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3 Keys to Entrepreneurial Success. At Inc.’s Leadership conference in San Diego this week, co-founder of The L Group and author Lee Colan challenged his audience to rethink the factors that lead to business success.
He said that while the temptation to tweak one’s product or strategy may be alluring, one thing separates the decent performers from the elite: adherence. In other words, the ability to stick to your plan and execute, day in and day out. Three things determine a company’s adherence, said Colan: Focus, competence, and passion. Multiply them together, and you’ve got a measure of a company’s stick-to-it-tive-ness.
And because adherence is a multiplicative function--not an additive one---a zero in any one of those three areas means the company can’t stick to anything at all. Here’s how Colan exhorted his audience to improve their scores in all three areas: Focus This is the area that Colan said was hardest for entrepreneurs. Competence Everyone in your company should have a scorecard, said Colan. Passion. The Art of the Pivot. Remember when Amazon just sold books?
The online retail site opened for business in 1995, during the Internet’s earliest days. Since then, the company has managed to change how people shop, luring them away from brick-and-mortar businesses by selling everything from jewelry to furniture to groceries, thanks to an advanced customer-metrics systems and an efficient network of fulfillment centers that delivers goods quickly and at a low cost. image credit: Giant Bomb Not just techies and teenage boys can love video games.
That was the idea behind the Nintendo Wii, a product launched in 2006 to expand gaming to non-gamers. Image credit: Muy Computer Pro Making copiers and fax machines isn’t an asset in a paperless world. Image credit: Mall of America Blog This fixture of Fifth Avenue’s upscale retail scene had a makeover. Image credit: Avid Investor Group After more than a century in business, soup maker Campbell faced increased competition and decreased demand.
Image credit: Seidman Institute. Richard Branson, Puma's Zeitz kick off 'Plan B' for business. This story originally appeared at BusinessGreen.
Sir Richard Branson and Puma chairman Jochen Zeitz have launched a major non-profit group, The B Team, to promote a new set of progressive business values that "prioritize people and planet alongside profit. " The group brings together high profile business and political leaders, including Arianna Huffington, Unilever's Paul Polman, Ratan Tata of the Tata Group, United Nations Foundation President Kathy Calvin and former Irish President Mary Robinson. These so-called "B Leaders" have pledged to work on the development of a "Plan B for business" that seeks to address the growing challenges businesses and societies face, such as high unemployment, global inequality and the unsustainable use of natural resources. "Today we want to start a global conversation on a 'Plan B' for business," Branson said in a statement. Richard Branson on the Secret to Success: Failure. Richard Branson and Steve Bennett at the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 event I recently hosted the annual Sunday Times Fast Track 100 event at my Oxfordshire home.
It brings together leaders from the 100 fastest-growing private companies in Britain, a number of other leading entrepreneurs, and a few aspiring entrepreneurs from the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship in Johannesburg, and from the British government's Start-Up Loans scheme, which Virgin administers. We spent the day listening to each other and sharing stories of achievement and innovation. There was lots of laughter and some great conversations. Looking at the people gathered around our dinner table, I had a wonderful opportunity to reflect on what makes a successful entrepreneur.
Richard Branson on Taking Risks. Richard Branson When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone?
It's easy to get stuck in a routine, especially at work (more so if you've been doing the same job for a while), and taking on a new challenge is a great way of getting out of that rut. At Virgin, I use two techniques to free our team from the same old routine: breaking records and making bets. Taking chances is a great way to test myself and our group, and also to push boundaries while having fun together. I have always loved a challenge. I was determined to prove her wrong, so when I spotted a river during the drive home, I asked my dad to stop the car, then ran out and jumped into the water in my underwear. That and later challenges taught me that it is important to try things that might not work, and then improvise solutions along the way. Following the GlobalFlyer's success, Boeing and Airbus both started using carbon fiber in the manufacture of some aircraft.
The author is an Entrepreneur contributor. 3 Keys to Entrepreneurial Success. Entrepreneurship According To Drucker: Your 12 Keys To Success. Entrepreneurship According To Drucker: Your 12 Keys To Success.