Books, tomes, think tanks and labs have been built in the quest to determine and reveal the elements of great companies. The most famous odes to corporate dominance are non other than Collins’ Built to Last and Good to Great books.
Problem is, nearly every example of greatness in the world of business either uses a short window of assessment or reverse engineers the determination of greatness by curve-fitting a select number of high-achieving companies into a desired algorithm, then cherry-picking certain shared qualities and listing them as the essential elements of greatness.
Anyone who has pitched a book, business or movie to a publisher, VC or producer has been through the same dance.
It’s Wuthering heights meets Spongebob, but edgier and with a Quentin Tarantino fast cut Miller Time energy. It’s The Four Hour Workweek meets Fried Green Tomatoes, but set in Little Havana and with a bit more of a Catcher in The Rye slash The Secret thing happening. And let’s not forget, “it’s the next Hemingway, Brando, Jobs or Ablom.”
People want to frame and pitch you in the light of other massive successes to give context in the hope that you’ll ride reputation of the legends you’re being compared to.
Everyone’s got something they’d love to do for a living. Question is…
Do enough people want to buy what you’re looking to sell to call it a business?
For example, you may have a hidden passion for designing biodegradable hemp thimbles decorated with organic dyed cashews, but do enough other people want to buy those suckers to make it a business? This is actually one of the biggest missteps folks make in launching a small business—thinking you are your market.
Everyone’s got something they’d love to do for a living. Question is…
