A few years ago in this space The reflected on My old Datsun 210 hatchback, and how when the battery died I could get it running again with a simple jump start. All I needed was some friends to give the car a push and help me generate some forward motion so I could open the clutch and restart the engine. The point I was trying to illustrate was that momentum beats perfection, not just for dead batteries, but for business as well.
I thought of the metaphor again when I found myself explaining to someone how to find our new office. It’s on a side street she likely hasn’t heard of, tucked a block past a familiar intersection. I gave her the address, but knew the information alone would require her to take the extra step of looking it up on her phone while she was driving. However, by telling her where my office was in relation to some major roads, I knew she would be able to picture the area in her mind and find it without a problem.
It’s interesting that when we give directions to people, we often refer to intersections and not just addresses. An address provides more specific information, but is not necessarily more useful.
An address is precise but abstract. My real estate agent mom seemed to be able to visualize the location of almost any address she was given, but that’s because driving the streets of our town was vital to what she did for a living. Most people wouldn’t know the difference between the 300 block and the 1300 block of any street unless the intersecting streets themselves are numbered (and sometimes not even then).
However, intersections are different. We can visualize them. And once we do that, we not only know which general direction to head, we can mentally look around and imagine where the place we’re looking for might be. Picture the general vicinity and there’s a good chance you’ll remember the lay of the land, recall a familiar landmark, or infer where something is from the general surroundings. Depending on what you’re looking for, if there’s a retail center on one corner, an office park on another, apartments on a third, and a gas station on the fourth, that’s useful information. By picturing the intersection in your mind, you may not even need the address.
How to help others “see” direction strategically
The point is that humans think visually, and the more we can help each other “see” where we want to go, the better, even if it’s just an approximation. My business partner, Jonathan David Lewis, tells the story in his book, Brand vs wild, of a team of young rugby players whose plane crashes in the rugged Andes mountains. They were ultimately saved because they knew one thing to be true: “To the west is Chile.” This is. That’s all they had. There was debate about how best to use that information, but knowing in which direction salvation could be found ultimately led them out of the wilderness.
The future is always unknown, and it’s natural to want an address—to know exactly where we’re going. But just as centralized planners can’t run an economy, the best strategic minds can’t predict exactly where a business plan will lead. You may have a preferred route to your next meeting, but anything from a car accident to a malfunctioning headlight to a broken water main can redirect you. However, as long as you know roughly where you need to go, you can almost always find another way.
When my firm first conceived To pass, a cloud-based platform that uses digital technology to streamline the funeral planning process, we had no idea what twists and turns and near-death experiences the company would face. When we first pitched the idea to investors, we couldn’t tell them exactly where we’d end up, but we could help them imagine how the power of technology to improve consumer experiences could intersect with moments more difficult of any use. life. Then, they were able to envision the potential for a solution that would be as beneficial to the victims’ families as it was inevitable, and together we set out to get there. Today Passare has found its “address”, both conceptually and online, and more people are taking advantage of it every day.
What is your company’s strong intersection?
This is how startups work. Founders inevitably have a specific initial application in mind, but they begin by envisioning a powerful intersection: between technology and hospitality (Airbnb), between shopping and transportation (Stitch Fix), and between the assembly line and fresh food (Chipotle ) to cite a few notable examples.
If you’ve ever had a connecting flight at an airport that was in the opposite direction of your final destination, realized you were going the wrong way on the freeway, or assumed an address was on the east side of town when it was actually on the Westerners, you know how frustrating, time-consuming and unproductive it can be to go the wrong way. Even if you don’t know exactly where you’re going, starting to move in the right direction will get you miles ahead. The difference between progress and regression is one of direction.
No business model will work forever; you will inevitably need to move yours. It can be difficult to know exactly where it should end up, but if you spend all your time searching for an exact address, you might just run out of gas. When you’re trying to get somewhere, direction beats perfection.
Steve McKee is co-founder of McKee Wallwork + Co., a marketing consulting firm that specializes in turning around stagnant, stalled and stale companies. McKee is the author of “When Growth Stops” AND “Power Branding.
The opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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