As humans, we are programmed for short term thinking. To want results now, to want instant gratification.
While this might be useful in some scenarios in life - in business, this is dangerous.
We have seen so many business make short term decisions that have led to disaster. On the surface, these decisions seem profitable, but really they are just a result of our inbuilt bias for short term gratification, and lead to sub-optimal business decision making.
We are ONLY interested in ONE thing when building our businesses...building value for the long term.
Every decision we make, we ask ourselves "is this decision building value for the long term?".
This means the slow game, the accurate game, the genuine and authentic game.
It might mean 'two steps forward, one step back'. It might mean investing in people. It might mean saying no to opportunities.
Whatever it is for your organization, building long term value is about 'making decisions today, for a better tomorrow'.
How does this look day to day?
Well, it means living by a few key business and personal values.....
- Done is better than perfect. As Amazon CEO said "have a bias for action". Make decisions, learn from them and gradually improve your product. You are not going to get it right first time, so make a decision and get moving.
- Kaizen Kaizen Kaizen. The Japanese practice of 'continuous improvement'. Each day we aim to be just a little bit better than we were the day before. Over time, these small improvements add up to big changes. The magic? Small improvements everyday are very achievable, so they get done.
- Invest in yourselves. "The best investment you can ever make in yourself". You and your team need to continuously improve yourselves in every way. It needs to be a way of life.
- Keep going. "Success belongs to the ones who kept going". Developing the patience and tenacity to stick to the task when things are not working, when you have setbacks, when you are frustrated.