As the editor-at-large for Inc. Magazine, Bo Burlingham has had plenty of opportunity to report on fast-growing small companies, the type of companies that make the "Inc. 500" list every year. But in the process, he also discovered another type of small company: the kind that has made a deliberate choice to forgo fast growth and concentrate on being great. He documented the stories of fourteen of these companies in his latest book, Small Giants: Companies That Choose to be Great Instead of Big.

Bo led a CEO Roundtable seminar on July 12 for 50 members. We discussed the stories of these companies, looking for what they have in common with each other and with our own stories. Bo concluded in his book that each of the companies had a deep passion for their business that was shared by employees, customers, suppliers and the communities. Bo calls this quality 'mojo.' It can't be defined but you know when you see it or experience it. Mojo can be built, sustained -- and lost.

Bo shared five insights about what creates the mojo:

1. All the companies are owned and run by people who know who they are, what they want, and why. All of them are privately owned.

2. All have a relationship with their communities.

3. All have an intimate relationship with their customers and suppliers.

4. All put their employees first and their customers second.

5. All the leaders of these companies love their businesses - in fact, they are crazy about their businesses.

They all are consummate business people, but they are not professional managers. In fact they have an emotional attachment to the business, to the people who work in it, and to its customers and suppliers, an attachment that is the bane of professional management. They are not highly molded MBA graduates. Bo said, "Entrepreneurship is a creative endeavor. Entrepreneurs are artists whose medium is business... they work from both sides of their brains."

There is no formula for achieving mojo. Every company in the book got 'there' a different way ... but every company knew where 'there' was.

There was active discussion as the members explored these stories and shared their stories. It was evident that for every story in Small Giants there is an equivalent story within CEO Roundtable.

For example, the book features a company that chose to diversify instead of going national to maintain its high standard of quality and excellence; the CEO of another company stepped away from the big buyout to personally protect the brand and his employees; and another made a personal pledge not to open a location he couldn't walk to in five minutes.

A great entrepreneur has passion about business, has the ability to hold onto it, and refuses to let it go. Bo also noted that greatness cannot be measured by profitability alone: it is often about the relationships. If everyone feels passionately about the business, there must be success.

In response to Bo's emphasis on relationships in business, one CEO Roundtable member said, "If a company is publicly held, it has limited options because the numbers have to work for the stockholders. When you own the business yourself, you can make the numbers secondary to the fulfillment of your employees. You can have a great business model or concept, but it must be teamed with great people. It takes better relationships between the leadership and the employees to ensure satisfaction. At the end of the day, it's about the people."

We agreed that privately owned companies have more freedom than public or VC backed ones to make the decision to forgo full out growth and focus on greatness. There are more and more reasons to stay private, and this freedom is certainly one of them.

Another CEO Roundtable member said he knew he had achieved mojo when people were asking him for jobs even when it meant a cut in pay or position. He attributes it to the corporate culture he established by focusing on service and not just product, and also by establishing a policy of everyone volunteering one day each week both to build community relationships and to build the company's sense of team.

There was a very interesting discussion around the question, "How do you institutionalize mojo so that it survives when the founder leaves the company?"  One member is concerned that his company seems to be losing its mojo as he seeks to move on to other endeavors. In Bo's examples several companies have made the transition to new leadership successfully but the jury is out on one that is struggling.

Loren G. Carlson, Chairman of CEO Roundtable, closed the seminar by saying, "Each and every CEO in this room has a story that qualifies as a ‘small giant' story. Know your own story, and you will attain greatness."

For more information about Bo Burlingham and his book, visit www.boburlingham.com.

About CEO Roundtable, LLC
CEO Roundtable brings CEOs, presidents and company owners together each month in professionally facilitated peer groups of 8 to 12 members from non-competing companies for invigorating exchanges of information, ideas and insights. CEO-Roundtable conducts six groups in Massachusetts and  New Hampshire, including general business, biotech/pharma, and high tech. For more information, contact Loren Carlson at 978-685-8743    or visit www.CEO-Roundtables.com