No. 4: “Strategy is about making choices.” Great companies choose how they want to compete, he said. “They can do one of three things: Compete on price (like Wal-Mart); on product (like Apple); or on service (like Ritz-Carlton). If a company says it does all three, it’s rudderless.
No. 3: “Paranoid optimism is good.” The only way to combat complacency in a successful organization is to have a “management team that is constantly paranoid and looking for ways to improve.” And don’t denigrate a competitor’s strategies -- that’s “intellectually sinful,” Hockey said.
No. 2: “Measure and reward customer advocacy” within your organizations. Push decision-making power down to field staff, and question old ways of doing things, Hockey said.
No. 1: “Leave an organization better for your successors.” Improvement comes over the long term, he said. “You can’t do anything of substance in one quarter, but over 10 years, we can change the world.”
Manning, the two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, reminded advisors that reaching a high level of success is painful, in his case physically as well as mentally.
He lost his starting job with the Denver Broncos due to a serious neck injury that cast doubts on his career.
“I had to learn how to throw again,” he said, while learning a new system with new teammates and coaches.
Despite those challenges, Manning returned to the field and won the Super Bowl this year.
“I had a lot of help,” he said. An important lesson: “Don’t ever stop being coached [and] learning.”
Creating a culture of teamwork “can raise everyone’s performance, but it has to start at the top,” Manning added. “I encourage you [to] cultivate that attitude.”