iBiz

Business Stripped Bare, the third book on my Richard Branson reading palooza. Many of the examples used in this book are a rehashed version of material already found on his previous two books – even so, I would recommend this book to any aspiring entrepreneur. In-fact, read anything about this man that you can get your hands on.   He has the  knack that whenever he enters into a different market, he effectively "changes the rules of the game" within that industry.  This is more than simply being innovative or creative – it is the innate ability to create a whole new paradigm within a business sector where others are just doing business as usual.  There are very few companies that I can think of that have this ability, save for maybe Apple and Google.

His philosophy on business and money is some sort of enlightened capitalism. A real sense of responsibility comes through the pages where he is very conscious that those who have been blessed with success and wealth in life are under an obligation to help fix as much of this broken world as possible. Richard Branson really believes in the power of entrepreneurship in order to fix some of the world’s most intractable problems – This really strikes a chord with me. He also oozes charisma and energy (being known as "Dr. Yes" by some in his team).  I only wish I could clone myself as him sometimes

Tags: Richard Branson, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Business

Screw it, Let's do it

Just finished “Screw it, let’s do it“, the second of my four books on Richard Branson. This guy is an incredible agent of change in every industry that he enters. He seems to be like a walking hurricane that leaves results in its wake instead of destruction. He leaves the Virgin mark on everything he touches – a different way of doing business.

This book is very easy to read, and straight to the point. In a way supplemental to his “Losing my virginity“, it reveals the lessons that have helped him build a global business empire. His formula for creativity is so revealing – he says that he just stays really positive all the time (his staff call him “Dr. Yes”) and ideas just “drop into his head” (!!!!!)

The lessons that he explains in this book are the following:

Just do it!

• Believe it can be done
• Have goals
• Live life to the full
• Never give up
• Prepare well
• Have faith in yourself
• Try and try again
• Help each other

Have fun!

• Have fun, work hard, and money will come
• Don’t wAste time – grab your chances
• Have a positive outlook on life
• When it’s not fun, move on

Be Bold

• Calculate the risks and take them
• Believe in yourself
• Chase your dreams and goals
• Have no regrets
• Keep your word

Challenge Yourself

• Aim high
• Try new things
• Always try
• Challenge yourself

Stand On Your Own Two Feet

• Rely on yourself
• Chase your dreams but live in the real world
• Work together

Live the moment

• Love life and live it to the full
• Enjoy the moment
• Reflect on your life
• Make every second count
• Don’t have regrets

Value family and friends

• Put family and the team first
• Be loyal
• Face problems head on
• Money is for making things happen
• Pick the right people and reward talent

Have respect

• Be polite and respectful
• Do the right thing
• Keep your good name
• Be fair in all your dealings

Gaia capitalism

• Leave the world a better place
• Pull your weight
• Take the long-term view
• Always consider the implications of your actions
• Big victories are made up of many small ones
• Confront the big issues, they won’t go away
• Understand the situation then consider whether to fight and how
• Never lose sight of the end goal
• If something is wrong – fix it

Sex appeal

• Be passionate about the brand and make it sexy
• Use the normal to engage the enemy, the extraordinary to win
• Walk the talk
• Create excitement in everything you do
• If something needs doing, do it yourself
• Look beyond the obvious and put your a$$ on the line

Be innovative

• Nothing is impossible
• Think creatively
• The system is not sacred
• To win you have to break the rules
• Play the hand you’ve been dealt with
• Find another way

Do some good

• Change the world, even if in a small way
• Make a difference and help others
• Do no harm
• Always think what you can do to help

Pow! Shazam!

• Speed is the ultimate competitive weapon
• Be first in the field
• Do it now
• Keep it simple
• Cut red tape
• Keep your eye on the ball

Think young

• You’ve got to challenge the big ones
• Keep it casual
• Haggle: Everything is negotiable
• Have fun working
• Do the right things for the brand
• Smile for the cameras!
• Don’t lead ’sheep’, herd ‘cats’
• Move like a bullet
• Small is beautiful
• Be a common, regular person

Richard explains how his best business ideas always come through having lots and lots of conversations with people – even when he is working through his long to-do lists. He has his entrepreneurial antennae always switched on and ideas are picked up and then developed. I look forward to reading the other two books on this Richard Branson palooza that I’ve embarked upon. Stay tuned for more…..

Richard Branson: Losing my virginity

I have just finished reading this page-turner!  It was a really enjoyable and inspiring read, especially as Sir Richard Branson seems to speak my heart when he writes about social entrepreneurship and of using influence, position, and wealth as a force for good and for change in the world.

Sir Richard seems to be a very remarkable man.  He has the unique gift of being able to impart Virgin’s DNA, its core values, to whatever endeavour he embarks on.  In all of his projects, he seems to have the knack of changing cultures and raising the high water levels.  Just reading his journey from a student activist-entrepreneur to the chief visionary behind the worldwide phenomenon that is Virgin is truly exhilarating.

Like him, I strongly believe that social entrepreneurship provides a way forward for many of the third world’s poverty-related problems.  If you have a heart for the marketplace and for business, I seriously recommend that you read this book – there are tonnes of business lessons in there for you.  If you happen to get fired up with his message of changing the world, then join the movement.

For those of you who have had their interest piqued by my previous post on Warren Buffett, check out this video where he is being intereviewed by Charlie Rose. This guy fascinates me – I am learning a lot from his attitude and reasoning.

Just finished reading The Snowball:  Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, the mammoth tome on Warren Buffett.  The author strips away all the mystery surrounding this intriguing persona to reveal the pure genius of the man.  She gives a thorough history of both his personal as well as business life and also goes into the heavy toll that his family have borne for his dedication to business and investing.

To any student of business or investing the lessons to take away from this book are incredible.  The prudent value system that guides his every decision, as well as his propensity to consider honesty and openness whilst at the same time pushing for a hard deal will benefit any serious student of business.

Some of the insights and dealongs with previous busts and bailouts hark prophetic to our time and current crisis.

Currently listening to a really interesting Podcast from the Stanford Centre for Social Innovation.  It is a talk given by Chip Heath, a member of Stanford’s business faculty and one of the co-authors of a book entitled “Made to Stick:  Why some ideas survive and others die…”

In this podcast, Chip Heath draws on the psychology behind Urban Legends to examine why some ideas become memorable. Urban legends are a really useful prototype for this research because by nature Urban legends tend to be very persistent and durable and they also tend to cross boundaries easily.  This is manna from Heaven for any serious marketer or influencer.  Within the Church, we have to be honest enough with ourselves about the fact that given the degree of “information noise” that people in our societies are bombarded with, we do want to influence people, we do want our message to be credible and memorable, and we do want our message to cut through the “noise” and “stick”.

There are six basic attributes that will allow an urban legend, or your idea, to “stick” and be a SUCCESS.  They must be:

• Simple
• Unexpected
• Concrete
• Credible
• Emotional
• Stories

For more on this, listen to the podcast and check out the book!

A couple of the things really stuck (pun intended) with me from the talk.  One of them was that he described how Saddleback Church were really concrete about who their target person was that they were trying to reach.  Saddleback Sam, and Saddleback Samantha were two fictional characters that represent the profile of the typical person that they as a church want to reach.

Because they have this “person” identified and profiled in such a concrete way, decisions happen automatically in order to further their organization’s mission to reach such a person.  Does my organization have a “Saddleback Sam” identified?:

“Saddleback Sam” is a well educated young urban professional. He is self-satisfied, and comfortable with his life. He likes his job and where he lives. He is affluent, recreation conscious, and prefers the casual and informal over the formal. He is interested in health and fitness, and he thinks he is enjoying life more than 5 years ago, but he is overextended in time and money, and is stressed out. He has some religious background from childhood, but he hasn’t been to church for 15 or 20 years, and he is sceptical of “organized religion.” He doesn’t want to be recognized when he comes to church. (Hunter, 1992, 155)

