“SENSING” USING EXPERIENCE AS A TOOL

“SENSING” USING EXPERIENCE AS A TOOL

As a businessperson you accumulate experience over years of business activity, that experience becomes your inventory of knowledge that allows you to see patterns in what is happening in business. Those patterns that occur in a business situation allow you to analyze the pattern and make decisions based on a very few indicators, rather than have to mentally process a complex or even chaotic set of inputs.

Maybe you have encountered businesspeople who want to analyze every problem with a complete due diligence check list that ends up looking like an encyclopedia. At that point they have so much information that they become frozen, unable to make a timely decision because they cannot mentally process all that information and make a decision.

The real value to accumulating experience is to have sufficient experience in many situations that allow you to spot one or two indicators fairly quickly and analyze the pattern to come up with a satisfactory course of action. This what is referred to as “SENSING”. In other words you can make a fast decision because you sense the right course of action while only seeing a small set of facts.

We have to add here that this kind of sensing we are talking about is not just a matter of experience. It also involves understanding what you were sensing. There’s a strong analytical component involving reading, research and applied intelligence. Without the background of knowledge and understanding that allows you to appreciate these “sensings”, you might undergo these experiences and miss everything they’re trying to offer you.

Maybe an analogy to football would help to describe Sensing in a very simplified way. Dan Marino was a great quarterback for the Miami Dolphins who could come out of the huddle and up to the line of scrimmage and look at one or two defensive players and sense if he had to call an audible change of play or not. He knew from experience that if certain players on this opponent’s defense were in certain positions what the defense was.

There are a lot of less successful quarterbacks who come out of the huddle and try to view the entire defense. With multiple sets and constant movement of the defense they only have one or two seconds to process a huge amount of information. With so much confusion they often make no decision, or the wrong decision, and disaster follows.

About Jack@franway.com

Jon G. (Jack) Eberenz More than 40 years of executive management and franchise leadership positions have taught Jack a great deal. First—he values the respect and confidence people around the world place in him. And he knows those relationships are no accident. Indeed they came through the highest dedication to sound principles and the value in working toward the success of others. Second—Jack will be quick to tell you, the business expertise and the reputation he has today came from one other very important thing—a lot of hard work! Jack’s experience includes serving as a General Manager, President, Chief Financial Officer and Board Chairman of franchise companies nationwide. Since 1981, he has been a key advisor to franchisors drawing from the balance of experience as both a franchisee and President of a franchisor. Currently, Jack is head of the Arizona Franchisor Association. He is also Chairman of the Arizona Corporate Governance Institute, which assists corporations in using statutory or advisory boards to increase profits and cash flow. As a board member of several national and international franchisors, Jack’s perspective is fresh and his knowledge base is current. Presently, he serves on the boards of Realty Executives International, Precision Door Service and The Hat Club. A recognized expert in franchise development and operations, Jack brings his wisdom and candor to several other boards and associations including: The Board of Directors of Beatitudes Campus of Care; The Merger/Acquisition Roundtable; Arizona Business Leadership; Valley Advisory Group and Business Advisory Services. His Bachelor of Science degree is from the Syracuse University Whitman School of Management.
This entry was posted in Marketing and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

10 Responses to “SENSING” USING EXPERIENCE AS A TOOL

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


eight − = 2

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.