The Persian War, fought between the Persian Empire and Greek citystates in the 5th century, resulted in the destruction of many buildings in Athens, the Greek Acropolis. When the war ended in 479 BC, the citizens of Athens began the process of rebuilding their city. One of their most important buildings was the Parthenon, a temple constructed to honor the goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athena, who is also the city’s patron. The Parthenon became the most magnificent representation of Greek engineering in the Classical era, surviving intact for the next 2,000 years until it suffered damage in the mid-17th century when a war broke between the Venetians and the Turks.
A remarkably stunning building and the largest of the temples on mainland Greece, the Parthenon is kept upright by more than 150 pillars. Its magnificence and the values that it stood for has made it a modern metaphor for business success. As important as your business is to you, so was building the Parthenon to the people of Greece. Its completion demanded meticulous planning, hard labor and time. The same demands are expected from you if you wish to build a business that is successful and enduring.
To build one of their greatest contributions to the world, the Athenians had to have a strong, constant commitment to complete the task. If you want to start your own business, you should have the same unwavering dedication.
Your business, like the glorious Parthenon, is also supported by columns or pillars — each one as vital and fundamental to ensure its reliability and endurance. When the Parthenon was built, it was meant to last for ages. Your business, too, should be built upon the same principles.
The Parthenon Principle
Imagine what would happen if each pillar of the Parthenon increased in strength. This will have a direct effect on the general integrity of the structure itself, adding stability and vigor. Even small changes in every pillar will result to a significant transformation in the whole structure. This same principle will apply to your business. This effect is what we know as the Parthenon Principle:
Incremental improvements in several different areas can result to progress.
Small steps
Let’s use as an example the human body. It is made up of several ‘pillars’ or systems, each one giving support to the body. Develop one and improvement in the person’s health becomes noticeable; improve all pillars by a tiny increment and the individual will experience considerable vigor and optimum health. This explains why fitness programs are designed to cover all of the body’s most important systems. With each system strengthened, improvement becomes significant, leading to improved physical health and wellbeing.
In the same manner, your business has multiple interrelated systems. The Mastermind Mentoring Program with Ronnie covers the seven core systems or pillars:
– Sales
– Services
– Pricing
– Promotion
– Referrals
– Productivity
– Profitability (Cost Controls)
In the same way that improvements in the human body leads to overall benefit, so does progress in any one of the above areas will result to significant improvement in your business. Since this type of improvement is cumulative, it can develop exponentially. With just 10% improvement in every area of activity in your business, you could already expect twice the profitability and productivity in your business.
Area of Activity Performance Improvement Cumulative Affect
1. Sales 10% 1.10 x
. Services 10% 1.21 x
3. Pricing 10% 1.33 x
4. Promotion 10% 1.46 x
5. Referrals 10% 1.61 x
6. Productivity 10% 1.76 x
7. Profitability 10% 1.94 x
Use these seven pillars in your venture and encourage your employees to utilize them as well. With team effort, small improvements can be performed. Ask yourself: how can we increase sales, improve service quality, marginally raise prices, ensure effectiveness of promotional campaigns, attract more referrals, improve productivity, reduce cost and increase profitability? Using the above column as a reference, you can see that an improvement of just 10% in every pillar can double your business’ productivity and profitability.
