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Lesson #3: Management Means To Inspire Creativity

“From a management standpoint, it is very important to know how to unleash people's inborn creativity,” said Morita. “My concept is that anybody has creative ability, but very few people know how to use it.” Morita created one of the world’s largest multinational corporations but he did not do it alone. Indeed, over his fifty-year career, Morita became one of the most outspoken businessmen for sound management principles, of which his were largely based on Japanese traditions.

Lesson #3: Think Long-Term
“We weren’t trying to just go public and get rich,” recalls Gates of his early Microsoft days. “There was no near-term thing. It always was this many-decades thing where there were no shortcuts and we’d sort of put one foot in front of the other.”

Lesson #3: Think Big
“I like thinking big. I always have,” says Trump. “If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”

Lesson #3: Believe In Yourself
“The show’s not dead as long as I believe in it,” Kermit The Frog says in The Muppets Take Manhattan. “The frog is stayin’.” Much like his beloved signature Muppet, Henson’s determination and faith in his abilities were two of the driving factors behind his successful career.

Lesson #3: Liven Things Up
“I lose my self-restraint and just get up and dance sometimes,” says Turner.

Lesson #3: Mix Things Up
When Puck first began considering expanding his operations overseas in Japan, he claims he was drawn to the country because he loved “the culture, the food, the politeness of the people and the fact that I’ll always find new ideas for my profession.”

Lesson #3: Experiment and Innovate
“I am in the prime of senility,” Franklin once said. Known for his often seemingly eccentric musings and scientific experiments, Franklin was never one to shelve his ideas or shun his research in the face of public ridicule. He was one of the most forward thinkers of his time and made a name for himself by not only embracing change, but also by directing the change itself.

Lesson #3: Do It Because You Love It
“I’m a geek,” says Cuban. “I love technology. I would be online working with technology regardless of what my day job is.”

Lesson #3: Believe In Yourself
“It was a risk,” said Vernon. “I had a husband and I was pregnant with my oldest son. But I don't look at risk the way other people do. When you're an entrepreneur, you have to go in feeling like you're going to be successful.”

Lesson #3: Stay Ahead of the Times
“I think we’ve been an agent for change, everywhere, and I think change frightens people,” says Murdoch. “They’re going nicely in what seems like a settled industry, and someone comes in and says, ‘I can do this better. It doesn’t matter how nice that other one is.’ That’s one of the distinguishing points of our acquisitions.”

Lesson #3: Question Convention
“The most important aspect of my personality, as far as determining my success goes, has been my questioning conventional wisdom, doubting the experts and questioning authority,” says Ellison. “While that can be very painful in relationships with your parents and teachers, it's enormously useful in life.”

Lesson #3: Customer Satisfaction Means Your Satisfaction

Aside from IBM employees, no one was more important to Watson Jr. than the company’s customers, and nothing was more important than pleasing them – whatever it took. He understood that customer satisfaction lied at the centre of his business success. In the budding new computer industry, marketing would make the difference in attracting new customers, but it was only the satisfied customer who would return to the company time after time.

Lesson #3: Draw From Your Own Personal Experiences
“It wasn’t only economic necessity that inspired the birth of The Body Shop,” says Roddick. “My early travels had given me a wealth of experience.”

Lesson #3: Anything is Possible with Passion and Purpose
Ask anyone who has attended a Tony Robbins seminar to describe the experience in one word and you are likely to hear words such as “energetic” or “enthusiastic.” If there is one thing that Robbins is known for above all else, it is the passion with which he approaches life. Whether he is speaking to an audience of 2,000 or a single journalist, Robbins can’t help but be passionate.

Lesson #3: Your Work Ethic Is Your Most Important Asset

“I'm not too good at lying still in the sun,” says McMahon. “I have to do something with my mind, or I'll get in trouble.” By all accounts, McMahon was obsessed with wrestling since he was a little boy, and he continues to be just as devoted a fan today. It is his passion for his work that allows him to maintain the strong work ethic that he has, working long after his competitors have already gone to sleep.

Lesson #3: Everybody Deserves The Opportunity To Succeed

“I just wanted to make a million dollars,” says Gardner. “But I couldn't sing and I couldn't play ball, so I said to my mother, ‘How am I going to make a million dollars?’ And she said to me, ‘Son, if you believe you can do it, you will.’” He couldn’t sing, he couldn’t play ball; he was also homeless and he was black – Gardner definitely had the odds stacked against him. However, he took his mother’s lesson to heart and was determined to succeed regardless.

