Navigation and the Entrepreneur's Expedition

They asked the famous climber, Mallory, why he tackled the high peaks? He replied: Because they are there." Ask most start-up entrepreneurs why they make the trade-offs that become part of their lifestyle, and their answer can be just as cliché.

Once entrepreneurs take the plunge, they spend the greatest percentage of their waking hours on the job. They put their lives on the line trying to reach the summit of their ventures, investing time, money and effort. On this journey they express their creativity, forge their self-esteem, resolve character-related issues, and cultivate relationships.

But how many of them, when they are honest with themselves, admit that in the process of climbing toward success they have lost their bearings? They’re no longer sure what really matters and where they’re heading.

They need a map to guide and help them, illuminating the signposts along the path to keep them oriented to the realities of their undertakings and its position in the marketplace. Without these markers, how they we be sure they are blazing the right trail - let alone climbing the right mountain?

Getting lost on an expedition is easy. With poor or outdated maps, the consequences for those relying on them can be fatal. Seasoned climbers make sure they are carrying reliable charts to guide them. Trying to navigate without dependable information is asking for disaster.

Successful entrepreneurs recognise the value of accurate navigation and look to their strategic orientation in relation to their reason for being as a reliable map to guide them. They simple know that, without it, they cannot know where they are going.

Businesses get so bogged down in routine tasks and the daily ritual of simply getting things done that it makes them forget exactly what they’re trying to achieve and where they are trying to go.

Take some time to consider the major changes that occurred in your industry over the past five or ten years. Could you have foreseen them? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Perhaps some. More important, ask yourself if, ten years ago you spent some time to consider what the major changes over the next ten years would be. If you had, would your business be in a better position now?

It is therefore important for entrepreneurs to regularly call time-out to make sure that they…

• still understand their position in the marketplace;
• are still moving forward with a sense of direction, purpose and urgency; and
• are still focusing on the key issues of customers and markets, and the skills needed to deliver to those customers and markets.
  

The only businesses that do not need to be concerned about this are the ones that…

• have no competitors,
• are in total control of their destiny,
• remain unaffected by changes in the industry,
• exist in an environment that never changes.

Otherwise it is essential for every organization, large or small, public or private, service or manufacturing.When it comes to shaping the future, the entrepreneur must address a number of questions:

• Where are we now and how did we get here?
• What did we do well, or badly, to arrive at our current position?
• What business are we in?
• Will this remain the same, or will we need to change? If so, to what?
• What factors internal and external to the business will, or can, have an impact on what we do in the future?
• Where do we want to be in the future?

Once these questions have been addressed, the entrepreneur can start tackling the next question, namely, how are we going to get there? And this would primarily be about managing change… a topic for a next time.