Remember Chux? The disposable diaper that took the market by storm in 1932?
Of course not. Chux he saw his product as a luxury item and happily kept his small throwaway business to himself for nearly forty years. Then Pampers came along in the 1960s, backed by a huge vision of mass consumption with persistence to match, and it exploded. Chux off the market that transforms baby-rearing forever.
And everyone knows the legend of the two Steves – Jobs and Wozniak – who invented the personal computer in someone’s garage. They just didn’t. Altair’s MITS came on the market much earlier, in 1975. It’s just that Steve Jobs had a gigantic vision of a computer on every desk; and the Apple II became the first PC hit.
I just finished reading a brilliant book called Will and vision: how newcomers grow to dominate marketsby Grard J. Tellis and Peter N. Golder.
This book takes the concept of vision and makes it concrete, demonstrating sixty-six cases where a great vision of value for a market combined with persistence and indomitable will, made the ingredients for a blockbuster. Along the way, the authors bury the concept of first-mover advantage. They offer numerous examples of companies that came in second, third, or later, and went on to dominate their markets.
So what does he do Will and Vision What are the key elements of success?
The authors, academics with research backgrounds, not optimistic growth consultants like yours, carefully reviewed the historical record: Vision was the number one element.
That’s how it is. A grand vision backed by persistence, will and relentless innovation.
Today’s world offers many options. People who lack vision tend to move on to the next compelling project as soon as things don’t go as planned. They lack persistence to achieve something important.
Will and Vision offers us a different world. (Of course I’m biased. I’ve been yelling about vision and commitment for years.) We’re not talking about a “vision” that’s a catchphrase, embellished and pasted on a plaque. We’re talking about the kind of vision that highlights the importance and value of a product or service to many people and ultimately points the way to a new future. And of course, it requires a 100% commitment to bring it to life.
More examples of low-tech, high-tech, mass value vision: Dell computers, not IBM or IMSAI; Sony video recorders, not Ampex, which gave up a ten-year lead; Microsoft Internet Explorer, not Netscape or its predecessor, Links; Ray Kroc from McDonalds, not the McDonald Brothers; Gillette, not Wilkenson’s sword.
Mass market + high profit = great vision.
See what no one else can see. Have a new vision of the world.
The leaders of each of these companies possessed a vision that extended further than any of their predecessors.
And that expansive vision enabled these people to gain access to and leverage resources (Key #4), maintain the persistence to bring the vision to life (Key #2), and maintain relentless creativity and innovations (Key #3), over a period of time. . of years.
Here are some points about successful vision taken from the research:
- The vision must be unique. Not the uniqueness of the product per se, but the unique way your product serves the world;
- The vision should be simple and easy to understand;
- Seeds of vision usually exist in some form in other products or services; (Thank goodness we don’t all have to be original inventors or visionaries!)
The new vision may be of a thing for which there is no market yet. (This last is illuminating for any of us caught up in market research.)
And some important points regarding the will:
- Reaching your vision can take a long time. Vision without will will not get you there. Only a great commitment can do it;
- A misplaced belief in luck or other unseen forces hinders our ability to persevere. We will find evidence that there is no such luck and use it as an excuse to quit.
- And this great insight: persistence can manifest as a series of minor fixes, and conversely, complacency in small successes can be a barrier to innovation that forward thinking requires.
Some additional tips for long-term success:
- Keep a continuous feedback loop and solicit the opinions of others regarding your execution;
- Keep an eye on market changes and be willing to respond quickly;
- And as Andrew Grove suggests, paranoia drives innovation. A healthy fear of competitors sneaking up on you can keep your product or service fresh;
So how big is YOUR vision?
Is your vision big enough to drive the kind of success you seek? Is your vision big enough to sustain it? Is it important enough to mobilize the necessary resources for its realization? Is it inspiring enough for partners, employees, customers and investors, and everyone else you need to be successful?
If you think it’s not big enough, it may be time to get your eyes checked.
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