Lesson #3: Time is an Entrepreneur’s Best Asset
“Time is your most important resource,” says Kamprad. “You can do so much in ten minutes. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good.”

Lesson #3: Nice Guys Can Finish First
In creating eBay, Omidyar began with five basic values: “We believe people are basically good; we believe everyone has something to contribute; we believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people; we recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual; we encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated.”

Lesson #3: Creative Marketing Will Generate Sales Success
Ben & Jerry’s is not your typical company. From its bright and multi-colour painted stores to its interactive animated website, Ben & Jerry’s has consistently shown creativity and imagination in its marketing strategies. Owners Greenfield and Cohen decided early on that ice cream was a fun product, and thus so too should be their means of promotion.

Lesson #3: Know When to Throw Away the Rule Book

“Every well-intentioned, high-judgment person we asked told us not to do it,” Bezos recalls of his early goal to create Amazon.com and offer one million, many hard to find book titles online. Some people said he shouldn’t try to sell more than 300,000 titles, while others said he shouldn’t bother trying to sell any whatsoever – after all, selling books was not an online sort of venture, they said. “We got some good advice, we ignored it, and it was a mistake,” says Bezos. “But that mistake turned out to be one of the best things that happened to the company.”

Lesson #3: Money May Have Much Worth, But It Has Little Value
When Giannini died at the age 79, his total net worth was less than $500,000. That was a lot of money for the time, but nowhere near the amount he could have accumulated had he been money hungry; he wasn’t. “Money itch is a bad thing,” Giannini once said. “I never had that trouble.”

Lesson #3: Find What Works and Stick With It

Coca-Cola executives in the 1980s would have done well to follow in the example of its founder. In growing his company, Candler understood the importance of not messing with perfection. As an increasing number of copycat beverages found their way onto the market, Candler might have changed the shape of his bottle, or altered his marketing message, but he never once made the crucial error that his later successors would: after creating the perfect drink, he never again changed its secret recipe. Candler knew that in an increasingly competitive industry, it was important to stand out, and to keep customers on their toes, but he did not dare mess with what he saw as excellence. After all, if it was not broke, why fix it?

Lesson #3: There is a Danger in Dreaming Too Big

“Many persons are always kept poor, because they are too visionary,” Barnum said. “Every project looks to them like certain successes, and therefore they keep changing from one business to another, always in hot water, always ‘under the harrow.’” When Barnum was struggling to find his way in the work world, he did just that – struggle. His early career paths were as varied as could be. From a lottery agent to a store clerk to a newspaper editor, Barnum tried his hand at a number of different ventures. However, he learned the hard way that was a danger in spreading himself so thin. None of the schemes proved especially successful, forcing Barnum to reexamine his priorities, interests and capabilities.

Lesson #3: Knowledge is Your Most Important Capital
“Times were really tough in the beginning,” recalls Li Ka-shing. “When I started my business in 1950, I only had HK$50,000, so I was in a tight spot financially. I already had some work experience, but I had an advantage in competing with other companies – I was willing to learn the latest industry trends.”

Lesson #3: The Best Product is the One that Sells Itself
“Developing and marketing a product are like left and right feet,” says Popeil. “They both have to work for the product to succeed.”

Lesson #3: Great Opportunities Are Seen First With The Mind
“The rich invent money,” says Kiyosaki. “Great opportunities are not seen with your eyes. They are seen with your mind.”

Lesson #3: Use Technology to Temper Your Costs

When one thinks of Costco, a company with a thriving technological edge is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind. But, while Sinegal might not be your typical CEO, he does understand the importance of utilizing technology to his benefit. Not only has modern technology helped Costco automate many of its operations, but in keeping with Sinegal’s all important goals, has helped the company lower its costs.

Lesson #3: Give Them an Experience They Will Never Forget
“Three guys bought UFC when it was dead,” says White. “It was over. The sport was dead and no one cared.” But, if the sport was dead, how come these three guys decided to buy the UFC? Well, says White, “We didn’t buy this to make billions of dollars. We saw something in this sport and in the fighters that we thought was incredible.”

Lesson #3: Viral Marketing Could Be Vital For Your Business
YouTube did not just grow to become the virtual monster that it is today simply because it made it easier for people to upload and watch videos, although it did that too. Instead, it was a carefully planned strategy on the parts of Hurley and Chen to engage in a campaign of viral marketing that helped take YouTube to the where it is today.

