Business Made Simple

60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution and More

Donald Miller

• Editore: HarperCollins Leadership
• Anno: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781400203826
• Argomento: Business
• Categoria: Leadership

Is this blue book more valuable than a business degree?

Most people enter their professional careers not understanding how to grow a business. At times, this makes them feel lost, or worse, like a fraud pretending to know what they're doing.

It's hard to be successful without a clear understanding of how business works. These 60 daily readings are crucial for any professional or business owner who wants to take their career to the next level.

New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Donald Miller knows that business is more than just a good idea made profitable – it's a system of unspoken rules, rarely taught by MBA schools. If you are attempting to profitably grow your business or career, you need elite business knowledge—knowledge that creates tangible value.

Even if you had the time, access, or money to attend a Top 20 business school, you would still be missing the practical knowledge that propels the best and brightest forward. However, there is another way to achieve this insider skill development, which can both drastically improve your career earnings and the satisfaction of achieving your goals.

Donald Miller learned how to rise to the top using the principles he shares in this book. He wrote Business Made Simple to teach others what it takes to grow your career and create a company that is healthy and profitable.

These short, daily entries and accompanying videos will add enormous value to your business and the organization you work for. In this sixty-day guide, readers will be introduced to the nine areas where truly successful leaders and their businesses excel:

• Character: What kind of person succeeds in business?
• Leadership: How do you unite a team around a mission?
• Personal Productivity: How can you get more done in less time?
• Messaging: Why aren't customers paying more attention?
• Marketing: How do I build a sales funnel?
• Business Strategy: How does a business really work?
• Execution: How can we get things done?
• Sales: How do I close more sales?
• Management: What does a good manager do?

Business Made Simple is the must-have guide for anyone who feels lost or overwhelmed by the modern business climate, even if they attended business school. Learn what the most successful business leaders have known for years through the simple but effective secrets shared in these pages.

Take things further: If you want to be worth more as a business professional, read each daily entry and follow along with the free videos that will be sent to you after you buy the book.

CHAPTER ONE

TWO-WEEK QUICK START

The Ten Characteristics of a Value-Driven Professional

INTRODUCTION

No core competency can overcome bad character.

If we don’t have good character, we are going to fail in business and in life. And we will never become value-driven professionals.

In the end, even if we can make a company money, we will likely lose them everything we made them if we lack character.

For that reason, we are going to start with a two-week dive into the character traits we need in order to add value to customers and the people we work with.

So, what are the characteristics necessary to become value-driven professionals?

Beyond integrity and a strong work ethic, how are successful people different from unsuccessful people? What is it that an individual of great economic value in the workplace believes that a person of lesser economic value does not?

In the end, a person who excels in the workforce really does see themselves differently than the average professional. And because they see themselves differently, they act differently.

As a writer, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with people who offer extreme value to the world. Some of these people are well known, and some you’ve never heard of. But each of them excels in their job. I’ve been able to sit down with heads of state, professional coaches, accomplished athletes, inventors, and social justice heroes. And what I noticed about each of them is they had accepted the fact that in order to add value wherever they went, they would need to embody an uncommon set of character traits.

What follows in the next ten days are the characteristics that value-driven professionals have in common.

And the character traits I’m talking about will surprise you.

This isn’t the same list you’ve read before, a list that starts with being diligent and working hard. When it comes to being successful, those characteristics matter, but these characteristics matter more.

For instance, every successful person I interviewed saw themselves as an economic product on the open market. They each had a strong bias toward action. None of them had a problem engaging conflict, especially when it came to matters of injustice or inequality. Each of them would rather be respected than liked. And there were many more similarities as well.

I call these characteristics the ten characteristics of a value-driven professional.

Who you are as a person is the foundation on which you will build the skills that will translate into tangible worth on the open market.

The great thing about the ten characteristics of a value-driven professional is they can be learned. Just reading them and watching the accompanying videos will begin to change how you see yourself and the world.

Read each entry and watch each video. The first ten days of this book will surprise, inform, and inspire you.

Again, to receive the free daily videos that accompany this book, visit BusinessMadeSimple.com/daily or send a blank email to [email protected].

DAY ONE

Character—See Yourself as an Economic Product on the Open Market

Value-driven professionals see themselves as an economic product on the open market.

How do most successful people view themselves? They view themselves as an economic product on the open market and, as mentioned in the introduction, they are obsessed with getting people a strong return on the investment made in them.

I know it sounds utilitarian to say you should view yourself as an economic product, but this simple paradigm is key to winning at work.

Of course, I am not talking about your intrinsic value as a human being. I’m talking about your value in the ecosystem that is the modern economy.

