In addition to by new book, Treasure of the Diary, I can’t think of a better Christmas gift for the aspiring young entrepreneur or the busy corporate executive than my guidebook for achieving long-term success.
The Language of Excellence has been hailed as one of the best five books you can buy on the subject of leadership and management and would make a valuable Christmas addition to any library.
Andy Warhol noted that anyone can have their fifteen minutes of fame. They can accidently achieve short term success, but while that is true, it isn’t likely, and it will not last. Enduring success is a purposeful endeavor with proven guidepost and warning signs. Take for example, the concept of “Two Certainties.”
For enduring long-term success, the enterprise must be solidly rooted by a belief in the “Two Certainties”—we are always judged by others and change is constant. What we are is determined through the eyes of those who judge us, and we must constantly innovate and change, or natural forces will erode us for the worse.
As for the natural forces at work to erode us, Peter Drucker identified five common behavioral traits among established organizations that over time render the organization competitively weaker. Left unchecked they will give the alert company the opportunity to achieve increased market share through “Management Judo”—leveraging off the competitor's weaknesses. Drucker’s weaknesses include:
1. A "Not Invented Here" (NIH) attitude that will make the company slow to take advantage of new technology, processes, or materials, etc.
2. The "Creamer" will concentrate too long on the higher profit, upper end of the market leaving the door open for others to enter the market through the lower end.
3. “Wrong Quality” will result from a failure to stay in touch with clients. That will result in the company emphasizing its idea of best quality or features leaving the customer's real wants unsatisfied or the price too high.
4. The "Premium Pricer" is the high price alternative and continues to maintain or even increase price in the face of equal or superior competitive alternatives.
5. The "Maximizer" keeps adding features to satisfy marginal market elements, leaving the door open for the niche company that will provide a simpler, lower cost product or service that only addresses the needs of a particular market segment.
The seeds of these five weaknesses already exist in any organization or endeavor. Long term purposeful success requires constant effort to prevent their growth. For the excellent organization, their existence in other enterprises will provide an opportunity to gain market share by capitalizing on their weaknesses.