Success is logic, not magic

Success is neither luck nor magic. It's simply logic ruthlessly enforced.

The above is a simple diagram I use to diagnose what's going on in a company. It's a CEO-level diagram, so formal knowledge of business management is required.

However, the main point is that you can actually identify the critical factors of success (or performance indicators) in any company (or career, for that matter) and start to analyze, systematically, the causes and effects.

This daily evaluation of your performance, allows you to improve all the time.

Unfortunately, in a corporate setting, employees don't improve much, since there is often only ONE performance review -- every year!

To a certain extent, this is understandable. I mean, you wouldn't want your boss to come see you at your cubicle at the end of every day and go: "Okay, Peter, let's see how you performed today. Show me your numbers."

In such a situation, I would feel quite nervous, wondering whether my boss would use my numbers to decide whether I should come back or not, next Monday morning!

So daily evaluation is too intense, whereas yearly evaluation is too "laid back."

It is up to every employee to decide how and when he/she should evaluate himself/herself.

Without ruthless, clear-headed and objective self-evaluation, there can be no improvement. And given today's global competition, without improvement, there can be no future -- either for the individual or for the company.

A logical diagram, such as the one above, helps to focus on the right performance indicators and issues.