Sweating It Out

Sweat it out in the gym: World Champion Downhill skier Lindsey Vonn has the amazing physical talents necessary to compete at the highest levels of her sport, but all those she competes against also have those talents. She has the support of coaches, trainers, nutritionists, and equipment specialists but so do all the other athletes at the top level of sport. In the off-season Lindsey works out in the gym an amazing seven hours a day working on strength, flexibility, and focus. In a sport where races are won or lost by thousands of a second it is the mental toughness on top of the physical attributes and support that makes champions. Those who are willing to sweat it out in preparation are the toughest competitors. Those with the same talents and support but are not willing to put in extraordinary effort make up the rest of the field and those with a passion for the sport but don't have the talent sit on the sidelines and cheer. It's the same in every sport and the same in business.
In the business world champions are the ones that put in the effort to create business plans, strategic plans, marketing plans and then revise their plans as conditions evolve, they put in the effort to conduct performance reviews, set challenging expectations, then motivate and coach their staff to meet and exceed those expectations, they put in the effort to gaze into the future and create expansive visions then articulate that vision to pull their company forward towards reaching it.
I could go further down this thought process but these are unusual, perhaps unique, economic times. Companies are threatened in many unusual ways because of the financial situation. I guarantee you that those businesspeople who are willing to "sweat it out in the gym" will be so much better positioned to survive and thrive than those who attend to "business as usual" and neglect the planning, the motivation, the inspiration, the visioning. Those that, in more normal times, are satisfied to be "also-rans" may end up sitting on the sidelines watching. It's a choice. My choice is to get in the gym.
Send a comment or question to Larry: Larry@larrygaller.com

MUSINGS
"King of the Mountain" - Control versus Experiment
Remember playing the kid's game, "King of the Mountain?" It's still being played by adults in the business world, though it is given a different name.
Direct Marketing (often referred to as "Junk Mail") is a metric driven media. In other words, either it produces results or it doesn't. Often the results of a successful mailing can be expected to remain fairly constant over a very long time - there are some classic mailings that have produced constant results for decades.
But good Direct Marketers don't just sit back and enjoy their successes. They are constantly experimenting. They use the word "control" to define the consistent, results producing advertisement and, whenever they mail the "control," they send a very small amount of an experimental mailing at the same time to see if they can beat the "control." Most of the time, the "control" wins so they continue using it.
Occasionally though, the experiment produces greater results so they expand the test on the next mailing to see if that one experiment was a fluke or does, in fact, outpull the long-used winner. If the experiment consistently performs better it becomes the new "control" and the game of "King of the Mountain" continues with new experiments as the rival.
This "King of the Mountain" technique of measuring results between "the way we've always done it" versus the "new idea" works well in marketing but it is also effective in many different areas such as manufacturing through-put, office procedures, incoming and outgoing telephone sales, even in NASCAR pit stops (if holding the wrench in the right hand is faster than the left hand).
Try playing "King of the Mountain" at your place. Measure the results. When you find a technique that consistently beats the old control, expand the experiment and if it continuously wins, make it the new "King."