Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

It is easy to draw incorrect conclusions on cause and affect in organizations. One of the major reasons for these bad conclusions is time. Good organizations will succeed and bad ones will fail in time. I have yet to find a way to predict how much time that is.

Google is in cloud computing. Microsoft announced it will be, too. Let’s all jump into cloud computing. After all, these companies are successful and they are doing it. Let’s pause a moment, back up, and look at this.

1. Google and Microsoft are in cloud computing
2. Google and Microsoft are successful

Is 1. the cause for 2.? Maybe, but maybe not.

Is 2. true despite 1.? Maybe, but maybe not.

Okay, I’m not smart  enough to answer these questions, but time will tell. After all, these guys are out there in the marketplace and the marketplace will speak. I believe in that power and wisdom of the marketplace, but when will time tell? A year? A decade?

Well, in the end, time will tell. I agree with that one, but as someone once said, “in the end, we will all be dead.”

Confused by now? I am pretty confused and I am writing this.

Time is a big factor in markets. If you make a bad product and have bad relations with your employees, you will go bankrupt. See, for example, General Motors. But General Motors was doing these “bad” things for decades before they fell (at least they would have fallen had it not been for our generosity).

This is a tale of caution. Just because someone is doing well, doesn’t mean I should copy their practices, products, or any part of their culture. They may be on the road to failure, but time hasn’t worked itself through them yet.

The reverse is also true. Just because someone is doing poorly doesn’t mean I should avoid their practices, products, or any part of their culture. Their time to shine in the market may have not arrived yet.

I think that patience is important. It is unfortunate that many of us don’t have the finances to allow patience and time to take their place. Such is the market.