Skip to main content

Godin's Fish Story

Nile perch Lates niloticus in comaprison with ...

Image via Wikipedia

Man, it's been a weird week for Godin. Nile perch as an analogy for distractions? Really?

Check the wikipedia link he cites. 

He is suggesting that you might try something new- like the fancy exhibit at an art museum but it detracts or distracts from what either needs to be done or even worse might have long term negative implications for what you are doing.

Unforeseen consequences are commonplace. You think you might be doing the right thing by doing something new or different.
But the reality is that most of the time, you try to think about that don't you? Negatives are often going to accompany the positive, the best we can do is anticipate as best possible and know what you can deal with.

If YOU brought that exhibit in, you'd make sure you took care of the day to day and KNEW what the tradeoffs on bringing it in are right?

Read the wikipedia article, like all innovations you try, you won't know if it works or not until it is tried.
It is a mixed bag, some negative and some positive. Mind you, in THAT case, the long term impact still isn't known, but there are people on both sides of the aisle for the immediate impacts.

Really, this is a cautionary tale for eco-systems, less a commentary on you trying something new. Just be smart about it.

The better question might be, how do you make sure you are innovating the right way?

Related articles

Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.

Popular posts from this blog

New Life

  It's weird, sad and slightly freeing. I've been headed towards a completely different life for a lot longer than I even knew. It took me a while to catch up to realize it was happening.  Thankfully, I was cognizant enough to see it finally and mostly ready for it. It's amazing when you have the rug completely pulled out from underneath you. The adjustments are jarring.  I made mistakes, but like most I learned from them, adapted, and tried my best to do better. The reason you see that truck next to a storage place? That's the sum of my life right now.  Never take for granted that you will work hard for something or someone, and it will end up meaning very little. You are guaranteed nothing, owed nothing, promised nothing. Anything and everything can be taken away in a heartbeat.  I wrote this to my kids a while back: I tried to be the best father I could be based on what I knew when I knew it and how I could. One of the lessons for your life needs to be: you n...

Guiding Light

Most folk who know me, know I lost my father when I was 14 years old.  However, before he passed, he shared a timeless secret with me—a practice that would shape my life in ways I could never have imagined. He didn't teach me meditation in the traditional sense, with incense and crossed legs. Instead, he showed me how to meditate by gazing at a lone light on the ceiling.  When I was very young, I had night terrors that would wake me in the middle of the night. I'm sure it was terribly frustrating to calm a child from that. But my father had the way. I never understood how he came to the practice. But over the years, I've come to understand that my father's unique approach to meditation was, in fact, a profound lesson in mindfulness and presence. In a nearly pitch black room, he would tell me to find a speck of light, not unlike a star. Then focus. He would say, "Just watch the light, like you're watching a story unfold. Be the observer, not the thinker." I...

Check out my appearance on the The Toddcast Podcast

Click and watch the podcast recording of my appearance on the Toddcast Podcast  Such a fun time!