David & Goliath

Question: What do small companies possess which enables them to compete against larger enterprises?

Throughout my career, I’ve worked for small, medium and large enterprises. Even though my colleagues throughout the years shared the same goals, invariably we were made up of different personalities, attributes and attitudes that we collectively brought to the show. We create teams to achieve our goals and just like any team (I always like to use the rugby analogy here), everybody has a role to fulfil.

A rugby team (we’re talking union here of course), is made up of players of different heights, speed, weights and strength. A winger would be able to outrun a prop, yet a prob would be able to drive a winger backwards in close contact. Their attitudes remain the same and their focus is shared. They work, play and train as one. An individual can have a superb performance contributing to the result,  but as The All Blacks say, no one is bigger than the team. So to extend the analogy to a small business, how does a population of a mere 4.4 million people consistently rank #1 in the world?

Lets apply the same principles to business. I appreciate wholeheartedly the great Simon Sinek’s views on the subject. A small business is established. The founding member(s) naturally bring their own personalities and attitudes to the table. The personality of these people, is the personality of the business and if its a success, then you’re on to something. The next stage is growing the business. If you find people who share your vision and who have similar personalities to you then expansion should be simple. Sure, the staff may bring a different skill-set to the company, but getting back to our rugby analogy for a moment, covering a wider range of skills, working as a team in conjunction with the vision and the personalty is the key. And from a customer’s perspective looking into a business like this, they’re attracted to it. They realise that the principles and values of this company outweigh that of the larger competitor.

“If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood, sweat and tears.” Simon Sinek