Michael Gerber states that successful businesses need the following:

1. Concentration - finish reading this sentence – I dare you! Our focus changes so quickly and so often that we are victims of our multi-tasking lives.  FOCUS is the key here.

2. Diversification - group think is dangerous.  Be open to new ideas and thoughts.

3. Organization - have a plan and stick to it by organizing your time, your work, and your space.  But never fool yourself into thinking you can organize people.  According to Michael Garber, people cannot be organized.

4. Innovation - too many businesses ride the wave only find themselves upon dry beach with no where to go. Economics are cyclic.  I like Joseph’s business philosophy during his tenure as pharaoh’s operations chief: save during the feast so you can survive during the famine.  If you’re not changing, slimming, leaning, and greasing, you’re going to end up on the beach with everyone else who also failed to prepare, while those who did prepare for the famine have steadily made their way back out to the ocean to ride the next wave.

5. Communication - greasing the skids. Without it, you have no operation.  Everything from your bank of computers talking to your suppliers to your managers speaking with their front-line operators, communication is essential for any operation to move forward.  Communication, if done properly will embody the firm’s culture and transfer not only the message but the context as well.  As more and more tools for communication are created, it is incumbent upon the leaders to plan, train and implement the different tools allowing for better communication.