Fighting The Wrong Battle
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And he turned from him…(1 Samuel 17:30)
My wife and I rarely enjoy the same television shows. However, we both LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Shark Tank. For those of who may have never seen it (or be aware of it), the show features “a panel of potential investors (The “Sharks”)who listen to entrepreneurs pitch ideas for a business or product they wish to develop.” Each of the investors have also built massively successful companies, so they bring a keenly acute and well developed sense of what it takes to launch a product, provide a service, and build an organization. Produced by Mark Burnett and now in its 12th season, the show has won multiple Emmy Awards, and has financed over $100 million in deals.
I like the show because you get to witness amazing creativity. Some of the ideas that are presented are pretty awesome. On several occasions, Mrs. Robinson and I have looked at each other said “why didn’t we think of that?” I also like the show because it stimulates your own creativity. After many an episode I have heard my wife say “Lord, give me an idea.” Yes Lord, give her an idea! LOL.
But I really like the show because you get to see how very successful people think.
On a recent episode, Sarah Blakely (The Founder of Spanx) was a featured guest. Two young women shared an idea for a raincoat for handbags. Yes you read that correctly. A raincoat for handbags! I thought it was pretty dumb, but since I don’t carry handbags (only finance them), I couldn’t see the logic. Of course Mrs. Robinson’s eyes perked up, as did all of the other women in the room and on the panel. I was pretty sure they would get a deal. But then Sarah Blakely asked them how much money they had been able to invest in developing and patenting their idea. The two entrepreneurs replied that they have spent so much time filing lawsuits to protect their idea, that they had not been able to dedicate much time to really building the business. I was shocked by Sarah’s response: almost immediately, she said “I’m out.”
All of the panel followed her lead. She then explained that when she first conceived the idea for Spanx, a giant company came to visit her fledgling company and eventually stole her idea. But instead of fighting them, she kept working on her business. Today, the same company that stole her idea is out of business. And she is still in business. Ms. Blakely said “when you’re trying to build a business, you can’t spend all your time, money and attention filing lawsuits. You gotta spend all your time, money and attention building your business.”
From her perspective. the problem with the two young entrepreneurs was their focus. They were fighting the wrong battle. I must confess that at first, that perspective didn’t make sense to me. Shouldn’t I protect what’s mine? But the more I thought about it, the more I began to see the wisdom of Ms. Blakely’s counsel. When you are first starting out in any endeavor, offense is much more important than defense, Anyone that distracts you from the main objective of building something of lasting value must be ignored, whether they are copycats, critics, or cheerleaders.
Most of us have more critics than either copycats or cheerleaders, so let me amplify Ms. Blakely’s counsel with an anecdote from scripture. When David arrived in the Valley of Elah to fight Goliath, he was immediately confronted by his oldest brother Eliab. Eliab questioned his motives, criticized his aspirations, and reminded him of his past, all under the guise of concern.
David’s response is illuminating and instructive. Instead of engaging his brother, he turned from him. Instead of trying to persuade his brother, he turned from him. And instead of trying to earn his brother’s approval or support, he turned from him. And I think he turned from him because he knew folks like Eliab always turn on you. Eliab was more concerned about David than he was about Goliath, and folks like that NEVER win. People who are more concerned about what you’re doing instead of what they are doing never really do anything.
Eliab wanted to fight David. But David didn’t want to fight Eliab. David wanted to fight Goliath. There is a category for for people like Eliab: toy soldiers.
QUESTION: Are you spending so much time responding to your critics that you have forgotten about the Goliath you should be attacking?
Treat your critics like you eat fish: eat the meat the spit out the bones. But most critics are like cheap fish: more bones than meat.
Here is a quote by former President Theodore Roosevelt worth memorizing:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great the enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Stop arguing with your critics. Head to the arena.