“‘Cause I’m as free as a bird nowAnd this bird you cannot change!”
– L.S., 1973
Ever been attacked by a falcon?
They are great hunters,
Fast, powerful, sleek,
And sometimes hungry.
I didn’t learn this from a book, unfortunately.
I was out for a run,
Taking a break from a huge proposal.
Like my strategy, I wasn’t totally focused,
Bouncing between lessons learned, experiences,
What the competition was doing,
And what decisions I needed to make tomorrow.
Yesterday and tomorrow.
Suddenly… WHAM
[Like the 1963 Fantastic Four comic kind of WHAM]
A pair of sharp talons slammed into my right shoulder.
From what I could tell,
A falcon saw the bright orange tab on my pack*
And decided to see if it was tasty.
Luckily it realized it (and I) wasn’t a snack
And disappointedly flew off into the trees above.
[Or whatever the falcon version of disappointment would be]
I paused, checking my pack and my shoulder,
And finding I was still attached to both.
As I turned to run again,
I couldn’t help but think,
That falcon, although assuming I was tasty,
Or annoying,
Reminded me where I was at that moment.
Your first concerns on a trail run are
In front and behind.
Tree roots, rocks, snakes ahead
[At least where I run]
Inattentive bikers, off leash dogs, and sudden bad weather behind.
[Maybe I don’t have the safest place to run]
The same goes for Strategy.
Our concerns to be
In front – existing products, market forces, competition.
And behind – successes, failures, adjustments, insecurities.
But if we don’t look at where we are right now,
WHAM
Something we didn’t account for
Tells us to get back to the present.
So don’t downplay the importance of where you are.
Sure your strategy will be a composite,
What you’ve learned from where you’ve been
What you are doing about what lies ahead.
But it’s also how prepared you are
Right now
See the last-minute things that swoop down,
As reminders,
Use them to check how prepared your strategy is,
And then keep on running.
*And no, I don’t wear this pack on the trail anymore.
