Thinking a lot recently about a series of important issues facing me for the first time in a growing business.
Measuring Success.
Numbers, projections, tables, legal documents, and facts on the ground are, EASY TO MEASURE.
What are aspects of business (and life) that are extremely HARD TO MEASURE?
I have in fact found myself in a daily position of looking at opportunity, and challenges to see in each decision if in fact they are "measurable, easy to understand barometers of success?" Or, are they -- "difficult, not transferable to direct impact and easy interpretations of success?"
Confusing?
It is to me.
But, I have struggled to make sure I define nearly every question posed to me this way, using my internal filter of life that is continually getting stronger, and hopefully more seasoned by the day.
It's also about uncertainty, and the winds of change.
In today's Washington Post, there was a article titled: "For Bold Marketers, Downturn Can Point Up."
Key quotes from the piece:
“As advertisers cut marketing budgets to focus on activities that are of provable worth, agencies that can respond to client demands for more-measurable results will be able to take market share from less nimble competitors. The winning firms won't necessarily be the biggest, but the ones with the greatest mastery of the latest technology….
…Astute leaders will see the downturn as an opportunity to stay fresh and reach an increasingly fragmented audience more cost-effectively. And an aggressive firm that may not have launched innovations will have the opportunity to overtake a firm that had a first-mover advantage.
A downturn can be either a stumbling block or a stepping stone. You decide.”
I witnessed this PRECISE combination of events back in 2000-2001, and I happened to be at the epicenter of a group of talented people who saw this as a GREAT OPPORTUNITY to be a stepping stone......
How do you measure that, (investing in change) while it is happening?
How do you measure being ahead of the "winds of change?"
Simply put: You can't.
Validation comes from within ......until proven right or wrong, with measurable results.....
It's what happens in the interim - until the results come in, that define our decisions.....of whether we were correct, or we failed.
And every single time -- the "interim time period" or the early stages of change -- are fraught with risk, uncertainty, and trepidation.......
That CAN BE measured.
Make sense?
Andy
PS. July 13, 1985 - Live Aid Concert in Philadelphia. This video is a story about what happened on that same exact day musically.....on the 20th anniversary of a very special "immeasurable event of 1965." This video aired on the CBS show, West 57th -- in 1985, and it is very special......
Video is here:
