The Dumbest Guy at the Table

As Eleanor Roosevelt said: ‘Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.’

The problem with common sense is that it’s not too common.

But I would say to them that: IF after a reasonable period of time, you’re not earning at least as much as you would in a job, and you’re not building an asset that you can sell one day, then … don’t waste your bloody time!

So, when you choose a co-founder, it’s essential that you both know exactly what is expected of each of you to ensure that you keep adding value to each other. As your company grows, make sure that you keep re-evaluating how those obligations may change as the challenges of a growing business evolve.

It’s not what happens between 9 am and 5 pm that makes the difference, it’s what you do before and after normal work hours.

It’s doing what you say you’re going to do, every single day. Whatever that may be. Every day I worried about what more we could be doing for our customers and staff.

As a founder, make sure that what you say, you do.

Market awareness is your ability to attract AND retain customers, staff and business partners to your company.

Happy customer is the best salesperson that a company can have, and all it costs is delivering legendary customer service to your existing customers – not a dollar spent on marketing.

You can lose money, lots of it, but you can’t lose your reputation, not a shred of it! Problems don’t just occur with technology. A bad meal served at a restaurant, the wrong package delivered by a supplier, or a flight delayed by an airline – how you respond to these problems will determine the difference between an ordinary company and a great company.

Legendary customer service (or, in the case of Amazon, fanatical customer service) will always be the differentiator in your business.

Sometimes common sense is not common practice.

As a founder, you should always be an HR manager – the way you treat people will filter through the organisation.

If, after a reasonable period of time, you know it’s not going to happen, face reality as it is, not as you wish it to be. Move on! I have worked with founders who never want to say die. They fall in love with their idea and don’t know when to surrender.

As a founder, you have to constantly be thinking, What and who could kill my company? Complacency kills successful companies.

You don’t deserve respect, you earn it – from your employees, your customers, your business partners and your shareholders. The best way to lose respect is when your actions don’t match your words.

It’s nice to be important, but it’s important to be nice. Muhammad Ali famously said that he would like to be remembered ‘as a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him.’

He said that if you want to be happy in your life, you simply need: someone to love something to do something to look forward to.