The X factor that separates a mediocre company from a great one

As an entrepreneur, it's always your dream to build a great company that leads its industry, or even a monopoly like PayPal, as co-founder Peter Thiel once said. But despite this ambition, why do so many entrepreneurs fail to achieve this goal and settle for mediocrity in their products or services?

With so much energy, passion, commitment, and luck, why can't we create a great company in our category? Why do we fail to build a great company even with a perfect MVP, a problem-solving solution for millions, exorbitant capital investments, hardworking people, and top-performing employees?

I've studied companies from the last 40 years, from Apple to Microsoft and from Nokia to Shell, from small startups to Hypergrowth unicorns in the US, India, China, and Japan, and what I found is the companies that have crossed the bridge between Mediocre to great one have one common X factor: Vision.

Most entrepreneurs are consumed with finding a great product market fit, building monopoly businesses,?setting-up sales, hiring great engineers and evangelists and giving talks and podcasts around how they plan to change the world but what they rarely do is find out a true vision, the core what their company stands for, the spirit what the founders stand for.

Apple believed that 'People with Passion can change the world'; this was not just a marketing tactic or a catchy line; jobs genuinely believed in that. Nike has a mission of ' Inspiration and Innovation for Every Athlete'; this was not just a great new idea but a passionate and genuine desire of Phil Knight, the Founder of Nike. SpaceX's mission to make humans multi-planetary is not another tactic to garner attention, but Elon has always believed in that.

But when we know that Vision is essential, why do companies not have a vision? Well, every startup and company has a vision statement, and most have to end lines that say ' change the world,' but why do they remain mediocre? Having a vision is one thing, but believing in that Vision is an altogether different story.

I've met with many founders, and although they are remarkable in their ability to build and sell products, that's not enough; they don't believe in their Vision, they find it hard to communicate it, and they feel exhausted and embarrassed when someone asks them about their Vision! They feel shy.

This is because Vision is not an external work; having a vision is a mind job, an internal transformation of the mind, a sheer force inside you that would push you to move the walls. And if you have transformed yourself internally, only then would you be able to cast a vision across the company and the world.

So as we embark on this new year, rather than finding out the next great product or the next sales strategy or pitching to some investors, ask yourself why you do what you do! And if the answer needs to be clarified, keep asking. With years and years of asking this question, unsettling self-conversations, and uncomfortable sleepless nights, one fine day, you will find your Vision, and that day, you won't find it hard to tell the world what you stand for; and what your company stands for.