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The Devil’s Advocate

29 January 2016

100 Business Rules You Must Break

I was intrigued by the author’s unconventional business thinking. He dares to break the mold of traditional rules and wisdom, and challenges common concepts to deliver sharp insights and powerful advice to optimize various aspects of your business. Here are some of my favorite tips that I would like to share with you.

 

1. Sleep in your car. One day, the owner of a well-known corporation and an outspoken advocate of lean management, was in a new city on a business trip. As he was looking for a place to stay for the night, he was frustrated with how much the local hotels were charging. So, he decided to sleep in his car instead, living his values and leading by example. What good is it to have strong principles and high values if the top management does not adhere to them?
2. Leave stuff half-finished. The last 20% of any job are the toughest, but often could be easily delegated to others, thus freeing the manager to do things that have more value.
3. Ask the bride to dance. Few people have the courage to approach top leaders or influencers. Yet, if you have a strategic message, go ahead.
4. Sell invisibles. 70% of the value of a product is intangible in the eyes of consumers.
5. Get your face slapped. If you are not failing at least one out of two sales calls, then you are not trying hard enough. Failing provides valuable learning experience.
6. Stop making sense. To capture the attention of consumers, plan for a ‘strategically placed’ inconsistency in your branding or your product presentation. This little extra brain effort on their part will make your product last in their mind.
7. Pay your staff to quit. Offer your new employees in training a monetary incentive to quit if they have doubts they are in the right place, because their lack of commitment to your company may hit you with big expenses in the future.
8. Don’t recruit by experience. It is often better to hire an employee with less experience than an employee who has worked for a competitor and comes with a baggage of old habits and attitudes that might be tough to change.
9. Send your team home. Today’s technology makes efficient long-distance work arrangement possible. Trust your employees, and they will be more grateful and productive.
10. Don’t delegate – abdicate. Delegating responsibility is also about giving away authority that comes with it. Learn to let go!
11. Fire the founder. Once the company has reached a certain maturity level, the founding entrepreneur is not always the best person to ensure further growth. Launch a new project and hand over your management functions.
12. Pay yourself $1,500 an hour. Put your time into the tasks that bring most value rather than fall into the trap of “I do not have the means”. It would be wiser to hire an assistant at $15/hour and free up your valuable time to research new projects that would bring thousands of dollars.
13. Disinherit your kids. Don’t offer them everything on a silver platter just because you have the means. Encourage them to work hard, from the bottom up, and to make a name for themselves.
14. Cry as a negotiating technique. Mistakes happen. When a mistake occurs, don’t try to hide the damage from your customer. Offer a heartfelt apology and suggest remedies.
15. Double your costs, halve your reward. Do it to validate the feasibility of your project. If your business plan is viable even under such pessimistic conditions, you might succeed!

 

“The Devil’s Advocate: 100 Business Rules You Must Break” written by Caspian Woods

 

Sylvie Grégoire, MBA, CRHA

President, Totem Performance organisationnelle