The other issue was that sticky messages have to be emotional.  The most successful anti-litter campaign in Texas occurred when they identified that male truck drivers were the ones causing the most litter.  Rather than raising fines, or having to police more, the organizers of this very successful anti-litter campaign capitalized on the Texan male’s sense of Texan patriotism by launching the “Don’t mess with Texas!” campaign.  By playing on their hearers sense of identity they managed to secure a much better outcome than by playing on people’s fear of retribution or punishment.  He makes the statement that identity is far more powerful than consequences and that it is far better to appeal to the hearers’ sense of identity and who they want to be than to threaten them with consequences.  WOW – what a message for us as a church.  Let the doomsday prophets take note!!!

I am really digging a series of lectures that I have loaded onto my iPod.  The Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series from Stanford rocks!  Most days see me listening to this stuff being piped into my ear canals whilst I work.  I know, I’m a nerd.  Even if you are not in the business world, this is an awesome resource for anyone in any position of leadership.  If you are a pastor, or ministry leader, or in any ay deal with trying to influence people, you can glean powerful insights into strategy and tactics, successes and failures, from people who have started organizations from scratch, and have then grown and scaled them into something remarkable.

For those of you who are a little lost by all this, iTunes U is a project by the venerable Apple Inc. to take education mobile by offering university content through iTunes/iPods.  The possibilities for this are mind-boggling.  Education will soon be democratized in such a way that people can get a university education whilst flipping burgers in a diner.

I seriously recommend this entrepreneurial resource to everyone.  Head to Stanford on iTunes U and load these seminars onto your iPod.

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Work-Life Balance

One of the lessons that I am constantly struggling with is finding a balance between pouring out into others and trying to meet the demands of a very hectic schedule on the one hand, and finding time to rest, renew myself, replenish and recharge. I am a slow learner by nature…. and more often than not I learn my lessons in the “University of Hard Knocks“.

At the moment I am spread very thin, and I need to consolidate and refocus on one or two “big rocks“, or really important things. I need to keep reminding myself that I cannot boil an ocean – I can only boil ONE kettle at a time! A typical day for me involves responsibilities at home (3 boys and one wife), my career, a degree that I am studying for, two other businesses that I am involved in and a small but very dynamic church that I pastor. Just writing that out makes me want to take 5 and rest.

One portion of the scriptures that is really helping me right now is found in Psalm 126:5,6:

Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping,bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,bringing his sheaves with him.

THE DILEMA
I only used to focus on this verse in terms of evangelism, and sowing the “precious seed” of the Word of God through the tears of compassion, in order to see a harvest of souls. Of course it speaks of that, but another dimension to these verses that I am seeing is that there is a life-balance to be sought and found. The dilema in this verse points to that of a family man having seed. This seed can either be used to provide food for his household, or sowed into his fields – delaying the instant satisfaction of consumption in order to achieve a larger, but future, harvest. This “balance” can be applied to many areas of life, such as achieving a work-life balance.

CONSUMPTION
If you place too much focus on “eating”, that is, utlizing the resources at hand, be it money, time, energy, intellectual capital, leisure, you will refreshed, strengthened and renewed, but ultimately you will not have a “harvest”, a multiplied and compounded increase in benefits, or “rewards” that have cost you the “tears” of expending that energy, investing that time, applying that intellectual pursuit, or delaying that leisure, in order to pursue the worthy endeavour that you are focusing on.

INVESTMENT
The other optiohn is to concentrate your attention on “sowing”. This is all about investing your time, energies, focus and pouring-out ninto other people, projects, situations and your ubiquitous To-Do list. This will “get things done” and you will ultimately get projects moving along, but if you overplay your hand at “sowing” and you do not leave enough seed for “eating” then you will start to go hungry – your strengths will start to drain, and you will eventually become weak. The entire future “harvesting” business is put at risk. To be “Sowing” more than “eating” can only work in the short-term.

