You have an opportunity to make an impact, and you have about 80 years to do it. GO!
— Tim Draper #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Social impact is exactly the reason why the earlier leftist Narayana Murthy got convinced that business was the way to go:
As a child who grew up under the larger-than-life presence of Nehru, a socialist, it was very easy for me to be a sympathizer with socialism and communism leaders who rode the bandwagon of anticolonialism.
But I realized that the only way societies could solve the problem of poverty is through creation of jobs with good income and that entrepreneurship was the best instrument for such a solution.
You can’t create wealth by sharing poverty. There is no way you can do that miracle. Not even by the magicians of communism.
This became Narayana’s main motivation in business.
I am driven every day to go to office at 6 a.m. by my belief that the only way we can solve the problem of poverty in this world is through the creation of more and more, better and better income jobs. The fact that God has given this opportunity is my main motivation.
You can’t create wealth by sharing poverty.
— Narayana Murthy #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
All of my interviewees have significant positive impact on our world. They touch the lives of millions through their products, their employees, or their philanthropic activities.
Motivation Changes
Of course, your motivation changes as you grow as a person.
Cai Dongqing’s motivation changed from taking care of his family to doing something of value for society through his company:
The initial motivation was my desire to change the destiny of my family and the strong sense of responsibility to take care of my family and little brothers. Later on, in view of several successful strategic transformations of the company, Alpha is gradually forging ahead in China’s pan-entertainment industry. Looking forward, I hope the company will be able to have a far-reaching influence on people’s lives as we consistently bring dreams, joy, and wisdom to the world, which I think is the source of motivation along the way.
Kim Beom-Su dominates the modern communication channels in Korean society with his mobile messenger Kakao. His motivation shifted from success oriented to impact oriented:
There are two main stages. The first stage, when I started Hangame, I was interested in success, making a lot of money, achieving success, growing the company, etc.
Today, Kakao is doing what’s called social impact, where we use our influence to bring about meaningful change in society, and this is the main motivation. What’s so unique about Kakao is that it can influence the whole nation, even more than a government can. It gives me a sense of responsibility.
Mohed Altrad is humble also when talking about his motivation:
Very often it’s personal. You are a foreigner, you are not from this country. And although you have a French passport, you’re still a foreigner. I feel very strongly you have to prove, maybe 10 times more than a normal French person, I might say, that you earn your place in this country. And also prove it to your family and friends.
If everybody would only prove that they deserve their place in society, how much better would the world be?
What Is Your Why?
“Live life for a very good purpose” was the most valuable advice that Ron Sim has gotten in his life.
You are here for a purpose. Find it and do your best out of your life.
That’s how Naveen Jain looks at life:
I’m not a religious guy, so I kind of see life as: “You must be here for a purpose.” So if you are here for a purpose, you’ve got to maximize and be as useful as you can be, and make something out of nothing for yourself, for your family, for your friends, for your people. And leave something behind that probably people can learn from.
Sometimes, a purpose comes naturally to your life, especially for migrants like Jack Cowin, who came from Canada to build his life in Australia. “When you arrive in a new country, you just have to be successful. You just don’t relax and go to the beach. You’re there for a purpose, and you have to get established, and you don’t have all the friends and family and things like this that you do when you grow up, wherever you grow up. I often think if I’d stayed in Canada, what would have happened to me? As to whether or not I would’ve gone.”
Finding a purpose is as simple as finding out what you want and following it.
Manny Stul, the later World Entrepreneur of the Year 2016, at some point in his life knew he wanted to go into business.
From my experience at the bank, from my experience at auditing, from my experience at pulling beer, etc., I knew I didn’t want to work for somebody else. I’m not talking about other people, but for me, I wasn’t going to be successful working for somebody else.
To start a business, he needed some capital.
So I got a job on a construction site in the northwest of Australia for nine months. I wanted to raise some money, and that was the quickest way of raising money because it was high wages and nothing to spend your money on, except alcohol.
You live in these dongas, which is basically a tin shed. It’s very hot up there. Everything was red dust. If there was any sort of wind, you’d go into the shower, and by the time you got back to your donga you had red dust on you.
We were building a ship loader for Dampier Salt. I was an office manager there.
Saved up about ten, twelve thousand dollars, then came back to Perth to start up this gift company.
Is there a method to find out what you want to do in business?
Chip Wilson says, yes. It’s called the Hedgehog Principle.
You draw three overlapping circles. In the first one, you put all the things you are passionate about. In the second one, all the things you are or can be very good at, if possible the best in the world. And in the third one, all the things that can be profitable. In the intersection of these three circles, you will find the things that in your case are viable for a sustainable business venture. Choose one as the one you want to do and go for it!
