Book Summary - Lessons Learned - Crisis As Opportunity - Straight Talk From the World's Top Business

Crisis as Opportunity is part of the 50 Lessons series. These short books are great quick references from business leaders. Leveraging knowledge is one key to running a highly successful business.

Why is this important to me?

I believe that business and niche markets are the key to the future. The old days of working for 30 years and retiring with the gold watch are gone. It is time to create your own destiny and this book along with others can help you garner the knowledge to do it.

Leveraging OPE (Other People’s Expertise) is a way to cut out 20 years of hard knocks. I know this sounds cliché but it is true. If you proceed with an open mind and truly learn from other successful business leaders than your business will grow.

Crisis as Opportunity has 14 short chapters from key business executives. For the sake of time, I will profile my 3 favorite.

1. Be Alert to New Opportunities – J.W. Marriott Jr. shares the story of their acquisition of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain. He and his management team are always on the lookout for new opportunities. They define exactly what they are looking for and know what fits. Likewise, they know what does not fit which is critical as well. This simple lesson is excellent. When I first got into business, I would ask my dad how he knew of certain opportunities. He said you will know when you are in it. I did not understand this because it seemed so nebulous. Now that I am in it, I do understand it because we came across an industry acquisition and moved on it quickly. This business move was excellent for us and it happened quickly. We would have missed it if we were not open and alert to new opportunities.

2. Change is Good – David Brandon CEO of Domino’s Pizza – David talks about his college football days and practicing for “Sudden Change”. With technology today, things can change on a dime. Preparing your team and practicing sudden change allows you to prepare for it and embrace it when it happens. The key to embracing change is to talk about it and collaborate. The opposite of this strategy is red tape and bureaucracy. Bureaucratic organizations eventually die.

3. A Counter-intuitive Downturn Strategy – Anders Dahlvig – IKEA. The counter-intuitive strategy is planning for bad times during the good times. This means capitalizing your company well. Anders talks about how sales were going through the roof and they understood that it would not last. They expected the best and planned for the worst. When the economy shifted, IKEA was in a great position to expand while the competition was frantically cutting back. Basically, cash is king. Save your money and pounce on great opportunities.

The Lessons Learned series is functional material that will benefit you and your business. I hope you have found this short summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit. Habits form in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is cash is king. 90% of the world today is leverage to the hilt. Conserve and save your cash and deploy it correctly and your business will grow while your competition stumbles.

Book Summary - Lessons Learned - Crisis As Opportunity - Straight Talk From the World's Top Business