When I was young, I was often made fun of for being less intelligent than my classmates. Throughout school, I grew to have a reputation as the class clown, then the troublemaker, then the bad boy. I even embraced that last one a little bit. After all, who didn’t want to be James Dean? But I digress. Others saw me that way, and sometimes I saw myself through their lens. There’s a great poem by a Christian writer that talks about looking at yourself in a funhouse mirror and believing the image reflected back to you. I felt like that. I didn’t really begin to see myself clearly until I was about 16. I realized that while my brain doesn’t necessarily excel at unlocking the mysteries of chemistry or engineering, I can strategize like nobody’s business and am exceptionally good at seeing the bigger picture, choosing a crazy goal, and figuring out how to get there with the fewest hiccups along the way. Einstein said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
The realization of my own brand of genius led me to better appreciate the inherent genius in those around me. We’ve built Newsletter Pro around a series of nine core values. One of them is Multiply Native Genius. Basically, if everyone is able to focus on doing the things that they do better than almost anyone else, and not doing the things they’re not good at, we become more efficient, effective, innovative, and full of genius. Obviously, this system isn’t perfect. There are some tasks that everyone has to do, regardless of their feelings about them. None of us are going to get 100% away from our inboxes, for example. But for the most part, I find that I thrive when I offload the things I don’t excel at onto the plates of those who do and vice versa. By getting rid of the things I dread doing, I work faster and with more excitement. By trusting someone else to take those on, I give them an opportunity to excel and maybe even improve the process so that we can grow. When I first started Newsletter Pro, I handled every part of the newsletter creation. I used to sell the product, write the articles, edit them, design each one, print them, and mail them. The first Continued on Page 6 ...
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“Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long- term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?” The team pulled together a list of elite companies that made the leap, achieved greatness, and kept that greatness going for 15 years or more. They used several factors to define what “making the leap” looked like, including stock performance versus some of the world’s most prominent brands like Coca-Cola and Intel. Then they looked at companies that did not make the leap — companies that may have been good but never achieved greatness. In all, they looked into 28 companies and found what separated the great from the good or middling.
Leadership, work ethic, company culture, and more were instrumental to making the leap. There is one very important thing to keep in mind when reading this book: It was published in 2011, and the global business landscape was very different then from how it is now as we wrap up 2020 and head into 2021. In fact, the book profiles some great companies that are no longer in business. There are also companies that have since seen their reputations tarnished. However, this doesn’t discount the research from Collins and his team. There is a lot of fantastic analysis in “Good to Great.” It’s a mix of data and wisdom that practically any entrepreneur can take back to their leadership team.
Have You Heard the Good News?
Colossians 3:13 — “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” 1 Corinthians 16:13 — “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” Psalm 73:26 — “'My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
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