Two.O
THE STRONG POLISH THEIR FANGS, WHILE THE WEAK……
Do what needs to be done.
Go. He whispered.
And a series of events were set in motion.
Guru was in prison. Old and wizened, Guru had injured his leg while running away from the cops. He was in a wheelchair.
All he did most of the time when he was out on the grounds and everywhere else, was observe. He was adept at taking mental notes. He noticed everything. It was like his brain had been compartmentalized to watch, count and store it all.
He saw the change of guard, the timing. Even the number of servings in the mess. How many servings for each of the guards and prisoners. When? For which dish? Which day? A sponge collecting all data.
It was a Friday, and there was Guru, sitting and watching it all. For thirty minutes after lunch, everyone was allowed to hang around before getting back to their cells. Halfway through this pause, Guru leaned forward and whispered…. GO.
Rajan snuck up to a security guard and removed a key from the belt chain. The security was napping.
Vijay and two others followed Rajan as they went to one of the internal exits. Stephen, another elderly prisoner, fell down to the floor, and everyone rushed in to check.
In a coordinated move, the quartet used this distraction to get out of the gate and into the catering van.
The rest of the inmates were all part of this act. They had all worked on helping Vijay escape. He had been falsely accused and was on death row.
If the escape seems simplistic, the point being made is something else.
Guru was observing, taking notes, analyzing, and finding chinks.
Friday lunches were special, and some guards got extra ration. A few of the guards, especially the one with the key, fell into a natural nap after the heavy meal. A sleep so deep, he was snoring, and nothing could disturb. Security was lax post-lunch, and the guard changes, not so diligent. A few had to escape; the rest of the prisoners colluded.
One strategist, one central set of escape actors, and a larger support team enabling the actions. It took more than two hours for the guards to find out that four men were missing — enough time for the four to do what they had to do.
- Study, Analysis
- Planning
- Timing
- Execution
SO WHAT?
For your business, do not become part of the victim mentality.
Do not blame the biggies and established players for not giving you a foothold.
Earn it. Snatch it, if necessary.
What do you know about the ecosystem you are playing in?
Who are the competitors?
What is their routine? What are the chinks?
How do you plan to time your action to gain that foothold…..?
When the strong/established polish their fangs
The upstarts sharpen their wisdom…
For the first story in this “52” series:
1. The Cycle Wheel
Pravin Shekar is an outlier marketer, parallel entrepreneur and a raconteur.
mic @ PravinShekar.com
For creative collusions, join: http://bit.ly/JoinMyOutlierTribe
Pravin is the author of eight books: http://tiny.cc/PravinShekarBooks
Devil Does Care, Marketing lessons from The Art of War, Marketing lessons from Mythology, Getting paid to speak, a Virtual Summit Playbook, Climb your way out of hell, a collection of travel pics/romantic poems, and stories from the heart!
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