In his book Blink, author Malcolm Gladwell tells us to trust our instincts. He talks about how we make a decision in a matter of two seconds the first time we come across something new. He says that we reach powerful and probably accurate decisions and yet we seldom work on these decisions.
As “mature grown ups” we are conditioned to gather a lot of information and then take a “rational” decision. And so time is wasted on gathering information and deciphering it, and the more we know the more confused we get. And ironically, the decision we finally take might not even be something we are confident about, but it’s the one with the most information!
I think that is what is happening with the assembler today. He knows that he has to evolve in the solution space, he knows that selling an assembled PC won’t get the food on the table much longer. And yet he hesitates to move on. Not because he is unwilling or incapable, but simply because he is unsure of the next step.
Instead of simply trusting his instinct and moving on his strengths, he wants to make an informed decision and in the bargain might land up with information that will actually slow him down because sometimes too much information can overwhelm us.
Every time I ponder on the future growth path for the partners, I keep getting one example in mind – that of the neighborhood kirana store. These rickety, limited choice insect-infected shops changed into swanky, option-filled supermarkets. When threatend with extinction from supermarkets, this baniya got his act together and gave the competitor a run for its money.
What’s stopping the computer engineer now assembler-cum-businessman from doing the same?