Building a Great Business
A great company is like a brilliant diamond. It is as if the light generates from the core and is wonderful no matter how you view it. Diamonds, like a great company, endure. Maybe a great company is not a girls’ best friend, but she may still appreciate it.
Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry on diamonds:
Because every facet has the potential to change a light ray's plane of travel, every facet must be considered in any complete calculation of light paths.
As in diamonds it is in business. Building a great company is not just focusing on making money or obtaining power because there are so many facets which can change the reflection of your business. Reflection is what makes each diamond or business.
I hope to share my view of these facets as they relate to building a great business. In so doing may it help you create yours.
First is persistence. If your organization doesn’t exude this from every angle, stop. You will fail. For those who desire one answer this is it.
How about a definition?
Persistent[1]:
1. Persisting, esp. in spite of opposition, obstacles, discouragement, etc.; persevering: a most annoyingly persistent young man.
2. Lasting or enduring tenaciously: the persistent aroma of verbena; a persistent cough.
3. Constantly repeated; continued: persistent noise
This is true across the board. From resisting the urge to roll over when the alarm goes off through putting a little less on your plate for lunch to finishing one more task before climbing back under the covers.
The people in this world who are successful share this trait. You cannot be successful without it. Pick any three people who you view as successful. Think about how they became successful. If you are persistent you will make a list. Chances are they share many traits. I challenge you to find one person who is successful who doesn’t exude persistence. Let me know if you do.
You can learn to be more persistent. You can learn how and when to apply it. The control of when and to what degree the skill is applied is required with any skill. Running fast without control just gets you hurt when the first obstacle appears.
How do I learn to be more persistent?
It starts with focused practice. Not just practice but practice with a purpose. Imagine a world class basketball player like Lebron James. He will spend two hours practicing a particular three-point shot from one place on the court in a scenario like the last few seconds of the game. He will repeat this same shot hundreds of times throughout the year, not just during the season. During the season he may get this shot only a few times. When he gets this opportunity he will have a distinct advantage over his opponents. His odds of making the shot to win the game will be much higher than his opponents’ chances of stopping him because he his more skilled. How did he get more skilled? He was persistent in practicing the right behavior.
For an excellent overview follow this link:
For me, I try to improve my persistence with the little things in life and apply it to the large things. For instance, let’s think keys. The ones you keep in your pocket or purse. I try to put my keys in one of two places at home. Never set them down anywhere else no matter the urge. We all know people who lose their keys consistently. They’d lose their head if they could set it down. I believe this is because they are not persistent enough when it comes to keys. If I find myself setting my keys near the couch or on my desk instead of by the front door I stop. I pick them back up and bring them to their spot near the front door. A little compulsion helps here.
In business it is the same.
Those who apply persistence across the many facets succeed more than those who do not.
Figure out the facets and practice them persistently with purpose. That is a lot of p words.
What are the facets? How do I know if I am covering all the rays of light? Those are the topics of the blogs to follow.
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