Running the Gauntlet: Essential Business Lessons to Lead, Drive Change, and Grow Profits

Appendix CThe seven adapt-or-die questions to learn what you don’t know

Awareness is key. As a business owner, you must be obsessed with the things that might put you out of business. You must drive new processes and continuously make improvements to existing ones. You must avoid getting in that success “rut” and falling victim to hubris. You never want to say, “Why didn’t we think of that?” This means you had no idea something was even possible—that’s failing to know what you don’t know and losing after you begin (as opposed to saying, “I had no idea that was coming,” which is losing before you begin; you failed to ask specific questions about an existing product or service that was coming to market because you moved too quickly or thought sloppily). ...