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Mini Reflections on the Business Process
Someone once said that, "most business activity consists of a pathetic series of poorly planned, random acts." I am not sure I would characterize the business process in such a harsh light. However, what I believe the author's is saying, is that many of us in business tend to resist engaging in sound planning and have some difficulty focusing on one issue at a time. Instead we tend to look for easy fixes and to embrace the latest management buzzword or high-tech fad in the hope of finding the miracle cure for whatever ails us. We need only turn to the dot.com world to realize that chasing volume for volume's sake does not a sound business make. Another lesson from the dot.com world is that Cash (with a capital C) only lasts so long and then must be replenished in some fashion or soon you are out of business regardless of how great your idea is. Recently the investment world began to demand that hot IPO's either make a profit (what a concept) or at least produce some reasonable expectation of when that might happen, in order to "earn" Wall Street's continued support.
This all leads us to the discussion regarding a short term vs. a long-term view of how we build and grow our respective businesses. Today, the world seems to be filled with impatient shareholders, management, employees and customers. They all seem to be chanting "I want perfection, I want it cheap and I want it now," Quite a tall order to say the least. These demands often temp us into taking a short-term view of our products, and service delivery systems. One of the problems with short-term thinking is it leads to reactionary behavior in order to meet short-term demands. The difficultly with this type of frenetic activity is that it tends to burn out the human element and does not lead to the effective deployment of other precious resources.
Again, someone once said "anybody can buy something, building something that will have staying power is something else." I am not suggesting that we resist purchasing high tech equipment or embracing new and exiting business concepts. However, I would suggest that we think of innovation as an "in addition to, not instead of" approach to sound business. That is to say, that we should enhance our inventory of existing business tools with innovations only if they help us implement our well-crafted business strategy.
I realize that none this is new or earth shaking. However, if you expect your business to grow, prosper and compete, you must focus your enthusiasm, energy and resources in such a manner as to maximize your business opportunities and minimize the risks. This can best be accomplished by a combination of good old fashion critical thinking and good planning, followed by good decision making (and it surely beats waiting for the Tooth Fairy to bail you out).
Pardon me for using a sports analogy but fundamentals win ball games and championships, not a single player who may make one or two great plays per season.
So, remember:
• Plan and stay focused
• Build on what you have
• Know what works and what doesn't and why
• Apply specific solutions to specific problems
• Work hard at achieving measurable results
• Embrace applicable new tools, concepts and procedures (but resist chasing the Tooth Fairy)
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