Tom Peters - Top To Bottom

Go on offense.
Give everybody a shot.
Decentralize.
Try a bunch of stuff.
Make it up as you go along.
Get some stuff wrong.
Laugh a lot.
Get some stuff right.
Become a "success."

Extract "lessons learned" or "best practices."
Thicken the Book of Rules.
Become evermore serious.
Enforce the rules to increasingly tight tolerances.
Go on defense.
Install walls.
Protect-at-all-costs today's franchise.
Centralize.
Calcify.
Install taller walls.
Write more rules.
Become irrelevant and-or die.

This list is what Tom Peters calls the essence of his life's work and is a sobering reminder to retain our personal and business identity as our organisation grows. It also reminds us to remember to have the courage to fail at trying something new. Developing a culture of experimentation in your business is critical if you are to be successful in the long-term.

It was Eleanor Roosevelt who said,

Do one thing everyday that scares you.

There are few things as disheartening as seeing a business grow to be successful and then begin to atrophy as the owner/CEO decides to maintain the status-quo instead of continually striving to improve what the business offers. An unwillingness to experiment with new business models, improved product offering, more efficient distribution methods and out-of-the-box marketing, is destined to bring eventual failure.

Be brave - do something different today!