Welcome to Wise Men Wednesday, your weekly dose of timeless wisdom to thrive both at work and at home.
Create Opportunities By Thinking Outside The Box
I’ve listened to James Altucher’s podcast, and read his books and blog for years. I’ve become quite fond of his unconventional entrepreneurial style and I try to emulate it whenever possible. When his most recent book Skip The Line launched I knew it was an excellent opportunity for me to write a great review to give a little back to him after all he’s taught me. I spent hours reading the book and taking copious notes, then got to work writing a full length summary.
I thought my summary would stand out if I incorporated some of his concepts within it, so I included 10 ideas to sell 100,000 additional copies of the book Skip The Line. These ideas were proven because they worked when I launched my friend Ben Greenfield’s book Boundless in 2020.
I thought, “Why not share them for free and see if they work for James too?”
But remember, it’s important for your actions to be authentic and genuine. What works for others may not work for me. And what works for me may not work for you. The people that can help you skip the line are busy and often have hundreds of people begging for their attention. The best thing you can do to stand out is to be yourself.
I sent the summary over to the email address James often shares with listeners during his podcast episodes.
I never thought writing this summary would enable me skip the line. But only one hour later this email from James Altucher arrived in my mailbox.
James and I were scheduled to have our first meeting only one week later…
Words of wisdom:
“I think most of us who lead make errors by being too slow to act on issues of incompetence, or too fast and harsh. Finding balance is tough, but sometimes leadership is more an art than a science. Most leaders have a tendency toward being too slow or too fast to act. Find your tendency and move two steps in the other direction; then you will see your team culture balance out.
If you are too quick to fire someone due to performance issues you can spread a spirit of fear and you will struggle to build loyalty.
If you are too slow to fire someone due to performance you become viewed as weak or out of touch with operations.
Working this balance to never sanction incompetence and yet give the team member every opportunity to make it is one sign you are becoming a true EntreLeader. When you do this you will see real unity grow along with loyalty. If you want a fabulously unified team and all the good stuff that brings, you will have to work unbelievably hard to avoid sanctioned incompetence.”
-Dave Ramsey, EntreLeadership
Have a great rest of the week!
James Quandahl