Our Definition of Winning

First, we agree 100% with Dr. Drucker's definition. It is powerful in its simplicity. It is concise, fundamentally sound, and crystal clear. Our view of Dr. Drucker's definition is depicted below:

You can see Dr. Drucker's three elements boiled down to short phrases. You can see the fundamental business transaction - the exchange of products and services for money.

You can see a simplified system containing just two components - the business and the customer. You can plainly see that the purpose of the business must lie outside the business. In the same way, the purpose of this simple system must lie outside the system.

It seems glaringly simple that the definition of winning must be a measure of how well the business serves its purpose: to create a customer. We believe that measure is the degree to which your business is creating customers compared with your competitors. If your business is creating customers faster or better than your competitors, you win.

That decision is owned by the customers.

Winning in Business

We believe that winning businesses requires a simple, but vital, process similar to this:

We like the military analogy. In business, your competitor is your enemy. The battlefield is the collective mind of the customers. Winning begins with learning more about your top competitors than they learn about you, and understanding better how to influence customers to choose your company and your products instead of those of your competitors.

Importance of Winning

Consider these questions carefully.

• How do you know if your business is winning?
• What does your business need to win consistently?

The alternative to winning is ... losing! Maintaining the status quo, keeping things the same, and maintaining your core competencies are not winning options.

Your business climate is not static. Your customers and competitors are not static. Change is inevitable. If your business is not driving change, it will be the victim of change. If your business is not driving change, it's losing to those who are.

Who's Responsible for Winning in Business?

There is no department in your company responsible for winning.

The responsibility for winning in business is divided at the level immediately below CEO. That is a common flaw that can be very easily exploited by your business competitors.

Winning requires a more coordinated effort and commitment of everyone in the company than your business competitors have achieved. Winning requires doing a lot of things well enough, rather than a few things exceptionally well.

Hierarchies are just not good at those things. Business executives are just not good at those things. Neither are middle managers or engineers or sales people or any other functional departments or individuals in a business.