Paige Adams, Laura Freeman, Hayley Jacobs,

Daniel Lawson, Gage Mitchell, Haley Smith

GREAT BY CHOICECHAPTER 3 – 20 MILE MARCH

• Definition

•Parameters

•10X Companies

•Elements

•Financial vs. Non-Financial Marches

•Beat the Odds

OUTLINE

- “Required hitting specified performance markers with great consistency over a long period of time.”

- Distinguishing factor

- Tortoise and the Hare

- “20MM operates as a practical, powerful strategic mechanism. It works only if you achieve your march from year to year.”

20 MILE MARCH (20MM)

• A hurdle to jump over AND a ceiling that you will not rise above.

• 20MM performance mechanisms are:

- Concrete

- Clear

- Intelligent

- Rigorous

- You must:

1. Commit to high performance in difficult conditions

2. Hold back in good conditions

PARAMETERS

• Every 10x company used the 20MM during the time period studied

• Each company embraced 20 Mile March strategy before they became big companies

• Southwest Airlines:

- Consistency: profitable 30 consecutive years

- Patience: expanded at a slow, steady rate

- Clarity: simplified solutions for passenger seating

10X COMPANIES

• Compared companies failed to successfully use 20MM strategy to the extent of 10X companies.

-Some didn’t use 20MM

-Some implemented 20MM during their best years

-Some started with 20MM but didn’t maintain it

“If a 10X company missed the mark even once, they obsessed over how to get back on track: there’s no excuse, and it’s up to us to correct our failures.”

COMPARISONS

1. Clear performance markers

2. Self-imposed constraints

3. Tailored to the enterprise and its environment

4. Largely within the company’s control

5. “Goldilocks” timeframe

6. Designed and self-imposed by the enterprise

7. Achieved with great consistency

ELEMENTS OF A GOOD 20 MILE MARCH

Performance marker:

Self-imposed constraint:

Appropriate to the enterprise:

Largely within its own control:

Goldilocks time frame:

Designed and self-imposed by the enterprise:

Achieved with high consistency:

NIKE: A 20MM COMPANY?

• Profitable combined ratio averaging 96%

- “We have to be disciplined in every segment of our business. We’d rather be consistently growing than be hot for one year and gone the next.”

• Doesn’t go into a pricing war with competitors

• Progressive meets all elements of a good 20MM company

• Progressive vs. Safeco

PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE EXAMPLE

• Financial 20 Mile Marches

- Southwest’s profits every year

- Progressive’s 96% combined ratio

• Non-Financial 20 Mile Marches

- Schools: student-performance march

- Hospitals: patient-safety march

- Corporations

-Intel: Moore’s law

FINANCIAL VS. NON-FINANCIAL

WHY 20 MILE MARCHERS WIN

Turn the odds in favor for three reasons:

1. Builds confidence to perform well in adverse circumstances

2. Reduces the likelihood of catastrophe when hit by turbulent disruption

3. Helps exert self-control in an out-of-control environment

• Arizona schools example

-Take action

-Pick a good program

-Instill fanatic discipline to make relentless, iterative progress

-Stay with the program long enough to generate sustained results

“If you beat the odds, you then gain confidence that you can beat the odds again, which then builds confidence that you can beat the odds again, and again, and again.”

BEATING THE ODDS

• Failure to use 20MM can lead to catastrophe

-29 events using 20MM: 100% good outcomes

-23 events not using 20MM: only 3 good outcomes

• “You can get away with failing to 20 Mile March in stable times for a while, but doing so leaves you weak and undisciplined, and therefore exposed when unstable times come. And they will come.”

• 20MM focuses forward motion, despite “confusion, uncertainty, and even chaos.”

CONCLUSION