autonomy, mastery, and purpose as key values means creating a company built for speed. And this is no longer optional. In a world of increasing rapid change, tapping our third drive is an absolute fundamental for any exponential entrepreneur. Yet, unlike big companies, which often have to go skunk to tap this drive, bold entrepreneurs can get ahead of the game, baking autonomy, mastery, and purpose into their corporate culture from the get-go, rather than bolting them on later.

Figure out what you do best, and build a team second to none around that... # 1 Requirement in building first class companies.

Building a World Class Company is a commitment to the integration of passion, purpose, and practice.

Every excellent company we studied is clear on what it stands for, and takes the process of value shaping seriously. In fact, we wonder whether it is possible to be an excellent company without clarity on values and without having the right sorts of values.

establish a core value that drives the business and helps promote it in perpetuity.

When you are building a company, you must believe there is an answer and you cannot pay attention to your odds of finding it.

Companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world. The dynamic of preserving the core while stimulating progress is the reason that companies such as Hewlett-Packard, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Merck, Sony, Motorola, and Nordstrom became elite institutions able to renew themselves and achieve superior long-term performance.

The company is a living system. Employees are its lifeblood. Strategy is the brain and measurement and communication the central nervous system. Culture is the DNA. Leadership and continued entrepreneurial energy are its soul and spirit. Governance and accountability are its rhythms and disciplines, like exercise, a means of keeping this living organism fit and lean. Leadership gives a company energy. Governance assures its honesty.**

I've come to realize that beliefs and values together determine how a company operates and whether it reaches its full potential.

If your company lacks meaningful official values, take the liberty of defining those values for your team.

A company is a culture. A group of people brought together around a common set of values and beliefs. It’s not products or services that bind a company together. It’s not size and might that make a company strong, it’s the culture — the strong sense of beliefs and values that everyone, from the CEO to the receptionist, all share. So the logic follows, the goal is not to hire people who simply have a skill set you need, the goal is to hire people who believe what you believe.

If you want to innovate at scale, you have to get really clear about your values. What do you really want in your company? What is really important to you?

The good news is that one of the key elements of being a visionary company is strikingly simple: Good old-fashioned hard work, dedication to improvement, and continually building for the future will take you a long way... The bad news is that creating a visionary company requires huge quantities of good old-fashioned hard work, dedication to improvement, and continually building for the future. There are no shortcuts. There are no magic potions. There are no work-arounds. To build a visionary company, you’ve got to be ready for the long, hard pull. Success is never final.

Companies with a strong sense of WHY are able to inspire their employees.