Looking out from the office window at the traffic honking in gridlock down on the street made me think how traffic behavior would work as a business analogy.
Many people from slow driving cultures complain that driving in a big city is hard. Dangerous, impossible, lunatic.
It isn’t, actually. It is just different.
The pace is faster, of course, but there is also a major difference in how everybody observes the surroundings.
In places where you have the luxury of space, people drive without looking around. As long as you stay on your lane, all you need to care about is your own vehicle.
In a roundabout in Paris, cars, busses and scooters (especially scooters - swarms of them, emerging from nowhere just to disappear again) drive close and at you, and expect you to see them, regardless of who is right or comes from right.
That feels tough and chaotic at first, but there is a big benefit. When you try to change lanes in the midst of a rush hour to take an exit too late, the others see you. And often give you a slot.
But once you get your slot, you don’t have time for speculating. Would I fit? No, I don’t think so. Maybe after all. Maybe not – Bang, the slot is gone.
And now to the business analogy: Should we discontinue this business? Concentrate on the new promising business area? Well, we would lose a couple of clients. Maybe we should. Maybe not – Bang, the slot is gone.
It is a flux around you. To get somewhere, you need to be quick. Sure, you will get hit every now and then, but, hey, I challenge you to show me a successful business that hasn’t taken a couple of blows along the way!
I guess there are business areas left where you still can stay on lane and keep driving your own careful driving, but it is only possible in places with empty space around you. That is rare these days.
So if you are from a small town with a slow driving culture, make sure you don’t do business like people around you drive.
Look around. Honk! Make a move.
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