In any opportunity, a careful review of the state of the market, the competitors, trends in the economy and so forth may lead you to enter a new market, take a new job, buy a new house, or offer a new product or service. What I find is that this analysis is simply incomplete, because we often act as if once a decision is made it can't be reversed. And I'm here to tell you that getting in is actually a lot easier than getting out.
The reason that getting into just about anything is easier than getting out is that most firms never evaluate or anticipate the fact that they may need to extract themselves from a market or offering. Once the product or service is designed, the effort is made to launch it with the intent to build upon success and grow the opportunity, and many decisions are made afterward to sustain that thinking and mindset. It's a rare occurrence when your team thinks about the ways it would extract itself and the offerings and promises it makes based on a quick extraction.
So, when the day comes, as it may for many of you, when you need to extract yourself from a product or service offering, or a poor hiring choice or a bad job situation, you may find that getting out is a lot tougher than getting in, because the expectations and designs never considered the possibility of extraction, and all the investments have been in terms of longevity and growth. Trying to unwind a small startup for example, which I've had to do in the past, is a difficult and time-consuming effort. I was listening to a recent radio show about the electronic car and General Motors decision to leave that market in the early 90s. They went so far as to recall cars and destroy them. Do you think that was in their original plans?
When you start thinking about entering a new venture - a new product offering, a new job, or any new venture - spend the time you'd normally spend thinking about how to get in. Then spend at least as much time considering the implications of your decisions and designs if you need to get out. You'll be surprised how the decisions will change.
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