While this will by no means be an exhaustive exploration of the various clues business success stories leave, anyone who comes away having read with an open mind will at the very least have a newly-acquired knack for reading even the subtlest of these clues. Business success does indeed leave clues, but are you reading the right clues?
The gold resides in the failures
Flip through the digital pages of the World Wide Web or satisfy your intermittent thirst for the traditional feel of the pages of a physical book or newspaper in your hands, but either way, there is a common theme that runs through any piece of information that is published in any media we consume. Awareness of this common theme will lead you onto the path of mastering the ability to more accurately read the right clues left by business success stories.
So the common theme consistent with most written media today, concerning business success or success in any other area for that matter, is a focus on the success itself. This is not an ideal way to go, because it’s not the success itself that can be replicated, but rather the underlying processes which lead to that success.
For instance, a brand new car manufacturer cannot try to replicate the successful marketing model of an established motor manufacturer just couple of decades away from being a century old. It takes a whole lot of sustained effort to build a brand to be that recognisable, a process which undoubtedly comes with the construction of a loyal customer base. The brand new car manufacturer also wouldn’t win if it tried to replicate the exact development trajectory of an existing, successful one, for instance, because market forces and everything to do with what it takes to succeed change with time.
The gold resides in the failures, because this is where what are inevitably the pivots that account for success are discovered. It’s not even a matter of immersion just for the sake of stumbling upon a profitable pivot, but rather about going through the business development cycle and gaining practical experience and knowledge.
How, for instance, would a company such as SsangYoung have caught the eye of the likes of multinational Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, were it not for the publicised, impending liquidation process of the South-Korea based motor company? It was deemed to be a failure at some point, but someone saw gold in the established operational structure and decided there is real hope for the company. Boy, were they right!
The right way to model the success stories
Many people will never know about this SsangYong company revival, which couldn’t have come at a better time, well, because the big story resides in the familiar characteristics of a successful motor company. The right way to model success stories is by reading between the lines and shining a light on those details which the successful companies themselves don’t readily discuss or highlight.
Sure, it’s not sexy to scour for clues around stories such as near-liquidations, but that’s where you should look if you’re seeking out the right clues to business success.
