Weekly Business Insights from Top Ten Business Magazines | Week 317 | Entrepreneurship Section | 2

Extractive summaries and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Since September 2017 | Week 317 | September October 6-12 , 2023

Is Your Business Built to Last? These 5 Leadership Practices Could Put It on the Right Track

By Andrew Schaap | Entrepreneur Magazine | October 11, 2023

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When you think of the best and most-loved brands, why are they so good at what they do? A few things stand out. They’re customer-focused, consistently delivering high-quality products or services. They value their employees. They’re innovative and flexible. They offer an excellent return on investment, rewarding shareholders year after year.

In business, there’s a word that sums up those qualities: durability. And more often than not, it can mean the difference between success and failure for a company. Simply put, a durable business is one built for the long haul — one that will still be around and thriving in 100 years.  Five ways leaders can scale with durability in mind.

1. Don’t spend money on things you don’t need.  That might be stating the obvious, but it’s often overlooked. A durable business is customer-centric and fiscally responsible. Many organizations get into trouble because once they start making money, they stop focusing on the bottom line and forget why they exist in the first place: to serve their customers.
2. Be consistently good…and repeat.  To achieve durability, a company doesn’t have to be the best in its industry at everything. But it does need to deliver a consistently good customer experience over and over again. 
3. Remember that people matter more than product.  When investors go looking for a durable company, they often consider the headwinds or tailwinds in the market, the management team and the product, in that order. Their rationale: If the product is lousy, great management can fix it.  Focusing on people is one of the keys to durability. 
4. Go to where the work happens.  A leader goes where the work is being done. This is sometimes referred to as management by walking around (MBWA), a practice adopted by Toyota, another durable business. If the executive team identifies an internal problem that threatens the company’s profitability, taking a stroll through the office or the factory floor could yield a solution that might not otherwise have occurred to them.
5. Know when your people need a course correction.  Above all, good leaders should see the big picture, but they must also be maniacal about the details when it comes to product, culture, process — and people. Any leader who aims to build a durable business must spot people wandering off-course early — and assertively get them back on track.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. When you think of the best and most-loved brands, why are they so good at what they do? A few things stand out. They’re customer-focused, consistently delivering high-quality products or services. They value their employees. They’re innovative and flexible. They offer an excellent return on investment, rewarding shareholders year after year.  In business, there’s a word that sums up those qualities: durability. 
2. And more often than not, it can mean the difference between success and failure for a company. Simply put, a durable business is one built for the long haul — one that will still be around and thriving in 100 years.  
3. Five ways leaders can scale with durability in mind: don’t spend money on things you don’t need, Be consistently good…and repeat, remember that people matter more than product, go to where the work happens, and know when your people need a course correction.

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Topics:  Entrepreneurship, Sustainable