Way back in 1932, Hal Roach made a Little Rascals short called Free Wheeling. This is the one where Dickie has a stiff neck and his mother insists on treating him like an invalid. Stymie takes him for a ride in the Gang’s new taxi. Long story short, although nothing could possibly go wrong, it does and Stymie finds himself going downhill at breakneck speed with no breaks. At this point, someone asks him “Stymie, where are you going?” to which he utters one of my favorite maxims:
“I don’t know, brothah, but we’re on our way!.”
It dawns on me that if you can’t take that ride with Stymie, the world of digital media isn’t a very easy place for you these days. Too often we take decisions based on the facts we have and move forward, often forgetting that the circumstances of this business change as often as the sun comes up. If you think in absolutes then you are absolutely likely to fail.
There’s an entire field of study devoted to fuzzy logic, which I think is about the best anyone can expect with respect to business decisions in this field. Anyone place big bets on all those dial-up ISP’s? Good decision at the time. Not so much these days. Place all your eggs in the Google Video basket while ignoring YouTube? Well, they were quick to change their plans – did yours change as well?
Things change. Often the problems we have arise because we stop paying attention after we set out down a path. Evaluate the facts, make the best decisions you can. Paralysis through analysis never wins. Get on the ride and get going. But don’t take your eyes off the road because there’s probably a curve coming and you need to negotiate the turn smoothly. Otherwise, you, Stymie, and the rest of the Rascals are in for a nasty bump.
Consult Keith 