Recognizing that it is impossible to attain ‘invincibility’

David Glass summed up the new challenges facing Wal-Mart “For a lot of years, we avoided mistakes by studying those larger than we were – Sears, Penney, Kmart. Today we don’t have anyone to study… When we were smaller, we were the underdog, the challenger. When you’re number one, you are a target. You are no longer the hero”

David Glass was the CEO of Wal-Mart and what surprised me here was the fact that this comment was made way back in 1993 (April 1993, USA Today). Having grown the company from USD 16 billion in 1987 to USD 67 billion in 1993, the CEO had every reason to assume the invincibility of his company and relax. It takes an extraordinary leader to realize that stagnancy will surely be challenged and develop strategies to reach the next level (Currently Wal-Mart clocks USD 400+ billion per year and continues to be #1 in its business !!). This reminds me of “Continuous Dissatisfaction with Continuous Improvement”.

Drawing from my own experience – It is very easy for the leader to assume invincibility and keep himself busy by focussing on daily operations and have a myopic view, while forgetting all about the direction in which we are moving, the speed, what lies in the horizon and what is the competitor doing. It is very easy for the leader to continue to be busy but without drawing strategies for the long term. Let me elaborate further in my next post.