External environment
By Russell Dymond, CEO, Dymond Institute of Business
Recently I celebrated New Year’s Eve with a good friend – a small business owner in the automotive spray painting industry. We did the usual. Liberal doses of food and alcohol were consumed, and there was no shortage of laughter. During the course of the evening, my friend asked, “Why it is that some people have an apparent midis touch?” It’s a question I’m often asked. Is it purely luck, or is their success a result of something more cognitive?
I responded by saying, “While luck may play a role, the vast majority of the highly successful business people I’ve met over the past 25 years do one thing in common – and they do it extraordinarily well. They monitor their business environment to predict future market trends. They analyse external forces, such as their competitive environment, economic conditions, technological possibilities, political and legal forces, changes in demographics, seasonal factors, as well as shifts in social behaviour”. Basically they engage their crystal ball and they do it much better than most.
Needless to say, on New Year’s Day I was feeling a tad lethargic. A restful day; it did, however, give me time to think about our conversation and the various macro-external forces which confronted Australian businesses in 2011. You could say it was a self-inflicted day of reflection.
These are just a mere example of what the successful men and women, above, analyse in advance. Of course, not all forces can be accurately predicted in advance. The 2010 New Zealand earthquake disaster is a prime example.
Well, what a year it was. There were many challenges presented largely by macro-external forces. Although the mainstream media were reporting that business confidence was on the rise, this clearly, from my consultation with industry, wasn’t the general consensus.
Sure there were pockets of our economy which performed well – a notable performer being our seemingly ever-resilient resource
Recently I celebrated New Year’s Eve with a good friend – a small business owner in the automotive spray painting industry. We did the usual. Liberal doses of food and alcohol were consumed, and there was no shortage of laughter. During the course of the evening, my friend asked, “Why it is that some people have an apparent midis touch?” It’s a question I’m often asked. Is it purely luck, or is their success a result of something more cognitive?
I responded by saying, “While luck may play a role, the vast majority of the highly successful business people I’ve met over the past 25 years do one thing in common – and they do it extraordinarily well. They monitor their business environment to predict future market trends. They analyse external forces, such as their competitive environment, economic conditions, technological possibilities, political and legal forces, changes in demographics, seasonal factors, as well as shifts in social behaviour”. Basically they engage their crystal ball and they do it much better than most.
Needless to say, on New Year’s Day I was feeling a tad lethargic. A restful day; it did, however, give me time to think about our conversation and the various macro-external forces which confronted Australian businesses in 2011. You could say it was a self-inflicted day of reflection.
These are just a mere example of what the successful men and women, above, analyse in advance. Of course, not all forces can be accurately predicted in advance. The 2010 New Zealand earthquake disaster is a prime example.
Well, what a year it was. There were many challenges presented largely by macro-external forces. Although the mainstream media were reporting that business confidence was on the rise, this clearly, from my consultation with industry, wasn’t the general consensus.
Sure there were pockets of our economy which performed well – a notable performer being our seemingly ever-resilient resource