Is Not A Strategy
MANY FIRMS and many people live their lives by chasing the trend.
They ask themselves questions like, what’s popular? What are other people doing? What’s the “it” thing?
They then chase the trend in an attempt to ride the wave of prosperity and capture some of the growth, glory and profits for themselves.
This may work for you, and it may work more than once.
A key problem though with “chasing the trend” as a way of thinking and as an approach to business is that it is fundamentally unbalanced. It allows goals to be set by reference to external events, by the whims of the crowd, or a passing fancy. You risk becoming a moth to the flame.
Chasing is not a strategy.
The alternative is to look internally, and to do the hard work of figuring out who you are as an organisation or as a person.
What are you best at? What comes naturally to you? What can you bring to the table that others may find difficult?
You can then match your capabilities with market opportunities, and build your strategy from there.
After all is said and done, you may end up being part of the trend. But you will no longer be chasing.