The rise of Trader Joe’s was something that most people didn’t see coming, as they stayed under the radar for a long time. In his book “Becoming Trader Joe“, Joe Coulombe shared a lot of great insights from his journey, and this is one that stuck out to me.
He shared how many companies are scared of their competition finding out their plans and beating them to the punch, but that it almost never happens. It’s like I shared last year about our processes at GreenMellen — execution matters way more than learning the steps.
In his book, Coulombe shares that he has more concern about his staff not understanding the plan, saying:
“I took a cue from General George Patton, who thought that the greatest danger was not that the enemy would learn his plans, but that his own troops would not.”
If he got so worried about his plans leaking that even his own team didn’t get it, then he had no chance of success anyhow. It’s also similar to Tim O’Reilly’s famous quote of:
“Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.”
Don’t worry about others stealing your ideas and plans — they have enough to worry about already, and I promise they’re not worried about you. Teach your staff, execute well, and maybe someday you’ll have a chance to share your story of success like Coulombe did.
