The Success Formula

We are always hunting for that elusive success formula, aren’t we? I came across this article, in the McKinsey Quarterly, on how executives search for that success formula for a runaway success.I’ve included a few thoughts here (You can find the full article here – registration required). When I read the article, some of the points made were quite obvious.

For example, success and failure depend not only on a company’s actions but also on those of its rivals. Where did we lose that insight we gain right from kindergarten – your rank doesn’t depend only on the marks you score. I guess, in our quest to find that easy answer to the puzzle, we often fail to realize that there can be a few puzzles that have a different answer each time. Instead we expect the puzzle to end at the same point – which is not the case in a competitive environment.

There were other thoughts that were business-centric – but if you take a closer look, you’d realize they are true in other spheres of life as well. Consider this one: “Suggesting that companies can follow a blueprint and achieve lasting success may be appealing, but is not supported by the evidence.” Like the books that deal with the success formula for business executives, there are umpteen books out there that talk about how to deal with your own life – how to win, how to be successful, how to be a good listener and so on. At the end of the day, these books tend to reduce life into a set of formulas you live by. But, life isn’t about following someone else’s path; life isn’t about living within the safety zone. Life is all about stretching your boundaries, accomplishing what you considered impossible, and, most importantly, living your life your way.

In the business world, success is a result of decisions made under conditions of uncertainty and shaped in part by factors outside our control. In your life, what you do and who you are depend on your decisions in your day-to-day life. You cannot simulate your life and your choices to reflect someone else’s. There is no perfect choice, there is no dead-end – you can always start again and your best attempts may not be good enough. That is life – but then, for all the uncertainty, I won’t want life to be any other way.

Here are some of the very interesting and valid points:

A reliable path to high performance – does not exist.

In the business world, success is a result of decisions made under conditions of uncertainty and shaped in part by factors outside our control.

The task of strategic leadership is not to follow a blueprint but to gather and evaluate relevant information, and make choices that provide the best chance for the company to succeed, all the while recognizing the business uncertainty.

The delusion of absolute performance

Success and failure depend not only on a company’s actions but also on those of its rivals.

High performance com6es from doing things better than rivals can, which means the managers have to take risks.

The delusion of lasting success

Lasting success is largely a delusion, a statistical anomaly. There is a strong tendency for extreme performance to be followed by less extreme performance in the next.

Suggesting that companies can follow a blueprint and achieve lasting success may be appealing, but is not supported by the evidence.

No formula can guarantee a company’s success, at least not in a competitive business environment.