100 BUSINESS WISDOM FROM THE GREATS – 35 of 100
100 BUSINESS WISDOM FROM THE GREATS THAT MAY CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS FOR GOOD – 35 of 100
‘The secret of success lies not in doing your own work but recognizing the best person to do it’ Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was one of the richest men in the world about one hundred years ago. It was said that when he died, they found a note in his drawer which he wrote when he was 19 that he would spend half his life accumulating a lot of money and would spend the other half giving it all away. True to his word, he sold his steel company for 500million dollars when he was in his middle age and gave all the money away. It was said that he had only 30million left when he died and he donated it to charity. He was responsible for most of the libraries in the West because he donated money to build them. He was one of the wisest men that ever lived so I take his quotes very seriously. He was also the one behind the idea of ‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill; one of the most outstanding personal development books of all time. So whether you are an entrepreneur or not; the lesson in this quote is that you need others to succeed at anything and your ability to discern the best person for a job is critical. How do you find the best person to do a job for you? It is not what you are thinking.
I am an advocate for using psychometric test to show the strengths and talents of employees so that you give them the role best suited to their talents. The founder of NIKE in his book Shoe Dog acknowledged the fact that a few of his friends helped him built the company even when it was just a very small company. He talked about Johnson as the catalyst that helped him grow the market for his shoes imported from Japan at the time. Despite the challenges faced at the different times of building the company, these men stood by him and encouraged him to keep going. Today, the company is a multibillion dollars outfit and one of the most recognized brand in the world. He also gives hundreds of millions of dollars away to good causes annually. It is almost impossible to build a company on your own, therefore if you have a team not performing, it is probably they are not suited for the job they are doing; the earlier you find out and change it the quicker your result will change.