Business Credibility: Achieving Great Things In Stages

“A thick tree grows from a tiny seed.  A tall building arises from a mound of earth. A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. Contriving, you are defeated; Grasping, you lose.” - Laozi Ancient Chinese philosopher

So for Man City, the bubble has burst. For the time being at least. Ka Ka has turned down a £500,000 per week salary and Robinho has gone AWOL.

It has been mooted that Ka Ka turned the offer down on moral grounds but I have a sneaky feeling that he has more business sense than the whole Man City board put together.

Ka Ka realises that if a business (in this case a football club) aspires to great things it needs to map out the journey in believable bite sized chunks. It needs credibility. And business credibility needs to be earned and not bought.

Ask a horticulturist and they will tell you not to plant a seed in a pot that is to big. Better to replant it repeatedly into pots that are progressively bigger.

If you’re launching a new small business into an already crowded market then aim to beat the competition in steps. Prioritise building business credibility. Find an energetic and competent intrapreneur to drive your business, but don’t throw money at Stuart Rose (CEO at M&S) and expect him to either say yes or actually be a good fit anyway. He may be right for a few stages down the line but not now.

Don’t take on premises that are too big. Resist the temptation even if you are sure that you will outgrow them. You may never get there because the cost burden on your business strangled its chances to ever reach that stage. Be prepared to move, perhaps more than once.

Success, even dramatic success, is a journey as well as a destination and needs to be mapped out accordingly.

The stakeholders in your business need to see some business credibility. They will demand it: directors, employees, financiers, suppliers, customers, even your family.

Aspire to the extraordinary but achieve it through repeating the ordinary.

If you’re not convinced that you can attain great heights other than in one giant leap then try this:

Sit down with a bag of rice and a chess board. Pick up a grain of rice and place it on the first square. This grain represents your first product sale which profits you, say, £1.

Now place two grains of rice in the next square. You have demonstrated business credibility by doubling your turnover, albeit from a low base. Now, when you report that you are going to double your turnover again (placing four grains on the next square) everyone will believe you. Because you have business credibility.

Doubling again (eight grains) only enhances your credibility further. The stakes get higher (16 grains, 32, 64 etc). You continue. Your credibility keeps rising even when the stakes get serious.

And guess what? By the time you complete that chess board, your total profit will have reached £18,446,744,073,709,600,000. (That’s £18 hexillion for the purists, or a trillion trillions.)

OK the numbers are fantastical but you get the point. You have achieved something extraordinary through a succession of ambitious, credible and ordinary steps. The speed you move from square to square is down to you.

It’s OK to reach for the stars, but plan to get there in credible steps. You’ll get there faster than taking one giant leap.

Business credibility is the key. I have already sent my bag of rice and a chess board to Manchester.

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