Written by: Vickie Sullivan | June 19, 2014
Find the One Thing That Changes Everything
with author Rita Gunther McGrath is a great example of thought leadership in action. This Columbia Business School professor is out promoting her new book strategy. Favorite quote in this article was about the growth outliers; they were “pursuing strategies with a long-term perspective on where they wanted to go, but also with the recognition that whatever they were doing today wasn’t going to drive their future growth.”
Think about that for a minute. Do you see the paradox on long term vs short term? Do you see how she not only created a new benchmark for growth (short-term competitive advantage) but also up-ended conventional wisdom about competitive advantage? Her central idea changed the game.
And that’s the difference between sought-after thought leaders and the wanna bes. Everyone has good ideas. The problem is that many perspectives sound like old wine in a new bottle. The big dawgs look around and create a credible alternative to the status quo. They find the one thing that changes everything. From that central theme, they chart the ramifications and the path forward.
This formula works. It’s what Jim Collins did with Good to Great; it’s what Malcolm Gladwell did with Tipping Point. It’s not impossible to achieve this level of success. We can do this, too.
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