save the stones...

Yesterday, I received an email that looked like this:

 

"Hello, I stumbled onto "business xyz". Looks like it is heads and shoulders above GoNextWorld. Any thoughts on taking a look at it down the road?"

To be honest, I thrive on competition.  So, feedback with such negativity towards our company does hurt.  However, I love honesty and these are honest words. 

To answer his question - We have researched "business xyz" thoroughly, last year.  And it is has many weaknesses that we did not want to repeat.  

I could not explain it all to him, but what I wanted to say is that we are going in a new direction.   The new direction will not be fully displayed to the public for a few more weeks, but I am certain he would retract his statement once he sees what we have implemented.

That person is only able to see part of the vision right now. 

That will soon change.

I wanted to stand up and fight for why he is wrong. But, one of the toughest lessons I had to learn was the importance of choosing battles.  If you fight every battle that comes your way, it will be too long of a road to see the end.  

Winston Churchill said it best:

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”

I will not ignore the person's comments, but rather embrace them.  Choosing not to fight that battle doesn't mean we will not use it as fuel for the next, bigger, and more important battle.

 The email will hang on the wall in our office to remind us everyday that we need to be better.   

We will save our stones for tomorrow.