There is Magic In Your Head, USE IT.
There is no shortage of advice on the web by all the great gurus
providing management, entrepreneurship, and startup guidance. If you are reading this article, you are in
one such site now. The experience levels
of the different “EXPERTS” vary over a wide range from having received a degree
in school to the super experienced former executive having run a very large
company.
When you started your company, you may have identified people to
serve as advisors, mentors, and board members.
You based the selections of these individuals on backgrounds and
relationships and you feel they complement the business and bring value. The decision to bring this level of expertise
is the correct thing to do and they will add value.
Many of the online gurus discuss innovation and creativity and
carry articles on their blogs on the topics.
The numerous gurus on startups cover many of the same topics because the
topics are so common to all companies. It
can be rather daunting to determine which of these people are the best or even
have relevant experience to their discussion topics.
You may recall the
discussion previously of how to add innovation and creativity to your
business. The highlighted key topics were:
1) Identify the problem, 2) Encourage the team, 3) Problems should have
markets, 4) Engineer or re-engineer for performance, 5) Move quickly, and 6)
Develop IP strategy. These topics relate
to creating and developing new products. Related topics may go for solving
problems or re-engineering your company.
When your company has needs for change or problem solving, identification
of the problem is the first step.
Gathering all the information needed to evaluate the problems and potential
solutions are next. This is where all
your resources provide you with information, discussion and feedback. The
online gurus may even be great sources of information at this point.
Solving any problem or being inventive in finding solutions
requires careful analysis and evaluation of all the possibilities that
exist. The advice you receive will be
from individuals with prior experiences that may vary greatly from the issues
you are currently facing. This is the
time to put the advice in perspective and analyze the data relative to your
situation. All that great advice may not
even apply to your issues! You will
learn in building your company that many people are willing to help. They are all well intended. Some will have better credentials and more relevant
experiences than others will. The application of the advice to your unique
issues may never be part of anyone’s experiences.
Problem solving, inventiveness, and creativity tend to come from
proper analysis and that little bit of inspiration that hits you in the middle
of the night or when you least expect it.
Your solutions or new products come from the novel ideas generated when
you really understand all the issues and have the appropriate understanding of
where the company needs to go. Great
solutions may be suggested, but the determination of their applicability must
come from the leader of the company.
In short, the real guru is YOU and not all those people that are
providing the advice. They cannot
possibly be in your shoes and take your company forward. They will not live with the aftermath of a
decision or a failed product. In the
end, the person running the business that must weigh all the facts, make the
decisions, and PIVOT when the decisions are not optimal. YOU are or will become the GURU for your
company or the company will never be what you envisioned.
Taffy
Williams is on Twitter by @twilli2861. Email
questions to twilli2861@aol.com. More is
available via his company
website , photo website, or “LIKE”
ColonialTDC on Facebook. You can also find him in the group
Startup Group on
Linkedin. Other articles are in the Charlotte,
NC- small business section of Examiner.com.
Taffy,
ReplyDeleteExceptional post and insight-
Too many people SELF assign the "title of guru" without the real world credentials. Unfortunately, too many people start accepting those gurus and absorbing their non-experienced and misrepresented thoughts as fact.
GREAT job-setting the record straight!
Bill Thanks for the comment. I have been reading many articles lately wondering what real experience the people have. I also was thinking over all the people I worked with over the years and realized they helped with the thought process, but I had to determine what to do and how to implement. By the way, one of your previous rants kept me thinking this issue needs to be addressed. Thanks for helping!
DeleteGreat post Taffy. I loved the way you wrapped it.
ReplyDeleteYou are so bang on. My concern, like you, is not that so many people out there do not have the de facto authority to truly be gurus, because many do. The real problem is that, as I tell my clients, each business in each industry in each community has 80% unique genetic material. More things that have critical impacts on decision making are entirely unique to that situation, than are common with other businesses.
As a consequence I often find myself even questioning the concept of 'best practices' as that often implies a blanket approach with a very high possibility of succeeding, when that probably isn't true.
You are so right, in the end, you are the guru. Slow down, listen, then act.
Thanks Clemens, you are right. Nearly every business has such unique aspects that general comments from experts must be adapted to be of any value. This is a very important point and it is critical that business owners realize the need to fit advice to their issues.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments!
Hey, nice site you have here! Keep up the excellent work!
ReplyDeleteHow to Start a Company in India