The greatest company in the world doesn’t exist. It is a moving myth; a flash of optimism in a world seeking icons. Heroic figures. Sirens. Today, many would vote for Google as the greatest company in the world. It is cool and wonderful and intriguing and blessed with a sorcerer’s valuation. But is it greater than Tiffany’s? Than Bose? Than L.L.Bean? Do we measure greatness only in the here and now or in the ability to endure, to fly, to soar, well after the first flash of romance turns to a different kind of value? Another form of adrenalin rush.
Baseball’s Hall Of Fame has a wonderfully sacred rule: you cannot be voted in until a minimum of five years after your retirement. That way, the flash in the pan Dwight Gooden never gains entry. If the voting occurred after Gooden’s rookie year, shoe in! But he proved to be unworthy of a locker next to Tom Seaver.
These are Google’s rookie years. Yes, I know the company has been a magic act extraordinaire. I think it is amazing. But, but, but, the seeds of bureaucracy are already sprouting. The place is too much of a behemoth to make quick decisions. You can still go to work in cut offs and play ping-pong with your MIT dorm mates, but you can’t get a raise unless HR approves. HR? Ugh!
Here’s the beauty and the beast of it all. Once companies get great for a second, they become legends in their own minds. And they assume they will just stay great because they are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Michael Dell said he wanted to always run the world’s largest start up– great sentiment, but look at his post office of a company now. As your business grows, and succeeds, watch out for Newton: every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The best defense? Keep it simple. Never stop firing deadwood. Hire people with the guts to tell you you’re a horse’s ass. Most important, never believe for a nano second that yours is the greatest company in the world. Chances are it’s not. Guaranteed it won’t be tomorrow.
Mark Stevens
CEO
CEO
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Claiming the greatest company in the world is like claiming the best musician in the world. It’s not possible, and people shouldn’t even be thinking that. Thinking your the greatest in the world is surefire death, because a) it’s impossible, an illusion and b) the moment that happens someone is already passing you at the new technology thats about to rule your game. (yes this is exactly what Mark just said! But there’s more…)
I do feel however you can claim the greatest company in certain specific industries, and that we should all do or die to reach that level and that mind state. Google is the greatest search engine. Tivo makes the best DVR. Netflix is the greatest virtual movie store. Apple is the best at making portable music players. Microsoft is the best at making operating systems. Dell is by far the best at distributing fully customizeable computers to anybody anywhere.
These are hands down truths and this is what we should all aim for when building our own products and services. Destroying everybody else by so far of a gap, it’s almost impossible for anyone to catch up and makes everybody else seriously think twice about even entering your industry. Doing everything possible to make yourself a crystal clear best company in the world…the world of the prospect/shopper. It’s true if you think about it, when a prospect buys certain products or services(not all) they are in fact saying that you are the best company in their world, and that’s why they sign that long term agreement or place those big orders. Sure over time perceptions change, and that could be the fault of the business, but at that moment of initial purchase, you are the best in the world.
Always be the greatest in your universe, and never stop until you are…. and if being the greatest in your universe isn’t worth the effort, then find a new universe!
I thought the message was that even if you are the best in the world today, you will not stay there unless you keep reinventing yourself. Companies tenin whatever industry, you must continually work to improve, reinvent, etc. You may be the best today, but times change quickly and you have to make your company and people change with it.
Sears used to be a huge success. What happened? Wal-Mart took over the world, but let’s see if they can maintain their position for the long haul. Industries change, technologies change, demographics change, the environment changes, people change, etc. etc. ect. Great companies continue to reinvent themselves and don’t just rest on the fact that what the did got them to where they are today.
Google may be the greatest search engine today, but who knows what the search world will look like five years down the road. Google may be a distant memory. Tivo may make the best DVR but maybe DVRs will go the way of the VCR a few years from now. Microsoft may own the operating systems market today, but others owned it before & probably others will again. Dell –who knows if they continue with poor quality and lousy customer service. I don’t know that anyone these days can feel comfortable and confident even if they think they are “best in their industry” today. The market changes too quickly.
The world will look very different 10 years down the road and the companies that will thrive and continue to dominate will be those that continue to move into products and markets that leverage their strengths, focus on customer needs and probably never tout that they are and always will be “the world’s best” whatever….
*****************: I think you did a really nice job re-stating exactly what
stevens said in general terms, but i’ll add a few more specifics i’ve learned from being in the trenches.
There’s 2 kinds of people in this world, sprinters and marathon runners. Luckily for my own homegrown, started from scratch company i’m the latter…..most people are the former. A marathon runner runs for the sake of running, a pure love that never dies. This is the only way to endure the extreme length and insanity of what a marathon does to the human body. The lesson is: fill your company whenver possible with marathon runners, keep the sprinters out. This is one great form of protection against a downfall.
However, the REAL danger that companies face are platform changes(aside from the extremely obvious dangers of becoming beaurocratic and lazy but those are too obvious to even discuss and have been discussed ad nauseam). Platform changes are pitfalls, bottomless pits that can make or break you. Often companies that are too large are riddled with bad habits, poor employees, too many sprinters, not enough marathon runners and a platform change can be nearly impossible for them to endure. Look how long it took blockbuster to go from movies in the store to movies on the web. Now that block buster has FINALLY done this, netflix is already on to the next platform….movies downloaded on your computer within minutes, this is undoubtedly the future seeing as all of our TVs and devices will have web access 24/7. Once again it’s all about the platform changing.
Another example is MS Office. MS better watch out. Google is producing an entire office suite thats web based. Do you think anyone would have a chance taking down MS office using installable and executable software? HELL NO. Change the platform to web though, and now you’re dangerous.
What companies need to watch out for most, in specifically, are platform changes. What hungry marathon runners need to leverage to become the best in the world at what they do, are platform changes! Simple as that!