The more you take middle or senior managers into your confidence, the more they will respect you and the harder they will work for you. Many managers disagree with this policy. They love the feeling of power that comes from knowing what others do not know. I don’t care about power. I care about getting rich. -How to get rich, p.213 Continue reading Discourage secrecy
You will learn more from off-the-cuff remarks and opinions expressed at one-on-one meetings while looking over financial results than you will in a dozen board meetings. This tactic never fails to produce food for thought, often on both sides. -How to get rich, p.212 Continue reading Encourage senior managers to go over annual results with you one-on-one
I once did so, like a fool, and twelve months later my company was forced to pay ludicrously high bonuses for a very small improvement in profit to six senior managers. -How to get rich, p.210 Continue reading Never delegate bonus arrangements
Back in the days, Felix Dennis was offered to sell his business to Ziff Publishing and to, together conquer, the European Market. Felix declined the offer, teamed up with VNU to fight Ziff back, it took them everything, 2 years of profit were burned in making sure Ziff’s venture was a failure. Ziff finally gave up after losing millions of dollars. Looking back, does Felix thinks it was worth it? No. Absolutely not. It was stupid. Glorious, but stupid. I would have listened more closely to Phil and Bill. I would have negotiated my balss off. I would have become … Continue reading How to think of an hostile acquisition
They require very different skills. Let’s say an employee wishes to deposit and collect their child from school each day. This will interfere with his/her “normal” working hours. Big deal. If the employee is important to you, you will probably bend over barckward to “negotiate” a solution. If they are not, you will probably enforce the letter of law (and fire them). Whatever you decide to do, you are not involved in “negotiating” – you are problem solving. -How to get rich, p.150 Continue reading Do not mistake serious negotiations with management bargaining.
If you don’t they will resent you and blame any future failure on you. Let them experiment and come to their conclusion themselves. -How to get rich, p.144 Continue reading Permit young managers to make their own mistakes.
There is no substitute for talent. -How to get rich, p.105 Continue reading There’s only one talent you require. The talent to identify, hire and nurture others with talent.
It’s your responsability and your task. Nobody else’s. How to get rich, p.95 Continue reading You can delegate many tasks when creating a new business, but monitoring and forecasting cash flow is not one of them
Most business failures come from it. You should be obsessed about cash flows. Make sure to never run out of money. … or you will lose control and ownership of your business. If cash flow is good, then no matter how badly run or poorly managed a company is, there is always a decent chance of tunring its fortunes around. -How to get rich, p.92 Continue reading Overoptimism concerning cash flow is FATAL
Don’t overcomplicate hiring. (1) Hire someone who has done the exact task you need completed (2) Make sure they fit with the team Rinse and repeat. -Andrew Wilkinson Continue reading Stop Hiring Execs for Potential
Roadmap to Billions 