Predictable Success summary

No company can achieve predictable success right from the get-go if it doesn’t follow a process. And though each stage is filled with challenges, if a company plays it right they’ll be unstoppable.

First, a company will hit the early struggle. This initial stage requires you to address two simple problems:

So, in the second stage you’re having fun. Your business is doing well and you have plenty of customers. Seems great, right? Well, here’s where things get tricky.

When an organization grows too quickly, decision-making and execution become more difficult. During this third stage, whitewater, mistakes become very common. Prepare yourself: you’ll have to devote much of your time and resources to trying to solve these problems.

Congratulations, you’ve achieved predictable success! Time to breathe easy? Unfortunately, there are still challenges ahead.

Immediately after you’ve arrived at predictable success, you may encounter the treadmill. This phase occurs when a company becomes overly dependant on established systems, thus losing its creative streak.

Every stage on the path to predictable success has its challenges. But the most difficult shift occurs when your company moves from whitewater to predictable success.

At this point, you may see your organization’s decision-making process become overly complex and bureaucratic. Management needs to work against this impulse, simplifying the company’s decision-making at every level.

As we’ve learned, it’s difficult to maintain predictable success. Luckily, there are two steps you can take to avoid the treadmill, the big rut and the death rattle.

The first step requires you to install two systems.

If you’ve achieved predictable success but feel that you might be backsliding, there are a couple of things you can do to get back on track.

Most importantly, make sure you’re using your implemented systems effectively – not being used by them. After all, having a perfectly organized calendar doesn’t make for an effective CEO. A CEO who doesn’t have a single moment of free time in the next five weeks has no time to innovate, dream or create.