Passion, vision help businesses thrive.

They're as vital as keeping books, hiring, marketing
BY RHONDA ABRAMSGANNETT NEWS SERVICE August 21, 2006

To run a good company, you need to know the craft of business. To run a great company, you also need to practice the art of business.

The skills you need to know to run and grow a business -- how to improve your marketing, hire employees, use technology -- are basic to running your company every day; they're the craft of business.

But to build a great business, you need art as well as craft. No, you don't have to know how to paint a picture or mold a sculpture, but the best entrepreneurs and managers add passion, creativity and vision to their skill set.

The craft of business enables you to survive. The art of business propels you to succeed.

Think about knitting a sweater. If you're making a sweater merely to have something to keep you warm, all that's important is workmanship. You need the right number of knits and the right number of purls; otherwise your sweater will have holes in it.

But if you're knitting a baby sweater for your first grandchild, you want that sweater to express all the love and hope you're feeling. You put more thought in every step of the process -- from choosing the yarn to sewing on buttons. You might even go so far as to design your own pattern as a legacy. That sweater is infused with caring.

The same is true in business. Much of what we do on a day-to-day basis is craft -- the workmanship of running a company. This is no small matter. You can't succeed in business unless you know how to keep your books, produce your product, supply your service.

But exceptional companies infuse their workmanship with extra care. They put their heart into the process. They pay attention to the little things.

When I interviewed Herbert Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines (the only consistently profitable airline), he told me that many other airlines have tried to imitate Southwest, but they fail to understand the passion that causes Southwest to think about the little things that make a big difference in forming both employees' and customers' attitudes about the company.

Art is always personal. Mimicking others is not the path to success. Rembrandt, Matisse, and Picasso are all brilliant artists, but each is unique. Only Picasso can be Picasso.

When you put yourself -- your unique vision and talents -- into your business, you can create something exceptional.

Make no mistake, learning the craft of business is essential. Many decent businesses survive on craft alone. None survives on art alone. It's the difference between concept and execution, inspiration and perspiration. Even the most inspired business concept goes nowhere without hard-working execution.

But if you want an exceptional business -- one that not only survives but excels -- that's where the art of business takes over. When you put your passion and soul into your day-to-day operations, then you've become an artist as well as an entrepreneur.