Are strong opinions that useful?

Firmly held ideas don’t have a great track record.

Strong opinions have little to commend them. They’re correlated with high blood pressure, anxiety and depression. Psychological studies say they are associated with ego rather than evidence and can be blamed for poor decision-making in times of stress.

Yet we all have opinions, some of them quite useful. Where is the line between dysfunctional self-belief and a healthy point of view?

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Beware: Cliches Ahead.

Sometimes there’s a reason the road less travelled is not congested.

It’s easy to come up with slogans to explain success. Management commentary is full of them yet they often describe a singular success that isn’t easily transferred to another business.

“Sticking to your knitting” might be a successful strategy for one firm but not for a competitor. You could say it works for Walmart, but it didn’t for Sony. It stuck to the Walkman way past the arrival of the MP3 player. A better cliché might have been “when the horse is dead, get off”.

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Strategy Vs Tactics

Optimizing your business and your life.

Vislon, purpose, mission, goals. They are big words and there’s value in all of them. But once you’ve worked them out, nothing will happen without action. It’s where strategy and tactics come in. You need both.

What’s the difference between the two?

Strategy is a plan designed to accomplish the end result. Tactics are the procedures that implement the plan.

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Blowing your inheritance

Managing your DNA in business and life.

Genetics have always been a good excuse. We often hear it. “There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s the way I am.”

Sometimes, that’s a good thing, like healthy acceptance; other times it’s resignation and disempowerment.

You hear the dichotomy in business with statements like: “We are really good at doing this” versus “This is the way we’ve always done it.”

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Getting Lucky

Sometimes, the flip side is the better track

In 1978 Gloria Gaynor was a moderately successful singer. That changed when she covered a Righteous Brothers number called “Substitute.” Few would remember the tune. That’s because it flopped. On the flip side was a new track no one had heard of. It was called “I Will Survive.” It went to the top of the charts and so did Gloria Gaynor.

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