Characteristics of a Leading Edge Organization

As Tom Peters and Bob Waterman discovered after writing their best-selling, "In Search of Excellence," labeling any organization as "excellent" can be chancy at best. A fair number of those fair-haired stars were not glowing so brightly a couple of years later. Still, what's an entrepreneur to do? There has to be some way to identify the factors that lead to long term success. Here are ten characteristics that any CEO who plans to be around for long might consider.
1. A fluid vision.
Vision, the kind that results in great ideas and organizations, stems from the heart more than the mind. And, as any teenager can tell you, the heart can appear fickle, fragile, and frequently changing. Visions that really work, for individuals and organizations as well, are those that ARE from the heart, and that's their strength. They proceed from feelings, which are the advance antennae of the intellect. So, the rule here is: don't over-logic your vision; let it appear, develop and unfold. Let it be fluid!
2. Chameleon-like adaptiveness.
How quickly and easily can the policies, practices, programs, systems, structures AND plans in your organization be changed? If the answer is, "Not very," then you may want to think again. The leopard or organization that cannot change its spots can be in deep trouble when caught in the cross hairs of a hunter/competitor' s rifle-like attack. Being fully adaptive means that there is virtually nothing in your organization that you would not, or could not change -- except for ...
3. An unwavering set of values.
Values, quite simply, are what you believe, what you live by, and what's really important to you. For individuals, they're the bedrock of self-esteem. For organizations, they're rules to live by that come way before, and long after, the bottom line. They include some of the items on this list as well as things like integrity, honesty, and commitment.
4. An obsession with innovation.
If this had been written only five years ago, the word 'obsession,' would not have been applicable. Some milder term, such as penchant, posture, or proclivity would have suited just fine. Today, those words don't cut it. You must be obsessed with the need to change, innovate, re-create. Nothing less offers even a hope of long term viability.
5. Quality as a relative and an absolute value.
One reason why so many TQM programs haven't worked too well is the failure to recognize that quality is a two-sided coin. Quality is, first, a function of use and price. If you designed a rubber band to last as long as a diamond ring, they would probably end up costing about the same. You design a product in terms of the uses to which it is to be put, and the price you can reasonably expect to get. Within these parameters, however, the secret is to design, produce, and deliver the highest quality product you can for the price.
6. A commitment to value.
Value is a result of correctly defining quality. It's also an extension of the quality philosophy, for having a commitment to value means that, when you recognize you're not delivering full value to the customer, you CHANGE. You may have to change your product, your price, your distribution system, or even your people, but you change, and you do it quickly. The price we pay for high tech and real-time information is that there is increasingly little room for the slow moving company or individual.
7. Service as an absolute value.
Here's one area where there is (or should be) no compromise, and the reason is simple. Customers react to service, or the lack of it, in emotional terms. They aren't rational and they shouldn't be! As any real pro in sales can tell you, attract your customers with total unconditional service, and you've got 'em. That's not to say that you don't have to be price-conscious, only that price is a short-term and highly volatile determination, whereas service is a long-term commitment with equally long-term results.
8. Qualitatively- based leadership.
There's been so much written on leadership the past ten years or so, that it makes you wonder if there were any good leaders before 1985! The fact is, effective, enlightened, or just darn good leaders possess five key qualities. They are highly inner directed, dynamically balanced, incredibly flexible, internally empowered, and personally committed. You may think that's a tall order, but as the saying goes: "Only the best ..."
9. An infinite capacity for renewal.
We need to design organizations and leaders the way the body is designed. According to Dr. Deepak Chopra, noted author and ayurvedic specialist, every cell in the body is renewed annually. Just think how different our organizations would be if we applied the same principles as the Big Fellow did!
10. A deep abiding sense of community.
Two of the greatest contributions of modern physics are the notions of infinite connectedness and holographic reality. (Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls.) That we are all connected with interests and futures intertwined, is still only slowly dawning upon much of corporate America. And that we, in our selves and our organizations, are each "representations of the whole," is an idea that has yet to be aired in most board rooms.