Is your business turning into your wardrobe?

In his book How the Mighty Fall, author Jim Collins cites the “undisciplined pursuit of more” as a major contributor to business failure, and it’s as relevant for those of us at the small end of town as it is for the people in the tall buildings.

Let me brush down the clothing analogy a little more.

Amassing more, or holding onto things that just don’t have a place does, nothing for us. Instead this unnecessary excess messes with our focus, adds to our distraction and actually disrupts our chances of success.

When you’re faced with a full rack of clothes it’s near impossible to make a choice.

As Collins puts it, where “a business seeks more scale, more growth, more acclaim or more of whatever those in power see as necessary for ‘success’”, they risk straying “from the disciplined creativity that led them to greatness in the first place.”

In other words, having more just for the sake of it can result in having less.

Want more articles like this? Check out the business values section.

Back to Jim again:

“Discontinuous leaps into areas in which you have no burning passion is undisciplined. Taking action inconsistent with your core values is undisciplined… To neglect your core business while you leap after exciting new adventures is undisciplined.”

Ouch! It’s so easy to be drawn into the world of ‘must haves’, isn’t it? Why isn’t my website shinier? My laptop more aluminium? My smartphone smarter? My car longer and pointier?

Blah, blah, blah. It’s never about what we have, it’s what we do with what we’ve got. Stick to your comfortable clothes, be 100 per cent you and stay true to your cause.

So what’s in your business wardrobe or on your wish list that you may just let go of? Drop your bags here.