subject: Blue Birds or Vultures? [print this page] Blue Birds or Vultures? Blue Birds or Vultures?
How often do we see an unexpected event as an annoyance? Or perhaps even a threat? After all, we have our plan, we have our course and focus. We're on a roll and we do not want to be disturbed! Or we have a set way of thinking and we are not about to change. We know we're right!
But what if that unexpected event is a gift? A chance to grow our business faster, to displace a competitor, to catapult ourselves into a whole new level of success?
Sometimes even something that appears to be negative on the surface can be a positive when we search more deeply. I know, we've all heard about "blessings in disguise" forever - but mostly I think we see that statement as a way to placate and soothe - not as a call to action.
I've seen so many clients who have had an opportunity drop right into their laps - yet they haven't been able to see that opportunity as anything but a nuisance (or worse) because they were so stuck in their status quo business gravity.
Take for example my client with a software platform in the 90's. They had a solution to a significantly important, yet missing, piece of two HUGE vendors internet solutions. This company was struggling - yet this software was invaluable to these other vendors. When both of these big vendors approached this client concerning a potential to partner, their CEO responded with a raging "No way"! These guys were competitors and he wasn't about to work with them. He'd power his software platform to market leadership all on his own. Who cares if these vendors were 1000 times his size and already owned the internet developer's marketplace.
Now that's some Gravity thinking! What a sad way to look at a huge opportunity for growth. The problem was - rthe opportunity looked different than the plan - so it had to be a scary vulture - not a welcome blue bird!
Needless to say, the company didn't become the market leader and is now gone with the wind. The two big vendors? They each found another partner with software that had half (or less) the functionality of my client's. These smaller companies were both acquired by the larger vendors for more than 30 times their investment. How's that for a profitable return?
We all have such blue birds fly across our path.
The question is - do we see them as blue birds of opportunity, or as scary vultures?
