Lean, Fast, Scalable: How Your Business Should Be

What distinguishes an Exponential Organization from a linear one is that the first one have scalable, fast, and lean structures. But what does this mean? Let's find out together.

According to Corporate Finance Institute,  scalable means "the ability of an entity to withstand pressure as a result of growth, without being hindered by its resources or structure."

In the business world , particularly in that of startups , the term scalability is used to classify the business model of the activity or start-up itself. Having a scalable business model means that your business is easily replicable and it is therefore possible to increase the size and turnover in an exponential way.

An example? Giving someone a ride in a car is certainly not something innovative, whereas the business model created around this service by the start-up Uber represents a business based on innovation.

Indeed, in Uber's business model both the scalability and replicability requirements are met. It is a scalable business, in that the costs associated with the structure are the same for 1, 10, 100 or 1000 rides, and replicable, because its services can be replicated in Rome as in New York by making only minor changes (judicial events permitting).

The scalable business is linked to a Lean approach. This methodology is particularly suited to cope with the typical mechanisms of today's market and is not reserved exclusively for start-ups. Indeed, there are many established companies that have chosen the Lean methodology to launch a new product or to improve their business model.

Lean thinking is not a tool but a way of doing things that everyone in the company must appreciate and practise, regardless of the type of organisation.

Applied to production processes, one often hears about Lean Manufacturing, which is generally based on continuous research and the elimination of waste, with the aim of producing more with fewer resources. But outside the manufacturing context, there is an equally interesting application of lean thinking, which focuses on management and administrative processes, and that is Lean Office or Lean Service.

Lean processes guarantee fast organizations.

The rapidly changing world makes these attributes more relevant than ever. The path to growth is not only to expand the corporate landscape, but also to lay the foundations for a great organisational culture.

When developing opportunities in the company. Five key tips should be pursued that come from the world of organizations that are growing at least 10 times more than their competitors (Fortune 500).

1. Leverage Assets and Staff on Demand

Watchword: Outsource. Outsource what is not strategic in order to optimise time and earnings. Smart entrepreneurs do not rely on skills and means they do not possess because they know that it almost always costs more and brings bad results.

2. Focus on your strengths

You cannot be everywhere. Focus on your strengths and make the most of them. Focus and specialisation is a prerequisite if you want to grow your business model. Make yourself indispensable to solve the world's problems.

3. Build a strong team and community

Today, what is needed is a strong team with cross-functional skills. Ideas from all sides put together by a strong sense of belonging. Trust in the power of community, in the power of ideas and creativities.

4. Be patient

Rome was not built in a day. Means having a long-term oriented mindset in which the path is traced by long-term goals and not by vanity metrics and instant gratification. It is very difficult to wait and hope. Marco Porcio Catone, also called Catone "Il Vecchio," wrote about 200 b.C. "of all human virtues, patience is the greatest". Many years later also Giacomo Leopardi, in the "Zibaldone," wrote that patience is the most heroic of virtues. This applies both in life and in business.

5. Stay connected with your Purpose

Just as our life has a purpose that keeps us alive, so our company must have one that is equally strong to keep it on its feet. A purpose that makes you wake up in the morning and say: I want to change the world through my services / products (Here to read about Massive Trasformative Purpose) (Here for Purpose Driven Accademy of @Luca Leonardini, ExO Coach).