Writers or stories?A great story carries itself. But what about the other 99.9% (of stories)? A good writer makes a story come alive; also known as non-fiction. A great writer creates her own story; aka fiction. Many of the stories we know, love, and repeat would be nothing without a storyteller, i.e. a person.
Players or play?Every professional sports team, baseball, basketball, football, soccer, etc., has the same plays. So the outcome is decided by how well the players execute those plays. Or how they adjust when the other team does something to stymie the original play.
People or technology/strategy?These thoughts came to me after a visit to one of my banks’ ATM machines. Every time I go to one of their machines the first message tells me they are, “checking my preferences.” Then they ask if I want to use English or Spanish. You’d think that if they really were checking my preferences they’d know I want to use English.
When I get cash the screen shows two places to the right of the decimal. Yet the machine doesn’t give out coins, or even $1, $5, or $10 bills. So why have those places to the right of the decimal (other banks don’t)?
Because as with the first two examples, it’s the people. Someone writing code didn’t take off the decimal places or actually have the system remember my preferences.
It always comes down to the people, in your business and mine. Strategies are a lot easier to formulate than execute. As with sports, there are very few, in any, new strategies (they do change over time as technology – not just high tech – changes). But it takes the right people to implement the strategy
It’s a reason some owners decide to sell their business, they want to work in the business versus managing people. It’s the reason business buyers (should) put an emphasis on the people, as it’s really what they’re buying.
“The best way to know your faults is to notice which ones you accuse others of.”
