This day the New York Giants will play the Green Bay Packers in American style football in below zero, Celsius, weather. That event pretty much dominated business and social interaction her in Wisconsin, USA this week. There are some business lessons to be taken away from this experience.
Both teams are striving to be the best in the world at what they do. That’s a mighty undertaking. If you have never taken a crack at being the ideal in the world you’ve missed out on something in your life.
Most standout successes failed often in their lives. Few, like Bill Gates would have IBM choose to lease DOS from him rather than purchase it out-right. That was highly unusual even in the high tech era. Most business leaders are like Henry Ford, who failed several times before he got the Ford Motor Company off the ground. If you haven’t attempted to “strive greatly”, as Teddy Roosevelt’s said, you’ve no idea if you can really be a world beater. Still, I know the stakes are high.
Given the weather conditions in which Green Bay and New York will conduct their striving, survival might determine the winner. I’m sure nobody will die of exposure or hypothermia, but the group with the survivors mentality may just be with one to win the contest.
The casualty rate among small businesses is staggeringly high. Always has been. Just making it from payroll to payroll without loosing your home can be a victory. Considering these declining economic times, small business people need to concentrate on survival. It is important to hold long term goals in your heart, but you’re not going to make you five year plan if you can’t keep it together through July it will not make any difference. Unless, like Henry Ford, you can pick up the pieces of your failures and find another way to be successful.
Entries (RSS)