So many ideas, now let's get them done!

I spent the day at a conference in Rosebank today, courtesy of a global management consulting firm (not sure about plugging companies on here...yet)

While all the speakers (local and international) were all very compelling and kept my mind ticking over with their topics, the same thing kept coming to the surface: execute on ideas fast and capture the market.

Now this is easier said than done, or is it?

Working for a bank, and being involved in cross-industry forums and engagements, not to mention MBA discussions, you often end up taking a knock from your peers about expensive charges, non-delivery or that unfriendly call centre agent (that may or may not have been outsourced to India, but still did a bad enough job to warrant doing damage control)

The advent of social media makes the connectedness of society all the more prevalent and, with valid reason, allows customers and non-customers alike, to share their views for the world to see, and hopefully, comment on.

Now this is great, as all the bank-bashing does do one thing; it allows us "bankers" to reflect on what could be done if we really put our minds (or backs) into it. So here's the truth... we do! Unfortunately it sometimes isn't fast enough, or worse, is too late.

The other challenge is meeting everyone's needs the minute they arise. But anyway, I digress, the point of this blog post was to query why it sometimes takes so long to take a really awesome idea and turn it into a reality. Fear of failure, juggling too many balls or is it just that we have lost the ability to decide what is really important and where our focus should lie?

I see this as an opportunity. If, as South Africans, we could apply the same approach to all the opportunities and challenges we face, we could probably focus our energy on many aspects of society and make great inroads into the improvement we all seek.

Nevertheless, exciting times and loads of great opportunities on the horizon... especially for us banks ;)