Last week I was glancing through a book I read several years ago called Good to Great by Jim Collins. It's a book about why some companies make it and others don't; why some companies move from "good" to "great" while others languish or fail.


It occurred to me that while the principles in the book referred to corporations, some of the principles might also be applied to a direct selling, home based business. The specific principle that really stood out is the one called "Getting the right people on the bus." In this instance the "bus" refers to the business. The book states that for businesses to move from good to great they had to first get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus. Three key points are made around this premise which can be related to a direct selling business.

Think for a moment about the "bus" representing your business and your team being the people on the bus. The first key point is, if you have the "right" people (recruits) on the bus, others will want to be on your bus because of who else is there. In other words, if you recruit your ideal or model recruit (discussed in Feb. 2006 newsletter), then others just like that model will want to be part of your team. This attraction of others, because of who you have on your team, requires less energy and effort on your part to build a great team. Second, if you have the right people on your bus, the challenge of how best to motivate and inspire them essentially goes away. That's because your ideal recruits / team members (as defined in your model) will be self-motivated and enthusiastic about succeeding in the business. Third, if you have the wrong team members on your bus, no amount of work on your part will take your business to the "great" level. With the wrong people, you will be exerting enormous effort and wearing yourself out to no avail. As the book states: "Great vision without great people is irrelevant".