Lesson #3: Dedicate Yourself And Follow Through
“I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could,” Sanders once said. “And no hours, nor amount of labour, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know.”

Lesson #3: Do Not Let Your Business Become Static
“Keep moving all the time,” says Ramsay. “That’s the exciting thing about cooking in this country: we are seasonal, so every three months there’s a move. We’re moving from spring into summer and suddenly the food becomes a lot lighter.”

Lesson #3: Go Ahead and Get Your Hands a Little Dirty

Bean might have been an entrepreneur, and a successful one at that, but in his heart he was a hunter, and a fisherman, and an all around outdoorsman. He felt more comfortable in the woods of Maine than in the corporate boardrooms of the city. It was his passion that gave birth to the company, and a passion he never lost. It might have been for that reason that Bean insisted on being hands on and putting his personal touch on everything the company did. From talking to customers to putting new products through trial runs, Bean could always be found right there in the middle of all the action.

Lesson #3: You Do Not Need to Be a Pro to See Your Business Grow
“My first vivid memory is watching mom in a restaurant kitchen,” recalls Ray. “She was flipping something with a spatula. I tried to copy her and ended up grilling my right thumb. I was three or four.”

Lesson #3: When the Market is Limited, Push the Limits
“The idea gradually dawned on me that what we were doing was not merely making dry plates, but that we were starting out to make photography an everyday affair,” said Eastman, “to make the camera as convenient as the pencil.”

Lesson #3: Do Not Sell Out Your Vision or Values
“I’m not really that concerned overall to let any sort of licensing tail wag any dog,” says McFarlane. “My mindset is that…if I’m going to do any sort of animation…I do the best animation. I don’t really care if it makes sense if I can’t sell a t-shirt, or if I can’t sell a movie.”

Lesson #3: Risk Yesterday’s Success for Tomorrow’s Promise
“We’re not afraid of risking what was our success yesterday in order to explore some new field,” says Laliberté. “We’re adventurous. We like the challenge of unknown territory, unknown artistic field, and that’s what stimulates us.” Laliberté owns 95 percent of Cirque du Soleil, which gives him great freedom to do whatever he wants with it, and that means taking risks.

Lesson #3: Conventions Are Not For The Creative Entrepreneur

Charney typically schedules all his appointments for the day between 11:30 to 12:30. He also, however, does not rise until almost noon. Charney has no personal assistants, does not own a Blackberry, and sees little use in checking his voicemail. He lives in a modest house and drinks instant coffee on his way to work. Charney may not be your conventional CEO, but according to him, that is precisely the reason he has been able to become so successful. After all, the creative entrepreneur does not live by the conventions of others.

Lesson #3: Do Not Accept a Crisis, Act on It
“I got my start by giving myself a start,” said Walker.

Lesson #3: It Takes Guts to Get to Where You Want to Go
“We were just opportunistic,” said Hewlett. “We did anything to bring in a nickel. We made a bowling alley foul-line indicator, a clock drive for a telescope, a thing to make a urinal flush automatically, and a shock machine to make people lose weight.”

Lesson #3: Know Where The Value Of Your Product Lies
“The greatest feature of the business is the almost endless chain of blade consumption,” said Gillette, “each razor paying tribute to the company as long as the user lives.”

Lesson #3: Success Is the Never-Ending Search for Better
“The more I learned about games, the more frustrated I became because the games weren't very good,” recalls Tajiri. “I could tell a good game from a bad game. My conclusion was: let's make our own games.”

Lesson #3: Power is in Bringing People Together

One might not think it given Luce’s fondness for being opinionated and straightforward, but part of the secret to his success lay in his ability to bring together talented people from a vast array of backgrounds to work together towards a common goal. And, although he liked being the one to articulate that goal, Luce was well aware of the need to create a strong and unified team if he was going to succeed.

Lesson #3: Personality is Power
One day, Kelleher received a letter from one of Southwest’s ramp agents in Oklahoma. It read, “Herb, I’m on to what you’re doing…You’re making work fun – and home work.” Kelleher viewed the letter as validation of his efforts to bring a little personality to his company.

Lesson #3: Focus On the Inside Out
“I believe that Yahoo! is too often defined by the competitive landscape, rather than by what we can accomplish with our assets,” says Yang. “I’m determined for us to define our own path.”

