Why it can be a mistake to constantly chase the next big thing … and what to do instead …
Transcript
Jim Collins, author of the book “Good to Great”, once said that “one of the biggest
Speaker:strategic mistakes you can make is to fail to make the most of your victories.
Speaker:Yet, even brilliant leaders sometimes make this mistake.
Speaker:One reason they fail is if they are obsessively searching
Speaker:for the next big thing.”
Speaker:And Collins has a point here, right?
Speaker:I mean, what's not to like about the next big thing?
Speaker:Wouldn’t you just love to launch one?
Speaker:One of the misconceptions about big things is that they would just appear
Speaker:and immediately take over the world.
Speaker:But that's hardly how it works in real life.
Speaker:The iPhone was a niche product when it launched.
Speaker:Facebook was only available at a single university when it launched.
Speaker:Tesla, which is actually yet to become an actual big thing launched
Speaker:with an expensive niche sports car.
Speaker:Most big things have actually started small and grown big over
Speaker:time by rigorously observing what worked and what didn't.
Speaker:And then amplifying what worked and fixing what doesn't.
Speaker:When you constantly chase the next big thing you constantly start fresh which
Speaker:is another word for starting small.
Speaker:Therefore, instead of asking what else could work, it might pay to
Speaker:regularly ask what's already working.
Speaker:And then to amplify that.