75% of Every Successful Company Is Successful In Spite of This
This will be a somewhat short post. You’ve been warned.
The word count police can come after me all they want but I don’t care. It’s my party (site) and I will do as I please, so there (sticking my tongue out). And I will not bore you with trivial verbiage, all in an attempt to get my “time on site” numbers up.
I mean who would ever do that? I mean that would be truly shameful. I mean it would be… yeah, you get the point.
Without further adieu…
75% of Every Successful Company Is Successful In Spite of… Themselves.
Yes, you read that correctly. They are successful in spite of themselves. Moreover, I can make the point that 75% is too conservative, the number is more than likely higher, much higher.
“Why do you believe this to be true, Steve?”
One word: Experience.
From my experience as a consumer, a marketer, a creative director, a copywriter AND a journalist — I have seen it all. I have lived it all. I have experienced it all. Having interacted and engaged with more leaders from more brands than I can EVER count plus my aforementioned consumer role — there is NO DOUBT in my mind this statistic is right…on…the…money.
The massive amount of ineptitude, incompetence and sheer idiocy I have seen firsthand from some of the most successful brands in the world is nothing short of mindblowing, astonishing, and downright scary.
Scary?
Yes, scary. As in horrifying. As in bloodcurdling.
Ok, maybe not scary in the traditional, horror-movie sense but more so scary in the “how does this brand stay in business let alone are successful?’ sense. While I can never name names, believe me when I say “The sights I have seen and the words I have heard” would have anyone subscribing to my completely made up finding.
75% of Every Successful Company Is Successful In Spite of Themselves.
Nothing Broken Here, Move Along
This is precisely what I believe occurs in the halls and meeting rooms and boardrooms of these very same companies. It goes something like this:
“How do our numbers look this quarter?”
“They are great, sir. Just great.”
“Fine. Fine. Keep up the good work.”
And off they go merrily on their way because hey, they hit or even surpassed their numbers, so what could possibly be wrong?
The problem is there IS something wrong; something DOES need to be fixed; something, that if fixed and unbroken, would cause their numbers to go off the proverbial charts. But they will never see it. They will ONLY see the bottom line as long that comes back in the right color, all is well in the land and there is dancing in the streets.
One final word:
This phenomenon, if you will, is not limited to small companies. I realize some of you may be thinking this and in fact, when I share my self-made stat with someone in person, that is their immediate assumption.
On the contrary.
This is just as prevalent, if not more, in large, Fortune 500 and 1000 brands.
Believe me.
