Business Leadership Skills 02 (Feb 13 - Apr 15)

[winston]

How Ben Franklin Dealt With Bullies and Haters

By David McRaney

Franklin set out to turn his hater into a fan, but he wanted to do it without “paying any servile respect to him.”

Franklin’s reputation as a book collector and library founder gave him a standing as a man of discerning literary tastes, so Franklin sent a letter to the hater, asking if he could borrow a specific selection from his library, one that was a “very scarce and curious book.”

The rival, flattered, sent it right away. Franklin sent it back a week later with a thank-you note. Mission accomplished.

The next time the legislature met, the man approached Franklin and spoke to him in person for the first time.

Franklin said the man “ever after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions, so that we became great friends, and our friendship continued to his death.”

Source: ETR

[winston]

"In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

― Dwight D. Eisenhower

[winston]

"The secret of business, especially these days, is to focus relentlessly on your unfair advantage - the thing you do that others don't."
-- John Rollwagen

[winston]

Limit This to Increase Your Profits By Tim Ferriss

Is more distribution automatically better? Not necessarily.

Uncontrolled distribution leads to all manner of head-ache and profit-bleeding, most often related to rogue discounters.

Reseller A lowers pricing to compete with online discounter B, and the price cutting continues until neither is making sufficient profit on the product and both stop reordering from you (or selling/referring your product).

This race to the bottom requires you to launch new products, as price erosion is almost always irreversible.

Avoid this scenario and consider partnering with one or two key distributors instead, using that exclusivity to negotiate better terms: less discounting, prepayment instead of net payment terms, preferred placement and marketing support, etc.

Whether Apple or Estee Lauder, sustainable high-profit brands usually begin with controlled distribution. Remember that more customers isn’t the goal; more sustained profit is.

Source: ETR

[winston]

The Reality of Trade-Offs By Greg McKeown

I think we have to come back to the reality of trade-offs. There is an executive that I interviewed for my book based in Silicon Valley who was doing excellent work in one company. But then that company got purchased by a larger, more bureaucratic firm and so when he went to the company he thought, " I have to be a great citizen. That means I have to say yes to almost everyone and everything without really thinking about it."

So every meeting he's invited to he goes to, every e-mail chain he responds to ... what he found is that his stress was going up ... [and] quality of life was going down. And so he almost thought he would quit the company and then somebody suggested, "No what you need to do is retire in-role, that is, become far more selective about what you would do."

Well he did it, he didn't get fired. What he actually got — his performance reviews went up and he ended that year with one of the largest bonuses of his career. That is the value proposition of essentialism.

Source: ETR

[winston]

Why Being Wrong is Better By Neil Strauss

I love being wrong. In fact, it is often far preferable to be wrong than right. When you're wrong, you learn more. And the more wrong you're willing to be, the more right you'll eventually become. But, unfortunately, many people struggle with admitting it when they're wrong.

Others quite simply will never do it. In other cases, sometimes with very successful people (and this is often their undoing), situations change or new information becomes available, yet they will almost stubbornly ignore it or reject it.

One other common reason people have issues admitting they're wrong is because they take criticism and feedback too personally. If a person tells them, "you did that badly," what the recipient hears instead is, "I am bad." And that leads to an emotional spiral. So rather than listen, many people react. Instead of learning, many people defend.

This is so prevalent that it's one of the key principles in Robert Cialdini's classic book Influence. It's called Commitment and Consistency.

Once people make up their minds, they tend not to change them--even in the face of facts to the contrary. This leads to what we call a Fixed Mindset, as opposed to a Growth Mindset.

In fact, when we try people out for jobs, one of the secret tests we conduct is to give them constructive criticism on something they've done and see how they respond.

If they instantly start making excuses or justifying a mistake, they don't ever get the job--because we know they won't grow in the position.

Source: ETR

[winston]

The 80% Rule

Time is your most valuable asset, and until you get into the mindset that your time is worth 1000$/ hour, you will continue to waste it on 10$/ hour tasks.

John C. Maxwell has a great rule: "If something can be done 80% as well by someone else, delegate!"

Make use of this rule and the people around you. Your time and success depend on it.


Source: ETR

[winston]

"Being busy does not always mean real work.

The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration.

Seeming to do is not doing."

- Thomas A. Edison

[winston]

"Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead ...

You can only see one thing clearly, and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin."

- Kathleen Norris, Writer

[winston]

"Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire."
-- Napoleon Hill