Why Build A Good Company When You Can Build A Great One?

Why Build A Good Company When You Can Build A Great One?

Page 2

Here’s how I think Dr James’s bus analogy worked for me. The opportunity (or problem) is the bus. Sometimes it’s in parts and you have to put it together, sometimes it’s all together, but some of the parts are broken or worn out. Your job as the manager is to get the bus ready to motor on down the road.

Now I know much has been written about having a business plan before you do anything, getting a vision, spotting the problem to be solved or the niche to be served, but maybe that’s not really correct. Maybe you should first focus on who is on board.

Start by getting the wrong people off and then getting the right people on. Then let the right people all participate in deciding what’s wrong and what’s right. This gets them in the right seats. The changes they produce might even include picking a new direction for the bus to travel (a totally different product, or a new market to sell to, or a new process, or an entirely different way to sell.)

If you read Dr. James book, (and the monograph if you are interested in non-profits) and I hope you will, that’s exactly what you will see. Eleven great companies who started with a top manager committed to making the enterprise great and who made every decision based on what the management team knew was right - regardless of cost or consequences - took the companies to performance levels which far exceeded the best performers of the publicly traded corporations for at least fifteen straight years!.

Are the people on your bus the right ones? Are they sitting in the right seats?

Return to Page 1

Art Consoli's unique background and skills allow him to speak and write about how someone with limited experience can do a self-evaluation which will let him decide which business opportunity is best, how to evaluate opportunities and gain control over the one which offers the greatest potential and then manage that business to success. Readers of his book call and write to tell him how much his book has helped their lives and improved their business. The author can be reached at www.businessstrategyartconsoli.com.