Rarely is business success the result of one big breakthrough innovation.
Most often it’s the product of consistent small improvements.
Coming from a lifetime of getting paid by the job, not the hour, my livelihood has usually relied on these improvements.
“I swept the floor in 20 minutes today. If I change this one piece of workflow, I bet I could get it down to 15 minutes without losing any quality.”
And while that’s all well and good, big-time success has one additional aspect to this formula.
It has to do with the word “consistent.”
Consistent means something happens regularly. But it doesn’t tell you how frequently the thing happens.
For example, the Earth consistently makes complete revolutions around the Sun. The Earth also consistently spins 360° on its axis.
They’re both consistent, but one of these only takes a day, while the other takes a whole year.
Now, let me ask you. If your success relies on the number of times you can make improvements, how quickly do you want those improvements to happen?
Assuming you’d like results sooner than later, the question to ask yourself is; how many times can I cycle through an iteration of my product or service within one buying cycle?
The answer to that question is your Iteration Quotient or your Business IQ.
And since every industry has different buying cycles, your Business IQ is relevant to what you sell.
Equation talk aside, what’s the point?
The faster you can test, cycle, and improve iterations of your product or service, the faster you can innovate.
The faster you innovate, the faster you’ll lead your category.
The faster you lead your category, the faster you’ll meet success as defined by you.
I guess there is something to be said for a high IQ.
– Zac Smith, VC
