work between “ good ” and “ bad ” qualities , either in me or in the organization overall . But the reality is that pretty much anything we ’ re good at is going to , at some point , be carried a bit too far and become a problem .
Embracing the reality of this law makes life far less stressful : instead of fighting our weaknesses , we can actually predict them and then plan ways to manage around , or through , them . If we do that well , managers can be more effective and everyone can have more fun at work . And it also gives each of us — as individuals and organizations — the opportunity to understand why we do what we do and to adjust our behaviors accordingly .
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IT GENERALLY TAKES A LOT LONGER TO MAKE SOMETHING GREAT HAPPEN THAN PEOPLE THINK While most people seem to think that everyone else ’ s work or life or whatever is glamorous ( the grass is always greener and all that ), few things are actually very glamorous after the third or fourth day of doing them . Front line people think it would be great to be the CEO and be in charge of everything ; CEOs think about how nice it would be to just be able to go clean the cooler for an hour and not have anyone bother them ! And while there are the hole-in-ones of the business world that you can probably point to as exceptions , nearly all great organizations , nearly all long-term , sustainable businesses , take a really , really , long time to build . They may seem from the outside like “ overnight ” successes , but very few of them actually are .
My experience here is that it takes about two years for us to achieve some level of equilibrium for any meaningful change or new business . It then takes another year or two to get good . And it ’ s only then — three to four years after we started — that we ’ ve got ourselves in position to go after greatness . Getting that greatness , in my experience , generally takes another two years , too . And then , in keeping with Law # 7 , we just keep working to get better anyway !
GREAT ORGANIZATIONS ARE
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APPRECIATIVE , AND THE PEOPLE IN THEM HAVE MORE FUN Before some cynic says something like , “ Well that ’ s easy for them because they ’ re successful , so of course they ’ re having fun ,” I ’ m going to posit that in this case , as in so many other things in life , the behavior actually very often precedes the feeling . Great organizations aren ’ t having fun just because they ’ re great ( though it ’ s usually way more fun to work with the problems of success than those of failure ); rather , they ’ re great because the people in them are actively appreciative and have learned to enjoy doing whatever it is they need to do to succeed in ethical and caring ways .
Paul Hawken wrote about this in one of the first — and still one of the best — business books I ever read , Growing a Business . “ Laughter and good humor ,” he wrote , “ are the canaries in the mine of commerce . If employees , customers , and vendors don ’ t laugh and have a good time at your company , something is wrong .”
BY : ARI WEINZWEIG
CO-FOUNDER , ZINGERMAN ’ S COMMUNITY OF BUSINESSES
Today , Zingerman ’ s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman ’ s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses with over 750 employees and over $ 55 million in annual revenue . Aside from the Delicatessen , these businesses include Zingerman ’ s Bakehouse , Coffee Company , Creamery , Roadhouse , Mail Order , ZingTrain , Candy Manufactory , Cornman Farms and a Korean restaurant . No two businesses in the Zingerman ’ s Community of Businesses are alike but they all share the same Vision and Guiding Principles and deliver “ The Zingerman ’ s Experience ” with passion and commitment .
Besides being the Co-Founding Partner and being actively engaged in some aspect of the day-to-day operations and governance of nearly every business in the Zingerman ’ s Community , Ari Weinzweig is also a prolific writer . His most recent publications are the first four of his six book series Zingerman ’ s Guide to Good Leading Series : A Lapsed Anarchist ’ s Approach to Building a Great Business ( Part 1 ), Being a Better Leader ( Part 2 ), Managing Ourselves ( Part 3 ) and the newly-released Part 4 , The Power of Beliefs in Business . Earlier books include the Zingerman ’ s Guides to Giving Great Service , Better Bacon , Good Eating , Good Olive Oil , Good Vinegar and Good Parmigiano-Reggiano .
This article is excerpted from the essay “ Twelve Natural Laws of Building a Great Business ” in Zingerman ’ s Guide to Good Leading , Part 1 ; A Lapsed Anarchist ’ s Approach to Building a Great Business ( Zingerman ’ s Press ). Available online at zingtrain . com .
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