In our personal and professional lives good is the enemy of great.  We let good things crowd out great things.  We settle for good, and forego great. Many of the entrepreneurial leadership teams I work with are initially in this category of settling for ‘good’ results as opposed to actually achieving ‘great’ results.  The vortex of their day-to-day activities has blinded them from being able to prioritize the most important activities that would take their business from good to great.  Yes, you have to get your day-to-day activities done – it’s your job – but to truly move the needle for the company, everyone has to become expert Rock crushers!

Southwest Airlines is by far the most successful commercial airline in US history.  But Southwest’s beginnings can be traced back to this simple napkin drawing…

While great leaders look outside their organizations to learn from the mistakes and best practices of others, there is a danger in endlessly searching for that elusive ‘magic bullet’ they feel is missing from their company.

During the early days of a business, any paying customer is an ideal customer. The reality of trying to make payroll, gain experience and develop a reputation drives many entrepreneurs to accept any paying work that comes their way.

One of the principles in Jim Collins’ classic book “Good To Great” is what he terms the “Hedgehog Concept”. This concept is based on a Greek parable which says “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing,” and Isaiah Berlin’s division of all people into hedgehogs or foxes based on the parable.

In their book "Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant" W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne’s divide the world of business competition up into two oceans - red and blue.

The old saying “He who tells the best story wins” has proven true in all areas of life, across the world, and down through the centuries.