Borrowing from elsewhere

Organizations that are able to look beyond their own institutional borders for inspiration may be surprised at where innovate solutions originate.  The Marine Corps enthusiastically searches for methods outside of their organization and the armed forces, and instead to academia, business, and other fields.  Entrepreneurs would be wise to do the same towards an organization that specializes in operating under uncertainty.  I found the articles’ discussion on the 70% Rule intriguing, and wish it was further explored.  There is an inverse relationship between the time it takes to make a decision and the amount of information available to the decision maker.  I would be intrigued to know if there are similar rules of thumb for an entrepreneur.  Should this rule change according to circumstances?  Do different personality types converge on the same cut-off?

The most beneficial technique that could be borrowed by entrepreneurs is the Marine’s tolerance for failure and encouragement for aggressiveness.  Despite being heralded as the pinnacle of disciplined organizations, the Marines regularly push their new recruits outside of their comfort zones, testing them to see whether they are capable of handling new and challenging environments.  Naturally, combat situations demand this kind of response, but so too do entrepreneurs.  Team members working for an entrepreneur must take initiative to do their jobs effectively, and occasionally that means making mistakes.  They cannot wait for their boss to give them marching orders idly, but they must be proactive.  The boss must in turn empower the team members to make on-the-fly decisions, knowing that mistakes will be inevitable.  In such an environment, small mistakes can be tolerated if the team is actively engaged and trying new approaches to their problems.

However, start-up companies should certainly avoid some aspects of the Marine Corps’ structure and methods, specifically the rigid hierarchy.  The generally point remains, that entrepreneurs should not limit themselves to learning from other start-up ventures.  Clever solutions can be adapted from any institution, and from differing circumstances.  Entrepreneurs must keep an open mind so that they can learn and grow to meet their own challenges, armed with a diverse arsenal of strategies.