Gavin Moffat - Swimming with Sharks: Simple Business Guidelines for a Complex World

First published by Tracey McDonald Publishers, 2018

Suite No. 53, Private Bag X903, Bryanston, South Africa, 2021

www.traceymcdonaldpublishers.com

Copyright Gavin Moffat, 2018

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission
from the publisher.

ISBN 978-0-6399395-8-2

e-ISBN (ePUB) 978-0-6399395-9-9

Text design and typesetting by Patricia Crain, Empressa

Front and back cover design by Design Lounge

Cover compilation by Patricia Crain

Digital conversion by Johan Koortzen

Printed and bound by Pinetown Printers (Pty) Ltd

INTRODUCTION

AND P.S. WHY THE SCUBA DIVING ANALOGY

B y nature, I am an opinionated guy. I am full of opinions. I dont believe theyre all right or that they are any more important than anyone elses. And I dont mean that Im that idiot who always has an irritating opinion about everything. I read a lot, think about things, and debate them. Sometimes the conclusions I reach are worth sharing.

I have always enjoyed writing. Over time I have found that some people like to read what I write and that it sometimes makes sense to them. Life is complicated, but I like to try to make it simpler. In another part of my life I spent some time as a marketing and reputation management guy. I took my clients services, solutions and products that I thought were cool, translated their speak into something human and interesting, and made them accessible and understandable to people who perhaps wanted them.

This introduction is an elevator pitch: I have 30 seconds to tell you something in a way that starts a conversation. By the time we get out of the lift youre hooked and want to know more. Its called an elevator pitch because lift pitch really doesnt have a great ring to it.

Over the past couple of years, I have written a number of pieces that I think are relevant in a collected format. Theyre pieces that try to take interesting, intriguing and sometimes complicated subjects and explain them in a couple of hundred words. So, by their very nature, these pieces are not comprehensive nor are they in-depth, nor are they meant to be. They are pockets of thought and occasionally insightful, helpful pieces but thats really up to you to decide.

Youll notice that SCUBA diving is the thread that holds this work together, and you may wonder why

My love for the sea began after I started SCUBA diving in April of 2001. My first dive at Sodwana Bay (on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa) felt like I had dropped into a giant aquarium, which I guess it was. It was overwhelming and no amount of National Geographic had prepared me for the experience.

When Im diving I feel calm and at one with nature. I feel an intense curiosity about all that is happening around me and would gladly stay down for hours at a time. Ingrid (my wife) and I have been diving together ever since, having done very few dives apart in the intervening years, which has allowed us to share our joy in, and love for, the ocean, together.

I find that many of the activities that take place both in the preparation for and execution of a dive (be it recreational or technical) are excellent analogies for life outside the water. So, it was an easy leap for me to use my passion for diving to explain and describe business processes on dry land.

This book is divided into eight sections, each bringing together a handful of pieces under a theme that fits with a diving activity.

One of the tenets of SCUBA diving, for instance, is plan the dive and dive the plan. This is equally true in business, which is why I believe in business plans, and devote a full section to the art and science of planning.

In other sections I cover the value of good quality questions to focus the mind, the need to have the right kit for the waters youre getting into (you can see how that applies to business, right?), and the benefits of a proper brief and debrief either side of the dive.

Some of my favourite pieces are the ones that cover trust, deal with the millennial generation, the value of friction, and contemplate the concept of the Beta culture, also known as the good-enough culture.

Theres no predicting, of course, which piece or pieces may make the most significant contribution to your life and your business, if any do so at all.

This book is what you make it and what you take out of it. My hope is that the questions I ask or the points that I make give you pause for thought. That you question your assumptions after youre done reading.

You might even get hacked off either at me or the topic and then youll do something about finding out more about it. Any of these is great it means Ive offered a message that resonates with you in one way or another, and its inspired you to action.

This is not gospel, it is my opinion and that opinion is like me, fallible. If you like it, then please pass the book on once you have read it. Better still, pass it on full of Post-It notes with your thoughts and questions so that you can start a conversation with the next person who gets their hands on it. Start talking about the thoughts in here that interest you because thats a cool thing to do.

I got here by thinking that my thoughts were important enough to write down, having the courage to write them down and then the pure arrogance to think that they are worth sharing with others.

Try it, do the same, I double dare you.

Gavin Moffat, Johannesburg, South Africa, October 2018

@gavinmoffat

www.SwimmingWithSharks.co.za

www.facebook.com/SwimmingWithSharksBook

www.gavinmoffat.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavinmoffat

www.facebook.com/thisisgavinmoffat

PS: If youre curious about this SCUBA diving thing find your nearest dive shop and ask some questions. Watch some videos online and speak to divers. Most will joyfully share their stories and love of the sea with you, while probably exaggerating the size of that potato bass ( Epinephelus tukula ) they saw during their last dive. Try SCUBA diving and remember, take only pictures, leave only bubbles, unless youre on a rebreather.

The bit that comes before the rest

C aveat: none of this can be linear / its often done simultaneously and dont be locked into a perfect outcome because they dont exist / do it Beta style and iterate to success.

Section 1

The questions you need to answer to ensure youre on a road to somewhere

O ver the years I have been privileged to deal with many businesses, whether they were start-ups heading off to Silicon Valley to make their fortunes, international brands making waves on global stages, or one-man outfits trying to carve out their place in the world. These businesses each have their own unique natures, as though they are living breathing entities. The nature of the one-man outfit is much easier to discern because its closer to that of its founder, if not a direct reflection of him or her. The larger the business the more difficult it is for the founder/s to continue to create and renew the feel of a business. Larger businesses are often still a reflection of senior management and their view of the world, often to their own detriment.

These organisations have many things in common and many aspects dissimilar. The successful ones, however, tend to have a golden thread that binds their organisations to their success, the 5 Ws and an H. Sound simple? It is. Businesses that are achieving their goals, tend to have goals. They have goals that are mapped out and measurable and most often these businesses started off by answering the Who, How, What, Where, Why and When questions before they bought their first pencil or rented their office.