When I first learned how to play and sing jazz music my band director told us "Jazz is caught and not taught." You either have it or you don't. And if you don't catch it, you are lagging far behind those who just got that swing. I guess you can say I was one of the lucky few where Jazz music, especially doing scat solos reminiscent to Ella Fitzgerald, were relatively easy and fun. Pretty good for a young high school girl who's mind goes completely blank on stage.
There are people in this world who are just made to do certain things. "True Hollywood Story" actor or actresses would always talk about how they didn't know anything except how to act, sing, or make people laugh. Everything else they really sucked at. Those people also exist in the business world. There are those who are gifted at sales, running a business, creating new products, or working in a particular niche such as consulting . I've seen Prominent CEOs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg who trusted their own instinct and their gut feeling resulted in huge success. I call this the "Anti-market Research Strategy."
Try googling or Bing "anti-market research." Are there any companies really promoting this? No. There's not one article or blog talking about anti-market research! Why? Because everyone believes doing research is going to help the company make more money. By not doing it you are being ignorantly bliss and, ultimately, failure will be the long-term result. Well...is that really always true? I have to wonder....
Although research strategies are important for the sustainability and growth for a company I believe there are many business owners who are motivated by their sheer gut and internal instinct even after reviewing a research report. Unless you got "it," you really don't know. This is more prominent in small entrepreneur businesses who's strategy is as simple as, "what do I need to do today to keep the lights in my house on?" to ,"how can I grow my business and take care of kids?" It's difficult to measure the probability of success for business owners who trust their heart and had it positively pay off. But those stories are out there and it's happened many times over. Is it their God-given talent that makes them this successful or were they just born this way?
Let's go out on an even further limb for shits and giggles. There are a lot of companies who are suffering big time right now. Technological advances have made many products and services near-extinct and many dying companies are spilling tons and tons of money trying to find out what people want in order to makeover their existing product and service line. As great as it is to see all this money being poured into research, ultimately business owners already know what to do and sometimes it's not pretty. It's hard to explain but I do see that good business owners trust their gut. They will consult with a couple of trusted people and allow others to bitch and whine at them, but their bottom line is drawn in the sand and they tell others to shit or get off the pot. Some people may call it a really dumb strategy to run a business but sometimes we just have to give them props. They got that swing and they know their gut instinct is telling them this is the right things to do. You can't teach this. They were born this way and if you work for someone who's innovative spirit is driven by their gut, you just have to trust they know what they are doing and enjoy the ride.
