If you read success stories from Fast Company, Inc., or Entrepreneur, it’s easy to come to a few misleading conclusions about how to run your company. The focus of any feature story is seemingly always on a company that has achieved overnight success by growing at a breakneck pace, all while being completely certain of their business model from the outset. But how closely does this vision of business success line up with reality?

Mistake #1: Not being ready for the “high-speed wobblies”

Growth, of course, is excellent. Nobody would deny that. But there have to be processes, policies, and infrastructure in place to handle all that growth. And that’s especially true if you’re trying to grow a company from 0 to 60 overnight. It’s nice to be able to point to hockey stick growth curves and talk up the pace of exponential change in your industry, but guess what? Most growth comes in spurts and is highly cyclical. For every peak, there is a valley.

That’s why we like to refer to this period of rapid growth as the “high-speed wobblies.” Think of what happens when you start to drive your car too fast on a highway – you can feel the vehicle wobbling if you push it too quickly, too soon. Thus, it’s important to think about the processes and policies you can put in place to handle any new found growth.

Mistake #2: Being unwilling to pivot to a better idea

If you have founded a company from scratch or helped bootstrap a small startup into a growing, thriving business, it’s easy to fall in love with your company or product. It is literally “your baby,” and it becomes increasingly likely that you will be blinded by bias the next time someone tells you that you should be moving in a different direction with your company.

However, just think of all the great companies that have been disrupted by changes happening in their industry that they couldn’t possibly imagine. Did Kodak really ever prepare for a digital future, where (gasp) people wouldn’t actually need to buy film? Did mainstream media companies ever prepare for a social media future where consumers would rather get their news from Facebook, Twitter or YouTube? That’s why you need to be willing to a pivot idea when it’s available.

Mistake #3: Making business decisions based on “gut instincts”

Deep down, we all trust our gut. Who hasn’t had “a feeling” that a certain team was going to win a game, despite all the evidence pointing the other way? Who hasn’t been absolutely, positively convinced that the next romantic relationship was finally going to be “the one”? So it’s only natural that most people rely on their gut for business decisions as well. They believe, deep down, that a business concept is just too good to fail. Or that a new product concept is going to be a hit with consumers.

It’s OK to trust your gut – but it’s far better to back up your instincts with data, analysis and information. Don’t expand into a new market category before first doing the research. Don’t “bet the company” on a new product launch without first checking to see if there’s really a market for that product and without understanding the often subtle motives that drive your buyer’s purchase decision. (This is where Adapt excels! If you want more info click here.) Data can help you making better, informed decisions.

Being successful in business is just as much about avoiding the pitfalls as it is about making the right decisions. You can become a successful business simply by avoiding the types of management mistakes that you might be making without even realizing it.

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