And what’s your motivation, my dear reader? Are you out for money or is it something else that drives you? Find your purpose, follow it, and avoid the gold digger’s trap if you want to stand a chance of reaching billions.
- Drifters want to have income and never achieve personal wealth.
- Millionaires want to have personal wealth and lose their motivation when they achieve it.
- Billionaires are motivated by other things than personal wealth, they have a strong sense of purpose, and they never lose their motivation to grow.
For more stories on this topic, go to:
http://TheBillionDollarSecret.com/resources
CHAPTER 6
The Six Skills of Business Mastery
Force has no place where there is need of skill.
—Herodotus
Billionaires are by no means ideals. They have their weaknesses and vices just like you and me. They just have the right set of skills, the right habits, and the right mindset that make them so extremely successful in business.
Take Lirio Parisotto. He’s always had a problem with keeping a diet and losing weight. Don’t get me wrong; he isn’t obese or fat, but he has more weight that he would like to. He told me jokingly: “It’s not difficult to make a lot of money. What is difficult is to make a lot of money and not put on weight.”
As Cai Dongqing, the Walt Disney of China, said, “whether millionaires are able to continue their success into the next stage has a lot to do with their mindset, knowledge, personality, and skills.”
So, if you want to step up your game, make sure you develop the following six universal skills of business mastery that you will need independently of the industry.
Skill 1: Logical Thinking
It’s quite obvious that in order to do business you need common sense, but this skill can’t be missing in this list. You absolutely need to think logic
ally. Realize that your brain is your most valuable asset. And the better you can use it, the further you will get.
When I asked billionaires about their strong points, they almost unanimously gave common sense or logical thinking or the combination of these two in their answers.
Logical thinking is the first of the four qualities of a successful businessperson that Sergey Galitskiy provides (the other three being dreaming, taking risks, and diligence). And of course the faster you can think, the better. Playing chess in his youth helped Sergey to develop proficiency in thinking logically quickly.
And Manny Stul, the World Entrepreneur of the Year 2016, when asked the same question, told me: “I think common sense is a huge factor. Again, it’s not about formal education. You can’t be taught common sense.” You need to develop it yourself.
In business, you deal with numbers, so you better be good at counting.
“Scientific mind definitely helps; counting is one of the basic and universal skills that are useful in many areas,” says Michał Sołowow, the wealthiest person in Poland. “This world is based on numbers. A success in business is about numbers. You know, mathematics is also—on a humanistic level—in major part, a formal logic. If you know mathematical functions, then you also have ability in logical reasoning, arriving at conclusions.…”
Jack Cowin told me, “You have to be able to count, so that you don’t run out of money.”
Skill 2: Understanding People
You do business with people. You can’t be successful in business unless you understand people. You need to understand what drives them and what triggers their emotions. Other people can be your greatest obstacle or your vehicle to success. Learn to cope with them.
You can’t be successful in business unless you understand people.
— Rafael Badziag @BillionairePal #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
When I asked Jack Cowin what determined his success, he answered:
Probably the ability to understand people, what they want, how you enable them to achieve their goals while at the same time helping me achieve mine. So how do I get you to say, “Okay, I’m prepared to spend 5 or 10 years of my life trying to take on this project and make this work,” which helps me get to where I want to go, and understand how I’m going to frame that and how I’m going to reward you, where you’re going to live, what you’re going to do. If I had one element of success, that’s probably what it is.
Other people can be your greatest obstacle or your vehicle to success. Learn to cope with them.
— Rafael Badziag @BillionairePal #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
For Michał Sołowow, “the ideal combination for a businessperson is someone who can count and has light humanistic or psychological-sociological cravings. A person who naturally interacts with people must recognize their behavior, signals that they respond to, and with time indeed becomes a psychologist.”
The ideal combination for a businessperson is someone who can count and has light humanistic or psychological-sociological cravings.
— Michał Sołowow #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Some billionaires even went so far as to study the human mind in-depth at the university, like Lirio Parisotto:
I don’t think you’re successful in business unless you understand people. One of my favorite subjects during medical school was psychiatry. People say, “Oh, did you do accounting? Did you do finance?” And my answer is, “No, I didn’t. You can hire accountants, you can hire lawyers, you can hire professional people.” Business is all about people. How do you get them to do what you want them to do? How do you reward them? How do you make them feel good about themselves? How do you get them to accept the direction?
Business is all about people.
— Lirio Parisotto #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
But only understanding people is not enough. You should be able to see things from other people’s perspective, empathize with them.
