Blog post 33 Innovate

INSIGHT 26 | TRACTION MATTERS

Rallying at full speed, blindfolded, isn’t the smartest idea.

If that’s your route to market, a co-pilot matters.

Who’s acting as your eyes and ears in the passenger seat?

And do they know the road better than you?

in²⁶ | Traction Matters

Pitch to the market… By all means possible 

On the start line, whether powered by engineering or lungs, waiting for the lights to go out or the gun to fire, lightning reaction combined with instant traction is what you strive for.

But you have to earn that traction. In the case of Alex Honnold, it was the result of intensive training and an unwavering dedication to planning.

Alex didn’t have a roadmap in the conventional sense, yet his meticulous preparation covered every conceivable eventuality. Freerider, plotted on paper, resembles a volatile stock chart for a company aggressively on the rise, surging on market sentiment. Peaks, troughs, downward trends to navigate before climbing again. Just like in business.

This is where you realise that having a plan in mind is never enough. It ultimately needs to evolve into a roadmap against which you will build, deliver and scale your business.

And imagine if Alex had simply stopped the moment he reached the summit. Job done. Accolades received.

Just like Alex you need a plan that extends beyond your immediate goal. This is where your business plan becomes invaluable and morphs into a delivery roadmap. If you were in a rally you’d have a co-driver for a reason, and this is yours.

There will be many things you try that in themselves are small breakthroughs, but it’s important to recognise not all will immediately bear fruit. The trick here is to be resilient, keep pushing, explore new outlets and wherever possible in person. People buy from people, that human connection matters.

Consider who will buy from you and how they will buy. Creating multiple personas will help frame this. Take a leaf out of Eddie Murphys’ playbook and exaggerate character traits to gain clarity.

We’ve established you’re the driver but in this context, you need to listen to your co-driver the one with the map that calls out what’s ahead. I mean really listen, if you want to take the next corner at speed, keep traction as the gravel and mud flies clouding your view.

Every driver needs someone calling out what they can’t yet see, don’t they?