I grew up completely enamored with the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and children versions of Homer's Greek epics told in "the Iliad" but the current market reminds me of fond memories of another type of book that used to find it's way into my backpack on the way to school. I'll start by saying that I hope many of you at some time in your life had the absolute pleasure of reading a Pick-a-Path book on your favorite subject.
If you've never heard of one, it really was an amazing concept. You the reader, were immersed in the most dire and urgent of situations to consider and were presented with no less than 3 options to pursue. Given the impending urgency to resolve the problem you pick the direction that best met your mood, astrological influence, social upbringing, moral code etc, and turned to the appropriate page. And here's where I fell in love with the book's design: if at any point you decided that outcome simply wasn't what you wanted (your hero died, the world blew up, your true love never came), you simply went back to the previous page and picked another option which of course had to be better!
I offer that short analepsis in relation to our businesses we manage today. Not to the extent that we exerted absolute control over life's outcomes at 11 years of age but rather the tools we have available to us to to better navigate the right course through our own stories we are writing years later. This then leads me to the creation of this blog and its future entries.
Given the quite incredible credit crisis we're in and the resulting transformations that the lending community is going through at the moment, I find my own company and our shared industry with an outcome I don't quite like. I am quite willing to admit I don't know the answers but I do this know this; where noise and discomfort grow in a process and community, someone will find a way to make money fixing it. I see no reason to let that opportunity go buy without improving our own outcomes and better ensure that the path we do chose..... is of our own choosing.
Over time my intent with this blog is to present any combination of process ideas, industry observations or personal challenges that I welcome comment on. I have a realistic approach to this blog outcome I hope... I am not likely to change how my friends, my coworkers or customers respond to me but I can absolutely change how I respond to them. This is my attempt at doing something different and offering a forum to share ideas, concerns, observations that while serve as great conversations in many 1-1's might have value to a larger community.
My closing disclaimer is that my opinions offered today or at any point in the future on this forum are highly likely to be biased in favor of eLynx's platform and services.
Copyright @2008 Michael Pelfrey -- Views expressed here are not necessarily those of my employer.
Michael,
Great analogy. I look forward to seeing more posts like this from you.
-Alex
Posted by: Alex Pozin | May 12, 2008 at 11:24 AM