Finally an analysis that was totally worth it

For a market analyst, sleep doesn’t come easily unless we have our daily dose of combating with at least one of the acclaimed matrices and models. A part of our life, we actually spend trying to figure out where to place things in the mapping grids. Today was no different as I just had my fill of doing a SWOT analysis on an industry. I was almost on the verge of wearing my thinking hat and come up with some brilliant idea. But, this time my colleague beat me to it by suggesting we do a SWOT analysis on ourselves.

Wow, that is really some thought leadership and innovative too. A group of analysts who churns out reports full of all matrices and models, some developed by great minds of the era and some developed by greater minds (none other than us), set out on this path of self discovery. Self discovery is really not the word for it, as it was more of a group thinking exercise where we made a SWOT analysis on all team members. As the quadrants of my matrix filled up, I could not help wonder how much we know and do not know about ourselves. I always thought I knew the most about me and I was wonder struck by how much my team mates knew about me. Time for Johari window and one by one, all those models I have made multiple times was unveiling in a new light. I have used these models a number of times, so much so that I have lost count, but was too short sighted that I have never looked beyond a market point of view. Today I could finally relate the models to my life and the analysis was totally worth it. Alas, if we could conjure everything in the world in form of 2X2 matrix, life would have been easier.

You can call it over enthusiasm of an analyst, whatever, today I did a porters five forces, BCG and Ansoff matrix on my life. It may sound funny, but I was amazed how snugly it fit to the various scenarios in my life. That gives me yet another excuse to stop beating around the markets and look at what is in it for me. Sometime back a trainer told us a story of how we should always have sometime for sharpening the axe, if we want to be the best wood cutter around. How true. Self reflection at times can really help us get where we want to be.

To end the story, today I had my dose of analyzing some models and I can sleep tight, now that I have made one good piece of analysis.