My relative, John L. Porter, was the naval engineer who designed and constructed the Confederacy鈥檚 first ironclad ship, the Merrimac. Naval records share that the Merrimac destroyed a fleet of wooden ships in the James River 鈥� until the union responded with its own ironclad, the Monitor. He watched from shore the day the two ironclads met for the first time in combat as history was being made. He had changed the competitive nature of naval battle.

In entrepreneurial parlance, he was a disruptive force. Maritime strategy would never be the same. As fate would have it, on my second engineering job with General Electric, I was assigned to a manufacturing plant in Virginia, about 15 miles from the site of this famous ironclad battle. It is truly a small world.

My grandfather was also a naval officer, Class of 1922, U.S. Naval Academy. I became a fan of naval strategy thanks to him. To paraphrase Mark Twain: I learned how much my grandfather knew long after he taught me many life lessons.

One of the lessons he taught me was about 鈥渇iring solutions鈥� 鈥� the method used by submarine commanders to decide when to launch a torpedo against an opponent. Submarines have a limited number of torpedoes, so each one is a key resource not to be wasted. Imagine the challenge of shooting at a moving ship, from a moving ship, while underwater, with strong currents, in the dark. When these variables were close enough 鈥� not perfect 鈥� the commander had a firing solution. And the first sub commanders did it with stopwatches, not computers.

The key lesson I learned about the concept of a firing solution is you don鈥檛 have to have all of the variables lined up perfectly before you launch the torpedo. The variables just need to be close enough to solve the problem 鈥� that is, in the firing-solution zone.

Now, how does this apply to business strategy? Submarine commanders want to sink their opponents or protect the ships they are assigned to. This is how they create a naval advantage. In business, strategy is the process used to achieve a competitive advantage relative to competition.

Business leaders fire their resources at targets every day. Timing, as they say, is everything. If you wait for the perfect shot, you most likely will wait too long. However, along with timing the shot, you must hit the target, or at least get very close. Too often, many leaders don鈥檛 do this very well. They love to fire the torpedoes, but businesses don鈥檛 have an unlimited number of torpedoes, or resources.

When you ask any of my former students who have taken a class or workshop in strategic leadership from me to define competitive advantage, I trust they will answer: 鈥淭o generate an above-average return.鈥�

鈥淩eturn鈥� in this definition is typically a financial return, although it applies to nonprofit companies, as well. Above average indicates that the return will exceed what market-adjacent competitors generate. To do this takes hard work, a very good strategic plan and some luck. In terms of a firing solution, having good information based on facts is the key.

I鈥檓 often asked by my strategy students and consulting clients: 鈥淲hat usually makes the biggest difference between losing and winning business strategies?鈥�

My answer? Define the variables that make up your firing solution, and then don鈥檛 guess about the status of these variables. Businesses fail more often due to following a poorly designed strategic plan than from the poor execution of a great strategic plan. Poorly designed strategic plans are typically based more on intuition, on gut feel and on guesses, with too little reliance on facts. This is like shooting your torpedoes into the dark sea and hoping for a hit. 聽

John L. Porter kept a notebook with more than 200 pages of detailed results from tests he made during the initial designs of the Merrimac. When they launched the 275-foot-long ship with a crew of more than 300, he certainly held his breath. But the facts told him the ship would not sink.

Before you launch your next project 鈥� or torpedo 鈥� get the facts!

Bob Porter is executive director of downtown Orlando鈥檚聽Executive Development Center, part of the 麻豆原创鈥檚 College of Business Administration. He can be reached at RPorter@bus.ucf.edu.

Porter is a management lecturer and the executive academic director of the Executive Development Center at the 麻豆原创 College of Business Administration. His academic credentials include a Ph.D. in Business Administration from 麻豆原创 (management – entrepreneurship/strategy concentration) and an executive MBA from Rollins College鈥檚 Crummer School of Business.

The agenda for the Dean鈥檚 Speaker Series is as follows:

Registration is $20 and includes breakfast and parking costs.

