FORGET THE SLACKERS IT’S TIME TO SLAY

Slay queen! A contemporary phrase used to describe a modern girl. This girl is usually really attractive; well dressed and self-conscious. She is usually the victim of vitriolic attacks from society, sometimes having to endure unfounded accusations about being loose and too ‘transparent.’ She is the younger relic of her attackers; you could almost view her as a threat. Yet for all this bashing her head is still held up high, she rocks her best outfit, smashes her best wild cherry lipstick and lets the wind guide her through life. Sometimes she smiles through adversity. At times, she is disgusted at every man who objectifies her. Despite all the hard things she has to endure in beauty, two things remains true of her, she slays and she is a queen. 

In approaching life and business, one must learn that time is the currency of life. If our seconds are cents, then our minutes are dollars. We no longer have the luxury to waste time and burrow in our shells. Every second that ticks by is a new business coming in to disrupt the market. This is a younger, smarter and more liberal team of entrepreneurs with a leaner business model. Entities you would almost call the slay queens of business. When they get in the room you have two sets of options. You can either complain about their business model or get in the groove of change and compete. You can either deride them about breaking conventions or you lose sleep and innovate. 

 If ever there was a time for your organization to slay then it is now. Cover your years of monotony with the make-up of innovation. With the unpredictable economics of the day your business may want to shed weight by getting rid of all those millions in your bank accounts and off-shore accounts and investing in the future of the industry. Elon musk understood the deception of size when he invested all his winnings from Paypal into Spacex and Tesla. The figures from Paypal could have easily deceived him into being comfortable with his financial weight. He understood however, the slay-queen effect. He understood that your figures in the bank mean absolutely nothing if you are not using them to shape the future of your industry. In the early nineties a slay queen by the name of Econet Wireless came into the scene and at its formative stages, it could have easily been ignored as an over ambitious start-up. It imposed itself into the market and now it is a market leader. In fact, it now suffers the risk of losing out to new entrants. In the funeral parlor industry, Nyaradzo came and took over the market with an array of innovative packages and products. The old horses in that space seem to be failing to cope with the heat. If they do not respond and slay up my prediction is that they will be buried (pun intended). 

One brand that seems to understand the need to refresh and slay up is Coca-Cola. Nomatter how many drinks squeeze themselves into the market Coca-Cola always dominates with intriguing adverts and cool marketing concepts. They have understood that constant touch with the market contributes significantly to success. They have mastered, I would say, the slay queen effect. Yet, even they are at risk. They are at risk of being worn out by new, fresh players so they always need to be on guard, giving their best image to the world. In this jungle, no one is safe. 

The business of the 21^st century is no longer the business of today. One must therefore do business with the future in mind. Stop finding humility in mediocrity. Forget the slackers, it is time to slay. 

Let’s keep walking the talk ……