Are we empire builders in business?

During previous ages, building empires was an expected approach.

However, that all changed with the Information Age. This age began in the late 1960s to early 1970s.

Being able to easily access new information has increased market competition and enabled faster product development.

Rather than empire building, we should consider strategic collaborations, joint ventures, and partnerships that expand companies reach and create new customers.

This quote should inspire us that nothing lasts forever. In business, even more so.

“What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight, build anyway.” – Mother Teresa

We can rebuild with teamwork. Better products can be developed with lean thinking and scrum.

It’s time to push beyond business empire building and embrace approaches, like Conscious Capitalism, that enable and support business ecosystems.

P.S. – What ecosystem do you envision building?

I would deeply appreciate the opposite of this quote by Margaret Mitchell to happen to me.

Wouldn’t you desire the same?

“Life is under no obligation to give us what we expect.” – Margaret Mitchell

As uncertain as I am about expecting this or that, I can write that it isn’t the end of the world when I don’t get what I want.

Earlier this week, I was having an exchange with a developer about “perfection” and “excellence”. Pursuing excellence is a way to avoid not getting what you want in life.

In product development, the product will NEVER be perfect for EVERY PERSON in EVERY MARKET.

Instead of perfection, teams can focus on excellence with the understanding that the product should be focused on delivering value to a limited set of people.

When teamwork aligns to that focus, excellence can be achieved.

As well, when approaches like lean thinking and frameworks like scrum are used, excellence becomes a goal.

To summarize, we can avoid the FOMO life may hand us by pursuing excellence over perfection and getting work done.

May I challenge a misconception?

Are there really any “self-made” [fill in the blank here] in business today?

Pardon my blunt assessment this morning. I have not seen a single person become successful on their own.

Yes, they are responsible for their results.

Yes, they have to focus and overcome barriers, blockers, and obstacles.

Yes, they own the outcomes they achieve.

And yet, did they do it alone?

Or, did they do it with support from people around them?

hashtag#Teamwork isn’t defined by individual contribution, it is defined by achieved outcomes.

Understanding that outstanding, individual contributions can and should be recognized at an appropriate time is part of maintaining high performing teams.

hashtag#Productdevelopment needs people who can deliver results while being focused on their work. As well, those teams need people who can cover when members of their team are unavailable.

At Improving one of our principles is this:

Our success is a consequence of our collective involvement.

What does that look like for those who claim to be “self-made”?

Do they really stand alone on their accomplishments, or do they achieve greatness in the context of their support system?

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