MarkFord
I am more tolerant of mediocre thinking when it is sincerely expressed than I am of more extraordinary thinking when it is expressed simply to impress.
Winner Take All? The Yin and Yang of Negotiating
Sid had done it. He had convinced the IRS agent to forgive the mistake my partner Joel and I had made. He had spent three weeks with the guy, working mornings, golfing with him in the afternoon, and taking him out to dinner.
If the IRS had stuck to their ridiculous position, it would have cost us $10 million. But Sid’s logic and diligence and charm had persuaded one of its bulldogs to do the right thing.
A month later, Sid’s bill crossed my desk. It was for $85,000. “That’s odd,” I thought. “I could have sworn Sid was billing us by the hour.”
Had he done so, the bill would probably not have exceeded $15,000. Still, $85,000 was a small price to pay for the service he had provided. I signed the invoice and sent it on to Joel.
The next day, Joel called me into his office.
“You saw his bill.”
“Yes, I signed it.”
“I saw that. But you know he was supposed to bill us by the hour.”
“Yes, I know. But what he did was worth a lot more than eighty-five grand.”
“Maybe so, but that wasn’t our deal.”
I shrugged.
“We have to bring him in and negotiate the amount.”
“Okay.”
“But we have to plan this thing. We have to rehearse.”
To-Do Lists
The great thing about writing to-do lists is that the process itself is motivating. There is no doubt in my mind that I am three hundred percent more productive since I began doing it. But there is a problem. It takes time to write a good to-do list and it takes effort. Unless you are careful, the list making will drain vital energy from you. If you write your lists in the morning and they are extensive, you may not have the energy afterwards to launch into an important project. Thus, it is better to write to-do lists at night.
The Power of Trust
My friend “Roy” is a talented businessman and — in most respects — a natural-born entrepreneur. He’s made several fortunes in his life, but he’s lost them too. As I write this, he is starting over again — for the fourth time. “My life has been a roller coaster,” he said to me over a beer the other night. “And I don’t know why.”
I know why. When it comes to building wealth, Roy is missing one key characteristic. That characteristic?
When Will We Solve the Global Warming Problem?
Technology changes not when it might but when it must.
Sensitive people note problems and talk about them. Writers and other influential people talk it up. Crusades are launched. And these crusades create counter-crusades. The argument soars in the media. And for a while it seems as if nothing will ever be done. But gradually, as the threat becomes more tangible, the counter-arguments subside. Laws are written. Treaties are signed. But still no great progress is made. Finally, the general population begins to make changes. But these changes don’t happen until the threat becomes tangible to the affected population.
Must You Be Cutthroat to Succeed in Business?
“I come from a poor family. I want to start a business and make money to help them. But when I see successful businesspeople depicted on TV and in the movies, it seems like lying and cheating and screwing people is the way to go. I’m worried. Is that what I’m going to have to do?”
This question was posed just after I had given a presentation on entrepreneurship to a group of MBA candidates at Florida Atlantic University. I was momentarily startled by it. I was sure I hadn’t said anything that suggested success in business requires a cutthroat approach.
Still, the question was understandable. When Hollywood shows us business and businesspeople, it is more often than not in a negative light. And when Wall Street, the banking community, and the insurance industry screw their clients – as they’ve done so notoriously – how could any young person think differently?
So I told the young people in my audience what I’m about to tell you.
How to Fix Your Business in Seven Days
Your business is struggling. You are not sure what the problem is. Everything you look at is okay, but not great.
You have made suggestions in the past, some of which have been followed, others ignored. There has been some improvement here and there but nothing substantial. You know what it feels like when your business is in a groove. Your business is not in a groove.
What do you do?
Here’s an idea I got from John Forde, the copywriter, with some post-conversation embellishments of my own.
John’s idea is to makeover you business in seven days. John points out that there is genius in limiting the change to 7 days because it forces you to pay close attention to the most important things.
The model for the 7 day business, John suggested, are the reality shows where some expert comes into some situation – a house in need of repair, a love affair gone wrong, a hair saloon in decline – and fixes it.
I thought it would be fun to explain this idea using one such show I’ve seen and enjoy: Hell’s Kitchen – in which Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef, spends a week in a troubled restaurant and completely revamps the place in that short amount time. Then do the same thing with your business.