BURNOUT or PIPE-DREAMS
On the one hand, many today are in the camp of those “dreamers” who have wonderful ideas and always “eat” and never “sow” into the future. Thomas Edison once said that genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration. The same with any worthwhile endeavour that you are pursuing. “Dreamers” need to apply a boot to their derriere.

On the other hand we have the ever-increasing masses of those who are languishing from “burnout” which is essentially caused by “sowing with tears” much more than you “eat” and gain strength. These are slowly getting their strength and vitality drained away because they are expending much more energy than they are receiving. Compulsive “sowers” need prolonged times of rest and renewal – they need to regain their “strengths” through rest.

Whatever your particular situation is, live out life to the max….. but do not get maxed-out! Find a right combination of activities and habits that will recharge your batteries, and also do those things where you invest in your personal development in order to grow as an individual – you will find one day that it is possible to eat your way to a harvest!!!!

In 1975 Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade and Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With a Mission, had lunch together. God simultaneously gave each of them a message to give to the other: “The culture is shaped by seven mind-molders or mountains in society. If we can influence each of these areas for Christ, we will win the culture of our nation.” Unfortunately, we have not been winning the culture since 1975, but losing precious ground.

Business.. Government.. Family.. Religion.. Media.. Education.. Entertainment

The above video clip touches on a message that has really been re-birthed in my heart as of late. These “mountains” represent spheres of influence that mold, or shape our culture. Whoever takes on these 7 mountains takes on the harvest of nations, and can really aspire to disciple nations. The Body of Christ has almost-exclusively focused on the “Religion” mountain, whereas our western culture is increasingly being shaped through the other “mountains”. It is time to change our focus.

But I must interject a small caveat here……….I have to be completely honest and say that in my reading of this subject, I am taken aback a little by some of the patronizing language coming out of some circles. The “taking-over-the-world” speak does not resonate with me at all ….. but maybe that is a thought for another post. What I really do witness to is the language that is proceeding from Bill Johnson’s pulpit that sees Christians as the salt of the earth who need to be sprinkled into situations and different contexts showing forth the power and wisdom of God’s Kingdom being at hand. Bill Johnson speaks of the importance of not approaching these “mountains” with an agenda to “rule” or “dominate”, but rather to go in really low and humble with a heart to serve and bless and further other kingpins’ agendas. Doors will open when people do not see you as a threat. Humility is so key in this message.

Back on the subject of the seven mountains of influence, I am seeing the mountain of business as a re-awakened dream in my life. In order to provide a little history, when I was a kid I wanted to be priest, or a businessman when I grew up. I believe that even at that tender age my two main areas of calling were already resonating within: church, and business (At six or seven years of age, and raised in a catholic home, I guess that becoming a priest was the closest my mind came to assimilating a call to the ministry). Many many moons later the calling to business was suppressed under a tonne of religious baloney, that only allowed for “ministry” within the context of “church” …. until a couple of words that I received recently powerfully shook this notion. In a “revival chat” video clip, Che Ahn (one of my favourite people in the world), mentions in passing, how people may be called to “multiple mountains” ….. that statement blew oxygen on the smoldering embers of a repressed dream…… that of succeeding in business. WOW! In the recent conference I went to in England he addressed this issue again and actually decreed prosperity and success over those who were called to the marketplace. I receive it all, enthusiastically.

So I guess that my horizons are being incredibly stretched here. On the one hand we are seeing awesome and mighty stuff starting to breakout at Living Waters Church…. and I say MORE! MORE! MORE! We are so hungry to see more!!!! On the other hand I am being challenged to pursue a calling in the marketplace…..and all I can say is MORE! MORE! MORE! I am hungry for more! Can God stretch out your horizons in such a ridiculous way that only He can have the slightest chance of fulfilling the dream? I am letting myself be stretched, and challenged. Bill Johnson says, “you know you have heard from God when the thought is so incredibly awesome and good that you could never have thought of it yourself”. All I can say to these two mountains is….. “here I am”…..”here I come!”

Please pray for me….. I am really getting messed up….. in a good way.