Discover the importance of organizational alignment and agility in this blog post. Learn how establishing a strong CORE and building a strategy around it can lead to sustainable growth and success. Find out how alignment and agility empower your organization to thrive in an ever-changing business landscape.

Lessons I Learned from Waterskiing that Apply to Business
A champion skier once shared three valuable insights that can be applied to the world of business strategy, systems, and sustainable competitive advantage.
- Slalom skiing appears effortless but requires mastery of each step, namely, operations.
- A ski boat’s V8 engine will always win a tug of war, highlighting the importance of knowing your strengths, namely, sustainable competitive advantage.
- Your eyes dictate where your body will go, emphasizing the need to focus on your end goal, namely, strategy.
How do these principles relate to business?
Mastering Repeatable Processes
Success in business often relies on mastering repeatable processes. Steve Jobs, for example, captivated audiences with seemingly effortless presentations because he practiced each performance relentlessly. Businesses should follow suit, refining core processes until they become second nature. This allows employees to focus on market trends and strategic opportunities, rather than getting bogged down in day-to-day tasks.
Furthermore, it’s essential to master all steps of a process. A weak link can undermine the entire chain, as demonstrated by a company with an excellent M&A due diligence team but a weak integration process, resulting in unrealized benefits from deals. In today’s business environment, employees are often overwhelmed, leaving little time for strategic thinking. Mastering repeatable processes can help alleviate this issue and position a company for future success.
Choosing the Right Battles
In skiing, attempting to beat a ski boat in a tug-of-war is futile. Similarly, in business, it’s crucial to understand what variables can be influenced and focus on those. If a competitor has an unbeatable production process, it’s wiser to develop a sustainable competitive advantage that takes price out of the equation. For example, a wealth management firm that differentiates itself by tying financial goals to life goals can outperform competitors by removing financial performance as a deciding factor.
Focusing on the End Goal
In both sports and business, it’s essential to keep your eyes on the end goal. When facing important decisions, businesses should consider the following:
- Does the decision impact the company’s sustainable competitive advantage (SCA)?
- Will clients care about its resolution?
- What impact will it have on the company’s goals or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?
By prioritizing these factors, businesses can maintain focus on the end goal and avoid getting distracted by daily issues.
Conclusion
To maximize business success, practice and refine core processes, understand your strengths and weaknesses, and maintain focus on the end goal. Engaging with a peer group, like Vistage, can provide additional insights and help ensure your business remains on track toward achieving its objectives.
© 2010 Marc Borrelli All Rights Reserved
Recent Posts
Align and Thrive: The Importance of Organizational Alignment and Agility
How to Achieve Smart Time Management: 10 Tips for Busy Professionals
When you are a busy professional running your own business, it can often feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. Being strategic with your time is the best (and possibly the only) way to achieve all of your daily tasks. If you are...
5 Strategic Leadership Skills Every Manager Needs
So often, people view leadership as a talent: you’re either born with this quality or you’re not. However, this is not always the case! In reality, good leadership is made up of skills, and anyone can learn how to improve. Some people may pick up leadership attributes...
How the Sellability Score is Calculated: The Ultimate Guide
Do you have questions about how to calculate your business’s sellability score? Whether you’re looking to sell your business in the near future or years from now, understanding your sellability score will help you thrive. The sellability score identifies the...
The Top 5 Benefits of the Entrepreneurial Operating System
As an entrepreneur running your own business, you know there are bumps in the road and struggles that both you and your business will face over time. However, with the right people and tools at your disposal, you can anticipate what’s coming, plan for it, and continue...
5 Ways to Use Email Automation to Boost Traffic
Every single business in the world wants to evolve and grow. This will happen using a variety of techniques and strategies. In 2022, digital marketing is more than a household name, and most companies will adopt at least a few ideas when long-term planning and coming...
6 Questions To Ask A Potential Business Coach Before Hiring Them
Many entrepreneurs consider executive business coaching when they start struggling on their professional path. A small business coach is an experienced professional mentor who educates, supports, and motivates entrepreneurs. They will listen to your concerns, assess...
3 Ways Proper Long Term Strategic Planning Helps Your Business
Dreams turn into goals when they have a foundation of long-term strategic planning supporting them. They become reality when the ensuing strategic implementation plan is executed properly. With Kaizen Solutions as their strategic planning consultant, small and...
What is a Peer Group, and How Can it Improve Your Career?
If you are a CEO or key executive who has come to a crossroads or crisis in your career, you'll gain valuable insights and solutions from a peer group connection more than anywhere else. But what is a peer group, and how can that statement be made with so much...
Profit and Revenue are Lousy Core Values
As I mentioned last week, I am down with COVID and tired, so spending more time reading rather than working. I read Bill Browder's Freezing Order this weekend, and I highly recommend it. However, at the end of the book, Browder says that oligarchs, autocrats, and...