The Power of Simple

How do we create jobs?  By creating value.  How do we create value?  By offering a good or service that is as good or better than someone else, at an equal or better price.  How do we do that?  By being really good at the business of business.  How do we do that?  We focus on the market, we identify the need and /or value gap, we create the product or service to fill that gap, and then we build an organization to deliver on that product or service. And we build that organization in a way that the organization itself represents distinct value:  it is focused, its employees love and I mean love to work there,  they are clear on their tasks, they are held accountable not just to task delivery but to learning and growing their skills to add more value to the organization and the customers they serve.  It is an organization relentlessly focused on delivering value to the customer, made up of employees relentlessly focused on delivering value to their employer.  It’s that simple.  But wait. It’s not.  Why not. Because I think many Americans have lost their ability to be relentless.  Most people I know are not driven to learn, driven to grow, driven to create value.  They are passive.  They are waiting to be instructed, waiting to be told, waiting to be led.  The relentless drive that brought our forefathers to this country, that spurred the innovation and collaboration that created the biggest economy in the world appears to have largely disappeared.  My generation has suffered from the lack of a defining moment.  A moment that set them back, that said to them if you don’t drive, you don’t grow, you don’t try, you die.  We never had a world war.  Or a civil war.  Or a depression.  Well now we do.  This economic calamity is our defining moment.  And the question is how many people in a position to be relentless are relentless.  How many people will look at their jobs, their companies, their opportunities, and say I can do more?  I can learn more.  I can think more.  I can create more value, for my company, my customers, my community, my family,  and my country.   Perhaps it’s that simple.