I have always considered myself a perpetual student … always learning (and occasionally relearning). The only thing I love more than learning is sharing what I learned. I am a firm believer that sharing helps you learn and remember the lessons from your mistakes even better.
Now, I’ve been in business since leaving the US Navy, after 3 years of service, at the age of 23, and I have learned quite a few lessons along the way. Some of these lessons were learned on my own, in the school of hard knocks, while others came from many of my bosses along the way. Can’t really say which was the most valuable as I received great value from both.
Here are 15 lessons that I attribute to great bosses along the way:
A journey of a thousand miles … starts with one step. Action is what counts, so take action, even if it’s not significant, this will get the ball rolling. Just do it, as Nike likes to say.
Always put your people first … they are your business.
Be a talent hound … put priority on finding the best people. Some people are a helluva lot better than other people.
Don’t fear failure … just be good at learning from everything around you, especially mistakes (yours and others).
Help comes … where you least expect it. So, network. Talk to anyone and everyone, tell them about your business when they ask what you do, and soon you’ll be connected to lots of people.
Be a change agent … anticipate and embrace change. You can either build a windmill or a shelter, but my recommendation is the windmill approach, hands down.
Solving a problem or filling a gap … is the only way to true market value. Be a good observer. Look at the current players and their services, interview a few customers and identify a problem or issue with the current product and service. Then, solve it.
KISS … Keep it simple, stupid. No matter what you do, nothing beats simple. Staying simple makes you far more efficient.
Make listening a true core competence … it is the key to any communication.
For true learners, failure doesn’t exist … it is learning from mistakes that matter most. Not everything you do is going to be a success so, learn to learn from mistakes.
Learn when to say ‘No’ … enough said!
Always have a plan B … not everything you plan would work out the way you planned. Be prepared for contingencies.
Planning skills … are valuable to success. Always know where you are headed and how you plan to get there.
Luck favors … the decisive. It is always a great practice to get out and make luck work for you. The best way to do it is through hard work and decisive moves.
There’s a big difference between giving up … and changing directions. Be savvy and realize if something is not working, you need to change the direction.
How do you stand out in a sea of bloggers who have probably covered all the key topics from a thousand different angles? Do you follow the trend or create a technique of your own? Everyone loves a good story. It’s the part of your copy even skimmers take time to read.
I try to start every article on my blog with a story attacking the reader’s pain point. I want them to know this is not just another article from a blogger trying to make a quick buck but someone who genuinely understands their problems.
Your safety net is you. No health plan with 47 sick days. No paid
vacation. No sabbatical after 10 years of mind-bending effort.
The other dayone of my readers commented I was the
oldest person she knew creating social media content all the time.
Then she said it was a compliment.
We both laughed.
Then there was an awkward pause.
While her statement clearly wasn’t true, being relatively seasoned in business means I HAVE learned many valuable career lessons that would have been great to know when my business career started.
The more experience we have, the more mistakes
we’ve made—and that’s a good thing, according to many business innovation
experts.
That’s
how it has always been
Great people learn hard lessons.
Sigmund Freud was booed off stage the first time he presented his
theories to a group of scientists in Europe. He went on to win the Goethe Award
for his work in psychology.
Henry Ford failed at farming, being an apprentice, and as a
machinist — going bankrupt five times. He went on to modernize mass production.
Leo Tolstoy flunked out of law school and was labeled “unable to
learn” by his professors. He went on to become one of the world’s greatest
novelists.
But it’s not about them
It’s about you. About what you are prepared to do in order to be
successful. Here are my 10 top lessons for all entrepreneurs … the ones I
wished I knew when I started:
People first
Learned this one quite early in my management career. Your people are your business. No question about that. And your business will only go as far as your people will take it. So put them first on your list and take good care of their welfare.
Be the best talent hound you can be in searching for the best
employees. Know this … surrounding yourself with the very best is the top and
quickest way to success.
Value propositions
There is a tremendous amount of competition in any market that you
chose. And it is continually growing. Your success depends on your business
being better than the competition. Knowing what those advantages are and
putting them into value propositions is what will put and keep you ahead.
Marketing
Know this simple fact about marketing. Everything is marketing and
everyone is a marketer. It takes a while to really appreciate this lesson’s
true meaning. Stick with it long enough and you will understand.
Customer experience
Your customer’s experiences in your shop are the new marketing, pure
and simple. The better the experiences, the more the customers will remember
you and return. Work hard at creating WOW experiences as much as possible.
Sociability
Make friends with as many customers as you can. Customers would
always prefer to do business with friends. Start with a smile and positive
conversation in engaging customers. Selling is something to be strictly
avoided. Substitute just being as helpful as possible.
Change agent
Be a change agent in everything business. Anticipate and embrace
change in your market. Adapt is the name of the game, as soon as possible. This
is a hard lesson to learn as often change is required while things are still
looking good.
Now more than ever, things are changing at blazing speed. There is
only two ways to keep up. They are continuous learning and applying what you
learn.
Simplicity
Keep everything you do as simple as possible. No exceptions.
The customer
The last and most important lesson. Know, understand, and care about
your customer. Your rule 1.
It’s up to you if you’re going to make it.
The bottom line
As we change at a faster and faster pace, ideas adequate yesterday are no longer are good enough.
And with digital disruption facing an increasing number of industries, most firms must come up with the best ideas for change or move to a slow failure.
The myths of new ideas must be set aside to let the new idea facts take over.
The question is:
“What lessons are you learning today?”
When things go wrong, what’s most
important is your next step.
Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
More reading on creativity and innovation from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Learn How to Think What No One Else Thinks
Generating Ideas by Convergent Thinking
Amazon and Managing Innovation … the Jeff Bezos Vision
