Excel = to go beyond; set limits; surpass
Most of us – if we’re completely honest with ourselves – would love to take our working lives to new heights.
We’d love to UP! the way we feel about ourselves, UP! the way we get on with others, and UP! what we achieve in business …
And this is where this book is designed to help.
Business Gen!us will introduce you to a variety of innovative and insightful mind tools for enabling you to soar above the ordinary to reach the extraordinary.
With this in mind, each section will start by looking at a specific Block and Limitation that can often hold us back and stifle our potential.
Then, more importantly, you’ll be provided with some Useful tips and Escape strategies to free your Genius so you can rise above, and glide beyond, what’s standing in your way.
And that’s why it’s no coincidence the cover of this book is BLUE.
Before we begin this upwards and onwards ascent, however, let’s be brutally honest about one thing. At the end of the day:
‘Our attitude determines our altitude.’
Stephen Covey (business leadership expert and author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
Coco Chanel, for example, could easily have thought, ‘I don’t have the resources to excel in business’ (having grown up in the 1880s in a humble poorhouse in Saumur, France). But she didn’t. As a result of her Business Genius attitude (or UP!titude as we call it) she went on to become the world-famous fashion designer we know today. Added to this, thanks to her amazing resourcefulness, Chanel No. 5 is now regarded as one of the best-known, and best-loved, perfumes of all time.
Similarly, Mark Zuckerberg could easily have thought, ‘I’m too young to excel in business.’ But he didn’t. As a result of his UP!titude, the founder of Facebook became the youngest self-made billionaire in business history in 2007, at the age of only 23!
Or, consider Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. He could easily have thought, ‘I’m too old to excel in business.’ But he didn’t. As a result of his UP!titude, the vintage entrepreneur (who, by this time was already in his mid-60s) massively boosted his tiny pension by franchising his secret recipe to food outlets across America.
So, whatever line of work you’re in, and whatever improvements you’re keen to make – from services to products, effectiveness to efficiency, or productivity to profitability – please be aware that Business Genius is ultimately linked to the way we think.
We’ll cover this in more detail as we go.
Right now, however, let’s be brutally honest about one other thing: the phrase ‘Business Genius’ invariably means different things to different people (from wealth wizard to management guru) …
Within the context of this book, however, it simply means this:
Smarter thinking, smarter working
Here are three different examples to highlight why:
1 BUSINESS GENIUS AND THE WORLD OF ARCHITECTURE
During the 1920s, the architect Albert Moore was asked to design a showcase building for OXO (the beef stock company) bang in the heart of London. But there was a problem.
Back then the City of London had strict advertising laws and was determined to prevent any company from drawing too much attention to itself.
So what did Moore do?
Well, instead of promoting OXO on large billboards or illuminated signs – which he knew would have been turned down, or pulled down, by the authorities – he decided to integrate the word OXO into the brickwork of the building itself!
Consequently, for anyone looking up at the windows of the Art Deco OXO Tower, the geometrical shapes of a circle on top of a cross on top of another circle looked ingeniously similar to the business name he wasn’t allowed to make too noticeable.
What made Moore’s approach even more of a stroke of Business Genius, however, was that years later – long after the building was sold off – it still continues to promote OXO on the South Bank of the River Thames. Why? Because the Tower became such an iconic landmark it’s now registered as a grade II listed building, which means nobody can pull it down, even if they want to (without the appropriate legislation to do so). Genius!
2 BUSINESS GENIUS AND THE WORLD OF BASKETBALL
Many moons ago, in the USA, a group of Chicago basketball players – called the Savoy Big Five – impressed and entertained crowds with their amazing basketball tricks.
However, the challenge was that, although they were big (in terms of height), they weren’t yet big (in terms of commercial success). And that’s where the Business Genius of Abe Saperstein helped to make a big difference.
Saperstein recognised that talent alone isn’t always enough in the big wide world of business. Consequently, he helped the Savoy Big Five to ‘monetise’ their talent by giving them a new look, and a new name, so they could appeal to a much bigger audience.
Firstly, he used smarter thinking, smarter working to rebrand their outfits (adopting the all-American colours of red, white and blue).
Secondly, he used smarter thinking, smarter working to come up with an ingenious brand name that sounded both distinctly African-American (Harlem) and internationally successful, too (Globetrotters).
Consequently, the Harlem Globetrotters rose to became ‘the most famous basketball team in the world’. And, added to this, in 1971 the 5 ft 5 in Abe Saperstein became the smallest man ever to be inaugurated into the Basketball Hall of Fame!
3 BUSINESS GENIUS AND THE WORLD OF CARS
Forgive me if you know this example already (because it’s been around for donkey’s years), but its underlying message is as relevant as ever.
Back in the 1960s the car hire company Avis was, yet again, struggling to compete with its arch-rival Hertz. Hertz was the undisputed No. 1 in the marketplace, and not only had a much bigger fleet of cars but also had a much larger revenue to play around with. So what could they do?
Well, thanks to a flash of Business Genius inspiration – which took place when Avis’s President Robert C. Townsend met up with Paula Green and Helmut Krone of the ad agency DDB on Madison Avenue, New York – they used smarter thinking, smarter working to surpass this tricky problem.
Up until that point it was assumed that being No. 2 was naturally inferior to being No. 1. But then they started to challenge this assumption and reverse this logic.
Suddenly it dawned on them that being No. 1 in a business (again and again and again) often can lead to complacency and arrogance – much like Aesop’s fable of The Hare and the Tortoise – whereas being second often can mean you’re inclined to try harder.
As a result of this cunningly clever twist of thought, Green and Krone went on to launch Avis’s legendary ‘We Try Harder’ campaign, which attracted many new customers to the car hire company they perceived as having their best interests at heart. Or, to be more specific: ‘In just one year, the campaign literally changed the fortunes of the company. Prior to the campaign, Avis had just $34 million in revenue and losses of $3.2 million. One year later, revenues had jumped to $38 million and, for the first time in 13 years, Avis turned a profit of $1.2 million’ (www.avis.com).
Ultimately, then, Business Genius is all about using our little grey cells (as Hercule Poirot would say) to add extra value (smarter thinking), and to work out smarter ways of working (smarter working) …
So, if you want to experience more Genius moments in the work that you do – whether it’s finance in Frankfurt or sales in Shanghai, PR in Paris or HR in Houston (or social enterprise, marketing, IT, retail, training and development or whatever) – please remember it’s not what you do that usually matters most, but how you go about doing it!
Or, to be more specific:
- How we see (like Albert Moore with his OXO Tower).
- How we strategise (like Abe Saperstein with his HGT).
- How we strive (like Avis with its ‘savvy’ ad campaign).
As we’re curiously about to explore …
‘Be curious. A successful person is always going to be curious.’
Donald Trump (‘Real Estate Titan’ and author of Think Like a Billionaire)