What a better day than today to write about this?
Almost 250 years ago, the people in the original colonies of the USA signed the Declaration of Independence against the "King of Great Britain (with) a history of repeated injuries and usurpations". The most beautiful section of this document and that has been cited thousands of times, is undoubtedly, the "preamble", which captures in one sentence, the underlying reason that motivated the colonies to separate, and to go in a different direction.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
In the old world, everything was set. You were born into a cast. You were either a noble, or not, and unless something completely extraordinary would happen, that wouldn't change. The new, different direction is defined by that last piece, "the pursuit of Happiness". It is not Happiness, but the pursuit of it, as if happiness itself cannot ever be attained, much less retained.
In the business world, while far removed, there is a parallel. Every organization worth it's filing with the SEC, has always been in a relentless pursuit of excellence; which in the business world, most of the time means better, cheaper, and faster. And just like with happiness, Best. Cheapest. Fastest. cannot be attained, much less retained. So the question, does it ever end? what's the purpose of it all?, is very much in order.
Every organism's battle for survival implies to generate more order, more efficiency, and a faster metabolism than all the externalities. In a gruesome comparison, our own metabolism is constantly fighting everything that is trying to kill us, and we are alive as long as our metabolism is better, faster, and more energy efficient than the elements, predators, and disease. We should be ok, as long as the externalities do not overcome that, either because we let our guard down, or because the environment is just too harsh, or the predator has become faster.
Same thing happens in business, and here is the reason why we cannot sit down and relax for more than a minute. I'm repeating myself when I say that change is happening faster than ever, and that the rhythm at which change is accelerating is neck-breaking. Tomorrow will don't resemble today. And next year will be unrecognizable. Any organization that is not evolving, even if they are doing good today, will not survive to the tsunami of events, technological advance, and business model disruption that's coming, and is already happening. Why? Just like with the example above, the ability of externalities to transform the world -the metabolism- becomes faster, better, cheaper; and if organizations aren't capable to maintain a positive differential, they will succumb.
So no, it never ends. And the purpose of it all? Survival, and to thrive. But how? The only answer is to 10X your organization and set them to do 10X again in a few months. In other words, your organization must become exponential. It is the only way to decouple from the exponential change that is happening in the world, or risk to be metabolized by the externalities: the market, the industry, and basically the world.
The real question is: Do you know how to 10X your organization?