Lessons Learned

I’ve learned many lessons since joining the business world. Most importantly, you’ve got to start. With that in mind, I’m starting this blog with a brain-dump of lessons learned. They are in no particular order and it’s a terribly incomplete list. It is a start.

• Business, like sports, is a mental game
• Attitude is huge
• They don’t know what you know
• We’re all guessing about something
• No one knows everything
• The smartest people ask the most (and best) questions
• Business gets done at breakfast (lunch, dinner and cocktail parties)
• Dress the part
• Knowing and doing are very different
• People do what they know: Zebras don’t change their stripes easily
• Companies are made of people
• Execution beats strategy
• Numbers matter
• Knowing the business fundamentals puts you ahead (most don’t)
• There is no panacea
• Touch your numbers every week
• It’s amazing how few people know what one or two metrics drive their company
• We all manage people and yet we can’t manage people
• Raising the price won’t turn customers away
• Process makes perfect
• Talk to your customers
• You cannot over communicate
• Credibility: Create your own and borrow others
• Credibility: Essential but not sufficient
• A handshake will never go out of style
• Business is about people
• Some people are all about $
• A $ saved is a $ earned
• A $ made is ~$.30 earned
• Coasts only go so low
• Do what you say: Credibility, reliability, trust is everything
• Transparency surprises and refreshes
• You won’t work with everyone (and that’s good)
• Time is THE most valuable asset you have
• Proposals don’t sell
• ‘Selling’ is really about ‘buying’
• Most events are anti-climactic
• Who you know doesn’t matter. Who knows you matters a great deal
• People buy emotionally and justify it later
• Budget? We don’t have one of those.
• The enterprise difference – Big companies are a different breed
• Ready. Fire! Aim