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Business Strategy Simplified
Do this. Stop doing that.
Earlier I wrote a story about how extreme preparation led to success in a legislative arena.
It was a fun story, but it obfuscated a key point. Yes, “Success favors the prepared mind,” but we need to understand the object of the preparation: in our case it was overcoming the inherent negativity of Members of the Senate Finance Committee. This object is narrowly-focused; we were not trying to convince the entire 181 Members of the Legislature; we were not trying to convince all 31 Senators; we just needed nine of the 17 Members of the Senate Finance Committee to see that we knew what their concerns were, and that we had addressed their concerns, so they could vote in our favor.
In one of our examples, golf legend Gary Player hit a hole in one, and when a spectator said, “Lucky,” Player replied: “The more I practice the luckier I get.” But what exactly did Player practice to be able to do? My guess: he practiced on par-3 holes. Par-3 holes are defined as 260 yards or less, though most are less than 200 yards, sometimes with tricky sloped greens or adjacent water hazards. These holes are designed so that most golfers can get to the green in one shot, usually with a short iron club. Most 18-hole golf courses feature two par-3 holes.
