Rowboats and Motor Yachts

Since Thanksgiving, the Holidays and all things winter are upon us, I thought it would be nice to talk about boats.

When you started your creative business you were a rowboat.  You supplied all of the power, you could turn instantly, go anywhere you wanted, there was nothing you did not know.  Then the business grew and you became a fifteen-foot runabout.  You did not supply the power any more, but you still could go turn pretty well and pretty quickly, go wherever you wanted and you still knew everything instantly.  Then the business grew some more and you became a thirty-foot speedboat.  You definitely did not supply the power anymore, you could still turn, just not on a dime and when you were going full speed you were literally holding on for dear life.  Over the din of the engines, spray of the water, you could still know everything even though it was not easy.

So now you are a sixty-foot motor yacht.  The controls are above deck.  You can no longer turn on a dime and even starting the engines takes an hour.  While you are underway, if there is something going on below deck, without a real crew, you do not know about it and, even if you did, there is very little you can do about it.  Very simple, your job is to steer the boat.  If you go below deck to handle whatever is going on down there, you will crash.  Then again if the yacht is ruined by the time you get to where you are going not much point in getting there.  So you stop the boat to fix what is going on down below.  Of course, when you get back up to the controls, by the time you get there it might just be too late.  What you need is information to make sure that the things you care about below deck are maintained and improved on WHILE you are at the controls steering the boat.

Creative businesses fall down because their models do not evolve as they grow.  You cannot drive a motor yacht like a rowboat any more than you can be all things to all people when you are the President of the United States.  A rowboat, runabout and even a speedboat can have crews that do what they are told, no more no less.  You can still see everything.  A motor yachts needs to have a crew that can think independently, know their roles and problem solve when needed WITHOUT input from the captain.  When you cannot see everything, you need information to make sure all is well in your eyes.  What you need is what you need.  Get more or less than you need and you will not steer the boat as well as you could.

Takeaways for your creative businesses – if you are happy being a rowboat, runabout or speedboat, do not waste your time getting ready to be motor yacht.  Just make sure you are being the best rowboat, runabout or speedboat you can be. However, if you want to be (or are) a motor yacht, know what it will take to operate that boat is fundamentally different from being a rowboat, runabout or speedboat.  If you are not prepared to give responsibility AND authority to your crew for their roles, it is inevitable that you will sink – either you will crash the boat because you chose not to steer or the boat will fall apart while you steer.  If you are a motor yacht (or intend to become one), your success is beyond your control.  So find those that savor the role you offer them and then fully empower them to fail.  Yes, fail.  Evolution is never linear and testing a theory that ultimately does not work is only information equally valuable to the ones that do.  If your staff can never be wrong your creative business will be safely boring, the very best at being mediocre.  All fine until a better functioning motor yacht (or rowboat, runabout or speedboat for that matter) comes along and kicks your ass.  Instead, choose the information you need, make sure you get it and then challenge those generating the information to ask different questions.  Your ultimate success depends on those around you asking what tomorrow should look like instead of trying to make it a shinier version of today.  Assume talent and capability, demand innovation.

Scale matters, business model (i.e., what type of boat you are) matters more.