Action isn't always progress

I am saying this as somebody who has a very strong bias towards action, so this is probably partly a note to myself.

Doing things feels good.

You have an idea. Build it. Launch it. Test it. Put it into the world.

I still believe enormously in that. I would rather learn from something real than spend nine months polishing a hypothetical business case.

But there is another version of action that I think businesses use to avoid uncertainty.

Growth has stalled, so everyone starts doing things.

New campaign. New agency. New channel. New product. New proposition. New audience. Workshop. Transformation programme. Perhaps a taskforce.

There is activity everywhere and therefore it feels like the business is responding.

But if nobody has worked out what actually changed, you can end up doing an enormous amount while moving absolutely nowhere.

I think the distinction is whether the action is helping you learn or simply helping you feel like you're acting.

Run the test. Put the prototype in front of somebody. Try the proposition. Brilliant.

But don't commission the entire solution simply because sitting with the question for another week feels uncomfortable.

Speed is valuable when you're going somewhere useful.

Otherwise you're just getting lost faster.