Playing with Loaded Dice!
03/09/04
In an interview with Andy Wong, the vice president of the very successful Optical Systems Division of 3M, shares something vital about strategic risk taking: "When you roll the dice, you want the dice loaded."
No, Andy is not suggesting that such a game exists at any casino in Vegas. He does suggest, however, that in the great game of business, successful strategic companies work hard to play the game where their chance of success is "loaded" with opportunity and safe from extreme loss. How do you find such games? You and your team do your homework.
You work to learn what your competitors are trying to do, where your customers are trying to go, and where technology has the potential to invent an entirely new game. You don't just dream; you check out your dreams. You go out into the marketplace to learn the environment; you talk and listen and read and talk some more and listen anew and react and adjust and prepare. Before you ever decide to roll the dice, you know the numbers that are likely to appear. Certainly, not every roll will be successful. But it is the due diligence and thoughtful team processing of multiple inputs and opinions that makes winning far more likely. You don't increase your odds by daring to dream dreams; you increase your odds by testing and touching those dreams with the reality points in your customers' world. You want to be good at inventing a future someone will actually pay to use. You don't want to be good at producing something no one needs. If you do, you are probably playing with the wrong dice. Do a little homework this week to increase your odds of success in the great game of business.
A PAULSON QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"You don't increase your odds by daring to dream dreams; you increase your odds by testing and touching those dreams with the reality points in your customers' world. You want to be good at inventing a future someone will actually pay to use." --Terry Paulson, Ph.D.
MONDAY'S MIRTHFUL MOMENT
Cece shares via Dr. Ann Weeks and her WEEKS OF FUN # 385 provides this week’s mirthful moment. Every year the Washington Post publishes a yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for various words. The following were some of this year's winning entries:
1. Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash.
When you keep your eyes open for mirth, you just may find it! Hope this kicks off your morning and helps get your mood adjusted for the week. Now, get busy MAKING CHANGE WORK and have some fun along the way!...