Slowly Picking Up Speed
I’m not a fisherman, nor do I even pretend to be one. But I did actually enjoy fishing growing up, if I went with my Grandpa Rockwood. There are a few reasons why it was enjoyable going with him, and not anyone else. First, we usually caught a ton of fish (he still never really told me his secret). Second, peeing of the side of the boat in the middle of the reservoir is fun. Thirdly, and the most enjoyable I loved to see how fast my brother and I could get the boat before my Grandpa noticed. There are two reasons that this was fun First is that my Grandpa was pretty much deaf, and couldn’t hear the motor as we sped it up, and second I don’t think I ever saw my Grandpa go any faster than 25 in his car so when we began to hit the wake at full speed, he would begin to fear for his life, and come to the middle of the boat, and move the throttle back down to turtle speed. With the occasional joke that this boat really needed to have a snail speed.
So why would I tell you about this fond memory from my childhood? Well it’s because of the lesson that I’ve learned by playing that game. You see if you make changes in small increments, you make it easier to gain great momentum, and keep that momentum going. But here is the most powerful aspect of that story, gradual change isn’t noticed as often by your competitors. And even if the do begin to notice something they usually consider it small and discount it. So by the time your at full speed skipping the wake from the speed boat in a small fishing boat thinking this is the funnest thing ever. All while your competitors who have grown old, are fearing for their life wondering how they ended up in this predicament.
Category: Marketing Musings
