Influence in the marketplace is the result of relentless focus and discipline. The success of your business rests on a strong foundation that supports your strategic thinking (your inner game), and remarkable execution in serving higher value customers (your outer game).
How strong is your foundation for being influential in your marketplace? In the unforgiving 21st marketplace full of clutter and noise, your success as a leader and as an organization is dependent upon the strength of four pillars:
- Your vision.
- Your leadership.
- The value you bring to customers.
- The impact you make in customer's lives.
These four pillars form the foundation of an enlightened approach to building a "one and only" brand customers love and can't live without. And they can be applied to every entrepreneur at every level of success and business type.
Take a moment to look at the diagram I’ve presented here.
As you can see each pillar is interlocked to all others. One is of no use without the others.
The four pillars support your “inner game” and your “outer game”. In other words, the quality of your strategic and creative thinking inside your head and within your organization must translate to the outer quality of your presence in the marketplace.
And finally the four pillars are comprised of different “material” that enhances the strength of each pillar.
The strength and clarity of your future based vision is determined by the strength and clarity of your desire to serve customers.
The strength of your leadership (inside and outside) is determined by your disciplined actions.
The strength of your value to customers is determined by remarkable innovations.
The strength of your impact on customer's lives determines how much influence your business will have in the marketplace.
As you grow your business from early struggle phase to higher levels of success, these pillars form the structural integrity of your value proposition to higher value customers.
Over time, these four pillars define your culture, guide your behavior in the marketplace and ultimately determine how influential your business/brand becomes.
The challenges facing many early stage entrepreneurs (especially those with revenues in the $1-10 million range) are often centered on issues of scale–attracting and retaining top talent, building a customer centered culture, creating new value and scaling their capabilities to deliver that value to more customers who represent the vision for a bigger future. If they could wave a magic wand, they would instantly have the impact and influence in the marketplace on which quantum leaps rather than incremental steps of growth depends.
The four pillars as I have outlined, serve as a grounding discipline to keep your inner game and outer game in top form regardless of the level of growth desired.
Finally, as a leader of a dynamic team of creative and committed people, you can build a remarkable organization all growing together in an easy and relaxed way. The contributions,, talents and capabilities of your team continue to grow and expand without end. All concerned experience a collective sense of fulfillment and deep satisfaction serving higher value customers who can't live without your products and services.
With each new level of growth, the creative spark, vitality and health of your business is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you found this post helpful, please subscribe to the blog.
Comments