Paul KEWENE-HITE (Paul Kewene-Hite | LinkedIn) said, last night (“Entrepreneurship: Embracing Uncertainty” INSEAD MBA Master Class follow-up (photos), 2012.04.03, Radisson BLU Hotel – Get a result now!), a thing similar to this (approximate quote):
“Visibility, control and support” are the basic requirements for a successful roller-coaster business. More than this, the requirements can be applied to pretty much everything (life, relationships, other business models).
Visibility:
- For the roller-coaster business, it refers to what people can see when they turn curves. A good roller-coaster knows how to play with you, showing/hiding things from time to time.
- In real life, I may add, sometimes you show things about yourself, sometimes you hide things. You control what’s visible from yourself.
- You also need it a lot, since selling your offerings requires, first of all, visibility (the scale may differ, you may need lots of small amounts of it, but you do need it).
Control:
- On the roller-coaster, you lose control of things, you don’t have a handle to stop things, you can pretty much only yell. Yet, the roller-coaster gives you the impression that everything is handled well on its part.
- In life, you have a lot of control (sometimes, perhaps, too much, and it feels overwhelming, and perhaps we need roller coasters to have fun from losing control).
- Often times, in life, you need to pass the control to others (or even empower them to do so).
Support:
- Roller-coasters use small things to remind you that you’re in good hands (specific sounds, sometimes they stop to give you some space, they show you visually that the machine is made fine).
- In life, you actually need to offer support in order to get support (in roller-coaster business it’s the same – you offer your money and get pleasure).
- If you’re good at offering support, you probably will receive it nicely.