In the game of football, the 4th quarter is the near the end of the game. If the two teams are close in points, it can make for an exciting game, but if it is a blowout, usually the team on the losing side of points has a desperate fight to the end to try to win, which normally doesn't end well for the team anyways as they end up losing.
In business, the 4th quarter is almost like that. There are a lot of business that have the 4th quarter as a do or die scenario. The holiday shopping season is what they bank on to take them through the slow times or seasonality of the rest of the year. This is also the quarter that businesses reevaluate themselves and where they stand and try to get the gears moving to have momentum for the new year.
With the holiday season already underway, long before Halloween and Thanksgiving is much of a thought, the Santa decorations, the Christmas funds, holiday party planning and people inputting their wish list on Amazon is already happening. "It's starting earlier and earlier", I hear from people around weekend picnic tables, as summer drift into fall. So, is the 4th quarter being stretched to maximize the most time out of this game?
If business is a sport, then the 4th quarter grind to the finish is a rough and exhausting way to try to win, but for many businesses and the billions of people who rely on 4th quarter commerce, it is the reality. If every passing year, the quarter is being drawn out a little more each year, helping everyone gain a little more time to score, the one thing is for certain that you don't want to do, and that is to take the knee and give up.
But is business really a sport? Or it is a keen to exercising and working out more than battling an opponent to see who can win? One of the best phrases I've heard is, "Business is Fitness", and that is a school of thought that you focus on yourself (business) and work each day to get better and better and more fit, even if your business is cyclical or seasonal. The other school of thought is that competition and competitiveness is what wins in business. Probably either way works. If the business works better directed outwardly or directed internally is a great answer to discover about your business and if you are out there to play the game or if you are just into fitness.
