Kite Flying: Can we take corporate lessons?

On 14th January, we gathered for flying kite. That was an event with great fun and if we delve deeper
into it, it was of course an event of absolutely great learning.

If we compare the landscape where kites were flying with our business landscape, we will understand
that there were hundreds of kites like hundreds of companies fighting fiercely in a defined landscape.
Consider these kite fliers like those companies which do not have luxury to move out from that space
because they are locked-in by committing their resources and hence huge switching cost. So, they have
no options but to compete fiercely. An absolute Red Ocean and there is no option except bloodbath.

Now, in that situation what a typical kite flier does and can we take any corporate lesson from that is my
quest in writing this article. Kite flier typically does following things:

1) Investing in resources: For Kite fliers the resources are the Kites and the thread. From my
experience of kite flying yesterday, the good kites have good paper material and hence a bit
heavy, dexterously made for no air passing from kite and hence a bit more costly in purchase or
acquisition. The thread should be of the best quality for competition in sky. Lousy resources
won’t help. Same applies for the corporates fighting in Red Ocean. Categorize your resources
and get rid of lousy ones.

2) Tying the resources carefully: In kite flying, the kite and thread should be tied with each other
and not only tied; it should be tied carefully as well and with calculated measures. 2-3 times it
happened with me that due to carelessness in tying, my kite got untied while in air and hence
gone. Same goes with resources in the companies, there should be a common thread and hence
synchronization in each and every resource a company invests in.

3) Know your competitors: Initially 2-3 while flying kite I didn’t think who is my competitor and
hence beaten by them hands-down as they came from behind and attacked and I was caught
unaware. They were fierce and I was ignorant. Same happens with companies which ignore the
competition in the external environment. Know your competitors and their intent.

4) Ideate, strategize and mitigate risk: Before jumping into the bandwagon of flying kite, we
strategized for 5-10 minutes about how to compete, ideated several ways of fighting in the air
and also thought about the risk and the ways to mitigate it. Also, we set a certain milestone
where we evaluated our performance. It was only 5 minutes for us but should be a continuous
process for successful companies.

5) Execution matters: We thought and ideated but when our kite was in air, there were many
uncontrollable factors like the flow of air, buildings and trees around etc. A concentrated and
vigilant eye was needed for better execution of our ideas and strategies. Many times we won
and many times lost, the execution created the difference. Similarly, for companies to succeed
implementation of strategy is as important as formulation, sometimes may be more important.
6) Cut the competition: Kite flying has taught a lesson that for corporates to succeed in extremely
fierce competition the ways to fly high are; cut the competition or acquire them by whatsoever
it takes and create an entry barrier for new entrants.

7) Shout on success: On successfully beating our competition we have shouted like anything and
celebrated. We let the others know that we have done it. That may have made our competitors
worried and hence prone to make more mistakes. Corporates with strong PR mechanism and
social-media initiatives may create a winning image which will definitely always make their
competitors worry.

Lastly, whether it’s a game or business both are fun and should be taken in right spirit but the
winning always matters.