The Hedgehog Principle and how you can make it work for your business
Your business should focus and do what it does best
Tammy Johnston is the President and CEO of The Financial Guides
By Tammy Johnston
Hedgehogs are creatures that are successful in their simplicity. They go about their business quietly; eating, sleeping, mating, raising baby hedgehogs, etc. Their lives are simple and routine.
When they are under attack they have one very effective strategy: roll into a super tight little ball with all the sharp little points sticking out to hurt and discourage anything that may try to eat them. Hedgehogs do not even think about trying fancy new ways of doing things, they just go about their business doing what they know works.
Successful businesses operate on the same principles as hedgehogs. Do what works and do it consistently. In the fabulous business book Good to Great by Jim Collins you learn that the Hedgehog Concept is part four out of six parts that make up every successful, long lasting company.
The Hedgehog Concept is made up of three circles:
What can you be the best in the world at?
What drives your economic engine?
What are you deeply passionate about?
Knowing what you can be the best at allows you to focus your energies. It gives you the ability to put your time, attention, energy, and skills into your strengths and build upon them. Knowing what you can be the best at also means knowing what you can’t be the best at. You may need to let go to things you are already doing.
How do you make your money? What activities are your most profitable? Have you taken a simple, honest, and fact based look at how much time, energy, and money you are putting into your activities and exactly how much money they are adding to your bottom line? Knowing what makes you money allows you to weed out the activities that don’t.
When you are doing what you love to do, the things that make your heart sing work is easy and fun. You don’t have to force yourself to do things, you want to do them. When your energy is focused on your passion it shows and people are automatically attracted to you. Marketing and delivery becomes a natural flow.
Take the time to review your business in terms of Hedgehogs. It might be just what you need to take you from mediocrity to amazing.
“Focus is a matter of deciding what things you’re not going to do.”
- John Carmack
Tammy Johnston is the president and CEO of The Financial Guides. www.thefinancialguides.com
Category: Business Stategy
About the Author (Author Profile)
Markham began his journalism career writing columns in the mid-1980s for Western People Magazine, then reported for a small Saskatchewan daily. He has spent most of his career in media and communications, likes to dabble in politics, was actively involved in economic development for many years, thinks that what goes on in the community is just as important as what happens provincially and nationally, and has a soft spot for small business (big business, not so much). Markham is a bit of a contrarian and usually has a unique take on the events of the day.
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
