The (dis)Connected Entrepreneur
My Dell’s Wireless Network Connection Status reads “Wireless network detected.” I use my cell phone to send my buddy in South Beach an SMS text, and to check for messages from my girlfriend in Miami.
I wait at my gate to board my JetBlue flight from Boston to Pittsburgh. My round-trip ticket cost less than $100.
The gentlemen seated at my right is lost in his BlackBerry. He may be reading an e-mail. He may be surfing the web.
He holds the power of the Internet in the palm of his hand.
We’ve all heard this story before. About a connected Earth. About the global economy. About a “flat world.”
And we’ve heard about it ad nauseum. That’s why this isn’t a re-hashing of the same “connected” story.
Instead, it’s a discussion of the ramifications of a connected world for the entrepreneur. I make the case that every good has a potential negative, but that we must consider the risks in light of the benefits.
Consider offshoring, say, manufacturing to China. We consider it relative to domestic production.
When you offshore, you get: Cheap materials and affordable labor. And convenience – it takes no more than two minutes to pull up a register of potential Chinese manufacturers.
You (may) sacrifice: Control. Because 1) You don’t own the overseas company, and 2) you aren’t around. Foreign producers know that we can’t board an international flight at the drop of a hat when something goes wrong. When their results don’t meet our expectations. When things just aren’t done right.
The example isn’t intended to illustrate that connectedness is bad, or that it’s always the wrong alternative. Of course not.
Instead, the point is to exercise caution. When offshoring manufacturing to China or engineering to India. When checking e-mail incessantly. Even when answering your cell phone during family time.
In the words of the gentleman at my side (who is still on his BlackBerry), “It can be a real burden.”
And that’s why we’ve got to use connectedness to our advantage, and to not let our obsession – with efficiency and convenience and connectedness – obscure our understanding of the business fundamentals that made us entrepreneurs.
Brian Lash is the founder of The Tipping Blog and writes about the entrepreneurial experience at BrianLash.com.
2 Comments
Ryan Kettering
March 9th, 2007 at 1:40 am
Haha.. I guess that’s why they call them “Crack-berry’s”..
I have one too, but I like it, i just don’t respond if i don’t want to. i hear where you are coming from though, but my blackberry sure helped me organize and run my business when i was out of town on my last vacation. I don’t know what i’d do with out it! (I guess that’s what you were talking about though) But what I do to exercise caution, is that I won’t answer any business calls on Sunday or after, say, 9pm. I figure they can leave a message or something if it’s important.
Brian
March 9th, 2007 at 5:47 am
Awesome point Ryan.
I had a Treo for some time, but I got rid of it in lieu of a run-of-the-mill LG when I learned that I was using a small fraction of my device’s functionality.
Handhelds are so sleek, versatile, and so packed with capabilties that it’s tough NOT to love them. And that may also be why it’s so easy to lose yourself in them. To let them command you (instead of the other way around).
To the extent that one can control that urge - and it sounds like you do - they’re remarkably useful. It’s cliched, but they’ve literally changed the way business is done. Pretty amazing stuff.
Thanks for the comment!
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