Pursue Best Practices

"I’ve heard it said that best practices aren’t a sustainable competitive advantage because they are so easy to copy. That’s nonsense. It’s true that, once a best practice is out there, everybody can imitate it, but companies that win do two things:
they imitate and improve."

Jack Welch, former chairman, GE, author, Winning



Best practices are documented strategies, policies and procedures used by leading companies to accomplish their strategic business and marketplace goals. They are identifiable examples of business policies and practices that produce superior performance. Every organization does something extremely well—whether it is training, marketing, strategic planning, labor management, community participation or philanthropy.

Starting internally, companies should build their own best practices guide in each core operations area. By benchmarking their own performances, and comparing the practices of competitors and other organizations, corporations can develop a valuable best practices guide for its managers and employees.

This is a good place for you to take a visible leadership role. Remember that some of the most celebrated corporate leaders in recent memory were masters of best practices—think about Jack Welch and Lee Iacocca.

Be guided by what leading companies do well and not so well. Look at the mistakes of competitors and determine where they could have done better. Invite thought from academics and analysts who study these things, and then create your own model.

(c) 2008 Adonis E. Hoffman