Are you seduced by working “in” the business at the expense of “on” it?
The IN–ON PRIME enables people to distinguish between working IN the business from working ON the business. Most people, especially leaders and managers, spend too much time in the operation and far too little time working on it.3
When working IN your business, you operate the systems and solve the problems that already exist. When you work ON your business, your activities either change or transform it; you bring forth new ways for the business to operate and produce extraordinary results (or failure) in the market. The power of this PRIME is unleashed once you recognize that at any time, you are either working IN your business or ON your business. IN isn't ON and there's no overlap.
| Working “ON” the Business | Working “IN” the Business |
| Imagining the business as it will be | Operating the business as it is |
| Setting strategic direction | Implementing strategy |
| Establishing budget | Managing budget |
| Establishing hiring criteria | Hiring people |
| Transforming the system | Making the current system run better |
| Identifying new markets | Servicing the current market |
| What are we going to do next? | How can we do what we are doing better? |
| Determining what customers to serve | Servicing existing customers |
| Causing creative tension | Resolving creative tension |
IN is seductive, whereas ON is ambiguous and scary. IN provides ...
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