The one question I always get

Being a CEO is the type of job where you get asked a lot of questions. This year, I’ve been answering a lot of questions about my career and experiences, which is obviously very flattering. But I have to say the question that came up the most was not actually about me. It was: “Just how do you create a number one network?”

Now really I’m the wrong person to ask here. For the full detail you would need to talk to my brilliant Technology Chiefs. It was these guys whose teams built the top performing networks in the UK and in Switzerland after all.

But I think you can also consider the question at a broader level. So here are some of the things that, in my opinion, will help turn your product or service – whether it’s a mobile network or something completely different – into a number one.

Get to the core of your business

It is so important to really understand what is at the heart of your business. This might sound pretty basic, but many companies tend to forget where they can, and should, innovate. For me, if you’re in telecommunications, it must always come back to the network. In other types of business, it will be something else. It doesn’t matter what it is; what matters is that you find it.

You then need to make this your company’s top priority and be prepared to drive it, personally. As a leader, talk about it everywhere, all the time. If you are getting bored hearing your own words, that’s good actually – your people are probably starting to listen and understand your plans.

Understand how and where you can innovate

Once you have identified what the core of your business is (or should be), you need to examine it in forensic detail, including how your own performance stacks up if you are already in the market. Look at what your offer is, where it is good and bad, how it measures up against the competition, and how it compares to similar products or services beyond that. Go as far and wide as you can when you are benchmarking – look for the world’s best, so you can aim beyond it.

It’s almost too obvious a point, but you also need to make sure you have the best brains for the job on your team. In my case these turned out to be firstly an excitable Greek with an infectious passion for whatever he is doing, and then an Austrian from the South Tyrol who not only understands the Swiss obsession with quality but can deliver on it as well. Believe me, this is quite something.

Above all, look for the opportunity, and for a purpose. Ask yourself how what you are setting out to do will change the existing environment once you have achieved it. How will people or society benefit? If you can find a real purpose for what you are doing, it is incredibly motivating for your entire team, and this breeds a success mentality.

Keep looking ahead

Complacency is the enemy of any business. When you do reach that number one spot, it’s absolutely fantastic. You feel like Rocky Balboa in the famous scene where he runs up the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But you cannot dwell on your success too long; in fact, if you’ll forgive the analogy, before you even get to the top of the steps you should be contemplating the next flight (and the one after that) and how to tackle them.

If you look at just some of the things mankind has accomplished in the past few years, it’s like watching a science fiction movie come to life. We are on the cusp of inter-planetary travel. We have 3D printers that can manufacture human skin for use in medical procedures. We have created machines that can learn from experience to make intelligent decisions. Even ten years ago these things would have seemed impossible. So keep looking ahead and believing that something better is achievable.

This might not seem like the most festive topic considering we are in the final few days before Christmas, but maybe you can consider the suggestions here as my yuletide gift to you. And if you are interested in reading more, it is all laid out in the book I wrote earlier this year.

I wish you all the very best for the holiday season. And to everyone who helped to create those number one networks (you know who you are), a huge thank you.

See you in 2017.

Photo credit: Véronique Debord-Lazaro