Tony comments on boo hoo.

At the point of Boo’s collapse, we’d built BlackStar to a turnover of $1m per month, with a total operating spend (excluding marketing) of less than $2m in the two years we’d been trading. Our product development costs (i.e the website, and all our fulfilment and customer service systems etc) had been less than $200k, whereas Boo had spent $250k solely on the feasibility study for theirs!

This stuns me! When I think of all the things we could have implemented at BlackStar with $250k…

In business everyone knows that ‘creativity’ is a good idea and essential when information, technology and competence have all become commodities. While everyone pays lip-service to creativity, nothing much happens until there is a ‘nominated champion’ whose business it is to see that creativity becomes an active part of the corporate culture.

Edward de Bono, Simplicity

I have heard this said many times, especially about the giving of gifts. But does the thought really count more than the actual doing? Say I remember that it’s my mum’s birthday next week, I go out and buy her a random gift and give it to her on her birthday. Does this mean more than spending time trying to find out what she would really like and then going out of my way to get this? Certainly buying a present for my mum is better than doing nothing. But if she says, “It’s the thought that counts” is she really saying, “I don’t like the present but at least you remembered my birthday”?

Or what about that friend that you haven’t seen in a while and you think about visiting. For this to be of any benefit to you and your friend you need to arrange a time to see them and go do it. You need to make an effort.

Good ideas are like this. You can sit around all day dreaming, scheming and thinking up creative ideas. You can even put some token effort into making them happen. But thoughts by themselves are not enough – it’s the execution that matters. How many times have you said, “I thought of that years ago”?

I’ve always taken some comfort in the belief that the stronger an idea is, the harder it is to steal.

That’s because the best ideas, by definition, are so original and unique that they cannot survive without their creator. He or she is the only one who understands the concept fully, who can execute it up to its full potential, and who has a personal stake in keeping the concept going despite all the obstacles.

Mark H. McCormack, “Never Wrestle With A Pig“