Timing is the key to success

Success can be easy, hard, or impossible; the goal is to find the easiest progress. Somethings have a “natural lift,” that is, consequences, events, and circumstances rise up to support them. Other things have no such assistance. The idea of natural lift relates to timing. The time is right. Victor Hugo said, “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” Success requires hard work, yes, but it doesn’t have to be hard to achieve.

I could share stories about great ideas that failed by being too early. A project, for example, I did called “Myroom.com” aimed at teenagers. The product has all the functionality of MySpace three before its’ success. Or ZoomCulture, which preceded YouTube by seven years with nearly the same premise. They were great ideas and poorly timed. Not only did they fail, they did so with solid execution and tremendous effort. Good ideas before their time.

Success and failure are comprised of many factors. A lot of these factors are visible after the fact. Whatever the root causes, even if you don’t know them, they are in the present moment. You have to discover them. The saying that someone “found success” doing something is a literal one. The art of succeeding is finding things that work and combining them into something of higher value when the time is right.

Uber is a great example. In most cities, the taxi industry is a monopoly where the municipal government licenses cabs to operate on city streets. The government can charge more if the cab operator makes money regardless of service level or quality. The result is that the government and cab companies win, and the customer loses. Customers don’t use taxis as much as they might because the service is terrible. There is unmet demand.

The critical timing element of Uber wasn’t demand; it was the ubiquity of cars, smartphones, and geolocation data. Uber combined elements to create value in an underserved market. The natural lift was a monopolized, crummy, over-priced competitor.

That, if you’re starting something, is a great thing to find.

If you want to start something, like a business, come up with five different ideas and pursue them simultaneously. If it’s a goal, act on parallel plans to achieve it. The priority is to find what works, what helps you reach the target with the least resistance and the most environmental assistance. Your five ideas or plans can all be good, and each is dependent on timing to succeed. The issue is to find the one or two where your efforts provide the highest return.

You may decide to join a company. Don’t ever join one that is struggling.

That is the primary screen for employment.

The secondary filters are culture, industry, and customers. Culture drives your daily work experience, as well as the likelihood of success. Seek a growing industry that serves customers you respect.

I’ll write separately about these filters and link it here when I do.

Don’t join any struggling effort. You’ll never receive actual value for effecting a turnaround. Which is unlikely anyway. It’s usually flawed in non-obvious ways. The work will be a slog. The culture depressing.

It may be poorly timed or badly executed; bad timing can’t be corrected. Poor execution can be weak management or judgment. That’s why it is struggling. The poor decisions of inadequate management might be evident in hindsight, but if the same analysis is being applied to current issues, the results will be similar. In any case, you won’t likely be in a position to correct the underlying management problems. The world loves a turnaround story or arise from the depths, but they are less frequent.

The takeaway is to not try and find success in a failing company. Mainly because it isn’t really there, it’s hard, and you won’t be paid for it.

On the other hand, finding success in a growing enterprise is straightforward. And you’ll likely be overpaid for participation in a victory.

The culture in a successful company is usually good. There are more opportunities for experience and promotion; you’ll be exposed to better management. Finding personal success is probable. The rich get richer, the winners keep winning is the way to bet. Don’t wager ever against Tom Brady, Nick Saban or, Dabo Sweeney. Joining a winning effort is mining gold where it exists. That is really the only place to look for it.

The search for success is one of discovery. Finding it where it already exists or soon will exist. The toughest part of finding future success is understanding timing. You can guess, but you will probably be wrong. So, pursue multiple paths, at the same time, to discover the truth quickly.

In the battle of idea and timing, the right plan at the wrong time will always fail. Find the right plan for right now.