Enterprise lessons from a shepherd boy – 2

By the time you read this, the result of the 14th July election in Ekiti State would have been announced and a winner would hopefully have emerged. I voted in the election. Except for a few reported skirmishes, it was a largely peaceful exercise. But it was far from being free and fair! The level of vote-buying and attempts to manipulate people to vote in a particular direction even under the eyes of security agencies was mind-numbing! My verdict is that a candidate will win the election but the real losers will be Ekiti State and our democracy. If what I saw on Saturday is a pointer to what to expect in 2019, we still have a long way to go! Back to our discourse.

Every successful leader or entrepreneur understands that the strategy for winning most battles is usually inspired by exposure and experience gained outside it. By the time you enter a battle, it is too late to start preparing for it. David looked like the underdog in that arena on the day he showed up. However, he was more than adequately prepared. Even though everyone thought he was being foolhardy, David perfectly understood what he was doing. He had adequate experience working for him. His boldness was coming from his success in some encounters outside the current arena. As a shepherd, D avid had singlehandedly fought and killed a lion and a bear at different times. When King Saul tried to dissuade him from going ahead to fight Goliath, he simply regaled the king with testimonies of his previous encounters and victories outside the present theatre of war. If you have succeeded before in a venture, it is a pointer to the possibility of your success at subsequent endeavours. Success in a particular business is a sign that you can succeed in others.

In life’s field of play, defeat or victory is largely a function of perception. Focus is the strength of motivation or demotivation. What you focus on grows in your experience. According to the story under consideration in this write-up, when the Israeli army saw Goliath, they fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. What this means is that the more they focused on the enemy, the more discouraged they became. The more discouraged they became, the more afraid they became. What are you seeing about the competitor? His size and strength, or the size and strength of your vision?

Our perceptions ultimately define our definitions. The Israeli army saw “the giant”. David saw “this uncircumcised Philistine”. By extension, our definitions shape our conduct. Seeing Goliath as a giant meant he was invincible since no man in the army of Israel could match him for size and fighting experience. On the other hand, David’s definition of him as “this uncircumcised Philistine” meant that he was no match for the covenant of circumcision that made God a committed ally to anyone under it. So, David moved in that confidence.

When your focus is more on competition than on developing your uniqueness in the market, there is a tendency that you would spend most of your time analyzing the state, stature, strategy, resources and the strength of your competitor. The more of that you do, the less time you have to develop a unique strategy for reaching your own goals. Undue, protracted analysis of a problem only leads to the paralysis of initiative. The result of this is a morbid fear of the problem rather than a desire to solve it. By the time King Saul had finished rehashing the biodata of Goliath, it was obvious that he was already defeated within himself. He wasted no time in letting David know that he (David) too could never be a match for the giant who, according to Saul, had been a warrior from the time he was a youth.

What fuels achievement? A clearly defined desired outcome as well as the attendant reward when the outcome is attained are the critical ingredients required in sustaining the motivation to achieve. No matter what we seek to achieve, it is important to know that there will always be obstacles strong enough to make us want to give up midway. Leaders recognize the challenges and the obstacles. It would be foolhardy to pretend that those problems do not exist. But they go beyond that. By focusing more on the solutions and the rewards inherent in providing them, highly effective leaders stay motivated and passionate. Like Saul and the rest of the army, David saw the giant. But beyond that, David saw the trophy. So, it was not surprising when he asked what the king would give the person who could kill Goliath. From the moment they recited what the reward was to him, David was fired up and determined to get it over with. From that moment, when others saw the giant, he was fixated on the prospect of becoming the king’s son-in-law and the victory parade which would entail a public display of Goliath’s head. Great players keep their eyes on the ball and the goal-post. Every other thing comes secondary. To succeed at any venture, always ask yourself, “What is in this for me?” rather than “What is working against me?”

Battles are won largely on the strength of intelligence. Information is power. More often than not, you win a battle through the quality of information in your possession but which your competitor does not know that you have. The sage Solomon opines that a man of knowledge will increase in strength. However, no matter the quantum or quality of information that you acquire about a problem or your competitor, it is of no value unless it can be deployed towards a solution. Saul had so much information about Goliath. Unfortunately, rather than use that information to discover the chink in Goliath’s armour, it became his own Achilles’ heels.

The mindset or strategy that got you to where you are is inadequate for taking you beyond where you are. A change of outcome would require a change of mindset or strategy. In the same vein, the mindset that perpetuates a problem should never be expected to come up with an effective strategy for solving it. When Saul saw that David was resolute in fighting Goliath, he offered David his royal armour. In a different situation, that would probably have been a remarkable honour. But this was not a usual challenge or conventional battle. The strategy had to be different. If Saul’s armour had been so effective, one would wonder why he had not simply put it on and gone to fight the giant. David politely turned down the offer and settled for what had worked very well for him in time past. This points out one thing. Never trust the man who stands trembling by the side of the river when he gives you direction on how to get to the other side!… continued.

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!