The Active Investor: focus

Showing posts with label focus. Show all posts

Sunday, March 28, 2010

A Disease of Choice

If we focus enough on the potential of contracting a certain disease, we will increase our chances of actually getting it to the point where we are actually sick. What if that were a good thing?

House M.D. is a television show about an obnoxious doctor who ingeniously cures patients with exotic conditions in spite of his offensive manners. In one episode his staff was impressed with the positive attitude of one of their patients, who in spite of having a condition they couldn't cure was always kind and caring. This was a personal challenge to House who begins his relationship with the patient by trying to make the patient react badly. That never happens and a frustrated House suddenly considers the possibility that maybe this patient isn't upbeat and positive in spite of his disease, maybe he's that way because of the disease. This insight leads to a diagnosis and cure. The episode ends with the cured patient still being kind and caring, which was something of an annoyance to the lead character.

We believe many of our short-comings may be the result of medical conditions. For example, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) makes it difficult (perhaps impossible) for sufferers to focus and therefore succeed in areas that require study. This is serious condition that should be treated and not ignored.

Now if something exists, then it's possible that its opposite also exits. What would a life be like if we could also suffer from an opposite brain condition, Inattention Deficit Disorder, IDD? The symptoms would be an inability to be thoughtless and distracted which would require the sufferer to live a life of complete awareness. That would be a great disease! If we were obsessively worried about contracting it, we might actually get it! To obsessively worry, one would continually imagine what life would be like with a medical inability to suffer from your perceived short-comings.

Every personal investment has its elements of self-doubt and reservation. These can control and derail us from our purpose in life. What if we had a medical condition that made it impossible for this to happen to us? What if we had the insights, confidence, and courage we need because of a medical condition that just made us that way? If we have a purpose in life, isn't it reasonable to be able to contract it?

While suffering appears to be an unavoidable consequence of living, there is both productive and unproductive suffering. Why not choose the former?

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Finish Strong

I can still remember the game that made me a Dallas Cowboys fan for life. I was eleven years old and living in Houston. At that time Texas had the semi-pro Texas baseball league; but there were no major league teams in any professional sports.

It was 1960 and the NFL announced the formation of the Dallas franchise. The original Cowboys were selected from "unprotected" players on other teams. They were also the unlucky 13th team in the league.

Frustration was the reward for following the Cowboys that first season. They could lead for 3 quarters but NEVER win, including giving up 17 points in the last 6 minutes of their first encounter with San Francisco.

After 10 consecutive losses we were thankful the season had only 12 regular games. Game 11 was against the New York Giants, where our Head Coach Tom Landry had been an assistant coach the previous year.

Even with a slow start, the Cowboys managed to stay in this game, catching up to the Giants but never able to stay there. The 4th quarter began with another Cowboy's come back to tie the game 24 - 24. The reigning conference champion Giants didn't let that last. Soon they had the game back with a 31 - 24 lead. With 2+ minutes left, the Cowboys took advantage of a New York fumble and scored. It was 31 - 30 in the final moments of the game with Fred Cone lining up to attempt the extra point. None of us listening to the game dared to even think about what might happen. The ball was snapped, placed, and kicked through the uprights. We had tied, 31 - 31! It was the first major league professional game Texas had not lost. We had a right to be there; and I was now a Cowboy's fan for life, even though I wouldn't live in the Dallas area for another 30 years.

Everyone knows we should finish strong. That gets confused with winning and it's not the same. Every transaction can end with increased value, even if the result is not what we had in mind. An Active Investor is alert to any value that can be gained; no opportunity need be wasted. If nothing else, can a final result create an increase in trust between us? There is always an audience; will our finish create fans?

No, the Cowboys didn't win that game (or any 1960 game, the season was 0 - 11 - 1) but they had what it takes to finish strong. That won them their original lifetime fans. No, the Texans didn't win at the Alamo; but they won many hearts and we will always remember. They finished strong and that spirit was later at San Jacinto where a vastly out-numbered Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna with courage more than military strength.

We can't count on always wining. We can always intend to finish strong.

Image Credit: sidurkin

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Our Highest Calling

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Business is tough these days and the temptation is to become all things to all buyers so that you might sell something to some. That's another self-defeating behavior arranged by an Ego whose focus is on its own well being. We simply can't be successful at the business of everything. Our market message becomes confused and we're now known for nothing. Would you remember "Widgets, Gadgets, and More Stuff" or would you more inclined to remember and try "Widgets Are Us" the next time you need to satisfy a widget craving? While we can't be everything, we can be something. The question is "what?"

People associate known good or bad qualities in one area to other areas. They think that because someone is attractive they are also resourceful and honest. They will be suspicious of another if they simply know nothing other than they are poor. This is the halo effect. If you have a positive image in one area, a halo will create a positive image elsewhere.

Being exceptional in one area calls for a focus on it. The fear is that a narrow focus will limit business and cripple profitability. Not always. People's tendency to associate can continue to work to the Active Investor's advantage. If a business demonstrates competence in a complex or unusual area, customers will assume their competence in simpler and more common aspects of the business. The art of profitable focus (halo building) is to choose to build your reputation of excellence in the most complex or unusual area where you can still prove your excellence. Without your drawing attention to any other aspects of the business, prospects will simply assume they have been handled with the same degree of professionalism.

When traveling Interstate 35 through Texas, stop in the town of West. Along the east service road are 3 gas stations, each with a large marque sign competing for your business with major oil company brand recognition and current pricing. At this level they seem similar; however, one of them has so many cars parked there, they have purchased the lot next to them to handle the frequent overflow. This business also sells kolaches. They've created so many delicious varieties the crowds of travelers come without a thought of a major brand or the current pricing. Any travelers new to kolaches see those crowds and assume if they're that popular, these have to be worth buying.

The Cost of Goods Sold for a kolcahe is small change; but what has been achieved by a successful focus on the unusual is worth millions. What should be our focus? What is our highest halo? The answer also is our highest professional calling.