“If we do it for you we have to do it for everyone.”
I remember getting that justification from a senior team official a few years ago when we had some Olympic wrestlers in town and asked to bring them out to a game. The organization had always been very supportive of Olympians, so it seemed like a no brainer, and I decided to ask how many other Olympians had come out, thinking that they were deluged.
“None, but if we say yes to one group….”
None.
Perceiving a problem that doesn’t exist.
We come across this a great deal, whether organizations are startups or have been around for quite some time. In a world where we are time challenged, sometimes can’t do the research or worry about the problems much more than the opportunity we lose the value of building brand, creating relationships, realizing special moments, and frankly, having fun in a business which should be all about fun.
Some recent ones have included “What if so many people apply our website crashes?”…”what if we run out of vouchers for the giveaway?”…”what if we give someone the wrong size item?”…and my favorite, what if someone in our community complains we are off message?
The reality is none of those things happened, but when you operate from a mindset of problems vs problem solving you get caught in inertia, and inertia in any business is deadly.
Now this is not to say you shouldn’t be ready for the mistakes or the rainy day. That comes with experience, and by troubleshooting you actually set yourself up to lessen the issues that may arise.
But to not do for fear of what might happen, especially when it’s a very solvable problem? Cmon.
Especially for startups and challenger brands, the creative, the disruptive, the fun, the engaging, is what we should be all about. Push the envelope a little, take a chance, especially a fun one, and for Heaven’s sake, be inclusive as you can. Those relationships you build outside of the “what if’s” will usually deliver a lot more than problems that never happened.
Just ask the team, who had another official laugh and welcome our Olympians…they created stars and lasting relationships, and no one got turned away.
