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Education

Lessons from the Remember, never try

past that apply today to fit a square peg into

By Jeff Fortney a round hole.
Clearent LLC

riends and family often think I live in the past. It some cases, significant roadblocks.
may be because I like to watch old movies, many
in black and white. I still enjoy old game shows, Five points to remember
F too, like I've Got a Secret and What's My Line. I lis-
ten to the Seriously Sinatra station on Sirius Satellite Radio, Here are several lessons from the past that if not remem-
and I watch Perry Mason daily when possible. bered can and will disrupt your future success.
• Knowledge is power: I would be hard pressed to find
But it would be wrong to say I live in the past simply someone who disagrees with this statement. Howev-
because I enjoy the entertainment from times gone by. My
favorite statement is still, "He who does not learn from the er, in the payments world, the answers to common
questions change often. Unless you are constantly in
past is doomed to repeat it." Life lessons help build who we
are and help prevent us from making the same or similar a learning mode, you will miss out on key changes
and improvements that can help drive your success.
errors.
• Don't assume that you know it all: And don't get
In truth, I am an optimist. In my eyes, optimists look too comfortable in your knowledge, because our in-
forward with excitement to the good that is to come. It dustry is constantly evolving. Find a trusted advisor
would not be possible for me to look back and say it was for questions (ideally your ISO partner) and look for
a better time or a better world (although I would say the learning opportunities often. Even if you think you
entertainment was quite good). know everything, it never hurts to be proven correct.
Or transversely, corrected.
But even optimists have to be realistic, too. To me, the
future is ripe with opportunities. However, no matter how • Remember the Edsel: Ford executives believed they
optimistic you are, there will be challenges and hurdles to had built the next generation of automobile when
those opportunities. By reflecting on lessons learned from they revealed the Edsel. They staked their reputa-
history, we can overcome those challenges, hurdles and, in tion on it. History shows that although the Edsel
was technologically
advanced, the mar-
ket didn't flock to it.
People either ignored
the Edsel or criticized
it. This experience re-
sulted in lost revenue
and hindered Ford's
growth. And the Ed-
sel is remembered to-
day as a colossal flop.
The moral of the sto-
ry is not as obvious,
for at the time of the
Edsel debacle, Ford
still had a number of
other models. The les-
son here is that the
company incorrectly
chose to push one
model hard over oth-
er options. In the pay-
ments world, consider
your choice of termi-

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