Here’s the truth. People who are obsessed with being a good investment attract further investment and get to enjoy more personal economic value. When you offer greater economic value within the economic ecosystem, you are paid more, given more responsibility and promotions, and are sought after by customers looking for value. Likewise, those who resist the idea they are an economic product on the open market do not attract economic investment and so do not get to enjoy the benefits that come with giving people a great return on their investment.

Most, if not all, of the people you respect give others a terrific return on their investment. We love the athletes who perform at their best and will pay a premium to watch them compete. We love the actresses and actors who make us laugh or cry and will pay more to watch them perform. And we love the businesses who sell us products that solve whatever problem we bring to them.

Just like one of these high performers, you can become a terrific investment.

When you walk into a room, do people know instinctively they can bet on you?

How do we succeed in life and business? We prove ourselves worthy investments.

In business, your boss (or your customers) may really like you, but in large part, they see you as an economic investment. And there is nothing wrong with that. Some would even say that, when viewed this way, it’s an honest relationship. After all, your friends don’t pay you to be around them; your customers and teammates do.

A dream team member for any employer is a team member who actively tries to get their boss a 5X or greater return on their investment. I know that sounds crazy, but after the cost of overhead and ancillary expenditures, a 5X or greater return on a team member usually means the company narrowly makes a profit. This means if we are paid $50,000 in salary, we should be looking to make the company we work for at least $250,000 so the company itself can stay healthy and grow.

As we grow in our careers and continue to offer value, a good company will move us up and pay us more so we can continue to offer a multiple on their investment.

A smart business owner or team member will always look for ways they can make customers or the business they work for more and more money so that they can continue to be worth a percentage of a greater and greater number.

This isn’t just true for team members. It’s true for me as a writer and business owner. The only way I succeed is if I make other people a great deal of money. The truth is, I only get to keep a small percentage of that money.

So, how do we become ridiculously successful? By making other people absurdly successful!

The hard truth is, any team member who does not get at least a 5X return on the investment made in them is a financial risk. This means when you are chosen to take a position at a company, your boss is literally betting their own career and livelihood on your performance.

The key to moving ahead is to become the very best investment possible. If you are managing a stock portfolio and one stock is consistently outperforming the others, you’ll move more of your money into that stock. The same is true when choosing which team members to promote. Leaders will always move more resources to the team members who give them the greatest return on their investment.

In his book High Output Management, Andrew Grove, former CEO at Intel, said, “As a general rule, you have to accept that no matter where you work, you are not an employee—you are in a business with one employee: yourself. You are in competition with millions of similar businesses. There are millions of others all over the world, picking up the pace, capable of doing the same work that you can do and perhaps more eager to do it.”

Can you articulate your economic value to the organization you work for? If you’re in customer service, are you able to calculate how many sales you save, how much negative chatter you help the company avoid? Do you think the company makes 5X your salary because you show up every day? If so, you’re going to succeed. Everybody chases a good investment and divests themselves of bad investments. Consider that a natural law.

If you own a company, are you able to articulate how your customers get a return on their financial investment in you? Does the paint you sell last longer? Will the yard you cut save your customers time and give them a sense of pride in their home?

If you are an investment that gets a return, you will attract business, responsibilities, promotions, and greater compensation.

Successful business leaders conduct their lives so they are terrific financial investments. You should conduct your life that way too.

Wondering how to do that? The rest of this book will give you practical skills and frameworks that will dramatically increase your worth on the open market. Keep reading and keep watching the daily videos.

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Here’s Today’s Business Made Simple Tip of the Day

Value-driven professionals see themselves as an economic product on the open market and are obsessed with giving people a great return on their investment.

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DAY TWO

Character—See Yourself as a Hero, Not a Victim

A value-driven professional sees themself as a hero, not a victim.

If you asked me to predict whether somebody will be a success in life, I could do so by asking one question about them: How often do they position themselves as a victim?

What do I mean by victim? I mean: How often do they talk about themself as though they are not in control of their life or future? Do they believe fate has dealt them a bad hand? Do they believe other people are responsible for their failures? Do they believe the marketplace or the weather or the stars are conspiring against them to stop them from succeeding?

If so, th...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter One: Two-Week Quick Start
• Chapter Two: Leadership Made Simple
• Chapter Three: Productivity Made Simple
• Chapter Four: Business Strategy Made Simple
• Chapter Five: Messaging Made Simple
• Chapter Six: Marketing Made Simple
• Chapter Seven: Communication Made Simple
• Chapter Eight: Sales Made Simple
• Chapter Nine: Negotiation Made Simple
• Chapter Ten: Management Made Simple
• Chapter Eleven: Execution Made Simple
• Congratulations
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Author