Bruno Lowagie's Online Gazette

Sometimes I get frustrated when people ask me to tell them more about my business. I always hesitate: Should I start with the past, or should I start talking about the future?

If I start with the past, people say: Nice revenue, but shouldn't you be making more money with that business? Well, maybe I should, but that's not the point, that's how it all started.
So then I talk about the future, and people say: Wow, that's interesting, where can I see these ideas in action? Well, I just told you that these were my ideas for the future. You can only see them if you look inside my head.
Finally I talk about the present, and people say: No, no, no! You're doing it all wrong. Yes and no. If you're a "never change a winning horse" type of person, you're right: I'm doing things differently than before. If you're a "sky is the limit" person, you're right too: I'm still doing some stuff "Old School Style" because one doesn't change his business overnight.

Doesn't anyone read books?
Read the First Law of the Mentat in Frank Herbert's Dune: "A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it."
Or read the words Colleen McCollough puts in Caesar's mouth in The October Horse: "Men who are doers can also be thinkers, but the thinking is done on the move, in the midst of events."

Doesn't anyone understand the dynamics of change anymore? Does every snapshot have to be perfect? Doing business is a work in progress. Whether or not I'm doing it right will become clear eventually. In the meantime, let me experiment, let me throw away the ideas that don't work and let me keep those that do. That has always worked for me.