We (Almost) Got Skunked

My family and I recently completed what’s become an annual trip to Key West, timed to support the 2-day Florida lobster mini-season.?Key West?is roughly 215 miles by boat and an hour by air from the headquarters. While the lobstering is fun, and Key West offers plenty of tourist distractions, this newsletter is about keeping from getting skunked.

Skunked is when you fish for hours (or days) and fail to catch fish. There are some parallels to experimentation and resilience that underpin innovation and that you might recognize and try at work.

Fish Where The Fish Are.

My former boss, when I was a corporate lobbyist, understood that lobbyists need to be at receptions, hearings, and events where they are more likely to run into members of Congress. You may attend trade shows with the same mindset. When fishing in the keys, when the water is warm, you need to take the boat to deeper water. This July, the Atlantic side water was 86-89 degrees. Locals said the mahi were out between 600’ to 1000’. So we started there, making the ten-mile sprint at 30mph before even thinking about putting lines out.

Look For The Indicators.

Birds called Frigates are master’s level fish finders. Their presence suggests fish might be nearby. When Frigates are diving into the water, they are feeding—by definition, there are fish present. Sargassum seaweed lines also offer floating snack bars for fish. Their presence suggests fish could be present. Radar systems actually have a bird-finding mode to help spot birds that might be beyond visual range. Sometimes, by having your head looking down to tweak the radar, you can miss other indicators right in front of you (like sargassum).

Troll Different Depths With Different Baits.

Most boats rigged for fishing can run multiple lines simultaneously. Trying different things at the same time can save you time in learning what is working that day. We ran a variety of trolling lures (size, color, and type), as well as rigged ballyhoo with different colored teaser skirts. Appeal to the broad audience of tastes until you find what works—your niche. We had some strikes on rigged ballyhoo, so we thought that was the likely bait that would work. It wasn’t, and after two trips out, we were being skunked.

We moved in and out, from as much as 1200’ of depth across the bottom contours of 600’, then 400’. Nothing was happening. For the uninitiated, the Atlantic fishery off Key West is legendary, and it’s quite common to come home with a Mahi or blackfin tuna on almost every trip out. It is not too unlike the perception that the defense market is so big, and surely anyone can succeed there.

At the end of the third trip out, we called it and said, “Let’s reel in lines and head back.” While reeling lines, a mahi finally struck, then bit. “Fish on.” While it was alongside the boat, it was beautifully bright green, like you’d see in any fishing textbook. It didn’t look huge, but it was a keeper. It went directly to the cooler.?

What Worked?

A chartreuse-colored chugger lure. In our case, this lure had spent the least amount of time in the water. It was a last effort, and it worked. We did what fishermen do and tried to circle back over the same area with the same lure, hoping lightning would strike twice. It did not. It would be a one-fish trip to the keys. But we didn’t get skunked.

That one fish easily made six adult portions of great-tasting Mahi.

Many, many, many companies get skunked chasing?contracts—hundreds of thousands. They get stuck in SBIR hell, and the lonely trudge through the?Valley of Death. It is an avoidable trek. But you really need to work on some well-established keys of resiliency.

Let’s Review Some Keys To Real Resiliency:

1. Do some homework so you don’t troll lures over what may be an area of ocean desert; fish where the fish are (or should be). In defense?sales, study guides are readily available, as is local knowledge. Are you seeking guidance and then listening to it?
2. Simultaneous actions save time and improve your odds. In defense, you can work on multiple fiscal years at one time; too few companies know how to do so and only focus on the immediate proposal opportunity. When you have multiple years of opportunities unfolding, the pipeline stays full and can help you navigate environmental uncertainties.
3. At the risk of sounding extreme, I’ll invoke the words of Winston Churchill, “never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”?

Who would guess the chartreuse chugger that was in the water for less than 30 minutes would keep us from being skunked? Are you mixing up your game plan?

Running the same ineffective play over and over is expensive and exhausting. Don’t get skunked.

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