I sometimes volunteer to drive race officials at Dragonboat regattas. This gives me the opportunity to sit back and observe the start of a Dragonboat race. After the on the water umpire hands the race over to the starter, the starter brings all the Dragonboats up to the start line. Once the starter gets every boat in position in perfect order on the start line, they call out:
In business, we are always looking for feedback on where we are and how we are doing in order to plan our next steps in where we are going. All too often I see entrepreneurs pouring over financial statements hoping that they will predict the future. I think there are many challenges in using traditional financial statements to help in the operations and vision for your business.
There is a big world out there and many entrepreneurs that I meet start their thinking of nothing but their local market. In Canada, it can be a stretch to get business people to look at the US. For American entrepreneurs, it can be a struggle for them to consider Europe or Asia.
I am often surprised at how strongly I react to the physical form factor of things that I buy and use. My wife does the toothpaste buying in our house and she recently bought Crest toothpaste that came in new packaging. At first it seems like a good idea — toothpaste that will stand up on the bathroom counter.
Changes in technology, people, demographics, and markets provide challenges and opportunities. For example, a friend reminded me of what it was like to go skiing when ski hills had incredibly slow two person chair lifts. Then along came four person detachable high speed chair lifts. Ski hills that embraced the new technology could not only take many more people up the hill every hour, they had a strong competitive market advantage over those that stuck with the old chair lift technology.