Key to Success
By Angel L. Piñeiro
“The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competition, the best way to put distance between yourself and the crowd, is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose.” – Bill Gates, 2000.
Do you consider yourself an information gatherer? Are you in-tune with “what’s happening” in your industry? Do you seek information constantly and use it wisely to have a competitive advantage over your enemies – oops, sorry – I mean friendly competitors?
If you have achieved success – well, congratulations to you – but that is yesterday’s news. Do you see a need to continue to improve intellectually and professionally? If not, be warned. There is someone out there preparing himself to dethrone you of your high place, e.g., Mr. T in Rocky III.
The more successful you are, the more you have to lose, and the more resistant you will be to change. Successful people are most vulnerable to complacency, overconfidence, and stubbornness. When you can do nothing wrong, you can develop a false sense of security that you have reached the pinnacle of invincibility. However, when you have reached the top of the mountain, there is nowhere else to go but down.
Henry Kissinger once said, “Each success only buys you an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.” Each success merely buys you an opportunity to continue to play in the game of business that is constantly changing.
My advice to you is to embrace learning. It should be in your DNA to seek information without ceasing. Master the unknown. Manage and manipulate data and information to suit your interests. Are you the type of person who can convert data into useful knowledge? How you use, share, and apply this knowledge can make the difference between winning and losing – going somewhere from nowhere.
If you feel like you have been punched in the gut every time someone outclassed you and your presentation, or another company was awarded business that you wanted so badly, that is a good thing. It should motivate you to change so it will not happen again.
If you feel you are entitled to win more business because of your prior success, I have news for you. No one is paying you today for what you did yesterday. You have to keep providing value or your business is dead. Your clients expect you to be at the top of your game or they will go to someone else who is better prepared, informed, and connected.
You should always move your performance bar one level up each time you achieve success. The extraordinary people do what ordinary people are unwilling to do. Complacent and unprepared people play not to lose, while informed people armed with useful knowledge play to win. Are you playing it safe in life not wanting to rock the boat and cause any waves, or are you a risk taker willing to face fear head on?
Let your passion be the driving force for you to be the best at whatever you do. Be willing to step out of your comfort zone and take risks to get you where you have never been. When you are armed with a well-prepared plan supported with data and applied knowledge, risks are worth the taking. But risk without a plan is just foolish.
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a Ride!’” ― Hunter S. Thompson.
Complacency is deadly. It stifles progress. It can go on undetected if you are not careful. Strive to learn as if your life depends on it. Be the magnet for clients for your organization. Are clients gravitating toward you because of your ability to connect to knowledge that can offer unprecedented insight to them?
Working hard is not necessarily working smart. Being busy does not guarantee results. Having meetings does not mean you are productive. Putting in the time and effort does not always translate to profitability. Are you producing net-new business because of what you know? Are you using data to cut cost and increase profitability? Does the information you have continuously increase your organization’s clientele? Your company is investing in you. What is their return on investment?
Only you know what you do not know. You cannot fake knowledge. Only you are responsible for feeding your knowledge base. Own it. Do not wait on others to provide the education you need. Why would you want to put the onus of your education, skill level, and industry knowledge in the hands of someone else? Build your own personal brand. Become the go-to person in your organization. Put yourself in a position to win more and lose less through applied knowledge.
Former U.S. Army chief of staff General Eric Shinseki once said, “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” What an appropriate way to end this message.