Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big

by Bo Burlingham

If the business survives, you will sooner or later have a choice about how far and how fast to grow.

Success means you’re going to have better problems. I’m very happy with the problems I have now.”

“What I didn’t take into account was the inevitability of unpredictable events,”

Because of their success, they find themselves faced with so many opportunities that it takes a conscious effort on their part to keep from heading off in the wrong direction.

Part of my job is to be aware of people’s aspirations, and to harness them for the good.”

You don’t want them just to be satisfied; you want them to be happy. It’s a step beyond service, and it requires the company to develop an emotional connection with customers through individual, one-on-one, person-to-person contacts.

companies “forgot about the emotional connection with the consumer . . . and concentrated on the process of business.”

we might refer to the process as building a sense of community—that is, a sense of common cause between the company, its employees, its customers, and suppliers. That sense of community rests on three pillars. The first is integrity—the knowledge that the company is what it appears, and claims, to be. It does not project a false image to the world. The second pillar is professionalism—the company does what it says it’s going to do. It can be counted on to make good on its commitments. The third pillar is the one we’ve been discussing—the direct, human connection, the effect of which is to create an emotional bond, based on mutual caring.

The idea was to make something worth buying and then put it out there so that people could be attracted—or not.”

The fewer written rules, the better.”

Instead, the small giants focus on the relationships that the company has with its various constituencies—employees, customers, community, and suppliers. Why? Partly, no doubt, because the relationships are rewarding in and of themselves, but perhaps also because their strength reveals the degree to which people are inspired by the company, and its ability to inspire them is the best measure of how they perceive the value of what the company does. If they are as passionate about it as the founders and leaders, the financial results are likely to follow.

They make sure that, as it grows, the business continues to be a mechanism for doing what they’re passionate about and for contributing something great and unique to the world.