12/04/2004

Get in the First Punch, Recover with a Plan

From Small Business Success, Marketing & Entrepreneurship:

"My favorite way to learn about effective small business growth and entrepreneurship is to look beyond small business and entrepreneurship. Experts are all too often incestuous regurgitators. New ways of processing things are found outside of the same-old, same-old. I'll throw out some of these lessons-from-beyond in this feature from time to time.

From Bare Knuckles And Back Rooms by Ed Rollins, a terrific and entertaining book if I ever read one:

Mike Denton [boxing coach for Rollins in his early years] taught me two invaluable lessons, in the ring and out. Number one: 'The guy who lands the first good punch usually wins.' To help me be that guy, he taught me th throw a left hook. Executed well, the left hook is the most deadly punch there is. It's especially valuable when some idiot tries to hit you with a lead overhand right. The counter left hook will always beat him to the punch.

Number two: 'Every fighter gets knocked down. A bad fighter doesn't get up. A good fighter jumps right back up and starts swinging. A great fighter gets up on one knee, takes an eight count, clears his head, things about what he's going to do next, then stands up and starts fighting again with a plan to survive.'"