By: Bo Burlingham

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In today's business climate, there's a go-big or go-home mentality. It's especially pervasive in Silicon Valley, where the people who control the funding (VCs) require you to build a business that can be sold for many billions of dollars.

And so we live in a culture where we venerate the large and public businesses (Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc), or those who want to be like them someday.

But, as Bo Burlingham found in his book Small Giants, there's another approach to building a business. And it happens to be the only one where your future is entirely in your hands.

If you choose the Small Giant path, there are 7 qualities you should consider emulating. Let's walk through them one by one together.

1. You have the freedom to choose your path

The first lesson of the book is that you need to realize that you have a choice. You can take the traditional route and try and build your business to be as big as it possibly can be, or you can choose the path less chosen and build a small, profitable, sustainable business.

If your business survives the initial startup phase, you'll eventually face a critical decision - how far and how fast you want your business to grow.

The usual wisdom will be to grow as fast and furious as you possibly can. There are good reasons for that - the system has built in incentives for you to choose this path.

Your lawyers and accountants will be able to grow along side you. You'll be creating jobs. Anybody with a stake in your business will see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow through an IPO or acquisition. The press will want to write stories about you. Everywhere you turn, growth at all costs will be the message.

The Small Giants question the usual definitions of success. They realize that they are free to choose their destiny. But it usually takes a crisis to get to this point.

Gary Erickson had such a moment when he was preparing to sell his company Clif Bar, for $120 million. 8 years prior to this offer (which would have personally netted him $60 million) he developed a recipe for an energy bar in his mother's kitchen.

Other competitors in that space (Power Bar and Balance Bar) had recently been sold to conglomerates, and he and his business partner were worried about getting squeezed out of the market (because everybody was telling them this would happen).

He decided to buy his partner out for $65 million over the next 5 years. He had $10,000 in his bank account at the time.

The rest, as they say, is history. To this day Clif Bar is privately held. Erickson and his wife own 80% of the company, making them billionaires.

In a recent interview in the San Francisco Chronicle, Erickson had this to say:

“There is no amount of money” that would make him sell, Erickson said. “I don’t care if it was 10 times the value of the company. We would not be happy. It just doesn’t fit who we are.”

2. Keeping control of your business

The second lesson in the book is that in order to build a Small Giant, you need to keep (or regain) control of the business.

It's nearly impossible to build one unless you do, because anybody else who has a stake in your business wants you to sell it, or at the very least maximize shareholder return at all costs.

Although Small Giants have many different ownership structures, as Burlingham says in the book, "they all guarded their equity in the business zealously to make sure it remained in the hands of people committed to the same goals."

There are many different places the pressure to grow will come from, but two that might not come to mind right away pose your biggest challenge long-term - your employees and your customers.

Employees want to know that there is an aggressive growth plan because that means more opportunities for growth. Keeping your best people engaged in the long run is one of the toughest and most important jobs a leader does.

The following lessons deal with how to keep your best people engaged in a company who doesn't buy into the "grow at all costs" mentality.

3. Building community ties.

The third lesson in the book is that Small Giants have an extraordinary relationship with the community in which they were formed.

Not just giving back, but a two way street where the community helped mold the character of the business, just as the companies played an important role in their life of the community.

As an example, Danny Meyer (who wrote his own great book called Setting The Table) of Union Square Hospitality Group views the community where they operate as critical to their success.

He uses the metaphor of The Mona Lisa to make his point:

“I don’t know what’s special about the way the Mona Lisa is framed, hung and lit, but I do know that the effect would not be the same if it were framed, hung and lit in a different museum, in a different city, in a different country.”

That's why they turned down developers who wanted to open one of their more popular restaurants (Union Square Cafe) in Las Vegas - it just wouldn't fit the community there.

As Burlingham points out, Small Giants seem to grow roots in their communities. They have a keen sense of how their business helps make a difference to the communities they operate in.

As an example, Clif Bar has a program they call their 2080 program - where they donate at least 2080 hours per year in volunteer work in the community. The causes they support are chosen by their employees, and paid for completely by the company.

4. Creating intimate and close relationships

The fourth lesson in the book is that Small Giants cultivate close and intimate relationships with their customers and suppliers.

