Speed as a survival mechanism

The key to Genghis Khan's success was not the size of his army, but the momentum at which it could move. In all accounts of the battles he fought, Khan was reportedly outnumbered by his opponents.

Khan contributed to today's military thinking of maneuver, with his concept of force. Force is the power or influence a company can exude. Force is equal to mass times acceleration (f=ma).


What Khan lacked in mass, he made up for in speed.

Therefore, when a firm is relatively smaller than its competitors, speed is vital for survival. Without speed, small companies lose, because organisations with greater mass are able to exert more force.

To maintain speed, management need to think and execute carefully:

1. Hire self-starting people. These are people who have the motivation to make decisions and execute work with little supervision. They enjoy an automous working environment, free of red tape and micro-management.
2. Take only small projects. Set a finite length of time, like one month. For projects which are longer, break them into parts. In a small firm, large projects slow down people, make them tired and reduce their motivation.
3. Spend time planning the week. Encourage all people to plan their day using calendars. Become masters of our time, we move with greater speed, because we are effective. We see problems much earlier, and we plan how to circumvent them.
4. Discipline to follow core procedure. Discipline to follow a well designed class of company processes, procedures, documentation, we become efficient. By being efficient, we make fewer mistakes and save time, which can be reinvested to provide customers greater value.
5. Focus every effort. This is probably the most important, and is present in points 1-4. The objective is to do less. Write fewer emails, give few instructions, ask fewer things of suppliers and deliver fewer items to customers. Focus prevents us loosing site of objectives, and prevents all parties, including the client, from tiring and becoming unmotivated.