Leaders Light The Path

PODCAST EPISODE

The next big thing

Why it can be a mistake to constantly chase the next big thing … and what to do instead … 

Transcript
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Jim Collins, author of the book “Good to Great”, once said that “one of the biggest

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strategic mistakes you can make is to fail to make the most of your victories.

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Yet, even brilliant leaders sometimes make this mistake.

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One reason they fail is if they are obsessively searching

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for the next big thing.”

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And Collins has a point here, right?

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I mean, what's not to like about the next big thing?

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Wouldn’t you just love to launch one?

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One of the misconceptions about big things is that they would just appear

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and immediately take over the world.

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But that's hardly how it works in real life.

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The iPhone was a niche product when it launched.

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Facebook was only available at a single university when it launched.

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Tesla, which is actually yet to become an actual big thing launched

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with an expensive niche sports car.

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Most big things have actually started small and grown big over

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time by rigorously observing what worked and what didn't.

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And then amplifying what worked and fixing what doesn't.

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When you constantly chase the next big thing you constantly start fresh which

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is another word for starting small.

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Therefore, instead of asking what else could work, it might pay to

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regularly ask what's already working.

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And then to amplify that.

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