Wow, already past mid-January 2009, where does time go? But at least it is 2009 and the chaos of 2008 is behind us. The good news is that although the future is ugly, I personally believe the worst is behind us.

After all, once you reach the bottom, how much lower can you go? That seems to be the theme of the past few months. Although we are not out of the woods yet, there's some indication that the economy will pick up sometime in the next 6 to 12 months.

With so many supposed intelligent people leading our county and our companies, how did we get into a situation like this? Well, the U.S. is the most powerful nation in the world, and we have grown content with the status that our parents and grandparents had built for us.

And this brings me to my point: The best way to avoid the valley of failure is to never be content. Always look toward the future and prepare for your next step. Consider John Wooden, the greatest college basketball coach of all time who said, "It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

Know the obstacles and how to overcome them. Be able to travel from peak to peak without ever hitting bottom.

So, you ask, "What is the science of peak performance?" It is the science that defines harnessing the energy of change, and it is my hope that you are able to apply this science, both individually and with your organization, to stay out of your valleys.

Many have struggled with this issue and have found that the natural order of life is not like that old saying, "Success breeds success." To quote Benjamin Franklin and Winston Churchill, "Success has ruined many a man," and "Success is rarely final."

With this being the case, you have two options:

1. You can choose to cycle through the success/failure routine, which, with the barrage of downsizing, rightsizing, delayering, restructuring, repositioning, demassing, and reengineering, is clearly the dominant pattern of business today.

 

2. Or you can decide to revolutionize the fundamental way you do business and move from one level of peak performance to yet higher levels of peak performance, confidently carrying your success into the future.

In all, it is about growing and learning. You have the ability to become the best, then better than the best -- achieve peak performance, then ascend to new peaks.

When a business fails after achieving peak performance, many wonder how such a great company could go out of business. It usually has to do with the fact that the company's leaders did not accurately define core competencies (see more on this concept), and the company’s model of success -- its mission, vision, and business plan -- was not revised to be relevant to its current state.

Yes, a company needs to reinvent itself while it is still at the top. And this means defining core competencies (unique business functions that allow the organization to be successful) and eliminating or outsourcing the activities that are not value-add activities.

Often, leaders and managers are afraid to reassess their core competencies because they are still holding on to the myth that consistency equals success. OK, it's true that consistency is necessary to produce a quality product, but it does not necessarily allow the agility needed to adjust to changes. In fact, consistency often drags a company down from a peak into a valley.

Success can definitely be fleeting, and once achieved, it can lead to failure. Company leaders tend to think that once they've reached peak performance, their stay at the top is almost assured. Nothing could be further from the truth! Most likely what was yesterday's peak performance is today’s good performance and tomorrow's poor performance.

The key to long-term success is not the achievement of peak performance. Rather it is the continuous process for beginning anew and climbing to a new peak, and the next peak. The companies that try to maintain the status quo end up lost in the valley, unable to find their way back to the top.

If you are interested in learning more about peak-to-peak performance, check out a book that I wrote a few years back that still rings true: No Boundaries: Break Through to Supply Chain Excellence.

Oh and don't forget, Go!Go!Go!

Jim