Musings at Altitude

What does it mean to be nimble in business?

Recognizing an opportunity and being the first in to take advantage of it?

Recognizing a change in the market and adapting your service or product to reflect the new or changing interests?

Realizing members of your team or your team leaders may not be the ones that can deliver against expectations and quickly and decisively making the tough choices and hard changes to get the right team on that business field to win the game?

All of these, of course, define nimble.

Small businesses live nimble…they have to…it’s life and death if they don’t.

Big businesses tend to lose nimble…it’s a natural step in the evolution of bureaucracy…nimble is replaced by lethargy.  The quick and decisive movement of the small business is replaced by the lethargic and stodgy processes of the big business.

Many big businesses today mask the lethargy by claiming innovation, yet the innovation requires intensely formal investigation and review before a “quick” decision can be made.

That’s not nimble.

The victor on today’s business battlefield will be the truly nimble warriors who innovate on the fly and quickly adapt their arsenal and personnel to put the right force to bear against the right business target at the right time to achieve maximum business battlefield success.

That’s nimble.