This precious cargo has finally landed. My Airtran flight to DCA airport was quick and dirty. And on time. I decided against doing any work on my laptop. Instead, I cracked open Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras. I have my own personal copy thanks to one of my colleagues. He thought it would be a good read for me throughout my Midwest travels. I am not even at page thirty and I am already impressed. Collins and Porras were thorough in their research and purposeful in conceptualizing specific common themes amongst very long-standing, reputable companies. Pages twenty eight and twenty nine blew my mind. I had to really contemplate a few key points. Read for yourself.
"If you are a prospective entrepreneur with the desire to start and build a visionary company but have not yet taken the plunge because you don't have a "great idea, we encourage you to lift from your shuolders the burden of the great-idea myth" (Collins and Porras, 28).
I was sitting on the plane as I read this and at first I was confused, perhaps skeptical. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. You won't know if you have a "great idea" until much later. In fact, it is most likely the exception that you stumble upon an out-of-this-world idea. There are a bazillion ideas on an given day but I think Collins and Porras are right in that, "the company itself is the ultimate creation."
My favorite line in the book thus far: "Luck favors the persistent."
It doesn't get better than that in my opinion. A quick power nap to boost my energy and then it's back to being persistent!
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