Imagine the following scenario: Two companies are the same size in terms of organizational structure.

They have similar revenues, production facilities, and numbers of employees.

They are both in the same industry.

They have both implemented the same processes.

Yet, they each had vastly different results.

One company – let’s refer to them as Company A – had a return that equaled 5 times the cost of their investment in the program.

Not bad, right?

But the other company – we’ll refer to them as Company B – had a return that equaled 100 times the cost of their investment!

You heard me right—100 times!

It’s a true story. I know, because both companies were clients of my firm. Both companies got a return on their investment, but I still felt both frustrated and perplexed that Company B had done so much better.

The reason for the difference kept puzzling me—why would one company do so much better using the same processes?

I’ve helped some of the world’s best-known brands improve the way they do business, save billions of dollars, and increase their profits and revenues. I needed to know what was behind such a huge variation.

After studying the two organizations more, the answer finally became apparent to me: people.

The people at Company B had a workforce exhibited what I describe as STAR attributes: they empowered all their employees from the factory floor to the office of the CEO, to be straightforward about solving problems, thoughtful about how they treat each other, accountable to themselves and others, and resilient in solving problems and facing challenges.

Think about the power of what can happen when everyone in your organization is a STAR.