Decisive Moments
Silicon Valley celebrates Peter Thiel’s “The Single Best Question You Can Ask” because it’s a concise test of a decisive, divergent thinking. His question is: what do you know to be true that few people agree with? A good answer, Thiel says, reveals a promising entrepreneur.
Great photographers have a similar trait. Henri Cartier-Besson, master of candid photography and widely considered one of the leading artistic forces of the 20th century, called it “the decisive moment.” He spoke of knowing and intuiting: knowing takes conscious attention and intuition is immediate. Both are required to release the shutter at the right place and time.
Panera Bread’s history is full of decisive moments. Founder and CEO Ron Shaich went to Harvard Business School in 1976. After Harvard, many of his classmates went into banking or finance.
Shaich went into cookies.
Shaich took a job as a district manager with The Original Cookie Company. He ran 15 cookie stores throughout half the United States, mostly in malls. He sensed a huge opportunity in urban settings and took the idea to the CEO. His CEO said: we don't do that here.
Shaich resigned.
Great photographers and great entrepreneurs use their knowing and intuition to act in the decisive moment.
ABOUT THIS IMAGE. Surfing images make me wonder: How did the photographer grab that image? How did she not get crushed by the wave? How did she recognize the right moment to press the shutter?
This image of Stu Johnson by Sarah Lee was created by two photographers in one decisive moment. As the surfer carves a turn, Johnson waits, ready to capture the moment.
Lee waits, too, presses her shutter, and succeeds!
“Photographer Stu Johnson, Fiji.” Sarah Lee.
This post is part of a series of entrepreneurial lessons from Panera Bread. Subscribe below for updates as each is released.
