1717
n
Making far-reaching decisions
luck? Well, partly, but that’s perhaps the rst lesson. I nd that
many successful companies with great innovative strategies (e.g.,
Southwest Airlines, Zara, CNN) experienced some signicant
element of serendipity at their inception. But we (and often they)
post-rationalize things as if it was all planned from the get-go.
But why? There is no shame in getting lucky. A great manager
(such as Hornby’s Frank Martin) does not necessarily come up
with the strategy, but is superb at recognizing the opportunity
when it comes knocking on the company’s door, while subse-
quently carefully adding all the other necessary strategic elements
(marketing, investor relations, distribution, etc.) to take advantage
of the opportunity. Just recognize the importance of luck – rather
than deny it – and make sure you gratefully take advantage of it.
Getting lucky – fortune favors the prepared firm
OK, let me tell you one more story. Once upon a time there was
a plumber, called Geoffrey Ward, who lived in London. One day
Business Exposed172
a local government ofcial told him he would have to vacate his
workshop and ofce because it was located in an area reserved as
a retail zone.
Geoffrey decided to place an old, slightly exotic-looking, artisti-
cally shaped radiator, which he had removed for a client because
it was broken, in the window of his workshop, just to make it
look like a shop. In the following days and weeks, people kept
knocking on his door asking whether they could buy that funny-
shaped radiator. Soon, Geoffrey realized that he could have made
a lot of money had he been able to sell such a “designer radiator”
and decided to change profession. This was how the company
Bisque, which produces and distributes designer radiators, was
founded.
Luck, you say? Of course, but, as said before, many people don’t
take advantage of luck even when it is staring them in the face;
Geoffrey did.
Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, called it “strategic recognition
capacity”. He could have said “know when you got lucky”
(but I’m sure you agree that that wouldn’t have sounded as
fancy). Intel, who of course became one of the most successful
companies ever by producing microprocessors, also got lucky.
In the early 1980s, they were working on microprocessors when
they did not have a clue what they would be able to use them for.
They even made a list of potential applications – which included
anything ranging from handheld calculators to lamp-posts. Yep,
lamp-posts. What was not on it was the computer. It was not
until IBM kept knocking on their door that they said, “Alright
then, you can put our product in this thing you call a PC.”
Yet, was this all down to luck? Of course not; Andrew Grove and
his partners recognized the opportunity when it came knocking
on their door (in the shape of Big Blue’s rather sizeable st). But
there’s more to it.
“Fortune favors the prepared mind”, Louis Pasteur famously said.
He got lucky several times, making important yet serendipitous
discoveries (such as a rabies vaccine). Yet, it was not mere chance
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.