Back in 2008 I wrote a post about learnings from Obama’s election for startups … I am now compelled to write the second part of that observing what appears to be dissapointing presidency of Barack Obama.
Here are some lessons for startups …
- Long term vision, scalability are all great but with out short term tactics there is no long term existence … why plan a new colour scheme when your house is on fire … put the fire out first
- Get quick wins to rally the team… instead of showing short term success , Obama started mega changes like Health Care and Energy that may take a decade to show any impact … even Sachin gets his centuries on the back of singles and not just 4s and 6s (home runs for Americana) … what about jobs today?
- At times one needs to know it’s time to stop selling and marketing … and focus inwards to build the product / service right. Execution matters … even more than ideas. Obama gets a C for execution, who cares if his ideas win Nobel prizes?
- What you say NO to matters more than what you say YES to … many times. Looking back … every time Obama didn’t say NO diluted his power and eroded his credibility … the latest spineless capitulation on Bush tax cuts will further alienate every one from all camps …. for a startup not saying NO will reduce focus at every step and eventually result in lack of excellence
American presidency is only of academic interest to me … but it’s sad to see such a dissapointing gap between expectation and reality for a leader who captured world’s imagination. One hopes the second half of this term will see an improvement in the same.
This surely teaches ideas, marketing, long term vision etc. are all great … but make no sense unless they matched with execution in the short term on the ground.
Sridhar Turaga's blog 