I think the question that any management team should ask itself is: "If in 10 years from now people look at this organization, what are they going to thank us for doing today, this week this month, this year?" Because our responsibility is not simply to polish the legacy that s there. Our responsibility is to build a new legacy for the people who ll be sitting here in our chairs behind our desks 10 years into the future. And if that is the perspective that one has, I think you oftentimes avoid the sense of "if we re rich, we must be smart."

It s interesting. If you simply look at the evidence, over the last 15 years there is only one company in the US, a reasonably sized company, that s been able to grow total shareholder returns by 25%/yr. compounded; and that's Berkshire Hathaway. In other words, there are very few companies that have sustained extraordinary performance over a long period of time. That should be a very humble lesson to any executive team that is filled with hubris over current success.


Harvy Simkovits, CMC, President of Business Wisdom, works with owner managed companies to help them grow, prosper and continue on by offering innovative approaches to business development, company management, organization leadership and learning, and management education. He can be reached at 781-862-3983 or .