John Wooden said “It is very easy to get comfortable in a position of leadership. Your players (or employees) believe you have all of the answers if you enjoyed some success. People start telling you are the smartest one around. But if you begin to believe them, you become the idiot. You stop learning and listening to those creating innovative new strategies and techniques. That is one of the main reasons it is so hard to stay on top”. If there is one key to success it is experience, and most entrepreneurs do not possess much experience unless they paid their dues working for someone else or failed in the same business previously.
Once you’re #1, it is easy to believe your press and adoring fans. But you must work even harder at the point you achieved success because each subsequent success will take an even greater effort. Avoid the temptation of believing past achievements signal future success. As a leader you must never be satisfied or content that you know everything about your business, customers or employees. No two customers or employees are the same. Each individual under your management is unique. No one customer is representative of everyone you will serve.
Wooden said “There is no one formula for getting your team to play well together”. It is science and art at the same time—and that is difficult to pull off, let alone be perennially successful. John Wooden won 10 NCAA championships and 88 straight games as UCLA’s head coach. He might know something about staying competitive and managing for success.