Lesson #3: Stick With the Dress that Fits You Best
Wang was intimately familiar with the sport of ice skating. After her father bought her her first pair of skates and took her to Central Park in New York to try them out, she was immediately hooked. She started taking private lessons at Madison Square Garden and was soon participating in competitions. “Ice skating was the first love of [my] life,” she says.

Lesson #3: If Your Job Does Not Excite You, Find a New One
Fuller was born the son of an RAF pilot who later became a teacher who was passionately enthusiastic about founding schools. It was that passion that took the Fuller family to West Africa. Simon, along with his brothers Kim and Mark, spent much of their childhood growing up in Ghana, where their father would establish schools.

Lesson #3: “Tell ‘em quick and tell ‘em often”
Wrigley Jr. was one of the first corporate heads in America to realize and understand the power of advertising. A natural promoter, Wrigley Jr. devoted more time and energy to selling his products through ads and gimmicks than his competitors ever thought necessary or wise. When it came to advertising, Wrigley Jr.’s motto was, “Tell ‘em quick and tell ‘em often.”

Lesson #3: When we see something that could be done better, we do it
“We’re innovative in many small ways,” says Newmark. “When we see something that could be done better, we do it. This is the notion of kaizen, the Japanese practice of continuous business process reengineering.”

Lesson #3: “Integrity is how I do business. That’s my main asset.”

Foreman might be one of the most well-known celebrities thanks to his seemingly endless string of product endorsements. Indeed, he now readily admits to being more well-known for his George Foreman Grills than he ever was for his champion boxing career. Still, Foreman did not approach the idea of lending his name to a product lightly. No matter how small the product, Foreman cross-checked the product with his own personal beliefs, and refused to attach himself to anything that did not meet his standards.

Lesson #3: “If you don’t have a lot of passion for it, you’re not gonna make it”

“I have probably the best personal collection of games you’re going to find anywhere,” admits Hawkins. “I’ve just been a nut for almost any form of software, but games especially whether it’s card games, board games, computer games, video games, I’ve just got a spectacular collection. And of course now I have four kids that are at different ages, so when we want to play, boy, we’ve just got a fantastic set of choices.”

Lesson #3: “Table selection is the most important decision you can make”
Hsieh is not a professional poker player, but he taught himself early on the basic rules and principles. Today, he can play the game with the best of them.

Lesson #3: Learn The Industry From The Ground Up
To this day, Fox still keeps a copy of his 1952 driving logbook in his office. It is a reminder of the days when he used to cart coal in the winter and soda in the summer around in the back of his used truck. That is, until he was 30 years old and “had six kids and 60 trucks.”

Lesson #3: “Too many CEOs are leaving sinking ships. They should be the last ones to leave the company.”
Despite Cathy’s success in expanding Chick-fil-A across the U.S., there were a number of stressful events that challenged that expansion.

Entrepreneur – How Not To Have A Bad Employee?
You hired a new member of staff and made the mistake of not conducting an immediate background check. They seemed so nice and looked like they would be a good fit in your business but now you are having second thoughts and need to get rid of them quick. How could you have avoided this and more importantly get rid of them?

Lesson #3: “You must get the old furniture of what you know, think, and believe out before anything new can get in”
“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out,” Hock once said. “Every mind is a room packed with archaic furniture. You must get the old furniture of what you know, think, and believe out before anything new can get in. Make an empty space in any corner of your mind, and creativity will instantly fill it.”

Lesson #5: “Hard times are an opportunity for growth”
If there is one lesson that Wilson has carried with him since he was a young boy it is this: every opportunity, whether missed or taken, represents another lesson to be learned.

Who Is Your Proud Family?
Once again I was on the couch at 5am watching Disney cartoons. I like to get up early and get a bit of work done before I go for a run. While I’m cleaning out the last evening’s email, I watch a bit of children’s television to pick up a life lesson or two. This morning, I got a great business lesson from Lilo and Stich.

Leadership and Reaching the Boiling Point
Leadership lesson, actually RELATIONSHIP LESSON for all of us: Learn to tell the truth without blame, judgment, or attack at the right time or be ready for the boil over, for it will come when you least expect it!!!

Lesson #3 Know The Game Part II.
The follow up to part I http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/6509/Lesson-3-Know-The-Game-Part-I.html The most important lesson an entrepreneur can learn

Lesson 5 Grab the Golden Ring
The fifth and final lesson taken from 25 years in the venture capital industry and based on my talk 5000 business plans, 50 deals, 25 write-offs. In this lesson I describe how three people (including yours truly) failed to grab the golden ring in the merry go-round of life.

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