Debunking the Myth That There Is a “Recipe For Success”

I was catching up on my weekend reading when I came across this misguided article published at RISMedia that describes the way to succeed in business: find an industry guru and follow his/her formula for success. Stuart Crawford claims:

“Recipes that are provided for our business success are simply directions provided by professionals and others who have walked the walk and then they write out the recipe for us. What happens normally is similar to tasting your Great Aunt’s chocolate chip cookies made by someone else only to find that they just didn’t taste the way you remembered? When you state that they are not the way you remember them to be, the person that prepared them states that they just changed something small however it totally changed the end result. The same happens in business every day. There are a number of recipes out there for success, and when we stop to wonder why we did not have the same success as the other person, we compare what was different. Normally, it is because the recipe was not followed the way it was ‘written’ out.

Don’t fool yourself in your business; you need to follow what the recipe says. How else will your business grow and prosper? The recipe for your business success is a step by step process or guidelines outlined by industry experts in your specific industry. You can try to recreate the wheel if you wish and struggle through it, or you can take the lessons learned from those that have already walked the walk and get the upper hand on the competition in your marketplace.”

Perhaps Mr. Crawford doesn’t cook much, but I’m willing to bet that Mario Batali is not successful because he still follows his Great Aunt’s recipes each time he enters the kitchen. Why not? Because following recipes are what beginners do to learn the basics. They give you a working knowledge of how to do something - but that knowledge alone isn’t why thousands of foodies visit Batali’s restaurants each year.

As a beginner cook, each new recipe you attempt is a new challenge. As much as I’d love to say every recipe I’ve tried has turned out successful, that’s not the case. Why? Sometimes the recipe has been written poorly. Sometimes the ingredients were listed incorrectly or a step was missed. Sometimes the cooking time was off. Sometimes I misunderstood something and added something incorrectly or skipped over a step. Sometimes the recipe assumed I was cooking on a gas stove when mine was electric. And I don’t think I was ever able to plate my food as beautifully as the cookbook picture.

As I started cooking regularly and trying new things, I was able to reduce the number of errors I made. I could adjust my cooking time because I knew from past experiences how long a tray of cookies or similar cut of meat took to make. If something seemed odd with the ingredients or the recipe skipped a step, I could recognize that and modify my cooking process accordingly. I also now have a pretty good idea what the dish might taste like if I add additional ingredients or spices that aren’t in the original recipe and can try different things. Eventually, I may even get to the point where I no longer need to work from recipes - at least for a few specific types of cuisines.

Yet even with Mario Batali’s cookbook, I’m nowhere near that level of master chef. Yes, with some patience, plenty of time, and the right ingredients, I can cook up one of his recipes - but I sure can’t compete with him without his cookbook. He spent time working under Marco Pierre White, learning at Le Cordon Bleu, and apprenticing in Northern Italy. He took the time to learn the basics, then studied under several masters, and finally was able to take that knowledge to a new level and develop his own cooking style.

In other words, Batali took the time to master cooking. That, along with his entrepreneurial spirit (he’s started several restaurants with business partner, Joe Bastianich, who has written the best guide to Italian wine I’ve ever read!) and personal brand (his Food Network/PBS cooking shows and his status as an “Iron Chef“), has set Batali apart from other chefs.

So you might be asking how recipes apply to your business - are they really that bad? No, of course not. But their helpfulness is limited and you won’t dominate your marketplace just by following them. Here’s what you should keep in mind:

1. Recipes are great for learning the basics. If you want to learn to cook, you take a cooking class, buy some cookbooks, and start cooking. As you make each recipe, you take note of your successes and failures and hopefully learn from each. If you want to learn business, you study those who are successful (both in your industry and other successful entrepreneurs - some of your best ideas can come from completely unrelated industries). Read as many different perspectives as you can so you learn to approach situations and problems from different angles. Then, most importantly, put what you learn into practice. (And just like cooking, you’ll have successes and failures to learn from.)
   
   
2. Recipes are only as good as the person who wrote them. Many times, people who are great at something have a difficult time articulating what it is that makes them successful. This is particularly true in sales (see Now, Discover Your Sales Strengths) where people often don’t know what it is that makes them successful or they think what makes them successful really doesn’t - it’s something else. To master business, you must look at everything with an open mind yet with a dose of skepticism - does what they tell you make sense? Why/why not? That said, don’t brush off something because you’ve “tried it and it doesn’t work for you” - you may not yet have the skill set to make it work.
   
   
3. Recipes are often great for producing similar copies of one thing - for instance, your Great Aunt’s cookies. They’re also essential for manufacturing where companies mass produce items - JK Rowling wants every copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to look identical. McDonalds wants all its hamburgers in all its franchises to taste the same. Sony wants all of its 40GB Playstation 3s to be manufactured the same way. There would be a big problem if everyone who bought a PS3 received a “unique” model - how could they ever standardize game development or offer tech support? Yet that’s not what you expect when you hire a service provider - you want some way to tell who offers better services. If you are just like every other agent out there, what incentive do I have to choose you? I’d rather pick whoever is cheapest.
   
   
4. Business “recipes” almost always require customization because variables (your market, your competitors, your target audience, etc) change. That’s why testing is so important. Things you think will work often don’t. And things you’d never expect to work can work really well. An ad that runs well in Los Angeles might not work at all in rural Wisconsin.
   
   
5. Business is a learning process and to become a master, you must “reinventing the wheel”. What worked 30 (or even 5) years ago may not work as well (or at all) now. If you truly want to stand out from everyone else, you must find your own style and yes, “reinvent the wheel” in a better/faster/cheaper/more efficient way. People didn’t start using Google because they were a clone of Yahoo. They did search better than Yahoo and people noticed the difference and switched. That mastery is why Mario Batali makes a far better meal than McDonalds or your local pizza joint or diner.
   
   

Success in business today means being an expert. You have to be willing to push through what Seth Godin calls The Dip, “that long slog between starting and mastery” to become the best in your niche.

You won’t succeed in business simply by being mediocre - most agents don’t. (According to Arizona Republic, as many as 80% of new agents leave the business within a year. That number increases to 90% by year 3.) You have to strive towards mastery. Otherwise, why should people pay for your services when they can get better service elsewhere?