Apparently I’ve still got it.

Apparently I’ve still got it.
Though it’s not worth much to me.

Fixing tech problems.

I hardly ever talk about my early career.
Troubleshooting IT problems at ICL.

My boss gave me the thorny ones.
The ones nobody else seemed to fix.
And I’d sort them out.

I already had pattern recognition. I was also taught a logical approach to problem solving - which I often ignored in favour of instinct.

Today I was presented with a Windows PC problem. (Keep in mind I’m a Mac user 🍎 .)

Incredibly slow internet.

The user said it was an old PC (true).
They assumed it needed more memory or they needed a new machine (assumed).

Good job there wasn’t a sales guy around. 😇

So I offered to help.

Cutting a long story short: the “old” PC now runs at light speed. No new hardware. Just a tiny nudge - from instinct and experience.

And it got me thinking about a big mistake founders make when they’re trying to grow.

They assume the answer is training (more memory) or hiring a rainmaker (new PC).

Most growth problems aren’t hardware problems.
They’re configuration and behaviour problems.

Which looks like an easy fix. But it usually starts with facing reality.

What are you trying to achieve - and are you exemplars for that?

Do you allocate time to sales activity?

Do you mentor the people tasked with winning work?

Do you encourage the hunger it takes to win - and reward it?

In other words … you must build a commercial engine, not just go through the motions.

Question; Where are you currently “buying more memory” instead of fixing the settings?

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