By: Thijs van den Hoven
The elements of success in our business are below; we build our business upon these pillars of success:
Knowing this helps to set our goals; perhaps it is rather more interesting to understand why we are successful. Questions arise such as how can we maintain this while simultaneously keeping ourselves open to new challenges?
When reading the book Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell I realized some parallels. In his book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of “outliers”– the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?
I noticed a remarkable parallel in the 10,000 hour rule he mentions in the book. One of the key elements is experience, the writer describes the 10,000 hour rule; you need to have at least those hours of practice to be skilled enough to be a top player. As an example; the Beatles, they did not just make great songs, performance was at the highest level, the musical arrangements are to this day exceptional. Their talent came from experience by practicing their skills. They started their career playing in Hamburg, Germany, for 8 hours straight for multiple days. This made their team think as one mind, not just composing the songs but playing together as a well-balanced team.
Without being too presumptuous I can say that we at Exact Medical have mastered that 10,000 hour rule in all relevant departments. We have experienced people that have worked for years in our company and have put their skills to use.
We should strive to retain our talent and experience in the company!
In my career I worked in different companies with different company cultures and a variety of management styles. At Exact we cherish our workers from top to bottom, we value our people and help them to develop to a higher level and stimulate them. Each person is allowed to have an opinion and not afraid to share this. Over the years I have seen colleagues develop and grow. As a result of our culture, we have a very stable work force.
Be open for new challenges:
It is an understatement to say we had some challenges over the past year, the pandemic changed the world around us. We do not have the opportunity as before to actually meet customers like we did before. This has put a new perspective to our way of working. I think we managed to cope with these changes. We built upon our already strong relationships and supported our customers in these difficult times.
Right products at the right place and right time:
One of the biggest challenges we had was to get the raw materials for a reasonable price at a reasonable cost. Recognizing there were players out there for a quick deal and willing to take benefit of the situation and dealing with those that are there for the long run. This helps us to build upon this strong base and show what we are good at.
In the end there is no substitute for Intimate Knowledge of all aspects for our business and our team has it.
