Today’s Wall Street Journal (WSJ 06/08/07) has a front page article about Bill Gate’s speech at Harvard where he was accepting an honorary degree. It has been interesting and amazing to watch Bill Gates grow and change over the years. Actually, he and I have a number of things in common (OK only two – but that is “a number”): 1) we are the same age and 2) he lives in my neighborhood (assuming you consider a 15 mile radius a ‘neighborhood’).
In his speech, as reported by the WSJ, he provided his “four-point plan for attacking a complex problem.”
1) “Determine a goal”
2) “Find the highest-leverage approach”
3) “Discover the ideal technology for that approach”
4) “And, in the meantime, make the smartest application of technology that you already have”
Of course, the complex problems that Bill Gates refers to include inequity, poverty and disease on a global scale. However, these concepts are just as applicable in the day-to-day business world that I and my clients live in.
I especially like #4 “… in the meantime, make the smartest application of technology that you already have.” I believe this is often overlooked in a growing business. I have always been one that loves to improvise (improve-ise) with what I have at hand – whether in business or around the house (although I tend to have better results on the business side…).
Yes – your business is growing fast – Yes you need a new system – which takes time and money (and a lot of both). In the meantime, look at what you already have available to you. Sometimes it just takes asking a question (of the right people) such as “what if?”, “how can we?” and then “why not?” when you hear the first “we can’t” (which often means “we don’t know how”).
As a prime example, I have seen numerous clients transform the speed and quality of their decision making capability by simply linking a better report writer or analysis tool to their current repository of key operational data (spreadsheet, database, etc) – with a relatively small investment (which creates ‘leverage’). I also see many examples of unused system capabilities that may not be obvious, or were simply not understood when the system went in.
What complex problems are you dealing with in your business? Do you need more, better, faster information? Would you like to see more timely billing and collection processes? How about quicker responses to customer inquiries? Would your staff benefit from more knowledge sharing? When looking at problems like these, I recommend that you start with the assumption that you can do more with the technology you already have.
… And congratulations Bill, on your doctor of laws degree…
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