Who are your business super heros?

April 18, 2012 By Laura Humphreys Leave a Comment

Thankfully successful business people don’t wear tights and cape, get dressed in a phone box or fly through the air.  But I think all of us in business have business super heroes out there who we truly admire.   Those who have shown us greatness, not just in their business success, but in who they are as people.

I’ve been thinking about this a bit as I subscribe to various blogs, facebook pages and twitter accounts.  What am I looking for?  What is going to inspire me and others?  As I carry out research for my own book about business, I have to ask myself constantly … what makes a really successful business person great and why should I write about them?  What do I love about them?

For me what defines a business super hero is not just someone who has made a lot of money.  But someone who has created a phenomally successful global business that becomes a game changer, that makes a difference to our lives.  And yet, even this isn’t enough for me.  What makes me really put a business leader up there on that pedestal is the quality of caring shown by the individual.  Billionaires who care.  Billionaires who make a difference.  Billionaires who show us all the values that make them a first class human being, not just a first class business person.

With this said, I can name my top 5 favourite business super heroes:  Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Anita Roddick, Robert Kiyosaki and Oprah Winfrey.

For me each of these people represents something important in this world… they show us that you can be wildly successful and in doing so make a difference to millions of people.

Who would you put on your top 5 business super hero list?  And why?

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Watch #Sir Richard Branson talk about #Screw Business as Usual

March 10, 2012 By Laura Humphreys Leave a Comment

“Do good, have fun and the money will come”. So says Sir Richard Branson. We are in the new era of business, where the lines between work and purpose are merging into one. Where all businesses need to be thinking about how they can become a force for good. I love this. Take a look at the video, buy the book. And let me know how your business is making a difference.

 

From the desk of Liber8me. Business mentors and experts in small business exit strategies. Based in Wellington, New Zealand.

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Business should be a force for good. Thoughts from Sir Richard Branson

October 24, 2011 By Laura Humphreys Leave a Comment

Sir Richard Branson has long been a hero of mine and so it was a great pleasure to see him live in Melbourne at the 21st Century Financial Education Summit last night.  What a lovely man and how humble and approachable.  He spoke about  many facets of his life and business career and always with an undertone of hope and expectation that every small business owner can achieve the great things he has.  With a little luck, a lot of determination and the vision to see their dreams unfold.  Here are some key themes that resonated with me from his 60 minutes on stage:

  • Lead with your heart.  Do what exites you and what you feel passionate about. 
  • Get out and give it a try.  Take on a challenge and give it your best shot.
  • A business is really just a group of people.  A great leader will  motivate people to achieve great things.  Motivate people, praise people, inspire people… don’t criticise people.  Treat everyone well, from the switchboard operator (he hastened to add that such roles don’t exist anymore but we get his point) to the senior executives. 
  • Small is beautiful.  Keep your business structured in a way that allows for smaller teams as it grows, so that people don’t lose themselves.
  • Learn to delegate, hire people better than yourself.   And once delegated, don’t second guess them.  Give them freedom, don’t expect them to do things the way you would.
  • Put your people first, your customers second and your shareholders third.  If your people are happy and proud, your business will thrive and the rest will follow. People leave companies out of frustration not for money.
  • Business should be a force for good.   My favourite of Sir Peter’s messages.  As entrepreneurs we know how to solve problems and as such are in a better position right now that politicians to make the changes that need to be made.  If businesses focus on making a difference we have all the resources we need to solve the world’s problem.

Check out www.virginunite.com to see the good Sir Richard is making in the world. 

Richard Branson truly is a man of vision and boldness.  His Virgin Galactic Airlines project to see everyday folk (well those with $200,000 to spend on a ticket anyway!) experience space travel is testimony to his attitude to life.

As he himself summed up, “in life it is more fun to say yes than to say no!”

Thank you Sir Richard for a truly inspirational appearance at the Melbourne event, for vision, your passion and your contribution to our world.  And also for wearing an All Blacks shirt to a conference audience of 2,000 Australians!  A man of courage and humour indeed.

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Business Success.. How do you achieve it? Coffee with Jim Donovan.

May 30, 2011 By Laura Humphreys Leave a Comment

Had a very enjoyable coffee with Jim Donovan last week.  Luckily for Liber8me members, Jim has agreed for me to interview him for the Liber8me online seminar room.  Here’s a sneak preview of  what makes a successful business according to Jim. 

Firstly though, a quick bio on Jim…  a long and stellar career I could go on about but most exciting to me was Jim’s success with Deltec.  A previously successful manufacturer of radio base-station antennas and related equipment, Deltec suffered a serious downturn and strong competition in its existing markets, leading to significant losses.  Jim became a shareholder and CEO instigated a major transformation, with a revitalised organisation (internal retention/promotion and external recruitment), product range rationalisation, and the introduction of smart business processes and “lean thinking” to support global expansion in its new area of focus – advanced antenna systems for mobile phone networks. In 3 years, Deltec trebled turnover and achieved very high profitability, growing to over 200 staff and contractors, with 95% of sales exported to Asia, Australia, the Americas and Europe. At the HiTech2000 Awards, Deltec won the Growth Company of the Year Award, the Award for Investing in People, and the HiTech Company Supreme Award. Deltec was named by Unlimited magazine as one of the best places to work in New Zealand. The following year, Deltec sold its business, brands and intellectual property to NYSE-listed Andrew Corporation (S&P500) for a not insignificant sum.

So you can see why I like Jim’s experience… you know how I love great exit stories, my favourite stories of all!

Here are just a a few of the pearls of wisdom Jim shared with me.  I promised him I’d make them accurate, so I hope I can read my own handwriting and here goes…

Jim believes his strength lies in taking a company with a ‘mess’ and fixing it.  He says that he can see a mental picture of rightness.  He gets such companies to identify their core purpose and offer. What do you offer the world?  Who are you offering it to?  Why would they buy it?  How will you make and fulfil this offer? Then he works out how to transform the mess into a simple clear lattice.  A business must have purpose and design… ‘a business must be designed with greatness in mind’ (My favourite quote of the day).  Business owners must work on not in the business.  The business needs a life and higher purpose of its own.  An owner should be asking how can this business create value for them?  Why are they investing their life energy in it?  What will it do for them?

As business owners, according to Jim, we should “develop a viable designed business that serves a purpose and delivers value for the customers and the owner.” (Many owners forget the last part and focus only on value for customers not for themselves).   Get your pricing right – don’t charge fleet hire rates for taxi services.  Be disciplined.  Hire the right people, train them and trust them.  Put the right processes in to support the business.  At the end of the day if you have a great team and great processes, it doesn’t matter what the product is.  You can re-engineer your product to fit market trends and demands.

My summary… with a clarity of vision, you can build any business to fit market trends and demands. With the right processes and team in place you can take on the world.. and build a business someone wants to pay a lot of money for.

Thanks Jim.  Hope I got most of it right, despite my hand writing!  I do subscribe to everything Jim talked about… as Liber8me clients and those who have heard me talk will know.

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