10 Global Business Leaders Share their Best Advice
No one career is ever the same from person-to-person. As humans, our interests and experiences differ and ultimately we begin our pathways in different ways. Yet we tend to look to those who have been there and done it with an air of wonder or even awe. Those who have achieved the success we often desire. All with the intention to be guided down the ‘right’ pathway.
Detailed in this post is a collection of best advice from some of the World’s most successful Global Business Leaders. The purpose to outline thoughts and practices which many of us strive to follow. Thoughts and practices which simply may appear more daunting than they actually are
Relentlessly Focus on Your Own Development
Bill Gates (Microsoft Founder & Former CEO) outlined that one of the most important challenges is to ensure that you Focus on Your Development. Never stagnate. Always be on the look-out for your next challenge. Whether a small-scale project or a complete change of pathway or career. But most importantly, give it EVERYTHING you have got.
“You know, development sometimes is viewed as a project in which you give people things and nothing much happens, which is perfectly valid, but if you just focus on that, then you’d also have to say that venture capital is pretty stupid, too. It’s hit rate is pathetic. But occasionally, you get successes, you fund a Google or something….”
Think Long-Term
Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway Chairman & CEO) stressed the importance of Thinking Long-Term. Quite natural for an investor! The aspect of thinking long-term though goes beyond forming a vision and mission. The benefit lies in the alignment. Yes, build for the long-term but the critical aspect is sustaining alignment towards it.
“Successful investing takes time, discipline and patience. No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”
Be a Missionary and Stay Motivated
Jeff Bezos (Amazon Founder & CEO) took on a more practical aspect of development by suggesting that you should Be a Missionary and Stay Motivated. Essentially have a solid vision and mission and give up at nothing to achieve it. Create your own motivations for success whether financial gain, respect and authority or something entirely different. Afterall, success to each of us is termed differently.
“I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it’s not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that’s not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you.”
Think Like a Hacker
Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook Founder & CEO) outlined a focus on thinking differently and in particularly to Think Like a Hacker. View the World as though the Glass is half-full. Continually adapt and innovate around what you do to make things easier and more efficient. As Mark suggests, nothing is ever complete.
“The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete.”
Be Aggressive with Acquisitions
Taking a more business-focused angle, Larry Ellison (Oracle Founder) suggested that we should Be Aggressive with Acquisitions. Applied to our everyday lives, this could be in terms of investments, possessions or personal development. The important part of Larry’s advice, as per the quote below, is that patience is a virtue. Make the right acquisition at the right time and it could be interesting!
“We use our money for a variety of things. We buy back stock, we pay dividends. We haven’t made any large acquisitions for a while. You know? We’re kind of saving our nickels and dimes. We might do something interesting, one of these days.”
Never Stop Learning
Michael Bloomberg (Bloomberg CEO) emphasised an important on Never Stopping Learning. Whether you have achieved all you feel you can, there is always more. The World is continually evolving and so learning about the next new advancement will serve you well. Commit to learning something new everyday
“I’ve never met a Nobel Prize winner who didn’t think they had an awful lot more to learn and wasn’t studying every single day. So, when a parent says, ‘How much does my kid have to learn before they can stop studying?’ I don’t know how to break this to you, lady or sir: there is no answer to that.”
Follow a Proven Management Style
Charles Koch (Koch Industries Chairman and CEO) suggests that we should allFollow a Proven Management Style to offer us the best chance of success. Following such practices focuses upon building a framework for success. Not a rigid methodology. Flexibility is important.
“Market-Based Management® (MBM®) enables organizations to succeed in the long term by applying the principles that allow free societies to prosper. Just as upholding values such as free speech, property rights and progress are important to a healthy, growing society, they are also pivotal in fostering a healthy, growing organization.”
Stay Ahead of the Competition
Bernard Arnault (LVMH Chairman & CEO) suggests that competition is vital to both staying motivated and achieving greater levels of success. Whether following a Richard Branson type approach of taking the big boys head on, or something less daunting such as picking a like-minded person, business or entrepreneur and looking to beat them at their own game.
“I am quite competitive. I want to stay ahead and increase our advance.”
Focus on Consumer Tech
Larry Page (Google Co-Founder) suggests that the excitement and potential for great success resides in a consumer tech focus. Following the Instagram and Snapchat examples, he suggests that small-scale applications from a business perspective can involve billions of users. No other industry is capable of such a feat.
“You can make an internet company with 10 people, and it can have billions of users. It doesn’t take much capital, and it makes a lot of money — a really, really lot of money — so, it’s natural for everyone to focus on those kinds of things.”
Learn from Failure
Carlos Slim Helu (Telmex Chairman & CEO) suggests that we should always treat every opportunity as one to learn. Whether success or failure, we must always learn. Naturally, as humans we tend to remember more about our failings in life so why not take advantage of this and take lessons from each to make your successes regular
“When we face our problems, they disappear. So, learn from failure and let success be the silent incentive.
Bringing it all Together
The advice passed on from this generation of been there and done it business leaders helps by offering us a platform to build our success on. The advice is:
- Relentlessly Focus on Your Own Development
- Think Long-Term
- Be a Missionary and Stay Motivated
- Think Like a Hacker
- Be Aggressive with Acquisitions
- Never Stop Learning
- Follow a Proven Management Style
- Stay Ahead of the Competition
- Focus on Consumer Tech
- Learn from Failure
About Stephen
Stephen Baines is a Senior Management Consultant and MBA currently working for Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and pursuing a number of external entrepreneurial ventures. The views within this post are explicitly those of Stephen and have no representation of any organisation Stephen represents. If you wish to contact Stephen, please contact him via LinkedIn or his Twitter handle (@baines1986).
Read more about Stephen at Stephen’s personal website
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