You’ve heard me talk about the concept of ROL, or return on luck, over the years. I first read about the concept of return on luck in the book “Great by Choice,” where Jim Collins discusses the long-term impact of luck events, both good and bad. He found that companies had the same amount of these types of events over a decade. But the companies that were able to react differently to both good and bad luck events got to the top of the industry. I feel the biggest turning points in my business career came from what others called “bad luck” events.
We’re getting to the other side of the Kaseya vulnerability issue, unless you’re one of the MSPs that were breached. Now, this is being portrayed as a bad luck event for MSPs. This story lit up the worldwide news cycle. I already saw an industry article saying that this will change the MSP industry because customers will lose faith in MSPs. I get why this is the reaction.
But, it made me think of one of my favorite lines from Apollo 13. When someone said that this will be the biggest disaster in the history of NASA, Gene Kranz replied with, “I believe this will be our finest hour.” This is your chance to decide if this story becomes a good or bad luck event for you.
I believe that there will be winners and losers in the MSP market. In fact, it’s already begun. How will this event and others impact you? Whether you’re a VSA customer or not, I don’t think it matters. Will this have a negative, neutral, or positive impact on your business and your relationship with your customers?
If I wasn’t currently between MSPs, here’s what I’d be doing:
- Developing talking points for my team to be prepared to talk to your customers by arming vCIOs with a playbook to use to push my customer security posture forward.
- Meeting with my leaders about maturing my security posture.
And here’s what I wouldn’t do:
- Make knee jerk reactions.
- Start changing my technology stack by adding technology in a rush manner.
Step back and be sure you have perspective on the situation. Many security vendors are trying to “FUD” (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) you into sales before this leaves the new cycle.
Luck events — good or bad — are what defines a business over time.
ROL is a critical equation for top companies in every industry. Can you recognize this event and can you react in a way to maximize your return?
