Trivia: Who founded COCA COLA?
It is quite possible, and often the case, that a business or brand becomes more popular than its (co)founders. In many cases, they become so endearing to their customers because of perceived value derived from the usage of such product/service.
Many of such enterprises still thrive after many decades, and there seems to be no slowing down. This is more so, thankfully, with the aid of digital technology and improved study on customers’ “buyology”.
Yet, behind every successful or less successful business is a man driving it.
Getting to know the man and the model employed can serve as a sufficient measure to predicting the lifespan of the business.
Whether it is one man or a team behind the scene, their effect on a business cannot be overlooked. From the director’s desk to the sales force and, possibly, security personnel, every one has a part to play to keep the business in operation continually.
If you’ve read the classic THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON, you’d have found out like me that the principles of success is not a given — they are often learned. Howbeit, it only remains a secret until one subjects himself to understudying, understanding, implementing and evaluating that which is necessary to thrive.
A lot of things go into building and sustaining the business from the ground up. Key characteristics of such amongst personnel employed for the success of a business can be surmised in four D’s, highlighted in this particular order.
Desire:
Also termed ‘heartfelt passion’, desire is the birth of all things that eventually play out. Through desire, a man separates himself to search out wisdom in the execution of a business idea, transforming virtual into reality.
Desire is necessary, for without it nothing else happens. It can be borne out of lack/scarcity of solutions, one’s frustration with the normal or a newly found hobby. In all, the entrepreneur is devoted to F.A.N.A.F.I. — finding a need and fulfilling it.
Usually, this desire for change is greater than the desire for change — if you know what that means.
Determination/Drive:
is heightened passion fueled by the knowledge that it will make for appreciable value to the end user.
This determination to see through a phase endears the entrepreneur to the vision of a possible future. He shares it with others in like fashion and commits to pulling through painstakingly in time.
Decision:
is the affirmation of a thought or idea worthy of pursuit until something is accomplished. Per time, the entrepreneur is presented opportunities (challenges) to decide if he chooses to go on, or quit.
Firmness of conviction thrives to ensure that no stone is left unturned daily.
Discipline:
is the wedge upon which all other charcateristics rest. Nothing eventually happens without the pulley of discipline to absorb and continually reproduce, even when it is not convenient.
One of the greatest undoings of start ups and entrepreneurs is instant gratification — a premature desire to celebrate before time.
Discipline helps to delay instant gratification. When it is enforced and accepted, it serves its purpose to ensure that “they all (the entrepreneur) spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures”.
However, it is pertinent that the man (team) behind the business also learns to deal with…
Doubt:
Doubt is perhaps the greatest setback confronting the man behind a business. Nothing cripples a man more than self-doubt.
Disappointment:
This often comes in the form of repeated failures, and should serve as a springboard to achieving success rather than a setback. Like Thomas Edison, one may say from a failed attempt, “I have learnt one new way how not to go about it”.
Delay:
While one may leverage on their strengths and opportunities in driving a business, one cannot downplay threats and weaknesses that are prevalent top advance) any successful outcome
Deadlines:
This is as important as the goal of a business. Nevertheless, no time might be termed too late to achieving a goal with progressive action.
On a final note, it is expected that as the business evolves, the man (team) behind it must continually upgrade himself to keep with the trends and demands, fuel courage amidst distress situations, communicate objectives clearly within his people network etc., to earn commissions rightly deserved from the delivery of value in the market space.
Answer to Trivia: John Smith Pamberton founded Coca Cola in 1886.
Now that you know better, arise and build!
