“Entrepreneurship is like playing chess in a hockey rink.” – Steve Hane

Part of strategic planning is to think…well ahead…of potential outcomes.  It doesn’t end there.  Develop scenarios that represent how you would react to those potential outcomes.:  “If this happens, we’ll do that.  If that happens, we’ll so this”.

Even this is not enough.  In the heat of business, customer expectations change in a blink.

When you hit the growth stage, you have to capture market share as quickly as possible, rapidly iterating.  Geoffrey Moore calls this being “inside the tornado”.  Jim Cramer puts even more simply, “sell, sell, sell s,s,s SELL”

Hockey players can react quickly because they spent the time practicing the moves, ahead of game time.  That is how they slow down time.  Even while the mind is trying to analyze the situation, the body says, “I’ve seen this before,” and slaps the winning shot.

 

“The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.” – William Gibson

There are always those who see the future long before the rest of us.  They have the ability to recognize huge potential.  Yet often, the pathway is not revealed to them.  Perhaps it is the down side to viewing the forrest in it’s entirety.

The World Changers are the ones who chart the path.  They convey value to others in a convincing way, perhaps in small doses; which by the way, is an excellent marketing technique.

The key to the future is the first step, without all the detail, complexity and noise.  This is where enduring startups come from.

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision only passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” – Joel Barker

There are those who see and those who do.  We need both.

The seers view the realm of the possible in all it’s abundant potential.  But they must convince others to bring forth reality.

The doers get it done.  Their inspiration comes from leadership.  But success is often measured by busy-ness.

The World Changers…they capture the one idea from the seers they can accomplish and assemble a team of doers.  They can focus on the tasks while keeping an eye on the end game.

That is how dents in the universe happen.

 

“Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.” – Mark Twain

Strategic planning, Customer Value, Business Models, Value Propositions.  These are all worthwhile pursuits in your venture.  They are the right things to do.

Focus is absolutely necessary.

But once in a while, look up.  See what’s around you.  That goop in the beaker may just be nylon.  That failure in making a strong glue may just be sticky notes.  People just may be willing to pay millions for their link to show up on your search engine.

“A good listener is usually thinking about something else.” – Kin Hubbard

When you have the honor of talking with a customer about their needs, don’t try to sell them on your product idea.  Instead, ask an open ended question about how they get through their day.  Then shut up.  Follow the “ask ‘why’ five times” rule to really get to why they would consider buying another solution.

In all things, the best interviews are when the other party does most of the talking.