What does it take to succeed: a measure of luck, determination, willpower, vision, having the right team around you…
Whatever the recipe, it’s a fair bet that mediocrity, having an ‘it’ll do’ attitude won’t be in the mix. So why is it that when it comes to organisational culture some businesses are happy to jog along; absorbed in the minutiae of day-to-day business life and internal politics. Some would say that attitude is fine and that as long as the business is still running next week, next month, next year then that’s all that matters.
My answer is that you should try telling that to people who worked for the numerous companies which have vanished without trace in recent times simply because they went with the flow rather than trying to shape the future. In business you don’t have to be the best, you don’t have to produce the Rolls-Royce product, but you do have to be the best that you can be. You owe that to your customers, your employees, your investors and your suppliers. And you owe it to yourself, to the person who believed they could lead but instead settled for passivity.
The harsh truth is that in a time in which globalisation leaves nowhere to hide the choice is to innovate, to build a culture of innovation and create your future or to see the disruptors taking your market share. Step up, be the best and create your future. As the German writer Goethe said (and as was recently tweeted by F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton):
“Dream no small dreams, for they have no power to move the hearts of men”
