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Author: [[Richard Koch]] Full Title: The Star Principle Category: #books I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason and compare; my business is to create. WILLIAM BLAKE One cannot resist the invasion of ideas. VICTOR HUGO What is a star venture? It has two qualities. One, it operates in a high-growth market. Two, it is the leader in that market. (In the next chapter I’ll explain much more about star ventures. Very few people understand what star ventures are, which is good, because it makes it easier for people who do understand to find them!) ventures. The key is to select the ventures that are likely to succeed anyway. Without superhuman people. Without perfect balance between the skills of the people. Without blood, toil, tears and sweat.Without the need to keep chopping and changing before the correct formula emerges. The useful answer is not ‘people, people, people’. The really potent, consistently successful answer is ‘positioning, positioning, positioning’. Success in a poorly positioned business, against the odds, may indeed be the result of your fantastic abilities. But why make obstacles to overcome? Why not remove the obstacles to success and use the launch pad for success? Why not get involved with a star venture? Having the idea for a star business takes imagination. Validating the idea of a star business - checking that the business really is a star as properly defined - requires some combination of hard thinking, research and experimentation. Launching a star business requires the same amount of courage and determination as launching any other venture. Finding someone else’s star business takes a reasonable amount of care. Yet none of these actions requires exceptional intelligence or creativity. They require normal levels of skills, plus the knowledge easily gleaned from this book. Naturally, if you are exceptionally smart that is a bonus. But not a necessity. All together now. What will make you successful? A star business has two attributes: ★ it is the leader in its market niche; and ★ the market niche is growing fast, at least 10 per cent a year. To be the leader simply means that it is bigger intheniche than any other firm. We measure size by sales value (also known as revenues or turnover). If the venture has sales of $1 million and there is nobody whose sales in the same niche reach $1 million, then it is the leader. Note that ‘leadership’ is objectively defined by sales, and has nothing to do with competing claims about ‘being the best’ or being most highly rated by customers, which are difficult to judge and not as important anyway. The thing that matters most is how customers in the niche vote with their money.
AI Summary
The Star Principle by Richard Koch presents wisdom from the contemplative traditions.
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