Most successful businesses combine discipline and expertise in new ways to create innovative products or services. Or creativity is used to deliver old products and services in new ways. Given the rate of new project failure, only those with roots deep within the capabilities, experience, and background of the creating organization will last through the difficult promotion and acceptance phases. It is the combination of tradition with innovation that differentiates one business from another. The only viable foundation for leveraging one effort upon another requires:

1. Passion. Hard work directed towards a purpose will challenge every resource, lift every stone for options, and sustain during every discouraging moment. Oddly, confronting a challenge helps to define the goal! If the journey is too easy, the investment of time and talent won’t create much effect. Success goes to the bold. Boldness results from a deep passion and discontent.
2. Patience. Every level of success is very time-consuming. Doing background work and research supports other strengths needed to evolve new ideas into fruition. There are few shortcuts.
3. Perseverance. Discouragement is around every pillar when wandering through the halls of new ideas. So it is easy to get distracted and leap for another “good” idea, thus neglecting proper follow-through for the first one. Similar to an Attention Deficit Disorder tendency, switching gears too often guarantees a good idea will languish. Spreading energies too thin will dilute and not offer a sustaining foundation upon which to build.
4. Persistence. Optimizing time and energy means using what advantages present themselves. Keeping a focus and not succumbing to distraction takes commitment and discipline—because self-doubt does ask the right questions. Self-doubt does keep an edge. And self-doubt does inspire humility and preserves the barometer of purpose.
5. Process. Acting quickly has never been more important. Like a bloodhound on a scent, finding opportunity is a journey. Yet it doesn’t end with the discovery of evidence—it forms a momentum that builds upon itself. The ideas worth pursuing seem to take on a life of their own!
6. Position. Establish expertise upon natural interests and abilities. Boldness enhances strength by blending talent, knowledge, and experience.

“Each person’s greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her greatest strength. For an activity to be a strength you must be able to do it consistently. You must also derive some intrinsic satisfaction from the activity. … You will excel only by maximizing your strengths, never by fixing your weaknesses. Find ways to manage around weaknesses, thereby freeing you up to hone your strengths to a sharper point.”
—Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Now Discover Your Strength, www.tmbc.com

“Change the way your advantages are being utilized. Exploit existing strengths, uncover assets and use them in a new way. Assets turn up in various forms: intellectual property, business platforms, distribution systems, or underexploited infrastructure.”
— Bob Rice, Three Moves Ahead, www.threemovesahead.com

“Exploit your natural talents. Anyone who is wildly successful works to the bone at becoming even better at what they are naturally gifted at doing. They create extraordinary experiences for the people they serve, whether it’s an audience, a fan, or a client. That’s why they—and you—deserve to be paid top dollar.”
—Michael Port, Book Yourself Solid, www.BookYourselfSolid.com

Philosopher of Business: portrait of Jim Beré, visionary businessman and former chairman of Borg Warner Corporation. Demonstrates innovative use of Acrobat format and extending the page. Download PDF

Give to Get: Quotations from exemplary businesswomen on growing business through contribution. Experiment in onscreen reading using Acrobat features. Download PDF

A Voyage in Visual Vocabulary: ideas to help article writers compose words to enhance comprehension. Originally published in the Chicago Women in Publishing's newsletter.

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