I just came across the formula for business success! Who knew that business success could be boiled down to a simple formula? I certainly didn’t. The formula is the brainchild of John Spence, a best-selling author, who is also a strategist, consultant, speaker and advisor to business leaders all over the world, so one would suppose that it is credible.
Anyway, the thought is intriguing and certainly warrants further investigation. So let’s take a closer look.
At first glance the formula looks remarkably simple. That in itself is not a problem because, in essence, business is – or should be – easy. It is:
(t+c+ecf) x de = BS
Where:
t = talent
c = culture
ecf = extreme customer focus
de = disciplined execution (accountability)
BS = Business Success
As ever the complexity lies in detail behind the terms. For instance, there are likely to be almost as many different interpretations of ‘talent’ and ‘culture’ as there are manifestations. This is why I have a bit of a hang-up with the term ‘talent management’: it covers a multitude of different approaches and makes developing any kind of universal approach almost impossible.
After all it is not about talent but about the way you use talent; and that is not about ‘managing’ people. Rather it is about developing people.
‘Culture’ is much the same. It boils down ultimately to the behaviour exhibited by the people who work for the organisation. As an umbrella term it is fine, but what it really means is shaping consistent behaviour.
In fact if you take the whole formula you can see that it all comes down to people. That is why the statement “people are our greatest asset” is so much more than the cliché it has become. It is why I would begin by redefining the formula as:-
(pd+be+ecf) x de = BS
Where:
pd = personal development
be = behaviour exhibited
ecf = extreme customer focus
de = disciplined execution (accountability)
BS = Business Success
It is not about relativity; it’s about relationships. When you recognise this more people-centric approach and build your business model around it, you will witness the transformation it creates and bask in the success it brings – success that is sustainable. Next time I will show you how you can do this effectively.
Bay is the founder and director of Zealise, a company created to help larger small to large business organisations to properly value their people and thereby inspire them to optimise their self-worth and so engage them that they transform organisational performance and bottom-line results. Bay is also the author of several books, including “Lean Organisations Need FAT People” and “The 7 Deadly Toxins of Employee Engagement.”