The businesses that I was involved with were operating within sectors with entrenched market leaders who had grown lazy and complacent- this created the opportunity for us. If we kept quiet and systematically put in place our plans we figured that we could get to a point where we had built something meaningful, largely without being noticed. We ignored the media and anything else that would alert the market to our progress.

We had to do this because we had limited funds and any misstep would have been disastrous. Basically we kept our head down and when we came out the other end we had built a market position that was difficult to shift. James comments below suggest that bigger companies keep a watchful eye on Fast100 and other similar lists.

The flip side is that the media can be extremely useful to build your business in the right markets. For example, if the market is fragmented there might be good possibilities to enhance your brand via good use of the media .

Whatever you do, it is important to understand that media coverage can be extremely distracting (as per Chris, Martin T and Wolfgang’s comments below).If it doesn’t help you to progress your business plans then why do it? If it is about promoting people within the business and not the business itself – then don’t do it. Celebrity CEOs (see Jim Collins quote) are bad for business.

As a side note, I really enjoy UWS – its a great blog. The bull provides a unique and challenging perspective every time he writes. On the current topic he has hit the nail on the head. Keep up the great work!

Our CEo lost his focus, we still exist but only just.