According to Sergey Galitskiy’s business partner, Vladimir Gordeychuk, “Sergey can put himself in the shoes of another person, and he feels and sees and gets people very well. And that allows him to use the energy of other people in a correct way and guide them correctly.”
Manny Stul learned to read people before he went into business by playing cards. He gambled a lot. Five-card stud was the game.
I made a lot of money. No, it wasn’t through counting cards. If you sit there long enough, you understand the way people behave.
There’s a joke about a dog playing cards with his owner. The guy watching can’t believe it. The dog gets five cards, and he throws in three and he asks for another three, and he’s sitting there and he’s gambling with the owner. The guy sees this happen two or three times. He says to the owner, “That has got to be the smartest dog I’ve ever met.” The owner calls him over and whispers in his ear, “He’s not that smart. Every time he’s got a good hand, he wags his tail.”
Most people, nearly all people, when they’ve got a good hand or they’re unbeatable or if they’re bluffing, they’ll wag their tail.
If you watch them long enough—it takes a long time—they’ll have certain things. They’ll play with the money in front of them, they won’t play with the money in front of them. They’ll pick up a lighted cigarette, they won’t pick up a lighted cigarette. They’ll look you in the eye, they can’t look you in the eye. They’ll start talking, they talk a lot, or they become very silent. It’s a study in behavior. If you study it for long enough, people do certain things when they are unbeatable, and people do certain things when they’re bluffing. I’m talking about the regular guys.
The professional guys wear glasses and a hat and they just sit there and do nothing. You can’t read. There’s nothing to read.
I certainly understand people in terms of dealing with them. You don’t always get it right, of course, but most of the time I can understand the situation. I can understand what’s going on. I can understand intuitively whether somebody’s telling the truth or not. Very important. Very important to be able to read people. And I try these days not to do business with people I don’t like or I don’t trust. I sure as hell won’t invest with them.
Skill 3: Relationships
Doing business means building relationships with people. This has always been among the skills that the interviewed billionaires named as essential for a businessperson or that had made them successful.
Naveen Jain, who built several billion-dollar companies, explains it in simple terms:
To me, everything is done by people. If I want to do business with IBM, I never look at IBM as a company because there is a person who you’re talking to. And you need to understand and build trust with that person. And that person represents the company.
Most entrepreneurs go wrong because they say, “I want to do business with IBM.” And they don’t realize these companies are entities that are hollow. It’s the person behind it that you really need to know and build trust with. And sometimes trust takes long time, sometimes it takes less time, but there’s just no easy way out.
Look at Sean Rad of Tinder that you just met. I have met Sean maybe three or four times, but we have built this amazingly trusting relationship where we are able to share each other’s secrets and vulnerabilities.
Relationships are the foundation of a sustainable business.
Jack Cowin, who as a foreigner started with zero and made billions by bringing convenient, affordable food to Australia, is considered a people person. His relationship skills are astounding, his friendliness legendary. I asked him about the importance of relationships in business. Here is his answer:
Relationships for me are what it’s all about. Business is about people and relationships. How do you get them to cooperate, do it together rather than against each other. So to me, if there’s one thing that’s important, that’s it: relationships.
How to Learn Human Relations Skills
Human relations skills need to be developed relatively early in life. They don’
t change that much during your career.
Hüsnü Özyegin developed them in high school, where he was in a dorm and took advantage of numerous extracurricular activities, like basketball, volleyball, drama club. That allowed him later to become the president of the student body.
But the most important thing he learned at the university: “When I attended Harvard Business School, there were courses like accounting, marketing, financial management, investment management, management in lending, which I found relatively easy to follow, but I could not understand the course about human behavior in organizations, because I had no experience in organizations. But then during my business life, I thought that was the most important class that I attended. Because that’s a skill which is very difficult to teach, and as people climb up the ladders of management, they learn about technical things more, but believe me, their human relations skills do not change that much.”
Surround Yourself with the Right People
It is important to surround yourself with the right people.
Hüsnü Özyegin stresses the importance of this:
My father always said, “I know you have good grades, but make sure you have good friends.” Who you make friends with, that’s also very important in business. There are certain people you should not associate with.
The people you have around you determine your future. You need to choose them carefully.
Good Relationships
It’s not the size of your network that matters, it’s the depth of the relationships. Invest time and effort in maintaining them.
Dilip Shanghvi doesn’t have a huge network of relationships, “but with whomever I have a relationship, I have a really deep relationship. It’s clearly not about the quantity. But then I will go out of my way to help them, and they will also go out of their way to help me. It’s not possible to do it for a large number of people. Life is too short to fight with people. So build and nurture relationships that you have.”
The Billion Dollar Secret Page 9