KEYS TO BUSINESS SUCCESS

Though there are many factors that are key to creating business success, our analysis over the years indicates that the most successful companies have followed the following principles.

Follow the Process of Accomplishment
What enables companies to make giant leaps and great improvements in a short period of time? Is there a process that can be learned that we can follow that will bring about radically accelerated growth, profitability, and success in a company? We think there is. Develop core goals, strategies, and values at the top, see that they are fully committed to among top executives and managers, and then insure that they are communicated to and have the full endorsement of everyone in the company.

Core Values
In many recent business management books and journals, developing, adopting, and implementing values has been identified as perhaps the single key in the success of many high growth, high profit companies. A passion for a value and its implementation into the daily activities of work was identified by many as the single key to their business success. Implement your core business values in every system, activity, and operating procedure, down to every act in the company. Especially powerful values are Continuous Improvement, Customer Delight, Developing People, Maximum Utilization of Resources, and Innovation.

Organize and Systematize Everything
Make everything spotless and orderly in the company. Insure all job positions are well defined, all standard operating procedures are defined, and activities are clear. Turn every activity in the company into a system. Then coordinate systems to one another.

Coordinate Organization Components
Make your organization more "dense" by coordinating departments (or divisions, teams, and other components) with one another. For each department (or other component) think about how it can be coordinated with every other department (e.g. R&D with Sales, HR with R&D, etc., etc.). Then implement the best coordination ideas.

Commitment to People
Treat everyone in the company as family. Do everything you can to improve the morale, input, skills, energy, career, aspirations, and personal growth of every employee.

Customer Delight
The most successful businesses have discovered a formula that goes beyond product and service. Their business is providing delight to their customers by understanding their specific personal interests, anticipating their needs, exceeding their expectations, and making every moment and aspect of the relationship a pleasant -- or better yet, an exhilarating -- experience.

Do anything and everything possible to please the customer.


Awareness of Opportunities
Life is continuously throwing up new opportunities in every industry for those who have the eyes to perceive them. It does not require a visionary's genius, just an open mind and a will to see. New opportunities are constantly emerging because society is continuously evolving, and the rate of social development is greater today than at any prior time in recorded history.

Do everything in your power to be aware of, understand, and take advantage of the opportunities in the marketplace.

Align with Aspirations of Society
The greatest growth occurs at moments when companies align the development of these internal engines with the explosive emergence of new forces in society.

Understand the social aspirations and energies of the society around you, and make an effort to align your business with those energies.

Personal Growth of Highest Management -- Often the greatest limitations to a company's growth is the limited capacities and character of its owners, and top officials. If they grow, the possibilities for the company are endless.

Determine Strengths and Weaknesses
Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the company and make a total commitment to overcome the most important weaknesses. One approach is to examine the strength and weaknesses of each of the five growth engines -- market, products & services, organization, people, and finance.

Openness
Be completely open to change, new opportunities, and new direction. Leave dead attitudes, habits, and opinions behind.

Unfailing Success
Follow through on every valid initiative (goals, plans, etc.). Consider if there is a positive, emotional attitude, and the persevering, unflagging effort to see that the initiative is carried out.

Overcoming Problems
Think of negatives as positives. Look at problems as opportunities for improvement, change, growth.