Have you ever looked at the world’s Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and the like and wondered how they became so successful? The leaders in business, science, politics and the arts have histories full of struggle, determination and hours of hard work.
However, in the end often the instances and turning points that made all the difference to their success came down to very simple approaches. This simple advice can be implemented in all spheres of business, and can be invaluable to anyone making their way in the sector, no matter what stage they are at.
Here is the key advice from some of the world’s most successful people.
Be Passionate
Being successful in business takes hard work, determination, and a particular set of skills. However, above all else, it takes passion. Without a passion for what you are doing, you will simply not be able to succeed, because passion underpins everything else. According to Arianna Huffington founder of media giant the Huffington Post, “If you’re going to start a business, you need to really love it, because not everybody is going to love it. When The Huffington Post was first launched in 2005, there were so many detractors. I remember a critic who wrote that The Huffington Post was an unsurvivable failure.”
Look after your team
According to Virgin founder and CEO, Richard Branson, it is important to look after your team. In fact, Branson says they should be prioritised over everything else, even over your employees. He’s been quoted saying “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of clients.” Taking care of your employees means looking after their professional development, their needs, and their health and wellbeing. Services like phs.co.uk are indispensible to businesses to help them look after their employees’ health and safety.
Don’t be Afraid to Be Yourself
Melinda Gates emphasises the importance of being yourself, not compromising on the values, and letting your individual style shine through. When it comes to your business or career, don’t worry too much about fitting in. Gates says “Fitting in is overrated, I spent my first few years at my first job out of college doing everything I could to make myself more like the people around me. It didn’t bring out the best in me – and it didn’t position me to bring out the best in others. The best advice I have to offer is: Seek out people and environments that empower you to be nothing but yourself.”
Leaders Set the Tone for the Company
The CEO and leaders must set the tone of the company they lead. This starts with establishing the vision and strategy of the company, but far from ends there. The leaders of any business set the tone in everything that they do, how they act, and how they treat others within and outside the company. According to Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, “Every leader has to create a drumbeat for their company.”
Be Prepared To Fail
The important flipside of success is failure: you simply cannot find great success if you’re not willing to risk great failure. Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder of global ecommerce giant Amazon and one of the world’s richest people says that success in business is all about prepared to fail. According to Bezos “Take risk. You have to be willing to take risk. If you have a business idea with no risk, it’s probably already being done. You’ve got to have something that might not work. It will be, in many ways, an experiment.”
Listen to the Criticism
When you’re building your business, in particular in its fragile early stages, you may not be ready to listen to criticism. There will always be negative feedback, but you may feel you need to ignore it in order to keep motivated and keep pushing for success. However, this criticism is actually one of the greatest tools available to you, as an amazing opportunity to learn and improve. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and undoubtedly one of the most successful business people of all time has said “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
Invest in What You Know
When it comes to investments, the most important thing is to invest in what you know. Investing is all about making the right decisions at the right time and the only way you can really do this is if you invest in areas you know inside out. According to Warren Buffet, arguably the world’s most successful investor, “Never invest in a business you cannot understand.”
This is an article provided by our partners network. It does not reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.
Contributed content
IntelligentHQ Your New Business Network.
IntelligentHQ is a Business network and an expert source for finance, capital markets and intelligence for thousands of global business professionals, startups, and companies.
We exist at the point of intersection between technology, social media, finance and innovation.
IntelligentHQ leverages innovation and scale of social digital technology, analytics, news and distribution to create an unparalleled, full digital medium and social business network spectrum.
IntelligentHQ is working hard, to become a trusted, and indispensable source of business news and analytics, within financial services and its associated supply chains and ecosystems.
