Taking Time

Many things in nature take time.

There is a certain time frame (typically 9 months) to have a baby. You cannot accelerate the process. If honey hardens you can soften it in warm water but it takes time, boiling water won’t make it faster – it will just ruin the honey. You do not accelerate the process so that you have teenagers the week after they are born, it takes time to get there.

Why in business do we limit ourselves to very short time horizons, when some things take time?

The answer is presumably that we do not know the outcome, so want to manage the risk and limit the cost. With a pregnancy you pretty much can expect it will take 9 months, there is past experience.

That said, there are companies that are doing extremely well since they do take a long view, ignoring the chatter around them. We know who they are.