June 11, 2010

Sometimes you have to go for it!

Just when I think I'll have a tennis lesson without an aha, Nick Mathews proves me wrong. 

Today's aha from him had to do with going for the winner, when getting the ball back over the net is a futile strategy.  He'd serve, I'd punch it back, he'd send me sprinting to the right, pop it up back to him, then he runs me to the left ... and eventually, he puts it away as my tongue is hanging out of my mouth. 

Over and over again, he admonished me to, at some point when I had a chance, plant my feet and square my shoulders - and let one rip down the line.  Go for the smash, put him on his heels and win.  When I had him a break point, he wanted me to go for the kill on the first opportunity - because how often do I have my coach at break point?  By focusing on keeping the ball in play, I'm just playing patsy with him until he decides to put me away. 

He's like: "What's the use of even returning the ball like that (soft, safe)?"  

Point taken: Winners don't play to survive. When facing a bigger rival, they look for a time to strike. They take a mighty swing, making themselves vulnerable to an easy return or an out-of-bounds shot. Nick put it this way: "It's risk/reward. When I'm in control like that, you have no risk when you go for it, just the reward of surprising me with a forceful winner."

OK - now here's the bigger lesson to be learned: This applies to any competitive situation.  Take your small business, for example.  Are you just trying to keep 'the doors open' each month, while your more aggressive competitor hits spinners at you?  Are you letting the last eighteen months put you in a defensive business posture? 

Ask yourself, what's the use?  What is the real value of staying in business one more month or one more quarter, if you are merely doing it just to keep doing it?  At some point, you need to go all in when you have a chance and do something BOLD in the market. 

Launch a predatory promotion that under cuts a competitor that can't respond nimbly.  Double your service levels when a bigger competitor isn't thinking about customer experience.  Do an all-out canvas of a market while your competitor is covered up with a big job.  Just go for it and extend yourself in an effort to find opportunity in the current climate. 

That's what Kelloggs an Chevrolet did in the 30's, when their competition (most of them much bigger brands) were conducting an expense driven business model.  Kellogg's went for sweet.  Chevy went for sport.  Both of them had huge gains during this period - and risked important cash to do it.  Had they just played to survive, they would have remained 3rd Tier players as their rivals (Chrysler, Post) eventually got their second wind and applied ample resources to extending the lead or putting their weaker rivals out of business. 

At the end of the day, you have to embrace failure as possible, and noble so long as you give all.  Regret comes from being timid, and realizing that it was your ego that convinced you to prioritize survival above excellence and gusto.  To quote Motorola's Paul Galvin: Do not fear failure. 

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