Savvy's Resolute Adventures

Interested vs. Interesting?

During Jim Collin’s first year on faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, he sought out professor John Gardner for guidance on how he might become a better teacher. Gardner, former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and founder of Common Cause, stung Jim with a comment that changed his life.

"It occurs to me, Jim, that you spend too much time trying to be interesting," he said. "Why don't you invest more time being interested."

The general context was that Jim had room to learn about social sectors in addition to business sectors.  Jim decided to become a passionate student and always continue learning.

What are you continuing to learn?  We at Savvy Marketing Group are passionate about learning from our client experiences and advisory work, our research, and interacting with interesting people.  We are interested in helping you!

 

How strong is your base camp?

As a fan of the study of the relationship between mountaineering and entrepreneurism as noted in my writing Resolute Ventures: Ascending the Summit, I enjoy hearing Jim Collins speak about storm preparedness.  He likens going from great to good to getting sick on a Mount Everest ascension. He says this begins in the ascent. He says that it makes sense to pray for turbulent times - to show how strong you are.  Decline is self inflicted by non preparedness.

In preparing for a climb, you must choose the right teammates. In business, if it is just about you, you cannot build an enduring company.

Complacency can also take a company from great to good.  But leave growth on the table so you don't suffer from indigestion of too much opportunity and overextension.  Get enough people in the key seats.

If you are in denial of risk and peril on Mount Everest or in your venture ascension, this can cause your downfall.  Don't be falsely optimistic - instead, imagine peril and be paranoid.  Keep having the discipline to build. An overnight success is usually 20 years in the making.

How are your fortifying your base camp?  www.resoluteventures.com

 

Jim Collins: How lucky are you?

When I was on the executive team of a venture that sold to Siebel Systems for a very attractive multiple for our investors, our founder often noted that he was very "lucky".  I have also been quoted in the press as saying we were very lucky. Jim Collins, best selling author of Good to Great, Built to Last, and How the Mighty Fall, espouses that luck is not part of success.  Rather, success  is derived from a systematic, repeatable process.  He claims that success  or greatness is not just by accident, it is derived by conscious choice and discipline.

He does comment that hubris can be born from success.  I believe it is is GOOD when winners think they were lucky and have an anti-hubris stance.  I do not enjoy being around cocky people. Not matter how smart someone is, they can always learn something new from someone else.  Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, states emphatically that in the hiring process if a candidate is superb in all regards but is not humble (Core Value #10 of 10), they are not hired.

 Humble entrepreneurs will do whatever it takes to take "good to great".

How lucky are you? Do you have a systematic, repeatable process?  Let us help www.resoluteventures.com