Courtesy of American Hell
This is going to sound hypocritical for a business blogger like me, but I am going to say it anyway.
It’s better to get something REAL done than to spend too much time reading my blog. Or, for that matter, the hundreds of other business, PR and marketing blogs offering an endless buffet of secrets, strategies, tips, theories and models.
Watching a continuous stream of inspirational TED videos without any follow-up action wouldn’t help either. Neither is subscribing to a “guru” who spouts periodic tweets of wisdom (in 140 characters or less).
While the age of social media has made it easier than ever to crowdsource for ideas, it has also led to a deluge of half-baked hare-brained schemes that pass themselves off for strategy.
Ideas are not only cheap, they are mostly free. All you need is to have a couple of search engines at your disposal – Google being one of them of course.
The challenge is to implement these ideas and strategies effectively. For a start, you have to seive carefully to separate the wheat from the chaff. Be brutal in culling the thousands of thoughts into a few true gems of wisdom.
Once you’ve done that, think about how you can transform words into action. Ask yourself these questions:
– What are the resources that you need?
– Where are your blind spots and how do you overcome them?
– How much time do you need?
– Who else do you need on your team?
– What are the measures of success?
– When should you quit and when should you persevere?
After working out your gameplan – it doesn’t have to be a thesis – you should then work on doing something and making that idea, whatever it is, a reality. Closely monitor your actions every step of the way, and calibrate your activities according to the results achieved.
Don’t make the mistake of only reviewing your strategy when its far too late in the game. Closing your eyes and praying won’t make real life problems disappear and go away on their own.
Effective implementation of a half-baked strategy often yields better outcomes than poor implementation of a “perfect” strategy.
Good ideas are a dime a dozen, but the devil is in the details – especially when you’re down on the ground executing them. Don’t just take my word for it, go try it out for yourself!
