The Law of extreme Ego
Law One: The Law of extreme Ego
Carl Bates writes in his book The Laws of Extreme Business Success about the 12 laws of business success. The first of these takes a look at what we see the most of, the Ego trap of the Entrepreneur. This has to be the number one reason why a lot of businesses never get going or are stunted in their growth. The law states:
Extreme business success requires us to recognise that a business is more about than the personalities within it. It is about the purpose it promises. In business, we draw an important distinction between a craft and an enterprise. The existence of a craft depends on the active involvement of the owner because they represent the expertise required to keep the business going. An enterprise is a business with a promise and a structure that makes it sustainable beyond the person who funded or operated it. When you hold on to being a craftsman and making it all about yourself, you lose the game. To achieve success, you must move your passion from practising your craft to creating an enterprise and understanding that the enterprise is separate from you. This law therefore teaches you to keep your ego in check and in balance.
This book and others from Carl Bates are available here
The Laws of Extreme Business Success
In his book The Laws of Extreme Business Success, Carl Bates writes about the 12 laws that any small ‘craft’ business needs to abide by in order to develop into a sustainable income generating business enterprise. This type of business no longer needs to rely on the owner as the primary source of income or wisdom to be sustainable. So what are these laws and how can they be implemented into your business? We will unpack these over the next few weeks and give you our insight into each law.
To get you started, here are the laws Carl refers to:
- Law one: The law of extreme ego
- Law two: The law of the shareholder wealth creation
- Law three: The law of continuous learning
- Law four: The law of family
- Law five: The law of business as a game
- Law six: The law of rhythm
- Law seven: The law of effective teams
- Law eight: The law of the three hats.
- Law nine: The law of vision
- Law ten: The law of leadership
- Law eleven: The law of transactional giving
- Law twelve: The law of resolution
This book and others from Carl Bates are available here
10 Rules for Successful Startups
If we could reduce all the coaching and education down to a list of 10 simple statements: this is what they would look like;
- Don’t wait for a revolutionary idea. It will never happen. Just focus on a simple, exciting, empty space and execute as fast as possible
- Share your idea. The more you share, the more you get advice and the more you learn. Meet and talk to your competitors.
- Build a community. Use blogging and social software to make sure people hear about you.
- Listen to your community. Answer questions and build your product with their feedback.
- Gather a great team. Select those with very different skills from you. Look for people who are better than you.
- Be the first to recognise a problem. Everyone makes mistakes. Address the issue in public, learn about and correct it.
- Don’t spend time on market research. Launch test versions as early as possible. Keep improving the product in the open.
- Don’t obsess over spreadsheet business plans. They are not going to turn out as you predict, in any case.
- Don’t plan a big marketing effort. It’s much more important and powerful that your community loves the product.
- Don’t focus on getting rich. Focus on your users. Money is a consequence of success, not a goal.
Words to NOT use in Meetings
We all sit in meetings discussing topics of different interests and so often it is hard to keep awake and focused on what is actually going on. A lot of times I start watching others in the room and reading their body language as they struggle with the same issues. This can be a fun exercise, but remember to keep one eye and ear on what is happening so you don’t lose contact and be unable to answer a question that may come your way.
But my pet hate are those little phrases that come up all the time from people who think they are smarter just because they have found a way to work them into a question or sentence they spent hours constructing. Here are some of them. Which are yours?
- At the end of the day
- Back to the drawing board
- Hit the ground running
- Get the ball rolling
- Low-hanging fruit
- Throw under the bus
- Think outside the box
- Let’s touch base
- Get my manager’s blessing
- It’s on my radar
- Ping me
- I don’t have the bandwidth
- No brainer
- Par for the course
- Bang for your buck
- Synergy
- Move the goal post
- Apples to apples
- Win-win
- Circle back around
- All hands on deck
- Take this offline
- Drill-down
- Elephant in the room
- On my plate
Mile Stones in Life
Sometimes we live with purpose, but most times we just exist. The cogs of the world and our daily lives turn slowly together grinding out a mere existence. We look forward to Fridays, pay day and that week or two of annual leave that keeps us motivated to get through the rest. But what sort of life is this?
Life outside the realm of existence gives way to unfathomable achievement, goals and a purpose greater than one’s self. The sense of being able to contribute to the greater good of others has to be the driving force of so many visions and missions for so many people.
All these are broken down to simple goals and mile stones. Milestones derive from those small rocks that were placed outside a town or city marking each mile until you arrived. A sort of countdown to the city gates and safety, each mile you travelled was a mile closer to your goal. Similarly your life’s mile stones should be identified and celebrated when achieved.
With a purpose drive existence we are able to drive not only ourselves but those around us through those darker days and onto new levels of accomplishment.
I am grateful for so many people in my life who have stood by me in days when it all seemed over and done. Those who called and visited when they were not welcome, but still they came to support and encourage. Now today, I have the honour of being there for others to do the same and high-five our achievements and celebrate life.
Today on this 15-05-15 day, I graduate to the second 50 years of my life and do so with such joy and excitement for the next 50 that I can barely contain myself. Life is good and can be lived with more than an existence mentality. Join me in a big high-five for yourself and for our futures together.