There is also the Small Business Rainmaker email newsletter. We have plenty of free business advice right here on our small business blog. Some other free business resources are right here on our site. Get to know people in other industries, niches, and locations. My top suggestion for business success is always this-don’t remain stuck in an isolated industry cocoon.Ĭompanies that “do what everyone else is doing” are, by default, NOT differentiating themselves from their competition. Some of my best leaps forward were inspired by people in different industries, with wildly different skills.įor example, I’ve worked with or received business advice from small business coaches, a chiropractor, printers, equipment manufacturers, marketing experts, salespeople, technical SEO experts, and a martial arts company owner to name but a few.Įvery interaction gave me insight I would not have otherwise gotten. When I get stuck, I've learned to get out of my own head and get feedback from others. It often takes an outsider to see the missing pieces to the puzzle. Yet they can be steered in the wrong direction by their biases or “common sense” beliefs. They’re trying to fix one or more critical operational problems. Like the officers in the field, small business owners are in the thick of things. The story has parallels to today’s business owner who is trying to troubleshoot their marketing or other business problems. It saved hundreds of air crews in the coming years. He used his math skills to support his case. Wald theorized that planes getting hit around the non-bullet hole areas in the image were the ones not surviving. The Navy’s bullet hole data showed exactly where the bomber could be shot yet still survive. 1 It was the opposite of what officers in the field were thinking. His calculations indicated the areas that needed protection most were NOT the areas hit by the most bullets. Wald then used his math smarts to calculate the probability of where the non-returning planes had been hit. So, the problem was they were missing a huge chunk of necessary data. Obviously, the non-returning planes could never be examined. The only data they had was from the damaged returning planes. One of SRG’s statisticians, Abraham Wald, knew that he needed a full data set to make accurate calculations. So they asked the Statistical Research Group (SRG) to figure out the optimum balance of armor in frequently-hit locations. Too much armor and you have a useless bomber. Every pound of armor reduced their useful load-which could be in the form of crew, fuel, or bombs. Weight restrictions meant they couldn’t add armor everywhere. Image Source (to the best of my knowledge): Randy Au, Counting Stuff They reasoned that adding armor to areas with the most bullet holes per square foot would prevent damage and loss of planes. Naval officers were methodically examining damaged planes as they returned from missions, cataloging the damage. Business Advice From a WW2 Bomber Story That's Relevant Today The officers in the field came up with a seemingly rock-solid plan to reduce losses and casualties.īut then along came a nerdy statistician that flipped their thinking upside down.Īnd it saved hundreds of lives in the process.Īllow me to explain. The solution to this bomber problem also happens to be some of the best business advice for today’s company owner.Īt the time, the Navy and Army Air Corps were losing a staggering number of bombers and crews to enemy fire. There’s an intriguing story about World War 2 bombers that ties into problems I'm hearing today from small business owners.
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