After talking to numerous business mentors, one thought stuck in my head. The difference between a company that does well and one that doesn’t has more to do with drive than skills, although you need both. I once compared my friend’s business to a delivery truck with a rick shaw engine. With such a small engine, you just can’t grow — and his company doesn’t. The question is, how do you hire people with drive? How do you even find them?
But, as an individual, whether you work for yourself or someone else, one of the most important aspects of your success has to do with your drive. There are people who are in the habit of sitting around. Some sit around and complain while others just sit around and gossip or watch television. To be successful you need to have a sense of purpose and drive. If you decide to manage your time in such a way that you work less hours, that is okay if you do it for a strategic reason. But, laziness is never an acceptable reason.
I was talking to a friend who just got his MBA. He wanted to start an HR agency, and also wanted to sell apps. He had a technical background, but I wasn’t sure what his specialty was in. He was waiting on a visa to start working in America. I told him not to waste time and to start creating apps right away. Then, I found out his background was in networking, and not in programming. But, the fact remains that he was frittering his time away instead of building something and building himself. Even if what he built was useless, he would have maintained and developed his drive.
The same goes for hiring people. If you aren’t sure which person to hire, see which one is willing to stay overtime and which one sticks with something until they get it right. Lazy people will drag your company down. You need someone who pulls you forward!