Learning to compromise is one of the earliest lessons we are taught. Growing up, a lot of us have received presents on birthdays, Christmas and such where we got compromises in place of what we really wanted. Like a stuff toy in the place of a puppy and a Barbie doll in place of a Princess costume.
Then as we grow a little older we learn to make such choices ourselves like opting to study at the local university instead of Oxford or Yale and choosing to buy an apartment instead of a villa.
So far you can’t really complain, compromises have done us a great deal of good. It is perhaps done us the best when it comes to our love lives and marriage. You can safely say that a good marriage is impossible without making a few compromises on the way.
Hence from experience we know that compromise is a good thing.
Now the difficulty lies in adopting the opposite approach when it comes to business.
Learning to unlearn
Unlearning is very difficult and often painful since you learn only from bad experiences. When you realize that something that worked in previous contexts is not working now, you are deeply puzzled and disappointed.
Such is also the state of several business owners who have made compromises in the business.
A compromise in business efforts will only yield average or meager profits. Anything above this level can be counted as your good luck which you can’t rely on. Hard fact?
Yes indeed; a fact that you must learn to embrace.
The most successful businesses that we talk about and admire today have had uncompromising bosses at their forefront. The late Steve Jobs is known for his uncompromising attitude in creating the best products as much as he is known for his tremendous business success. And hey when you create the best product in the market you can charge an equivalent price and still have the most loyal customers.
So the next time you are thinking about compromising on the design of your product or maybe cutting a few corners with your Customer Support; think about its effect on your profits.
If you are happy, great for you! But if you are not, learn to be uncompromising. While it is necessary to make a marriage work, it is indeed bad for business.
