TOE DIPPING: STRATEGY OR EXCUSE

There is an inherent lack of boldness amongst businesses today. It is a phenomenon which I would like to call "Toe Dipping".

My belief is that many corporations are into analysis/paralysis and when a new idea is considered, there is reams of information, market reviews, thousands of pros and cons identified and then maybe, just maybe, let's do a pilot. By that time often the opportune time for getting to market has passed and the corporate titans that go and high-five each other that they dodged another potentially unprofitable investment. But has this all just become a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Although I would not got strictly on "gut-feel", I do believe that we have missed grand opportunities across the business spectrum because we no longer trust our business acumen (aka intuition). That is partly because we do have so much information (much of it contradictory) at our fingertips and a multitude of people who have somewhere in their job description the term analyst.

Are we doing ourselves any favors? 

Interestingly, one of the founders of one of the most successful companies detested market research...that being Steve Jobs. And do you think that Mark Zuckerberg said "well let's not launch this Facebook idea until we actually know that the public wants it!" Or Twitter, or Google...the list of examples is endless.

But here are large corporate entities who are probably sitting on the next innovation, but are letting it die because of corporate red-tape and fear. As Steve Jobs indicated, the market doesn't know what it wants until I tell them.

I'm not saying stop all due diligence, and I also recognize that there are some highly regulated industries (like pharmaceuticals) that definitively have to adhere rules.

However, mostly, I'm tired of seeing red-tape and pilots result in the crushing of opportunity. Let's be cautiously risky and although there may be some failures that will inevitably happen, those that would embrace this approach would leap frog the competition and become highly profitable.

Jump in. Toe-dipping is truly just an excuse.