Exploiting Success

Jim Stroup at Managing Leadership gives solid advice on exploiting success. An excerpt:

A common practice in a military campaign is to hold some forces in reserve. The very wise rule of thumb is that they are to be used to reinforce success – to exploit a breakthrough or provide the decisive momentum at a point where your side is on the verge of victory.

Unfortunately, the instinct is to send them where your lines appear about to collapse. As natural as that would appear, it almost always works to your advantage to throw the weight of your resources behind a promising assault to seize the early victory, forcing your opponent to abandon his advantage and to reinforce his own failures.

And the same applies in business. We should be pouring our best resources into our most promising opportunities. But we often find ourselves instead propping up initiatives that have lost their luster, or supporting legacy programs due to misplaced affection or tradition.