A friend of mine showed me this video. Dan Osman on speed climbing. I didn’t realize there was such a thing. Notice this guy is doing this without any sort of security or safety gear (my non-techie climbing terms).
First, don’t show this to your little kids. They may think this is a good idea.
Second, as much as this guy is living on the edge, it is a good reminder for those of us competing in business. There will always be a competitor that is smaller, faster and willing to take more risks to reach the top first. In the technology sector this is especially true. Many of the Web 2.0 companies are a business version of this video. They are one and two person operations living on the edge. They move fast and hope they don’t slip along the way.
Here is the big problem. Humans are error prone. Businesses are too.
June 17th update to this post.
I talked with a climbing friend of mine from work. Apparently Dan Osman is not longer with this earth. His hobby caught up with him. I was going to follow up with another thought around how this applies to business anyway so my recent conversation is a good transition. Business is about taking risks (just like Dan). However, business is about relying on others to help you forward your corporate goals and objectives (your safety net so to speak). We need to push hard to be competitive but you need to make sure you are doing it with people you trust and who care about the same end game.
