When the World is Not Flat: Attitude vs. Altitude

I just got a well-thought out and insightful email from my good friend, Richard at the Minker Company Richard D. Minker Company. It referenced The World is Flat by Tom Friedman and the story therein of Jet Blue Airlines. Here's a snip from his note to me:

Anyway it spoke to the fact that all airlines pretty much fly at the same altitude. Jet Blue's philosophy is that it is "Not the Altitude, but the Attitude" that is the reason for their success.

This is the kind of Top Down thinking I believe is the tipping point in becoming a great company.

It begins with who you are, what you stand for (i.e., your values) and the vision you have for the world and your place in it. My recent reading and thinking has lead me to the conclusion that the idea of "brand" is passe, maybe even irrelevant. Why? Because it speaks to a superficial rendering of the core of a company; the mere manifestation if you will - the perception. What really matters is the Vision/Mission/Values.

When I think of the great business leaders I always have an experience of someone defining how things are or should be, i.e., A Vision. It is usually huge, outrageous, and amazingly appealing and attractive. It pulls you into it. And it also has a special magical effect - it compels action. Because of the energy that it provides (to those who are drawn to it anyway) putting legs on the mission (the how, the action plan) becomes compelling, even an obsession.

You get the right people on that bus (sharing the values and drawn to the vision) and they will do anything humanly possible to get it to its destination. And along they way they may just redefine what "humanly possible" means.