Jim Collins in his book, Great by Choice opens his chapter on the 20 mile march with the story of Jim Brown: Imagine you’re standing with your feet in the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. Looking inland, you are about to begin a 3,000 mile journey from San Diego California to the tip of Maine. On the first day, you march 20 miles and make it out of town. On the second day you march 20 miles. On the third day you march another 20 miles making it to the heat of the desert. It’s more than 100 degrees. You want to rest in the cool of your tent, but you don’t. You hike 20 miles. You keep the pace: 20 miles a day. The weather cools. A gentle breeze is at your back. You could go further, but you don’t. You march 20 miles. You keep your pace of 20 miles a day. Then, you reach the Colorado high mountains and get hit by snow, wind, and 20 below zero temperatures. All you want to do is stay in your tent. You get up. You get dressed. You march your 20 miles. Day after day, you keep up the pace: 20 miles, 20 miles, 20 miles. Eventually you reach the plains. It is spring. There are flowers and warm breezes. You could travel much more in a day, but you hold back. You keep to your 20 miles each day. Eventually, you reach Maine. Now, imagine another person sets out with you on the same journey from San Diego on the same day. They get all excited and log 40 or 50 miles their first day. He wakes up the next day exhausted from his first big day and hits 100 degree temperatures. He decides to stay in his tent until the weather cools and make up his distance when the temperatures are more moderate. He continues with this pattern: big gains on big days, and whining and waiting in his tent on bad days. Just before the Colorado high mountains, he gets a spate of good weather and logs a series of 40 and 50 mile days. Then, exhausted, he gets caught by a snow storm that nearly kills him. He hunkers down in his tent and waits for spring. When spring finally arrives, he stumbles from his tent, nearly done in and continues. By the time he reaches Kansas City, you with your relentless 20 mile a day march have already reached the tip of Maine and have won the race by a huge margin. Collins uses this story to explain the results of his research. The first behavior that all the successful companies exhibited was discipline. In this case it was described as the 20 mile march.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 20:00:01 +0000
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