I was just skimming through Michael Gerber's well-known business book The E-Myth Revisited, and came across a great passage from Tom Watson, the founder of IBM. Quoted below is Tom Watson after being asked what attributed to the secret to IBM's success.
Here is what Tom Watson said:
IBM is what it is today for three special reasons. The first reason is that, at the very beginning, I had a very clear picture of what the company would look like when it was finally done. You might say I had a model in my mind of what it would look like when the dream — my vision — was in place.
The second reason was that once I had that picture, I then asked myself how a company which looked like that would have to act. I then created a picture of how IBM would act when it was finally done.
The third reason IBM has been so successful was that once I had a picture of how IBM would look when the dream was in place and how such a company would have to act, I then realized that, unless we began to act that way from the very beginning, we would never get there.
In other words, I realized that for IBM to become a great company it would have to act like a great company long before it ever became one.
From the very outset, IBM was fashioned after the template of my vision. And each and every day we attempted to model the company after that template. At the end of each day, we asked ourselves how well we did, discovered the disparity between where we were and where we had committed ourselves to be, and, at the start of the following day, set out to make up for the difference.
Every day at IBM was a day devoted to business development, not doing business.
We didn’t do business at IBM, we built one.
I really enjoyed reading this. It demonstrates the POWER of having an ultimate vision – a driving force.
Tom Watson also alludes to the concept of “fake it until you make it”, by simply deciding to ACT AS IF the company was already successful.
I can relate to this, as it's something that I've done to help me achieve many of the goals I've had in my life.
When I was shy and introverted, I decided to act as if I was confident and outgoing. I would take on the posture, the mannerisms, and beliefs of someone that was the way I wanted to be. And sure enough, over a period of time, I had internalized those behaviour patterns and become congruent with the vision of who I wanted to be.
In the same way, I've applied the same strategy to my physical body and businesses.
BUT… it all starts with the vision in your head – getting a crystal clear, specific vision of who you want to be.
Clarity is power.
Everything that you've ever created in your outer world, first has to be created in your inner world. It starts with a thought, an idea, or dream. And through the consistent act of focusing on it, you'll eventually move towards and manifest it in your life.
I highly recommend The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, a lot of fantastic business advice. I read the book years ago when I was a young entrepreneur and it really changed my perspective on how to build a successful business. I will write a review of The E-Myth in the near future.