This goes well beyond the principles of great customer service. It is a relationship built on mutual commitments to delivering on promises, and built upon one-on-one personal contact.

Suppliers respond by providing extraordinary service of their own. This creates a sense of common purpose between the companies, their suppliers and their customers - a kind of intimacy that is difficult for large companies to achieve, if only because of their size.

As an example, doing the little things right in the restaurant business includes a lot of technical things that you could teach anybody to do. Like making sure that food arrives at the table while it's still hot. But there's something extra in what Danny Meyer calls "enlightened hospitality" - which is, while still getting the basics right - letting your customers know that you are on their side.

This is an emotional skill that builds emotional bonds. It's the type of stuff that causes customers to feel compelled to send fan mail to the company.

5. Creating a culture of intimacy

The fifth lesson from the book is that the companies also have unusually intimate workplaces.

In essence, they treat their employees as real human beings who have lives outside of their job at work.

Herb Kelleher hit the nail on the head when he said that Southwest Airlines famous corporate culture was built around the principle of "caring for people in the totality of their lives."

Another company that lives this ethos is ECCO - a leading manufacturer of backup alarms and amber warning lights for commercial vehicles.

First, there is an employee stock ownership plan that controls 58% of the company's stock. Employees in that plan feel a real sense of ownership in the company, no matter how big or small their stake is.

Ed Zimmer, the now retired CEO of the company, helped create a culture where everything is shared. He created a sense of intimacy at the company by making sure he spent a lot of time with his people.

For instance, while he was there, he held a regular monthly lunch with everybody who had a birthday that month. There was also a monthly meeting where they want over the financials of the company.

There are three broad imperatives that will help you create a culture of intimacy in your own business.

First, you need to articulate, demonstrate and imbue the company with a higher purpose. Creating a connection between the day-to-day work your employees do and your company's reason for existence is key.

Second, find unexpected ways to remind your people how much the company cares about them. Norm Brodsky of CitiStorage called this his "knock-your-socks-off" policy. When you do nice things that are expected, people will appreciate it. If you do them when they are unexpected, they will never forget it.

Third, help create a sense of collegiality in the business. These are the feelings of mutual respect and trust that exist between the employees at your business. You do this by creating a business where people can lead fulfilling lives, not just collect a pay check.

6. Using corporate structure to build the business they want

The sixth lesson in the book is that Small Giants come up with the corporate structures that give them the freedom to develop their own management systems and practices.

This is the direct result of remaining private and closely held.

The founders and CEOs of Small Giants tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the kind of culture and organization they want to build.

Here's an example from a company called Reell Precision Manufacturing. They were contracted by a design firm to develop a hinge for a point-of-purchase display project. It was clear that the display box was going to be used to sell cigarettes.

One of the engineers on the project had a moral objection to producing a product that would indirectly be involved with the sale of something that would cause people to die.

In a large public company where the only purpose is to make a profit for the shareholders, the engineer would have been told to do his work or pack his bags.

But at Reell, after a long internal debate, they actually decided to forgo the project.

Although each Small Giant will be different in how they set up their policies and procedures to run their business, it's clear that each of them have a directive to build something other than a profit centre.

7. The Art of Business

The seventh and final lesson in Small Giants is that the leaders bring an unusual amount of passion to their companies.

Companies with mojo have a quality that makes people want to join them. They work on exciting challenges. There's a palpable sense of camaraderie. There's a level of hope, intimacy, community, and a sense of purpose, that you don't find at other companies.

This all starts with a passion that their founders have for the work that they do.

For instance, here's Ari Weinzweig of the Zingerman Community of Businesses telling new employees about the four steps to selling great food:

"The first step is what? Know it. Right. This is a loaf of French farm bread from Zingerman's Bakehouse. Why is it rough on the bottom? Because it's cooked on a stone. Why are there lines on the crust? They come from the basket. How long is it cooked? Eighteen hours versus three to four hours for commercial bread."

This is the art side of the business. A passion for the level of details. Of seeing the hard work of their entire team in the end product. Of being proud of what they have brought into the world.

Conclusion

When you are building a business, you don't have to follow the path to riches and fame. You can carve your own path to meaning and fulfilment.

And you can start by heeding the lessons of the Small Giants that have gone before you.