The Honey Badger Has a Bias for Action. Do You?

Last week, if you recall, I introduced you to the honey badger. This week we get into what makes it more than merely interesting. I talked about how it is a real-world problem solver. It does not let adversity slow it down. If it were a corporate employee, it might receive a review commending it on its unwavering bias for action.

Those are fancy words that mean a Honey Badger doesn't stop and stew on the particulars or get held up by indecision. They immediately take action. They try something, and if that doesn't work they try something new and keep moving forward. Stuck in a cage? No problem. Facing down a pride of lions? Whatever. It's Tuesday.

How does that translate to you and your business?

The first and perhaps most obvious takeaway is that no obstacle is insurmountable. It's just a nut that hasn't been cracked yet and you are surrounded by nutcrackers.

The second is a bit more nuanced. In the world of mathematics, and arguably innovation at large, I have heard it said that the biggest discoveries are made by the young because they haven't been taught what isn't possible yet. The Honey Badger doesn't know that this is an unwinnable situation, a National Geographic Kobayashi Maru for you Star Trek lovers out there. Honey Badgers don't even think about it.

So what have you learned or been taught that needs to be questioned, discarded or completely ignored?

My business will dry up if I raise prices.

This marketing channel is the only way I'll get discovered … or alternately, this marketing channel doesn't work for businesses like mine.

The only way to grow is to hire and become a larger firm.

Instead of holding those assumptions, what can you test? What can you move on immediately?

How can you test that this week? What's the smallest experiment you can run that would tell you whether this works or not? Whether this assumption is valid or not?

How cheaply can you do it? What's the least risky way to try?

How can you modify how you tell people what you do, to test whether a new positioning, a new target audience, or a new problem is worth your time?

Or, what if you changed your pricing for the next 3 clients?

What if you turned away the next three clients that didn’t match your ideal profile?

What if?

What would it hurt to try?

Go forth and test what you think you know. Stick and move. Adapt. Don't be afraid to DO something. To Try!

The attorney who hasn't raised her rates in three years because she's afraid clients will leave hasn't tested that assumption — she's just living inside it. The financial advisor who takes every client that walks through the door because he's not sure there are enough good ones hasn't tested that either. These aren't facts. They're assumptions that have calcified into rules. The honey badger doesn't know what's impossible.

If your business isn't where you want it to be … if it's consuming you, or it's not giving you enough to consume … how would a honey badger handle this?

Would it doubt itself, or curse the savannah for being stacked against it? Would it try the same thing over and over, assuming that this is how Honey Badgers are supposed to live?

Or would it have a bias to action?

Hit reply or reach out. Tell me the one assumption you’ve been making that might be worth testing.