Last Wednesday, I got a wake-up call the likes of which I never expected…and it has changed my life. Oh yeah, not hyperbole. It started with a simple walk and ended with what I think demonstrates an important lesson in life…and an important lesson in business.
What was it? Well, as I said, it started when I went for a walk…
Those of you who know me well, know that I power-walk three miles at least three or four times per week. I do this for my health…even the Mayo Clinic says you should walk to improve your fitness. I walk because when I’m in shape, I feel better. But mostly for my health.
I’ve been walking like this for years. I find it invigorating. All-in-all, with warm-ups, stretching, power walking, cool-down, and returning home – I spend about an hour in the process.
A well-known and well-worn course…
I have plotted a course with two loops that total about one mile in distance with three progressively upward-sloping hills to raise the impact of the workout. I also walk at a very quick pace – swinging my arms and kicking out my feet. I attempt to increase my pace upon beginning each successive lap.
I generally see and greet the same neighbors and deal with the same amount of traffic every time. This walk is not only a great workout, it is also a fantastic way for me to get some serious thinking done. I am generally deep in thought, working out both vexing long-term problems…as well as plotting my steps for that day’s To-Do list when I reach my office.
Cement barriers…
It is an old neighborhood and thanks to city-planted trees in yards near the street, the now matured tree roots have totally disrupted the old sidewalks…causing them in places to tip up, or sideways, or both. Little-by-little, the city is replacing these displaced chunks of cement, but since we’re a relatively urban area, there are miles and miles of sidewalks that will take the city years to finally replace them all.
With the regularly ruptured sidewalks challenging to traverse for even casual walkers to navigate, serious exercise walkers avoid them altogether by walking in the street – which is not affected by the root issue. I walk in the oncoming lane right along the curb. This way, you can easily keep an eye on approaching traffic and step out of the street up onto the lawn if needed to avoid traffic.
A normal routine…
I walk early in the morning. This is when bleary-eyed commuters are heading out of their homes on their way to their jobs…either driving themselves there – or speeding off to the express train station just one short mile away in the center of town.
This whole routine is quite safe. I do have to watch drivers who sometimes – perhaps late to work – hop into their cars, slam the gear shift lever into reverse, and hit the accelerator. I’ve learned you can’t assume they see you. Other than a couple of close calls, I’ve never had a problem.
A delicate dance…
But as you may have surmised, this system isn’t foolproof…as I learned in what would become a huge wake-up call for me. The combination of me being in deep thought, and drivers rushing to work can be a delicate dance…and almost yielded disastrous results that Wednesday morning.
As I said, I walk right along the curb – in the oncoming lane. I keep a close eye on cars coming at me in the lane, but never concern myself with vehicles coming up behind me…as they are on the other side of the road, almost two whole lanes away from me. I keep an eye on what’s ahead – and pay no attention to what’s behind.
Then…it happened…
Then it happened. I heard it coming. Just another of the thousands of cars that have passed me in the other lane over the many years I’ve been walking. And…as usual…I paid no attention to it.
Then – WHAM! – it grazed my right arm. I yelled loudly – oooooouuuuuuuuucccccccccchhhhhhh!!!!!
How close was it?!?!?! The driver’s side mirror just barely kissed my right arm. The fact is, I wasn’t hurt physically. But I had the crap scared out of me! I was definitely injured – psychologically. And I yelled!
Rubbing my wounded tranquility…
Adrenaline flowing, heart pounding…I stood for a moment rubbing my arm. Why was I rubbing my arm? It didn’t hurt. I was confused…looking around me…not sure what I should do. The car didn’t even notice that he/she came that close and kept driving on. Maybe they were texting while driving…maybe the driver was heading home, drowsy after a night shift, who knows? Even the Center for Disease Control recognizes the danger of distracted driving. But to me…this was a total surprise!
Was it a total surprise? I’ll bet some of you began to sense the danger in this story well-before you got to the point where I told you I was almost hit by a car. Maybe right after I said I “walk in the street.”
Metaphorically speaking, many of us engage in this falsely confident and slightly reckless type of behavior in business. We have a certain process we go through..a certain way of doing things. We develop a false sense of confidence knowing that there is no need to worry about our blind spots – nothing ever comes at us from there anyway!
Why they’re called ‘blind spots’…
What exactly is a business blind spot? Generally, there are two primary causes for businesses to have blind spots. Michael Porter, the granddaddy of business strategy, defined blind spots as “conventional wisdom which no longer holds true, but still guides business strategy.” [Wikipedia]
You can also build a moderately successful business strategy based on a flawed, or partially flawed, set of assumptions which will slowly over time emerge to create problems later. This can only happen with businesses are launched with poor business planning or lack of due diligence.
Likely culprit…
But for many companies the former is the more likely culprit. We launch a business, manage to build it to a reasonable level of success…then fall into a rut. And then slowly, almost imperceptibly, the market begins to shift. But we’re not watching…
We drop our guard. We stop keeping a reasonable level of scrutiny on those things that can hit us from behind. Hell, we don’t give our blind spots a second thought…that’s why they’re blind. We just go merrily along, doing the same things, the same way, and then…
Then it happens – BAM! – you get hit with something out of the blue that you never expected. It could be anything – your competitor opens a spiffy new store…and all your customers go there – OR your banker demands your financials and threatens to call your loan…and you know the financials don’t look so good this year – OR a key supplier that you’ve represented for years and built your company around…pulls the line to give to a competitor – OR any number of other scenarios.
Blind to you anyway…
To you, these were totally unforeseen circumstances. But in reality, had you identified and kept an eye on your blind spots, you could have been better prepared. Often, other observers can see them more clearly than you can. I call this the ‘can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees’ effect.
In fact, this is one of the key services that strata-gee.com’s parent company, The Stratecon Group, Inc., provides for clients. Stratecon can conduct a deep assessment of your business known as a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis will identify your company’s: Strengths…Weaknesses…Opportunities…and Threats. A big part of your weaknesses are your blind spots.
Ready to take the next step in business success? Identify your blind spots. Then come up with a monitoring system to “keep an eye on” them. Don’t overly fixate on them…make it time appropriate. It can be simple. Things like – follow industry trade or general news reports on your retail competitors expansion plans – OR keeping close with your banker and taking steps to keep your reports in order – OR meet with your vendor regularly to make sure you understand their needs AND that they see you’re doing everything possible to meet their expectations.
Putting my blind spot into my sight line…
And me…well, I still walk in the street. But now, when I hear a car coming up behind me – I glance over my shoulder and keep an eye on where they are and how close they may be to me.
I don’t want to be surprised by my blind spot anymore. And, if I’m keeping an eye on it…it’s not a blind spot anyways!
How about you? Have you run into any blind spots in your business? What were they? How did you address them? Leave a comment below and share your story.
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