Building Companies and Cathedrals

It takes a long time to build a cathedral. In the middle ages it took hundreds of years and multi generations of masons, plumbers, carpenters, artists and other artisans to complete a cathedral. It took eighty-three years to build our own National Cathedral in Washington, DC…and this in modern times.  The architect and craftsmen who started a project in medieval days did not live to see the massive edifice complete. Can we reasonably assume they were building a magnificent structure to serve a lofty purpose? In his study of 1,435 companies on the Fortune 500 list, Jim Collins asserts in Good to Great that leaders of companies who made the transition from good to great “set up their successors for even greater success in the next generation.” Keeping the appropriate tension between building for the future and serving clients and customers in the now is the opportunity for leaders in the 21st century.  Your decisions and actions today determine the future you are building. Keep your focus on the possibility of the future.  Don’t forget to to do what is required on a daily basis to make a profit and serve your clients. Cathedrals weren’t built by the lone wolf. Your business won’t be either.  Hire people who have talents you don’t have, train them and groom the next generation of leaders. In building companies for the future, leaders check egos at the door.