Every Business Owner Should Define What Success Looks Like

Regardless of whether you are a for profit or a non profit, every organization should define what success really looks like.  This sounds so simple but in reality it is obviously not.  Are you wanting extremely fast growth or are you looking to build a sustainable long term strategy?  Depending upon your answer, your metrics will dramatically change.  This HBR post is worth the time to read and understand:

“What do you mean we can’t pay dividends this year?” Elisa was incredulous. The board of the watch company she and her husband Mark had founded had just reviewed projected end-of-year performance. Usually this meeting was a celebration of another incremental step forward, with moderate growth, no debt, and significant dividends, which Elisa and Mark used to support their comfortable lifestyle and charitable donations.  This year, however, revenue growth was way up, but profits were down, and the covenants on the debt taken out by the company to achieve that growth did not allow for any dividends.”

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