Sunday 23 March 2014

What was my rant from five years back and what is yours today? And what does that mean for your business?

My birthday week is always a time for reflection - as I am sure so is yours. So it was with interest that I found this - next to my old five year goals - written... some five years ago. 

All about what my 'rant' was...

It would seem in the five years since that I lost my rant a little - so I put it here to remind myself. I have not changed the format or the way I wrote it - it is literally copy and paste from 5 years back.


What’s my rant – that business is the only way forward – commerce will make Britain (or any other country for that matter Great once again) – that monopolistic capitalism (big boys keep the toys) doesn’t work as it has no responsibility – commercial concerned consumerism is the only way forward for capitalism – that shares are folly and gambling and you should look to create your own wealth not exploit the needs of a wrong system – that the planet is better in the hands and minds of small business rather than big – big business like all big organisations gives human beings the ability to act without humanity – that organisational automation and inefficiency is recreating a series of socially automated emotionally inefficient people – that the way you think and the way you talk to yourself changes who you are – that everyone is great at something – that life is about finding what you are great at. 

My question from all the above is - "Where did that guy go....?"
Anyhoo... my question for you is "What's your rant?" Not just what are you great at?

Which is something which nicely ties into Seth's newest blog (completely by accident) which is all about being the best at something. As he puts it... in Compromise, design and the literal edges

"Let's say you wanted to improve the katana, the legendary fighting sword.

You could ask your team to come up with a sword that's lighter, sharper and more durable.

Built into that charge is the requirement to compromise. And just about everyone who has come before you has tried to come up with the same sort of compromise, and your chances of a breakthrough are slim indeed.

Compromise gives us an out, because, with multiple goals, it's easy to play it safe.

But what if you picked just one?

What if you sought to make the sharpest katana ever? Or merely the most durable one? By optimizing for just one attribute, you've eliminated most of the compromise from the design discussion. As a result, you're far more likely to encounter something extraordinary. It might not be practical, but there's plenty of time to compromise later.

It's almost always easier to roll something back a little than it is to push it forward."

Something we want to think about at JusTaxi - Manchester's taxi fare comparison app - as perhaps we haven't looked at being the best in the market AT a certain something - we perhaps just wanted to be there and better than our competition in a general way.

With brands and apps like Minicabster and the giant Uber coming to Manchester from this week - March 24th - we might have to look again at where we stand in the market place.

As Zig Ziglar would say, we MUST become a “meaningful specific” rather than a “wandering generality.” And perhaps this is same for me, Dan Sodergren five years on, as well. 

And maybe for you too?
 

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