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From 2012e.igem.org

Case Study #4: The Pursuit of Less

Passion is important. Finding the right group of people is important. Then why doesn't the recipe of a batch of the right people, a vision of a common goal, and a pinch of start-up capital automatically bake the cake of success?

This is the subject of a Harvard Business Review article written by Greg McKeown's, CEO of THIS Inc., a leadership and strategy design agency.

The Clarity Paradox

There are four key phases that explain the Clarity Paradox--a new paradigm in how companies should approach business practices

Phase 1: When we really have clarity of purpose, it leads to success.


Phase 2: When we have success, it leads to more options and opportunities.

Phase 3: When we have increased options and opportunities, it leads to diffused efforts.

Phase 4:Diffused efforts undermine the very clarity that led to our success in the first place.

Wait a minute. The Clarity Paradox is trying to tell us something we might have already deduced from reading the above four statements. success is a catalyst for failure.

Why? This doesn't make any sense? Shouldn't companies that become successful exponentially become more successful? Apparently, this isn't the case. Many companies that once graced the sidewalks of Wall Street took on "too much", and fell into the trap of over stretching not only their capital, but their intellectual resources as well, as described in further detail in Jim Collin's book, How the Mighty Fall.