Recently this memo described the complexity of a cranberry marsh and urged you to not make your business more complicated than it needs to be. The September 12, 2012 Wall Street Journal lead editorial was titled, “Speech of the Year.”
It told the following story, given by a regulator from the Bank of England:
“…border collies can often catch Frisbees better than people, because the dogs by necessity have to keep it simple. But the impulse of regulators, if asked to catch a Frisbee, would be to encourage the construction of long equations related to wind speed and Frisbee rotation that they likely wouldn’t even understand.”
As business people we need act more like a border collie than a regulator. Once we have accurate information (the Frisbee is heading towards me), we need to make a decision (I’m going to catch it) and move (get in position and ready).
Here’s an example:
- Let’s say you create or buy a new technology that allows you to make your product or service better, cheaper or more flexible.
- Estimate the value to your customers.
- Get the information to your sales team.
- Create a plan with goals for the sales team to contact all your customers.
- Go.
Don’t take weeks or months to determine that your customers will be better off by 13.47%.
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” Charles Darwin