Thursday, September 2, 2010

PacBiz Strategy – Watch the Greediness

In our new installment of the joint strategy of Pac-Man and business.  Remember there are many overlaps of life/business and Pac-Man.  Accordingly, we are calling these strategic rules PacBiz Strategy.  I am up to over 20 of these strategies and I will be posting blogs on this forever. By way of review:

Lesson #1 – On the first board, eat as many Pac-dots as possible before going after the power pellets.  The power pellets turn the bad enemies into edible creatures that you can devour for points.  Reason is that you have lots of time in this first board before the enemies get real close to you to pile up the points.

Translation – build infrastructure first.  Be careful that you don’t get over-anxious.  I find that my tendency is to do too much too fast.  Consequently we outgrow our infrastructure too fast and it puts the business at risk.  Generally we have more time than we think.  Usually there is not an immediate “enemy” and we have time to do things right.  As I have gotten older and the over-anxious mistakes pile up, I am becoming more cautious.

Lesson #2 – When devouring your Pac-enemies, it is so easy to be enticed as the points double with every enemy you eat.  200, then 400, then 800, then 1600.  You really pile up the points when you get those 1600.  Further if you get 1600 points, the enemies tend to bunch up and give you a good chance at getting another run of 1600 points.  However, if you really chase the enemy, he can turn back and get you in which case you have wasted your life chasing the stupid Pac-enemy.

Translation – don’t go overboard chasing the dream.  Take the points off of the board.  That is a decision we made in selling three businesses.  That is what gets people in gambling – they just can’t stop.  It is the excitement of the game.  On the rare times that I have played the slot machines, I always have a cap on winnings and a stop on losing.  Draw a mental image of your stop point.  Even if it means you are leaving a lot on the table.

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