1 percent at 1,000 things

What are you doing to improve your business?

When Scandinavian Airlines (SAS Group) was struggling in the 1980s, then CEO Jan Carlzon had a plan. And it was a simple plan.

“We did not seek to be 1,000 percent better at anything. We seek to be one percent better at 1,000 things.” — Jan Carlzon (former CEO Scandinavian Airlines)

It turns out that the aggregation of marginal gains isn’t just for sport—and cycling. Go back far enough, and it can be found in any world class business.