My good friend, colleague, and associate, Gary Weinreb, and I have initiated a weekly conference call on Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. (PST). Like me, Gary has recently gone out on his own (again) and our weekly calls are designed to motivate one another to move the ball down the field.

It’s a simple agenda. What did you accomplish last week? What are your goals for this week? What’s holding you back?

Gary has a simple goal: On average, he needs to solicit one new client a week and complete one website a week. I suggested today to Gary that he consider these his metrics and that he track and trend them on a weekly basis.

So, while it is true that if you don’t know where you’re going, every road leads you there, if you don’t track your progress, you won’t get to where you’re going either.

On the other hand, if you do track it, the simple act of watching it will change its properties. This is what I have always referred to as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle applied to the business world. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is a little different, as is the particle-wave duality, but the Observer Effect arises directly from these key findings from quantum physics. According to the Observer Effect, simply observing a situation or phenomenon changes that situation or phenomenon. It’s powerful stuff, and that’s just one of the reasons why it’s important to track and trend your metrics.

Just arriving from the East Coast last night, after being up for 20 hours, I decided to get some sleep, and to forego the anxiety of not knowing who won until I watched this morning. So, I checked. Zags by 13. Slept like a baby. Turns out, I only spoiled the first five minutes of the game as any anxiety as to the eventual victor, at 17-4 Zags, was well over by that point.

It was much like the cat playing with the proverbial mouse. And while St. Mary’s – at one point – climbed to within 9, the Zags effectively took them out of the game in the first five minutes, eventually building a 17-point lead (22-5). They schooled the upstart Gaels, who’d won a nail biter in Spokane just a few short weeks ago. The most telling moment was about eight minutes in, with the Zags up by 17. The Gaels stole the ball and hit a three, closing it to 14. One began to see – and hear – signs of life from the crowd… And then Mark Few called a time-out. The dispirit on the faces of the Gaels palpable. Most notably on the face of the quite competent coach, Randy Bennett, who looked like he was earning a degree at the foot of the master. Nor could the much heralded, prospective John Wooden awardee (currently on the top 20 watch list), Aussie center Jock Landale, contribute, finishing with four points and ten rebounds. Double teamed virtually every time he touched the ball, he didn’t simply lose the battle of the paint; he lost one to two steps every time he tried to penetrate.

A rout in every sense of the word and a sign of why I like the Zags to go further than their current tournament projection [a 5 seed]. While it is true there may be no first-round draft picks on this team, there is a balance, and a fearlessness, that will carry them further than most pundits (who continue to discount the Zags despite their advance to the Final in ’17) predict. Six – count ‘em – players average in double figures and, as with Zach Collins last year, the one sure pro pick comes off the bench. Rui Hachimuri, whose mother hails from Japan and whose father is Benini [seriously, I tried to find out what tribe Rui’s dad is from in Benin and the Internet will not answer that question. He’s either Yoruba, Fula, the Dendi, the Bariba, the Somba or the Fon. I’m going to write the Zags to find out. Stayed tuned] is athletic as anyone who’s played for the Zags. He torched the Gaels for 23 last time out and added another 21 last night.  And if Jonathan Williams doesn’t get selected, well then that’s just piss poor scouting on the part of the pros: Williams has NBA utility man written all over his game.

Go ‘Dogs!

Scaling is, to my mind, the most significant business challenge out there. There are so many things that can, and will, go wrong in the process. There is now a terrific, and easily accessible, resource to help aspiring entrepreneurs through this process, a podcast called Masters of Scale