I have a wish.
I contact the people, companies and resources that I believe will help make my wish come true. They, in turn, tell me all the tools they have that can assist me in my quest of wish-fulfillment. They tell me that this will work and that will work. They offer training and support and say you can call me anytime.
Then, they give me the blueprint. They give me the manuals and instructions. They give me the hammer. They give me the nails. They give me the lumber and all the necessary tools needed to fulfill my wish.
I take their blueprint and instructions and I start building. I follow the instructions. I end up with a house.
I wished for a car.
This is what I see happening all the time in the automotive industry. Vendors call upon dealers to “pitch” a piece (or all of the pieces) of the puzzle. They say this is what you should do. This is how you should do it. These are the tools that you need. This is why you should buy them from us.
What they fail to find out is what your wish is.
Make your wish first.
Then find the right tools, companies and resources to make your wish come true.
If you’re doing it the first way, you’re doing it backwards and you will fail.
Failure in this fashion is the easiest option. If you fail, you can blame someone else (ie. Their instructions were bad. Their tools don’t work. etc.)
The solution I inevitably see involves some sort of phrase similar to this.
“Hey boss, let’s just get some different tools!’
Then you fail again.
“Insanity: doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein.
Make your wish, then make it come true.
If the tools don’t exist, create them.
If nobody else knows the instructions, write them.
If you don’t have the tools, get them.
If your boss(es) or company won’t let you fulfill your wish, find a company that will.
Define your wish, then make it happen.
Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you.
Don’t let other people tell you what your wish is.
If you don’t know what you are wishing for, nobody, not even yourself, can make your wish come true.
Not even the Blue Fairy.