The CFE Dean鈥檚 Speaker Series is a monthly opportunity from the 麻豆原创 College of Business Administration to learn about the provocative and new programs that our world class faculty are spearheading, researching, and teaching. This is an opportunity to be out on the edge of new business ideas and network with other business leaders in our community. Seating is limited and the program is sure to sell out.

Established in 1968, the 麻豆原创 College of Business Administration offers degrees at the bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚, doctoral, and executive levels. All programs, as well as the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting are accredited by AACSB International 鈥� the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

The college provides high-quality academic programs designed to give students a competitive advantage in the world of business now and in the future. As such, the college establishes partnerships with some of the nation’s most innovative leaders to model new and best practices that harness evolving technology. In addition, the college promotes a unique culture of engagement, risk-taking, cross-disciplinary collaboration and data-driven decision making in an effort to ensure students are well prepared to enter a dynamic marketplace.

In my way of thinking, strategy applies equally well to both business and our individual lives. Research indicates that most businesses fail to hit their goals due to poor strategic planning. It is the No. 1 reason for business failure.

I was first trained in strategy formulation and implementation during my employment with General Electric. At GE I learned we have two generic types of strategy: cost-leadership strategy and differentiation strategy. To be a cost leader you must be the lowest-cost producer of the product or service you sell.

Walmart regularly promotes that they roll back prices every day. This is price leadership that might reflect cost leadership. But they are not the same thing. You have to dig deeper to find the cost leader, which is usually an imported good from China that in turn can be sold for a lower price.

In comparison, to be successful with a differentiation strategy, you must offer something to your buyers of great value that is also unique in the market. You won鈥檛 find many Ferraris parked at Walmart (or anywhere), and Ferrari does not source its parts from the lowest-cost suppliers.

鈥淗ow do I choose between these two types of strategy?鈥� I recommend unpacking this one big question into three smaller questions.

First, what does your market really want and need? Second, what are you and your company really good at producing in terms of your goods and services? Third, can you bring the answers to the first and second questions together in a way that gives you an advantage over your competition in the market you want to compete in?

These three questions are typically the easiest to answer at the time when you launch a new business. Once the business is up and running, daily operations get in the way of strategic thinking time and it鈥檚 really hard to step back and fully evaluate the questions. It鈥檚 even harder to see if your strategy is working.

Customers get fickle. Competition becomes smarter and more aggressive. You have the daily fires to fight. And then a natural disaster or worse hits and it seems like someone pushed the pause button on the economy. Who has time to think strategically?

This is one reason why clarity and flexibility are typically a better choice in our current markets than complexity and rigidity for most strategic plans.

Recall the story of Kodak, the worldwide leader in film-based imaging鈥搖ntil it lost out to digital imaging. Perhaps surprisingly, Kodak had digital technology in its portfolio very early on and could have switched over from film imaging, but chose to rigidly stick to what it was comfortable with. Despite multiple warnings, Kodak stuck to its strategy all the way to bankruptcy.

You must clearly decide if you are you going to set your strategic intent to be a cost-leader or a differentiator.

Can you be both? Yes, it鈥檚 possible to integrate these two generic strategic choices (an integration strategy), but you have to be very good at both to do it! It is very rare to be able to do both for long and succeed. Otherwise, you get stuck in the middle!

A case in point is Apple. Apple for years was clearly only about differentiation (under Steve Jobs), but a few years ago broadened its focus to reduce product cost (under Tim Cook who replaced Steve Jobs). It did achieve a position in the market where it was simultaneously a low-cost producer, as exhibited by very strong profit margins, and was also a differentiated producer, as exhibited by its award-winning designs and near cult-like product following.

Now Apple appears to have lost its clarity regarding innovation, and subsequently yielded significant market share to Google on smartphone software and to Samsung on smartphones and tablet hardware. Apple is drifting toward being stuck in the middle due to loss of focus and lack of flexibility.

