Stuck in morning rush hour traffic on Mumbai’s Marine Drive, on way to work, I found myself next to a Mercedes and a Maruti 800.
In slow-moving bumper-to-bumper traffic, the bigger Mercedes was at a disadvantage to the much smaller Maruti 800. The Mercedes stood still in its lane, while the Maruti 800 maneuvered itself into small openings and got ahead. I found myself calculating how much costlier it was for the Mercedes to be stuck in heavy traffic because of higher fuel consumption. I also found myself thinking what a waste it was for the Mercedes to be stuck in rush hour traffic on Marine Drive, when it should be doing 150 km per hour on the Mumbai-Pune highway. In fact, I almost felt sad for the Mercedes because it was on the wrong road.
Now, think of people instead of cars and careers instead of roads. Or, think of businesses instead of cars and industries instead of roads. I’m sure you have heard of hundreds of brilliant people who are stuck in the wrong career. I’m sure you have read about dozens of interesting businesses that don’t do well because the industry they are in is too crowded.