This question was the impetus behind the creation of Hoover's Inc., the business and enterprise information directory founded by Gary Hoover, who spoke at the early June Specialized Information Publishers Association conference in Washington, DC.

Hoover's quest began at age 12 when he first subscribed to Fortune Magazine, which then led him to visit hundreds of corporate offices before he was 18.

Citing Federal Express as an example, Hoover said, "Very few companies who are first are best," and his research eventually led him to identify eight characteristics that are integral to business success.

1.       Curiosity — Look to the future for upcoming trends, Hoover says, but "you can only look as far forward as you look backward."

2.       People who build successful enterprises have a sense of history. "Learn from the experiences of those who preceded us."

3.       It's important to have a sense of geography too. "The world is smaller, but it is even more important to understand what is going on right around the corner."

4.       "Study, learn how things change through time and space, and get a real sense of your context," Hoover advises, and then articulate a clear vision. "Adopt a third-grade vision so everyone can understand."

5.       Consistency — "More enterprises have failed because they changed than those that failed to change." Hoover attributed Sears' decline in the retail market to "taking its eye off the customer." The company hired a non-merchant CEO and diversified by buying Coldwell Banker and commissioning the Sears Tower. Comparatively, Sam Walton was driven to make life better for customers, resulting in Wal-Mart's tremendous success.

6.       Serving — Learn why your company exists. "Enterprises should only provide goods and services to people."

7.       Unique — Great enterprises are memorable and have unique vision. Hoover says that Volvo sold reliability and safety — not cars. "Once an enterprise finds its soul, the vision becomes clear."

8.       Passion — "You're hurting your customers if you don't love what you're doing."

Hoover presented the information as if each characteristic was a building block to the next, with successful entrepreneurs integrating these philosophies into the company fabric.

But to faithfully maintain these principles so that others in the company absorb and model that behavior is no easy feat.

Size of the company notwithstanding — solo entrepreneurs can fail just as easily as multinational corporations with 50,000 employees — to be able to unwaveringly live and drive the strategic goals of an enterprise requires true leadership.

Robyn Greenspan
Senior Editor, ExecuNet
Robyn.Greenspan@execunet.com
295 Westport Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851