Go-it-alone entrepreneurs understand the cumulative value of singles and doubles. The mythology of innovation tends to focus on a single grand slam that dramatically invents or reinvents a business. The reality is that success is more typically the result of cumulative, almost prosaic hard work, where the entrepreneur is constantly asking himself or herself, “Now how can I make this better?” or “What can I do to reduce these costs, even if it’s only by a small amount?” Over time, this dedication to ongoing improvement builds up: The cumulative effect of many singles and doubles is often a home run—a total business system.

In Profitable Growth Is Everyone's Business, Ram Charan elaborates on this idea: “In baseball, the home run, especially in crucial, big-game situations, is electrifying and exciting. In business, the big, bold idea, the breakthrough disruptive technology, the new product that will revolutionize the marketplace . . . are similarly exhilarating. But there is a problem: Home runs don’t happen every day or even every decade.” The business that relies on home runs for ongoing success is, as Charan notes, likely to be waiting a very long time. By focusing on dramatic change, these businesses are also far more likely to miss the opportunity to systematically exploit smaller opportunities and to fail to adapt to constant changes in the marketplace.

Charan instead advocates the process followed by successful go-it-alone entrepreneurs:

A surer and more consistent path—one that does not exclude home runs—is what I call going for “singles and doubles,” growth based on improvements or natural extensions of the strategy, business model, customer needs, or technology of a business. These singles and

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