Speak to entrepreneurs the world over and they all might tell you that their individual keys to success were very different; one had great timing, another had a lot of luck; one more failed twice and finally succeeded the third, fourth or fifth time by applying the knowledge he’d gleaned to the newest venture.
There will never be a “one size fits all” answer to the question, “What makes the best business owner?” A taste for entrepreneurship is a special quality in and of itself. While the majority of Americans will work under others for most of their lives, some feel an innate need to venture out and start something new; be their own bosses, finding loyal, competent employees along the way to help them reach their goals.
The answer to our question, then, lies not in what an entrepreneur does to succeed but what influenced him to take the initiative to become a leader in the first place: vision.
Vision makes the world go ’round.
Author and serial entrepreneur Michael Hyatt has written several dedicated articles on the importance of vision…
His thoughts on the matter are clear, and accurate; while strategy is very important once the ultimate vision has been developed, it by no means comes before the imagination, foresight and belief in oneself that vision requires.
When a business is quoted by the media, each excerpt is based on their “vision statement,” or ultimate goals for the future.
One prominent example is Apple’s vision statement, which comes to us from an interview with Tim Cook:
“We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing. We are constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot. And frankly, we don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change. And I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well.”
This statement wasn’t simply a routine interview but was instead a series of beliefs, honesty and thoughts, all of which compiled the ultimate vision.
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