I drove by the fork in the road and went straight.

“B”

There are no shortcuts…

When I first got to Brandeis, I was on a pre-med track with hopes of becoming a pediatrician.  One of my first classes was chemistry lab where we had to conduct real experiments and document every step of the process.  Once we reached our conclusion we had to do a separate calculation to determine how far off we were from the correct answer.  It was bad enough that I was wrong but to have to analyze how wrong I was pained me to no end.  Needless to say, I didn’t last long in that class and soon after, I left the path of medicine.  That’s great for all of the future sick kids of the world because I would have been a terrible doctor.  My brain is not equipped for science because if you are at point A and need to get to C, you must analyze - sometimes ad nausea - B.

There are no shortcuts…

My backup plan was business.  I had enjoyed an economics class in High School and was always good with numbers.  Add that to a natural curiosity with how money flows and it was a good fit for me.  I declared my major and ended up graduating with a degree in economics.  I quickly realized that I loved business and decided to create one of my own.  This career path was a natural choice for me because in business if you’re at A, the key is to get to C by avoiding B.  In fact, people earn six-figure salaries by learning how to avoid B.  In business…

There are shortcuts…

There is a difference between taking a shortcut because you are lazy and ingenuity.   The latter is what makes good businesses great and the former makes a business disappear.  For example, you might hate accounting because it takes up too much of your time.  The lazy approach would be to simply collect all of your receipts for the year and place them in a shoebox.  Sure you save the time but the actual task wasn’t taken care of and getting audited will hurt you in the long run.  On the other hand, you can simply hire a part-time bookkeeper.  This way the job gets done properly and you still have the time to focus on other projects.

Let’s say you run a costume-jewelry business in a local town and want to get the word out to the community.  You found out that the most effective way is to physically get your products in front of your neighbors but you aren’t exactly excited about knocking on everyone’s door.  The lazy option would be to send out a mass email and hope people see it.  With a little bit of thought, you could plan a free BBQ at your local community center and invite everyone to come.  When they show up for the food, they will see all of your products on display at once.  Getting your customers to come to you all at one time is how you master the shortcut.

Business relies on trial and error, as it’s not always clear which option is best.  However it’s pretty easy to know if you are taking a shortcut because you’re being lazy and when that happens, its time to find another route.  If you understand your company, you can figure out new ways to innovate and your shortcut will be rewarded.

It’s easy as A-B-C.