A good leader sets a clear and bold vision that is easy to follow. We no doubt have all witnessed the strong new leader who boldly declares a new direction for the ship he now captains. If the strategy is well-developed, despite high seas and the occasional leak in the boat, the ship, captain, and crew have a very good chance of arriving at the desired location.

But when the strategic map has been hastily prepared, and the captain鈥檚 crew is not paying attention to imminent signs of peril, they rigidly keep their hand on the ship鈥檚 rudder and repeatedly sail right into the storms, resulting in another loss in the seas of competition.

It鈥檚 hard work to craft a clear and flexible strategy. Refine your strategy until it is clear. Build in flexibility by carefully picking the members of your crew. And then regularly set aside sufficient strategic thinking time to consider how you are doing relative to your strategic map.聽

Pay attention to the weather of business and life 鈥� and don鈥檛 steer into an iceberg.

Bob Porter is executive director of downtown Orlando鈥檚聽Executive Development Center, part of the 麻豆原创鈥檚 College of Business Administration. He can be reached at RPorter@bus.ucf.edu.

Longbows are the type of bow that Robin Hood used, and they were made from long fairly straight pieces of wood along with a bow string that was organic and waxed. A longbow is unlike today鈥檚 modern bows, in that there are no pulleys or curved arms to aid the archer when you pull the arrow back and help you hold it until you are ready to release the arrow.

Bows are measured in pounds, so the amount of force you use to pull the string back is the same force as what is applied to launch the arrow. For example, a 50-pound bow requires 50 pounds of force to fully pull the string back. Imagine trying to hold a 50-pound weight steady that is attached to the middle of a rope that is stretched tightly between your two outstretched hands. That is what using a 50-pound bow feels like.

The bow my grandfather used to teach me with was as tall as I was. Here I was, at 6 years old, holding that heavy weight between my outstretched hands. Shooting my first arrow felt like I was not only trying to hold that weight up, but that I was trying to also thread a needle with one of my hands at the same time. That鈥檚 how it felt.

I have continued to use a bow and arrow through my adult life, and I have learned several lessons from archery that have helped me in life and business. The theme that carries through all of these lessons is “focus.”

I have learned from archery to clearly see the target I want the arrow to hit, as well as the external factors that could affect hitting the target. External factors such as wind, distance and any movement of the target typically reduce my odds of hitting the target. In order to hit it, not only must you first clearly identify the target (goal), but you must also consider all the external factors that will affect your efforts and adjust accordingly.

Archery has taught me to be aware of my own readiness to release the arrow. One key to this is my breathing. Another key is to be consistent with the draw of the string, where I pull it back to, and how I release it. Tiny changes at the bow typically make big differences in the flight of the arrow and where the arrow lands. In life and business, you must ensure that not only all of the external factors have been taken into account, but also that you have taken an internal inventory and that you are ready to make your shot.

Archery has also helped me ensure that I can concentrate under stress to clearly keep my target in focus. This takes patience and perseverance. When I first looked down the length of an arrow at a target 100 feet away and attempted to keep the tip of the arrow pointed at the bull鈥檚-eye, I felt very confident. But I was just holding the arrow in my hand 鈥� it was not on the bow. The tip of the arrow seemed to do anything but point at the bull鈥檚-eye when I had it on the bow and under tension. Aiming at your target under stress is much harder than doing it under ideal conditions. Through practice it becomes more natural.

Finally, archery has taught me when to release the arrow. What good is improved focus if you don鈥檛 take the shot? When you have an arrow on the string, fully pulled into position and pointed toward the target, you must shoot when you have the shot. And often, the tip will wander and move on and off of the bull鈥檚-eye while it聽is in flight. But that shouldn鈥檛 stop you. In order to be able to hit the bull鈥檚-eye, I had to practice. Over time, that gave me the confidence to take more and more shots. I learned to trust my skills and senses.

OK, I鈥檓 not Robin Hood, and you probably aren鈥檛 either. So what is the translated value of learning about archery to everyday life? In a word: focus. And in two words: improved focus.

