Sunday, January 8, 2012

The Dao of Implementing an Unorthodox (Surprise) Play


"In the field of observation, chance (fortune)
favored the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur

Our associates are always asked this question, "how does one surprises their target?"

The answer is: understanding the tendencies of the competition. Click here, here and here (the video) for an unique example.


The Niners Implementation
One wonders how did Brad Seely, the Niners coach find this operational inefficiency within the St. Louis Rams special team?

One presumption is that the coach could have noticed that opposing special team signal caller does NOT always perform the due diligence of counting number of opposing players before the play, during the game review video session.

It is one of the many basic signals that some football fans missed. They become so involved in the action and rarely see the other parts of the bigger picture. (Fwiw, the game video for the coaches is quite different than the TV version of the game. It offers a broader scope of the game. The coaches usually have more tangible information to be processed.)

The Niners kicker was quite observant and fully prepared, that he quickly read and scan the full field for situational mismatches before executing it. This "read and respond" approach only works if the play caller's team have prepared themselves by mastering all of relevant scenario adjustment plays.

There are some other presumptions. Drop us a message and we will tell you.

Side note: Regardless of the predictability state of the situation, the successful strategist always ensures that the expediters are prepared for all tangible situations. If the execution errs in any way, then the root cause would be focused toward their execution. ... Do you plan and prepare your team to do that? ... In your settings, what is the probability of your competition surprising you with a new marketing tactic.

In summary, how do you assessed your competition? Better yet, how does your competition assessed you?

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