Recently a colleague asked me a great question. He said, “What makes a business really successful…what’s the formula?”
So I thought about our most successful clients and looked for common denominators. I found three unequivocal themes: vision, insight and innovation.
Put those three together and you should have breakthrough growth.
Vision. Successful companies know where they are going; they create and are in control of their future. They know what success looks like and when they have hit their mark.
Having a vision requires focusing on something really big you want to accomplish. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras referred to this as a Big Hairy Audacious Goal in their book “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.”
A Big Hairy Audacious Goal is something that is long range and organizational. It’s strategic and compelling. When your entire team is on the same page, and rallies their work around achieving a really big goal, the galvanizing affect can help you achieve breakthrough growth.
Insight. Once you have a vision and are fixated on where you are going, you need to determine how to best get there. This is where most companies begin the process of strategic planning. The most successful companies, however, first gather insights that will inform their decision making.
Planning without insight from real-time company and market data is analogous to setting sail without nautical charts and a weather report. Before charting your course, you’ll need reliable information about your company and your marketplace.
Begin internally with a situation analysis to reveal your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Then gather external data on your industry, customers and competitors.
With this information in hand, your team will be better equipped to develop informed strategy.
Innovation. After you’ve determined your vision and know where you’re going, and have developed a plan to get there — based on real-time and reliable information — opportunities for innovation will surface.
Innovation comes in many different forms. You can be innovative in your products, packaging, positioning, promotion and in your customer service.
We have two rules governing innovation at my company: Rule No. 1 is an innovation must distinguish your brand; Rule No. 2 is that the distinction must be highly valued by your existing and prospective customers.
Involve your team and think out of the box to brainstorm innovative ideas. Some successful companies involve consumer panels in this process.
Based on that information, you’ll have the insight you need to determine which ideas are most distinctive and valued. Sometimes we get lucky, or we find ourselves in the right place at the right time; however, breakthrough growth doesn’t happen by chance.
We have to know where we are going, chart the best course to get there and distinguish ourselves from the alternatives in our space.
Happy sailing.
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