Steve Jobs’ phenomenal accomplishments are a striking example of the power of a single individual to change the world. But it also points to a deeper, more important truth relevant to every business. It illustrates the unlimited potential of society available to businesses to fuel endless expansion and ever rising levels of profitability. Not every entrepreneur is a social revolutionary, but the principle applies to leaders and companies in every industry. The same truth was behind the miraculous rise of Sears from a rural mail order company to become the largest retailer in the world for seven decades and the incredible growth of Marriott from a drive-in restaurant to a global hotel and food service chain. Today we see that power most dramatically illustrated in the explosive growth of Google, Facebook, Über and Airbnb, but the truth is valid for all times and for every industry. Tune in to the live ends of social evolution.

In practice, the opposite is more common. Companies tend to ossify over time and cling to the past. They get fixed to the circumstances of their early functioning and refuse to evolve with the times. Today society worldwide is evolving more rapidly than ever before. Social aspirations and values are changing. Technology is changing. The attitudes of employees and customers are changing. The organization of society itself is radically mutating to connect previously independent functions. The role of government and the regulatory environment is changing. In countries such as Slovenia which are still in the process of transition from centrally planned economy dominated by publicly owned enterprises, the evolution is especially great. Companies mired in past habits and old ways of functioning are threatened by obsolescence, regardless of the industry they are in or the technology they adopt. The message applies to all companies — tune in to the live ends of social evolution and adapt.

The Value of Values

Theories and concepts are fine. Examples are inspiring. But entrepreneurs are practical people. They want to know what they can do to create results. Energy may be real, but it seems too nebulous to manage. Organization may be all-powerful, but it’s extremely complex and difficult to get it right. The five components may be reservoirs of unlimited potential, but one never seems to know where to start or how to link all the pieces together. Isn’t there something more immediate, concrete and practical that businesses can do to double their profits in two years or less?