Christopher Doran - www.christopherdoran.co.uk

I think this one sums it up for the smaller business owner looking to build a bigger and more profitable business:

“The services of advisors, instructors, efficiency experts in successful management are indispensable to most business enterprises of magnitude”

So who said this and why is it so important?

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Looking back is not a good habit to cultivate but we can all learn from our mistakes. The same thing with past glories, they are just that - past. Again, we can learn from these because they show us what is possible.

I’ve not given it much thought to it but a recent old school reunion brought it back to mind. My parents sent me off to boarding school at the ripe old age of eleven. I surprised myself to discover being quite good at chess. We used to play in our dormitories before ‘lights out’ when, like all good obedient school children we were supposed to be in bed. Of course that rarely was the case but that’s another story.

At this reunion I remembered one term winning a series of all those who could play the game. They numbered twelve in the year and I won all these contests, save the very last one, where I was taken to a draw. Unfortunately for me all these games were unofficial, as there was no chess club at the school at that time, and so there was no prize at the end of this reign.

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Many businesses are tactical in their thinking. No problem with this as such save one important thing - wars aren’t won with tactics.

The way to win a war is through superior strategy.

“What’s war got to do with it - I run a business!” I hear you say. That’s of course true.

Well the answer lies here: Brian Tracey, the internationally acclaimed business coach, produced a work that parallels war and business very well. The two step together in almost all areas of operation. The only difference I can find where they part company thankfully, is most involved in business don’t get killed.

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Buried deep in one of Robert K’s Rich Dad books is a point he made about losing money every time he let his ego get the better of himself. I think this quote summarises this very well.

I like quotations. They encapsulate a dose of wisdom in just a short and quick shot.

Here’s a quotation just collected:

“Most people think one thing when reality is something else” (James Leslie).

True, it’s not the most profound one around, but it does shed some light in that we often can get the wrong end of the business stick.

I was just talking to a leader of a business association, and was learning about what the constituent member’s views were about the current market they are operating in. To a business, I was told they constantly tried to get their members to understand the vital necessity of changing their work and business methods, with the fast changing times. Yet in spite of this virtually no headway was made.

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