Have you played Angry Birds? Do you realise what a great lesson it teaches you about business? (Are you now beginning to think I’ve lost the plot?!)

Angry Birds, for those of you who haven’t come across it, is a game where you fire birds with different powers out of a catapult at green pig creatures that are seeking shelter in a variety of structures. Quite what the back story is to explain why the birds are so angry and why the pig creatures must be destroyed eludes me. The game started on the iphone, spread to other touch screen phones and is now playable on Facebook. If you want an in-depth description pop over to this wikipedia article 

Now what can it teach you about business? No, it’s not that you can waste a lot of time playing it. True, but not the point I want to make. There are two things you can learn.

In Angry Birds you have a limited number of birds and you can’t change the order the birds are fired. This can be frustrating if you want a bomber bird and all you have is the ones that split into three. So lesson one is that sometimes you just have to work with you what with you’ve got. No good saying “if only…” If only isn’t going to happen.

Lesson two is that plans sometimes need to be changed.

When you start a new level in Angry Birds, you quickly form a plan of how you are going to attack the structure. I was playing yesterday and I was convinced that I knew how to do it. As I failed on the first time I thought, oh maybe I just need to aim a smidge higher. Or maybe I need to zap the speed on a bit sooner. So I keep on trying, doing pretty much the same thing and not really accomplishing anything. Then I remembered what Einstein said.

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.

So so true, and I wonder why I forgot this. As soon as I took a different approach, my results improved DRAMATICALLY.

Doing the same thing and expecting different results is something that I sadly see too many people repeating in business. It can be hard to get out of rut – if you’ve been doing something that used to work and no longer does it can be hard to accept that you need to change tact. Taking that leap can be scary. After all, it’s not attacking computer generated green pigs we’re tallking here, it could be the survival of your business that’s at stake.

But if what you’re doing isn’t working then you need to do something else. Ask an expert for advice. Try in small scale. If you have our Premier Pack, use the Focus and Feedback slot to test your idea so you get get confidential feedback. Sealed box that everyone is able to place their feedback in & only you get to see it (not even the events organiser if you wish!) (See BPP for more details)

Don’t be afraid of change

As Isaac Asimov said (though he himself took part of the quote from Heraclitus a 500BC, Greek philosopher.)

The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.

So that’s Angry Bird, Eistein, Isaac Asimov and Greek Philospher Heraclitus teaching us about business. Talk about a stellar line up.

What lessons do you have to share?