In a more business-related case, Mark Zuckerberg makes the very epitome. During the summer of 2004, while a student at Harvard, Mark created a website called Facemash, which basically allowed students to choose between two random fellow female students on campus, in terms of “who’s hotter”. The website was a hit, spreading throughout the campus unceasingly and became so popular that it got … shut down by the school. Mark even faced with academic probation. Did he decide to change? Yes. Months later, based on the very idea of Facemash, Mark with his college peers came up with a new website, called TheFacebook (rings a bell?). A big ‘change’ in the idea created a hugely ‘better’ result. Soon after that, Mark came into another opportunity for a change. The website that he and his peers created in their sophomore dorm room, started from a $12.000 investment from its co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, received an offer from Yahoo, worth a billion! Every one was aware of Facebook’s potential, and willing to put money into it. “No!”, said Mark. Refusing to compromise his vision, Mark turned down every request to buy his company, or to even put advertisement on Facebook yet, as to his belief in growth over profits. Pig-headed? I don’t think so. Facebook, despite all the privacy rumors and other issues surrounding it, still does very well ’till today, with its CEO and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, being the youngest billionaire in the world! And Yahoo? Not so much.
“Forget your billion! I can make 20 of them myself”.
Over the two cases above, it is reasonable to conclude that in business, to change for a better is feasible, and that to consider a few other options could never kill . However, there are cases when we really need to consider sticking to our own beliefs and go ahead with the plan, no matter how inviting the choices we leave behind are. Thus, it’d be wise for companies to be prepared for adaptations, to have a fundamental yet flexible business plan, in order to change, or not, to succeed.
After all, it’s business. It’d be foolish to think we can actually have an applicable recipe that never goes wrong. We’ll just never know.
Nam,
Trackbacks