Moving Targets

Hitting a stationary target has its challenges. A moving target can be even more difficult.  A lot of variables need to be synchronized to make the shot a success.  The complex calculations required to predict trajectories are worked out within our brains, often without conscious effort, but the result can only be confirmed after the action.  I'm sure I am not the only person who can visualize the perfect trajectory only to have the actual attempt stray an alarming and seemingly impossible distance from the target.  This is usually a result of a foreign object in my eye or someone coughing right before the release.  Understanding how and where the target is moving requires the ability to anticipate.  You can't hit what you can't track.  These days satellite and surveillance technology have made tracking targets underground and inside buildings easier than ever.

I've heard stories about a guy who used to bullseye womp rats in his T16, but he never provided verified proof of this.  On the track the biggest target is maximum grip level which can change every second of every lap.  Fluids left on track from other cars can impact grip when and where it is most needed.  Anyone who has ever spun off track because of oil spilled from another vehicle knows exactly how quickly everything can go sideways.  You won't know the maximum grip available until you've exceeded it, which is one of the great thrills of track driving.  Unlocking the mysteries of grip is a never-ending quest.

Looking where you want to go is especially important when you're heading has diverged from your desired direction.  The hands and head tend to follow the eyes.  This is why target fixation can be a serious problem.  We chase lap times and whatever cars are in front of us on the track whenever possible.  Sometimes we win, and sometimes we need to replace another driver's rear bumper.  There is a hidden lesson in that, but we're still trying to find it.

In business, everything is a moving target.  Our sales projections, staffing requirements, revenue streams, malpractice insurance, credit rating, and customer satisfaction are all constantly fluctuating.  Our goal is to be at the top in each category, but those values are never constants.  Each day starts with a fast moving target that we do our best to hit by close of business.  We won't necessarily get the chance to do it over again the next day, so we try to make each attempt count.

That's why CEOs who are capable of seeing and understanding future trends have an advantage in terms of positioning businesses for success.  AcMo's challenge is defining the target in the first place, and then understanding how to track it.  This is a daunting task made even more complicated by the diverse structure of our organization.  There are people here that have unexplained roles. I don't even know how they got here. 

Practice creates pattern recognition.  Experiencing familiar patterns bolsters the ability to predict future movements with a greater degree of accuracy.  The biggest trick to doing this when in a business environment is to guessing correctly long enough to gain the experience before being let go for lack of performance.  It is a classic catch 22 that you need the experience to benefit from it, but you can't get the experience without having the position.

We have so many moving targets at AcMo that I've forgotten what some of them even are.  This is why we pick random days to just fire at everything.  My belief is that as long as our attempts are in the general range of the target, we're bound to hit something.  The attempts we allow the outside observers to see will appear to possess an accuracy that would rival Robin Hood's, while the truth is that we just got lucky.

In the end, I would rather be lucky than good, and as long as you don't realize it, that luck would manifest itself as skill.  When the perception becomes reality, AcMo's brand becomes one that represents superior business acumen and market forecasting.  We see the future and act upon it before it has become the present.  We get in front of everything, even the mishaps.  Planning for that future started yesterday or the day before, I can't remember right now.  I didn't know until right now that I was going to need an alibi. The question is whether or not the product will be ready in time, and if the target's trajectory was calculated with enough accuracy.

The answer will be obvious soon enough.  We have developed a tool for internal use that we plan to make available to consulting clients in the near future.  This tool augments forecasting and targeting capabilities by removing all of the guess work currently involved.  We accomplish this by offloading the guess work to our complex algorithms designed to manipulate statistical probabilities to produce the desired outcome.  This tool is in very early beta testing, but the results have been exciting.

There is only a 22% chance right now that your business won't benefit from our predictive tool.  Is that a chance you can afford to not take?