Navigating Huge Missed Opportunities

aka the time in the 90s when I _didn't_ file a patent for cloud computing

That subtitle is NOT, sadly, just clickbait.

I studied computer science at Harvard. In 1997-1998, I took a class on databases. I was on a team with two superstars, one guy had already published a book on coding in Java. No lies, on this team I felt way out of my element. But that’s not the story here.

Another important bit of context, at that time, the web was so small another friend would check all the websites that went up the night before, because you could.

In the class we had a final project, I have no memory of what it was. What I do remember is that my teammates and I had this idea on how to speed up loading of websites. Websites at that point were images and text. No FB, no commerce, no smartphones, no cell phones even, nothing like what we can do now nevermind without coding skills or from our pocket.

So we had this idea: instead of having a page go all the way to a server to get info and display it when it came back, what if we had other machines in between that hosted cached versions of the site and served those up if they were still current. Most websites weren’t changing much, so this would have made things kind of a lot faster.

But again, the web wasn’t that big, so how useful would it really be?

Our professor set up a lunch at a fancy club with a patent lawyer. I remember sitting in the meeting and this guy liked our idea and was interested in helping us file a patent.

The problem: it cost $5k, and none of us had that money, certainly not for owning something that only a literal handful of people might even consider using. So we had the meeting and just didn’t follow up.

Fast forward, cloud computing is everywhere and really the backbone of the modern internet. If you’re reading this, it’s thanks to cloud computing. If you buy anything online, cloud computing. Imagine getting paid by Amazon, Google, Facebook in perpetuity. I certainly have.

It actually took me a while to connect the dots that this was even a missed opportunity. When I did, my inner critic got a little loud.

RESULTING

In her books “Thinking in Bets” and “How to Decide” multi-million dollar poker winner Annie Duke talks about the pitfall of “resulting.

As a high-stakes professional poker player, Annie made hundreds of split-second decisions with huge, huge consequences. Fair to say many of them panned out. But not all of them.

Resulting is what we do when we place a bet, lose, and say “oh, I should have done ______” because the result would have been different. Or worse, I lost that bet, I’m no good at this game, I quit.

Imagine if she lost a bet and let that mean literally anything about her, her skill, her quality as a person. She’d shy off of even playing and not be a multimillionaire, I imagine.

Here’s the thing, before you bet, one of two things was true: you probably had no way of knowing the outcome OR you didn’t realize what the right place was to find answers to help make it a surer thing. Annie didn’t know what the other players had, and my small team had no idea what the internet would become. We essentially made a bet by not betting $5k on a kiddie-pool sized internet that only a few truly nerdy coders knew how to use.

Resulting on that meeting would paralyze me on probably any future opportunity.

SO, WHAT DO YOU DO INSTEAD?

The truth is, there’s nothing I can do to get that opportunity back. I’ll probably always remember it and not wistfully or fondly.

So how do you not let something like that get in your way?

Well, I work with clients on these things all the time, so here’s an insight.

As a Coach there are 5 principles we live by. To approach client conversations without judgment, these principles are key. I’ll share this and ideally you can use it with yourself.

Here’s the most important one in the scenario where you’re resulting:

Principle:

People do their best.
They make their best choices each day with what they know about life so far.
(via Erickson International)

COACH YOURSELF

It’s easier to do from the Coach’s chair. I’m asking you to sit in your own Coaching chair.

So if you’re resulting, close your eyes and imagine you’re in the room with the past you that made or didn’t make the right bet. Look around at the world, what did that person know, think, or feel? If you were facing the same uncertainty, or even certainty, what decision would you have made?

Maybe you would.

Or, maybe you look back and realize you did miss some information that would have helped you make a different bet. Sad, but it’s good news. You now know how to identify and opportunity and get the information you need.

THE RESULT?

This isn’t a formula for perfect decision making.

And it WILL be an easy thing to do so you keep putting yourself out for big opportunities and make those winning bets.

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