed and how old you act.

In other words, take care of the little things and, suddenly, the big things take on a more realistic perspective.

I’m often asked how I deal with adversity. The first thing I do is to stay focused on the task at hand. When dealing with adversity, it’s important to stay present and mindful of the moment.

Second is to break things down. What is important? Try not to get overwhelmed when facing adversity and setbacks.

Third, take whatever immediate action is necessary, but if you have the luxury of time, sleep on it.

And finally, it’s always good to have mentors or a trusty “kitchen cabinet” to be your sounding board.

A playful story is told of a man walking home from work in the dark of night. Not noticing a large hole in the street produced by recent construction, he fell in. Every effort to escape was futile, so he leaned back in the corner and fell asleep.

A short time later another walker found himself quickly descending to the bottom of the hole. He too struggled and strained to find a way out. Exhausted, he was about to sit down and wait for the morning light when he heard a voice in the darkness say, “Forget it, fella. You can’t get out.”

In a split second he was out!

Isn’t it amazing how all of a sudden the man was able to jump a little higher, put forth a little more effort, climb a little farther to escape his predicament? The “voice in the night” provided just the motivation he needed.

Mackay’s Moral: Turn adversity to advantage with the right attitude.