Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone, Powered by NAFCU

People love to critique. They love to hate. Especially when they are critiquing others. 

I'm not sure why we give outside critiques any weight. The person often has no real knowledge of what is happening inside the other company.  But if they sound confident enough or bark loud enough, it seems people will listen. 

An article I read recently (CB Insights), though, points out how comical haters can sound when someone tracks their predictions. 

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William Orton, President of Western Union, failed to see the value of the newly invented telephone. “What use could this company make of an electrical toy?”

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home,” said Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977.

“Neither RedBox nor Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition,” said Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes, speaking to the Motley Fool in 2008. “It’s more Wal-Mart and Apple.”

“The development of mobile phones will follow a similar path to that followed by PCs,” said Nokia’s Chief Strategy Officer Anssi Vanjoki, in a German interview. “Even with the Mac, Apple attracted a lot of attention at first, but they have remained a niche manufacturer. That will be (Apple's) role in mobile phones as well.”

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Consumers are unpredictable. The future is uncertain. If you have a plan to take things over in 2017, go for it. And block out the noise.  

Now, you may or may not succeed. But the noise has nothing to do with it.