While growing up in Mumbai, my mother cooked the most amazing food. Even when she cooked for large functions, the food would be delicious — scale did not affect the taste. She had perfected her recipes and her method. I now marvel at the level of clarity and coordination it must have taken.
When I came to the U.S. for higher education, I brought with me some of her recipes. In spite of all my efforts and analysis, I could not recreate even the simplest of her dishes. It took me several attempts before I began to understand and truly appreciate what the recipe was saying. I still can’t cook at her level, but people tell me I cook pretty well. I have taken her recipes and invented my method to go with it.
Recipe and method
Every successful CEO and executive I have met, and I have worked closely with hundreds, had a method to go along with their recipe for success. A method is an articulation of what is important to you, and your approach. It is your set of business convictions, chiseled by your experiences and knowledge. The executives who lacked a method did not succeed. They were ineffective in their approach and easily swept away by internal or external challenges. Companies led by leaders who had a method and were able to articulate it have performed exceedingly well, some delivering over a 1,000-fold growth.
Your method describes your core management philosophies, which may be related to customers, markets and products, and also how you chose to do things internally. For instance, what is your definition of success? What types and levels of risk are you comfortable with and under what circumstances? In which areas is your philosophy opportunistic, and in which are you conservative? How important is growth to you and at what cost? In what manner do you like problems to be solved, and to what degree of detail? How do you characterize the tradeoff and balance between strategy and execution? What organizational culture do you propagate? These are only some of the considerations.
Having a well-crystallized method
Successful business leaders perfect their method and rely on it heavily to drive ahead. Every leader’s method is specific to them. It is based on who they are and their preferences. There is not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to success. The specific method or recipe is not as important as having a well-crystallized method. Successful executives have great clarity around their method and can succinctly articulate it.
I have encountered ineffective CEOs who fail to articulate what they want. When, however, these CEOs have taken the effort to discover and crystallize their method, it has propelled their effectiveness and the performance of their organizations to new heights.
What is your method? Have you developed one? Is your company a mishmash of things and ideas, or does it have a clear recipe to follow and a prescribed method to go with it? Have you figured out your corporate recipe? Make some great business curry.
