Category: entrepreneurship

live archeology

Big names, from big companies, have ridiculed others over innovations they deemed worthless in the past. Only to lose significant market share — or worse, cease operations altogether — eventually. The price to pay for reluctance to embrace innovation is possibly gigantic.

Notorious quotes such as: “people will never accept a mobile phone without buttons” haven’t aged well.

Business owners should never ridicule a competitor over innovation. Furthermore, business owners should ask themselves: which innovation can potentially bankrupt my company?

Sometimes it’s as if we’re looking at archeology take place right in front of our eyes.

A couple of years ago, there were barely any kick-scooters in cities. Today, cities are developing dedicated parking spots.

What seems normal today may seem archaic tomorrow. That’s how fast the world is moving.

channel growth

One cargo ship getting stuck in a canal blocking global trade is a rather unfortunate event. Yet every business has similar events waiting to unfold. One mishap with the potential to block your entire sales pipeline. A disaster making your business come to a grinding halt.

There are two ways to go about this problem.

One way is to invest in growth. We could make the canal both wider and deeper. We could invest in technology to guide more vessels through in less time, thus increasing throughput. Translation; increase sales funnel capacity by increasing productivity. We can achieve this by having the right amount of people, using the right tools and processes to reach maximum efficiency.

These initiatives will surely pay for themselves as growth is certified. However, these actions don’t take a potential disaster into account.

Another way to go about this problem is to invest in conflict resolution. A procedure that describes what to do in case of emergency. The right people with the right skills and equipment with a clearance to respond to a call of distress.

Short-term growth is increasing bandwidth today. Long-term growth is eliminating bandwidth shrinkage tomorrow.

minimal overdelivery

Under promise, over-deliver. If you don’t know by now, hopefully, the rock you were living under was at least a fancy one.

The problem with this piece of advice is this. Some people are natural over deliverers. Some people have an innate desire to please other people. For those people, too much of a good thing is never enough.

Sometimes the extent to which people-pleasers over-deliver knows no limits. Handing out gifts (without charging) to their clients as Oprah Winfrey did with her audience.

Under promise, over-deliver is forever a solid business principle. However, if overdelivering is in your DNA, ask a third party to run a check. They should establish whether you’re overdelivering or straight-up selling yourself short.

have-done list

Seeing to-dos accumulate faster than you’re able to complete them is frustrating. In reality, a lot more work gets done than featured on your list.

Even though some tasks are seemingly banal, it’s still worthwhile adding them. Scratch that. It’s worth scratching them off.

Every time we complete a task, a mini shot of dopamine is released. A feeling of accomplishment washes over us.

Answering a business phone call, for instance, might take a dent out of your schedule. Perhaps a dent that deserves a reward.

Throughout the day, we end up doing much work we didn’t plan. Consider adding impromptu tasks to your list so you can scratch them off right away. Now you’re getting so much work done.

when you won

You could have won this week. Even a couple of times. Heck, maybe every day. Twice! Depending on your definition of a win. If you feel like you haven’t won in a long time, maybe it’s time to redefine winning.

In Start With the Why, the author Simon Sinek describes how he was once present at the Gathering of the Titans, an annual meeting of America’s 50 top business leaders. When the attendees were asked whether their companies met their financial targets during the past year, about 80 percent raised their hands. When asked whether they felt successful, (very) few hands remained up.

Orson Welles once said: if you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.

People need wins. Define what winning looks like to you. Don’t let others define it for you. Grant yourself a victory now and then.

less useful knowledge

No knowledge is useless. Even though some obscure trivia only seems to come in handy at parties or quizzes.

Even listening to somebody talk about a topic you seemingly already master can be interesting. Perhaps a new angle provides a fresh perspective?

The knowledge that seems unimportant at a particular moment in life might be useful somewhere down the road. Maybe someday you can help a friend by sharing some insights on a topic important to them.

As for the chunks of knowledge that you can’t put to good use, knowing what doesn’t interest you helps you (re)define your interests.

No knowledge is useless.

no shot no hit

It’s hard to hit the bull’s eye without taking a shot at it. Not sure about the math, but taking a shot in the general direction of the bull’s eye surely increases your chances a thousandfold. You can’t do anything wrong if you don’t do anything, to begin with. Does that imply that you can do right by inaction? Unlikely. However, in some (large) corporations, this seems to be the case.

Companies today need loyal employees who don’t shy away from controversy. Employees who have the guts to go against the grain deliberately.

Employers must create environments that encourage this type of behavior. A climate where it’s not only okay to fail, one where failures are forgiven promptly.

It’s the way forward. The path towards growth. If it weren’t for persisting through adversity, none of us would walk, after falling on our faces as babies, time after time.

race against everything

Running out of time. Meeting deadlines. Getting stuff done. All at once. It’s like a race sometimes.

Without knowing who your competitors are exactly, you have no option but to try as hard as you absolutely can. Are you lapping the last racer? Are you overtaking the leader? Going all out all the time isn’t the most sustainable strategy.

Opponents must be identified first. Without knowing their characteristics, you’re racing against yourself.

visible carbon copy

Uniqueness in itself is becoming increasingly less valuable. Take the “storyfication” trend. Every platform has them now. When one social media platform came up with the idea, others followed suit. Shamelessly.

Training as a painter in the east means years of copying works of the masters. In the Western world, originality is more encouraged. Some consider imitation the greatest form of flattery. Others consider it to be piracy. Yet, copying has gained momentum. During the rise of the pop art movement, artists such as Warhol and Lichtenstein embraced the concept of printing, and consequently, reproduction.

Copying is an art form. As the old saying goes: speed trumps perfection. Today, copying speed trumps perfection, as well as originality.

trust illusion

Slow (digital) services are annoying. Who has the time to wait? Nobody. However, some of them have to be deliberately slow.

According to the (Walter) Doherty threshold, people are most productive when interactions with a computer take less than 400 milliseconds. Any longer, and we feel like we have to wait for the machine, thus limiting our productivity.

Contrarily, when something looks laborious and takes longer, it increases trust. Human resources -, travel – and medical technology often craft delays on purpose while returning reports. Referred to as the labor illusion; we tend to value results more when they’re presented to us with a small delay.

Timing is everything. Sometimes 400 milliseconds more or less is all it takes.