Letters. I bet we'll get letters about this month's lead
feature, "Get in the Ring". Granted, our call to crush
your competition could be construed as a bit too harsh for some,
but before you judge us, consider the adage, "When the going
gets tough, the tough get going."
So, in these uncertain economic times, it's time to get
tough and get going. But before you get up from your desk and
scream at your employees, "Things are going to change around
here!" remember that tough is not mean. Contrary to what some
people think, running a business does not give you the license to
be nasty. I've heard too many use "it's business"
as an excuse for behavior that borders on the unethical and
unacceptable. Just because it's business doesn't give you
the right to be a son of a bitch.
And that's not what contributing writer Geoff Williams is
suggesting in the article. Instead, you need to re-examine what you
do and how you do it and compare that to your competition's
practices. Figure out what they do better than you and why. And
then adjust accordingly. And immediately.
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These are not ordinary times. If you don't set out to crush
your competitors, you're leaving yourself wide open to be
destroyed by them. To paraphrase golf legend Tiger Woods talking
about his fellow golfers on the tour: It's a competition.
Friendship goes out the window when we get to the first tee.
In other words, it's kill or be killed.
Of course, there are some competitors you can't
eliminate-they're just too entrenched in the market. If you
find yourself in that situation, whether you're just starting
out or trying to grow your company, you'll find plenty of solid
advice in "Push and
Shove". One of the keys to success today is, as the
authors of a forthcoming book from Entrepreneur Press put it,
"niche and grow rich." Discovering the unexploited gap in
the market is like finding the proverbial pot of gold.
Like much of what we do, it's a fine line we walk when
dealing with competitive matters. But walk it we must. After all,
as General George Patton once said: "Opportunities do not come
to those who wait. They are captured by those who attack."