I read the MMQB with Peter King every Monday during football season. It’s something where I find an interesting mix of reporting, forecasting, off-topic-but-not-really factoids and other stuff. Today’s issue brought the quote that you see in the headline:
Only the paranoid survive.
This is one of those off-topic-but-not-really factoids. It came during an interview about the NFL considering putting an internet package of games together and selling it through someone like Google or Facebook.
It’s such a great quote because it nails everything that is true about business. There’s a saying that it’s not paranoia if someone is actually out to get you. In business there is always someone out to get you.
The paranoid are the companies that don’t get disrupted. The paranoid are the ones who know who their real competition are. The paranoid are thinking about why their customers are about to leave them and not how to simply shake another dollar out of them.