Remember Chux? The disposable diaper that swept the market in 1932?

Of course not. Chux He saw his product as a luxury item and happily kept his little throwaway business to himself for almost forty years. Then Pampers appeared in the 1960s, backed by a huge mass consumer vision with persistence to match, and blew Chux out of the market transformative breeding forever.

And everyone knows the legend of the two Steves, Jobs and Wozniak, who invented the personal computer in someone’s garage. Only they didn’t. The Altair MITS hit the market much earlier, in 1975. It’s just that Steve Jobs had the gigantic vision of a computer on every desk; and Apple II became the first PC hit.

I just finished reading a brilliant book titled Will and vision: how newcomers grow to dominate the markets, by Grard J. Tellis and Peter N. Golder.

This book takes the concept of vision and makes it concrete, demonstrating sixty-six cases in which an enormous vision of value for a market combined with persistence and indomitable will, made the ingredients for box office success. Along the way, the authors bury the concept of first-mover advantage. They offer numerous examples of companies that came second, third, or later, and went on to dominate their markets.

So what does he do Will and Vision What are the key elements of success?

The authors, research-based academics, not star-eyed growth consultants like yours, carefully reviewed the historical record: Vision was item number one.

That’s how it is. Great vision backed by persistence, will, and relentless innovation.

Today’s world offers many options. People who lack vision tend to drift onto the next attractive project as soon as things don’t go as planned. They lack the perseverance to achieve something important.

Will and Vision offers us a different world. (Of course I am biased. I have been screaming about vision and commitment for years.) We are not talking about a “vision” that is sloganized, embellished, and pasted onto a plaque. We mean the kind of vision that highlights the importance and value of a product or service for many people and ultimately points the way to a new future. And, of course, it requires a 100% commitment to make it happen.

More high-tech, low-tech, massive value vision examples: Dell computers, not IBM or IMSAI; Sony video recorders, not Ampex, which gave up a ten-year lead; Microsoft Internet Explorer: not Netscape or its predecessor, Links; Ray Kroc of McDonalds, not the McDonald brothers; Gillette, not Wilkenson Sword.

Mass market + high profit = great vision.

See what no one else can see. Have a new vision of the world.

The leaders of each of these companies had a vision that extended more than any of their predecessors.

And that expansive vision allowed these people to gain access and leverage resources (Key # 4), maintain persistence to bring the vision to life (Key # 2), and maintain relentless creativity and innovations (Key # 3), over a period of time. years.

Here are some points about a successful insight taken from the research:

• The vision must be unique. Not the uniqueness of the product itself, but the way your product serves the world;
• The vision should be simple and easy to grasp;
• The seeds of vision usually exist in some form in other products or services; (Thank goodness we don’t all have to be original inventors or visionaries!)

The new vision may be of something for which there is no market yet. (This last part is enlightening for any of us who are caught up in market research.)

And some important points regarding the will:

• Getting to your vision can take a long time. Vision without will will not get you there. Only a big commitment can do it;
• A mistaken belief in luck or other invisible forces hampers our ability to persevere. We will find evidence that such luck does not exist and use it as an excuse to quit smoking.
• And this big idea: persistence can manifest itself as a series of minor fixes and, conversely, complacency in small successes can be a barrier to forward-thinking innovation.

Some additional tips for long-term success:

• Maintain a continuous feedback loop and solicit the opinions of others regarding your performance;
• Be aware of market changes and be ready to respond quickly;
• And as Andrew Grove suggests, paranoia drives innovation. A healthy fear of competitors sneaking up on you can keep your product or service fresh;

So how big is YOUR vision?

Is your vision big enough to drive the kind of success you seek? Is your vision big enough to hold? Is it important enough to mobilize the resources necessary for its realization? Is it inspiring enough for partners, employees, customers and investors, and all the other people you need to be successful?

If you think it is not big enough, it may be time to have your eyes checked.

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