Collection of Thought Pieces on Learnings from Three Box Solution: Number 20 : My Wish for 2021-25

Want to push up your stock price? Try any of the following: make operations more efficient, raise your price, win concessions from unions, expand existing operations, acquire another company, find a tax loophole, create perceptions of success on Wall Street, sell some undervalued assets, renegotiate prices from suppliers, rationalize your workforce, push the limits on regulatory constraints…

Want to push up your stock price and energize your organization at the same time?

Build something new.

No, not new buildings. Not a new office complex. Not a glitzy new company headquarters. Please, no monuments to your company’s own glory.

Build a new business.

Choose this path not only because innovation leads to long-term financial success, but also because innovation meets a fundamental human need.

To build. To stand back. To say, “Look at what we did together. Look at what we made.”

If you do not believe this pursuit is primal, watch young children. Watch them imagine. Watch them create. Watch them construct. Take note of their joy.

Humans build.

There may be quicker ways to make a dollar. Choose to build not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Choose to build not for immediate financial value, but for long-term intrinsic value. Choose to build not because it delivers, but because it inspires.

When it comes to innovation, the smallest companies capture our imagination, but the biggest companies have the greatest untapped potential. They spend billions on R&D. They are at the forefront of science. They have mammoth assets at their disposal that startups can only dream of — from manufacturing facilities, to brands, to relationships with customers and suppliers, and much more.

My wish for 2021-25 is that our business leaders set new goals. That they think long-term. That they aspire to build. And that their dreams are as grand as their organizations are resourceful.

Innovation is economic vitality. And individual vigor.

It drives revenue growth. And personal growth.

It builds wealth for investors. And enhances the lives of consumers with great new products and services.

It creates new businesses for the economy. And new jobs for people.

It gives companies new missions. And employees new purpose.

It revitalizes organizations. And gives everyone new hope.

This is my wish for 2021-25. That in our work lives we all may experience the thrill of discovery, the excitement that accompanies the conception of new ideas, and the satisfaction borne of the sweat that turns ideas to life.

Note: This article was originally published in Fast Company, January 17, 2005.