A few days ago at work I walked past a mid-level leader and said hey to him. To my surprise, this 20-year-old said, “Can I ask you a business-related question?”. He then asked, “In your opinion, what is the most important aspect of running a successful business?”. I responded by telling him how fantastic of a question this was, and that I loved where his mind was at. Before answering, I clarified: “Are you asking what’s the most important thing about generally running a successful business? Or the most important thing as it pertains to successfully maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction in a business?”. He responded that he was asking about the former.

This is such a basic question that every business, and every organization of any type, must know the answer to. But in my experience, VERY few actually think about or effectively answer this. And even fewer take the necessary steps required to be successful, even at a base level. How often do you or I encounter organizations that are mediocre, or worse. Just today I called a business and the person on the other end of the line HUNG UP ON ME 60 seconds into the call with me just trying to get some basic appointment scheduling related information. Many businesses are open, but few are good at what they do. Many organizations exist, but few are thriving.

So, what’s the answer that I shared in response to this inquisitive leader?

The #1 Aspect

Before I lay out the top factor that makes organizations great, I want to clarify a few specific things that are still MUST HAVES:

1. You MUST have a product or service that people need and will pay for. This is obvious.
2. You MUST have some sales, and from those sales some profits. Obvious as well.

Assuming that an organization has an offering in place and some customers who are buying, let’s move on to the #1 aspect:

Successful businesses have GREAT PEOPLE, and ENOUGH OF THEM

Word for word this is what I shared with my young leader a few days back. Let’s start with the last part of this first.

An organization will not perform at a high level over time without enough people. Imagine an NBA basketball team that has 7 guys in total. When a few players get hurt, sick, tired, or simply aren’t playing well, there’s not enough cartilage there to absorb all of this. Now imagine the same team only has 3 players in total. In a sport that plays 5 on 5, they’re automatically going to lose in a big way. 

Some businesses operate out of a “3 on 5” strategy, and it simply makes no sense. Others operate out of a “7 on the roster” framework, and this too is inadequate to produce sustained results. But a successful organization knows the various roles that must be filled, and these roles STAY FILLED!

But it’s STILL not sufficient to simply have the right number of warm bodies on the team. This takes us back to the first half of the #1 aspect of running a successful business: Having GREAT people. 

Let’s go back to the NBA scenario. Assume a team needs 15 players, and they have 15. How GOOD are the players? Are they middle-aged accounts who play pick-up ball once a month? Or are they PROFESSIONALS? Even if they’re pros…are they role players, all-stars, or somewhere in between?

As Hall of Fame basketball coach Geno Auriemma says, “Who has won with lousy players?”. Almost without exception, the better the team the better the performance. And the better the individual players are the better the team will be. 

So how do you measure a GREAT player as opposed to a mediocre one? First, how talented is this person? You can’t teach talent. Some people have it while others do not. Second, how much of a team player (aka a culture fit) is this person? Talent must be combined with humility, hard-work, healthy self-esteem, and more. Otherwise, it’s useless. Third, how much of a fit is this person for this specific role? Cram a detail-oriented person into a big-picture role, or a raving extrovert into an isolated role far away from other people…this square peg + round hole approach will leave everyone frustrated. 

Racecar drivers don’t start or end the race on the 75th lap. Having enough great people is neither the first nor the final lap. There are NUMEROUS things that must precede this, like having a competitive value proposition. Similarly, there are NUMEROUS important things that must follow this, like clarifying standards and holding everyone accountable to those each day. But these are all battles that must be fought and won that support the goal of winning the war on talent. 

When I’m looking at another business, or at my own, the first question I start with every time is “Are there great people working here, and are there plenty of them?”.

In Closing

Does the organization that you lead or are part of maintain enough people? Have all needed roles been identified and filled? Are the people in the organization all HIGH performers? Are the correct people in the correct roles? If the answer to any of these is “No”, then sustained winning, while not 100% impossible, is extremely unlikely.