What can we learn from a sporting failure?
Tremendous summer for sport this year - could that explain the two week gap in posts?
England beat Australia in an ODI series, British drivers are challenging for the F1 championship, a British semi-finalist at Wimbledon, and, oh yes, the fly in the ointment - England’s performance in the World Cup.
So what has this to do with technology businesses?
Leaving aside the vast amount of technology used at the top level of sport today, and at risk of sounding like a football pundit, there are some significant things businesses can learn from England’s football fiasco.
Here are my top 4 suggestions - one for every goal conceded against Germany perhaps?
1. Objectively benchmark your capabilities against the opposition . Your technology will have certain unique features and it is all too easy to believe that these are utterly compelling to your potential customers. You need to know how much your customers value your unique features and what measureable difference these will make to them. You may need outside help to do this if you, like England, are at risk of believing your own hype.
2. Play your own game - not the one your competitor wants you to play. England have been criticised for only being able to play high tempo football. This is a reasonable criticism for a side with aspirations to be world class. However, it is what England do best; and guess what? the only time they looked competitive was when they were playing high tempo football.
3. Avoid betting the business on one key staff member. England appeared to have only one game plan for scoring which was built around Wayne Rooney. He was off form for all four games and England had no plan B. Unless you are a two man start up, make sure you avoid this trap.
4. Make sure you have lots more innovative product developments in the pipeline and an effective process for delivering that pipeline. In 2000 England and Germany both performed badly at the Euro 2000 tournament. England changed their manager, Germany changed their entire youth strategy specifically to produce more high quality players. Germany wanted to win today and tomorrow and the day after. Successful technology businesses need to ensure their product out performs the competition for the full length of their product roadmap.
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