The other night I was watching a fascinating documentary on the operation to hunt and kill Osama Bin Laden.
One of the most interesting parts of the decision making process that led to President Barack Obama to approve the mission was the fact that the US security people were only about 50% sure that Bin Laden was in the house they were to attack.
Obama weighed the options and decided to proceed. Had he waited for complete certainty, the opportunity may have been gone.
There are parallels here for entrepreneurs and particularly start-up business owners. Even after exhaustive research and thorough planning there are times when you simply cannot be 100% sure than an idea is going to work.
The worst thing in business is to be paralysed by this lack of certainty. Entrepreneurs must be prepared to take calculated risks to succeed.
The other lesson I took from the documentary was that Obama insisted as much planning went into the back-up escape plan as it did the actual mission.
Having a well-thought-out fallback position is also great advice for an entrepreneur.
Get it done – today!