Ultimately, everything I鈥檝e learned in archery is all related to specific ways to help me improve my mental focus. Using a bow and arrow requires patience to ensure that you have the target in sight. You must identify your main target, understand important external factors, ensure you are internally ready, and ultimately take the shot.

I am often inspired by a memory from my last trip to Japan when I had the opportunity to witness a display of great skill regarding archery: a Ninja riding on a horse and shooting at a moving target with his bow and arrow, an extremely difficult feat.

Like the Ninja, maintaining your focus on moving targets these days can be hard. There are ever-increasing demands on our attention and our time, and there always seem to be so many distractions from the truly important things to in life.

To me, maintaining my focus means paying attention to my tasks, priorities and values in order to hit the important goals that truly make a difference. That is why I kept my grandfather鈥檚 bow as a reminder of the lessons he taught me about focus.

“Paul,

You are a champion of the idea that exploring failure is a key learning opportunity for our students. I shared this idea last semester in a challenge to my students in their capstone/applied strategy course 鈥� to share their experiences regarding their own challenges. During that semester I was asked by a student, 鈥淚s failure the best teacher in life?鈥� While I personally don鈥檛 think it is always the best teacher, I do think it creates one of the most powerful learning opportunities we can experience. I think a good way to view this process is to recognize that learning to succeed is often the result of a personal change driven by one鈥檚 failure.

One of my greatest learning experiences in life was when I failed my physical exam to enter the US Naval Academy. The Academy represented a chance to get an incredible college education, and serve my country in repayment. My grandfather was a Naval Academy graduate, and as a result I was eligible for a Presidential Appointment to the Academy. The appointment process to an Academy is a rigorous examination process. I spent two years in high school going through the interviews, taking the qualification exams, and ultimately I received the Presidential Appointment contingent upon a physical exam. My physical exam came during my senior year in high school. The exam was conducted at a naval base by navy doctors and it took a full day. I learned at the end of the exam that due to a childhood injury to my hip when I was 10, which landed me in a home for crippled children for a year, I would most likely have severe arthritis about the time that I graduated from the Academy. As a result, I was rejected and my Presidential Appointment was given to the next qualified candidate. I was devastated by the news. I was a high school senior with no good backup plan for college due to the near certainty of my appointment. I thought my entire future was based on going to the Naval Academy.

One of my most significant mentors in life was a man named Lew Treen. He was a war veteran, a gifted semi-pro baseball player, and a high school principal and coach. One thing he taught me was, 鈥淭o learn is to change, and to change is to learn.鈥� I called Lew Treen the day I was rejected to get his advice. His advice was to 鈥榣earn from this, build on it, and move forward.鈥�

I wound up attending 麻豆原创 to obtain my engineering undergraduate degree. This led to my career with General Electric, and many other very positive opportunities in my life. I learned that major setbacks in life, with a great deal of work, can be converted into very positive new directions. Success is not automatic in life, even if you have a Presidential endorsement. You have to learn how to succeed. Failure guides you on what you need to change when you don鈥檛 succeed.

I propose we set a challenge for our students along these lines -to paraphrase Lew Treen, 鈥淟earning to succeed can be the result of change driven by failure.鈥� While I think exploring experiences related to failure may encourage students to press through their challenges, I think that positioning the failure exercise to focus on how students have learned from these failures or how they used them as a platform to succeed makes this challenge focus on an individual鈥檚 growth that results from change. It essentially transforms the exercise from articulating one鈥檚 failure into the process of learning and growing from it. Everyone fails at something at one point or another in life, and if we are able to approach these situations with the perspective that we can learn and grow from them, then they are not failures after all, but learning ultimately how to change and then succeed.

As a side note, when I was 30, I needed a total hip replacement just to be able to walk 鈥� the Navy doctors were right.

Bob Porter, Ph.D.”

Paul Jarley, Ph.D., is the dean of the聽. He blogs every week at聽.聽This post appeared on September 23, 2013. Follow him on Twitter聽