In 1991, a few things happened. It was my penultimate year of high school. I kissed a girl and I liked it, I managed to get my learner's driver’s license on the second attempt, and I won the school golf championship.
It was also the year Street Fighter hit the circuit in South Africa.
It was the first of the iconic two-player fight-focus video games. The game terminal at the downtown corner café was always crowded that year with enthusiastic combatants waiting their turn. Kids figured out the special moves for Guile (the blonde-haired hero with the helicopter kick, iconically played by Jean-Claude Van Damme in the later movie) and the green-skinned hulkish Blanka (he took a chomp out of other player’s chests).
You know what I remember? My buddy Hermanus figured out how to do the helicopter kick for Guile, and after that, I just couldn’t get close to him. He had one move, and he beat me every time. I would jump, skulk, run at him… but way before my mutant champion could get his teeth into Guile, he would kick the ever-loving crap out of me.
Fast forward 33 years, and I find myself at an arcade game over the weekend. It’s part of the kids’ club at Fancourt, and after being humiliated by the golf course, I regained some level of self-respect by beating up a 5-year-old. The arcade game now comes pre-loaded with a few more options, and I was playing AJ, who was delighted by squaring off Guile and Hulk against my Blanka and Spider-Man.
AJ went nuts. This was his first arcade game, kids these days don’t really know them. And the six buttons on offer and the turbo-charged antics fuelled a frenzy of noise, punching buttons and having a blast. So, lots of business, but very little result.
See, I figured out Spidey’s big move: Press the two buttons on the side together double tap, and he does a little lasso trick with his webbing that quickly knocks out the opponent. One move – but it worked. AJ went wild with multiple buttons and multiple incoherent strategies – and I just kept on throwing his Hulk around with my webbing.
Isn’t life and business like that too? We can get distracted by the noise and all the options and find ourselves in a loop of constantly trying new things and chopping and changing our tactics and strategies. Or we can just choose a move, and then execute that move. It can get boring, for sure. But effective, as well. Rich Mulholland talked about the allure of newness and the value of being boring in my book “Boks to Business”. It’s the real human condition and sticking with what we’re good at is quite hard for distractable entrepreneurs like me.
Jim Collins calls it The Hedgehog Concept. Rassie Erasmus calls it The Bomb Squad. Figuring out your world-beating move, and then getting really really good at it. That’s the secret sauce and staying with it… there’s the real trick.
As for AJ? I’m going to enjoy the victories over the 5 year old, I get the sense that he has a talent for these violent games…
PG’s Pro Tip:
I’ve seen it many times, and I’ve been at fault myself. When you take your eye off the ball with the thing that got you here because you’ve discovered a new shiny toy. It might be a new product, a new market, a whole new business idea. That’s where you can quickly get yourself into trouble, financially and reputationally. Stay focused, please play with new ideas… but make sure you don’t divert attention and resources away from what works already!
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