Bumper Cars in Business World

We all know bumper cars, one of the most attractive amusement park games. In general, not many people go to an amusement park and leave without taking a bumper car ride.

If you are a careful observer, you will notice that there are three different types of behavior among those who ride the bumper cars, let's call them drivers.

The first group of drivers, from the moment the cars start moving, either out of inexperience or deliberately, constantly collide with the cars around them. Since the name of the game is "bumper cars", there is nothing wrong with this behavior.

The second group of drivers are usually those who go with a group of friends and ride in different cars with their friends. Such drivers give all their attention to their friends and are only happy when they hit them. They are unhappy when they are hit by their friends.

The behavior of the third group of drivers is very interesting. Although the name of the game is "bumper cars", they focus all their attention on driving around the playground without hitting any cars and completing the three-minute time limit without hit or being hit at all. The performance criteria for them in this game is the number of collisions within the three-minute time limit. If this performance criterion is zero, they get out of the car with great happiness and pride. You recognize them when you see.

The business world is very similar to this game. The area where the bumper cars are moving is the businessman's market, and the cars around are the competitors. When the game starts, all the competitors crash into each other to a greater or lesser extent. There are competitors who are taken out of the game because they collide too fast, or who cannot move until the end of the game because they are cornered.

Taking this game as an example, the real success in the business world is to be able to continue the game without colliding with any of the opponents while moving on the same playing field. To achieve this, it is necessary to be able to read the game very well, to sense the direction of movement of the opponents and to be able to reach the more remote and less competitive areas of the field more quickly.

A businessman who wants to play the game without ever coming into conflict with his competitors must be able to recognize his own maneuverability, the playing field on which he is playing, his market, and his competitors very well.

I would not advise businessmen to unconsciously change sectors when they are under competitive pressure, because the businessman who wants to change the playing field, i.e. the field of activity in which he is operating, will face many more unknowns in the new playing field he enters.

Real success in business is the ability to move on the same playing field and continue the game without colliding with any competitor.

Haluk UNALDI