A colleague recently wanted to know what I would do to “thwart” (man, I’ve always wanted to use that word, “thwart”) a competitor who, and in her opinion, was just waiting for her new product launch so that he could steal her ideas and launch his own, competitive product.

“This guy in known for doing this”, she said, “And he is also known in my industry for his unscrupulous methods.”

Satchel Paige, unquestionably the greatest baseball pitcher never recognized by white America once said, “Never look back … for someone might be gaining on you”.

Come to think of it, old Satch never once said that he was talking about baseball, now did he?

Hey, I’m not advocating turning a blind eye towards competition. To the contrary, we do have to keep a wary watch on our competitors at all times. (Was it not Ronald Reagan who once said, “We must judge our enemies not by their intentions, but by their capabilities.”?)

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Take a hundred guys. (And ladies, you know that I use the word “guys” to mean “everyone”, right?) Tell these folk that you are going to run a marathon --- twenty-six miles and change (385 yards? I forget.)

Blow the whistle and what happens next?

Right. Some folk will go maybe a hundred YARDS. At that point, they’ll see the taillights of their brethren and they’ll say, “To heck with this … I’ll never catch those damned rabbits … where is the nearest bar?”

Same thing will happen at the one-mile mark, the five-mile mark, and the ten-mile mark. People will simply lie down, shaking their heads, thinking, “Now who the heck roped ME into doing THIS in the first place?”

But eventually, one person will be the first to cross the finish line. This person will actually win this particular marathon race.

But why?

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When I was bankrupt (some twenty-plus years ago), I had plenty of time to just think. After all, I had no customers other than the court-appointed receiver, and I certainly had no employees, either.

And yes, these non-existent employees were the very same people who, and without even a “thanks”, gladly took bonuses, cars, meals, time off, and all-expense-paid trips from me during our bankrupt company’s “good times”.

That’s just the way it works.

All of you whom have filed bankruptcy (or, been driven into it) or even whom have experienced tough, bankrupt-LIKE times, know exactly what I’m talking about.

Entrepreneurs are nothing if not resilient and strong. You knock us down, we get back up. You knock us down again, we get back up again. In point of fact, to keep us down, you really have to just about cut off our legs and our heads.

And even then, watch out --- because we’re likely to rise once more.

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In 1971, Alvin Toffler wrote the first of a handful of books regarding his views of the future. His book was named, “Future Shock”, and it was a major part of the popular culture of the era, especially among college students.

I was a twenty-one year old college grad in 1971, and reading Future Shock greatly changed the ways in which I saw the world. For the most part, the book re-directed much of my thinking about technology, sociology, and human behavior.

Toffler’s talked about three main points.

a.) a future where technological change would, and forever thereafter, radically outpace the ability of human beings to assimilate and deal with such changing technology

b.) a future where the rate of technological change would increase at an always-increasing rate.

And c.) Toffler predicted that people would become so overwhelmed by the “flow rate” of new technologies that they would eventually cease to even attempt to educate themselves regarding their make-up and their applicability. Instead, Future-ShockED consumers would seek out third-party “experts” whom they could trust to both analyze and recommend relevant technologies and services.

Sounds like the guy knew just a little bit about what he was writing, no?

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