I listened to the audio version of this book which is read by Dan Pena himself. I have to say what a legend this man is. He has walked the walk and talked the talk. Now in his seventies he talks about a lifetime of business experience where he has successfully made hundreds of millions in business.
This book isn’t going to be for everyone. Dan is direct talking and can be very aggressive at times but as he says, he isn’t here to make any friends. He focuses on how to run, grow, fund and sell a business in order to make a shed load of money. I found this just the right balance between motivational and actionable. An absolute must read for anyone interested in making money in business
Favourite quotes from the book:
Conduct business on the high plank without a blink of fear, expand your comfort zone
If you don’t think about the future you won’t have one.
You don’t need to know how you’re going to get there but you need to know where you’re going.
Yesterday’s dreams are today’s reality.
You can’t be the best if you’re not trained by the best.
Eagles fly alone.
Illusion is one of the skills of leadership.
Perception is reality.
Illusion is your weapon.
Political correctness is a manifestation of the lack of self esteem.
The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
Pride of authorship has been the death of countless otherwise promising companies because it’s founding father wouldn’t let go.
You use two levers to pry open the doors to super success: other people’s money and other people.
The greed, arrogance and stupidity of others need to be kicked out of your path to glory without a second thought, without a break in stride. Be mentally prepared to battle in court whenever you have to.
The light of powerhouses such as these behind you will cast a hell of a shadow.
Individuals perform beyond their normal capacities when they are teamed with a partner who are better than they are.
The toughest thing about being a leader is that you’re always alone in the lead position.
You can save your company from mistakes the others may make but the others can’t save the company from you.
The guy who said it’s lonely at the top has surely been there, You must learn to be alone without being lonely.
You’re only a leader if you have followers, you can’t make people follow you, they have to want to.
Too many entrepreneurs think of leadership as a static condition. They sit in a position of leadership and assume that by definition they are leading. Any CEO that is not moving his or her company forward is not leading. The word leadership implies action. Leading is convincing others to move. To follow you as you proceed forward in a predetermined direction. If you’re not moving or you seem to be moving erratically as you’ve lost your way, your associates and employees immediately perceive that they’ve lost their leadership and begin to lead themselves in whatever direction they like and I can assure you it won’t be the right direction. World history has proven time after time they’d much prefer to follow a mad man with a clearly defined purpose than a nice guy with no apparent goals. High performance people are often perceived as mad men.
Your perceived madness in the minds of conventional thinkers is a sure sign that you’re on the right track.
Remember Edison. Give your employees the latitude they need to be creative on your behalf. Exponential creativity and imagination by your people will accelerate your achievements exponentially.
Keep your focus on the macro picture and leave the micro management to your staff.
Don’t bring me a problem so we can solve it. Solve it yourself and bring me the ladder
You have three jobs that are all outside the office. The first one is kissing frogs. You got to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince…. Your second job as senior executive is to look for expansion opportunities…. Your third job is to find other people’s money.
Four rules for dealing with staff: 1. Pay your people good money, 2. Never reprimand, 3. Train one or more employees for your job, 4. Never make decisions for your employees once you give them the information.
It isn’t the people you fire that make your life miserable, it’s the people you don’t, if the sad day comes let them go swiftly and finally.
Being careful doesn’t mean moving slow any more than taking immediate action means you have to rush in unprepared and do something stupid.
You have to balance what you get with what you’re willing to give up.
Could the minnow swallow the whale?
11 steps that make the deal:
Step 1. Identify the idea. Step 2. Investigate before you invest. Information is only hearsay until you confirm it. Step 3. Investigate specifics. Step 4. Commit to the idea. Whatever works. Step 5. Make the preliminary decision. Be the cheerleader. Ignite the obsession. Step 6. Continue the investigation. Don’t believe anything. Step 7. Formulate your plan. Step 8. Establish your critical path. Step 9. Never take the smallest detail for granted. Step 10. Execute. Lead from the front. Step 11. Return and re evaluate
(In business) I may be wrong but I’m never in doubt, Share hope, share a dream but never share a doubt.
You’ve got to plan for and expect success.
The fear never goes away. You just deal with it and become comfortable in its presence.
Conflict is part of life. It is a natural phenomenon that results when people act in a pursuit of varying interests, priorities and desires.
Skilful negotiators.. are forceful, persistent, perceptive and patient.
To win (negotiations) you must make the other guys think that they want what you got more than you want what they got.
Knowledge of your foe is your most powerful weapon
Five rules to my side of the table at negotiations
- Suits required
- My place
- My contract
- Nobody leaves until the deal is done
- Everyone necessary must be present
Your place, your contract, your rules. The most successful negotiation is the win-win deal.
If you can’t agree to the point in the deal, say no.
A dramatic exit is always a killer because it’s always unexpected.
Never make an empty promise or an idle threat.
Learn to thrive in the conflict of negotiation, know your foe, master your tactics, enjoy the poker game and win no matter what happens. Create a plan with no safety nets, no escape. Make sure strategy drives structure and not vice versa. Learn to thrive in conflict and become a master poker player at the negotiating table.
Personal chemistry is key, not the numbers.
Questions to bankers for raising finance:
What is your personal lending limit?
Who do I have to go to for an approval on the next level of financing?
What’s the credit limit of the bank?
Are you a centralised loan institution or a branch based lender?
Is your bank presently in lending mode or in a downsizing mode?
What type of ventures do you like to make loans on?
What was the last deal your bank turned down and why?
What was the last five million dollar deal you did?
Can your institution take me to the next level of the quantum leap?
What is your bank’s policy on asset lending versus cash flow lending?
Could you give me some recent examples of companies for which your bank have approved business loans for?
Do you anticipate any conflict with your present clientele in handling my banking business?
Always go with the banker instead of the bank.
Bankers like to hear words like relationship, partnership, long term, mutually beneficial, don’t ever need money, instead you have capital requirements. You don’t call your accountant a CPA or say my chartered accountant.
Delivery skills come with practice.
Since nobody can predict the future, anyone can predict the future including you.
The banker wants to sell you the money,. Never share a doubt, keep the conversation on the positive future not what you’ve learnt from the past.
Bankers will always lend more on audited numbers.
Bankers are not gods.
You would prefer a decisive no to a long drawn out maybe, a quick no is a real blessing.
The end of the year is the best time for a business loan,. Bankers are scrambling to boost their bonus.
Stop worrying cheques on your emotional bank account, fear of failure drops the balance. Fear is false expectations appearing real, my emotional bank account stays high because years of practicing my skills at uncomfortable situations have reduced my fear and anxiety level to virtually zero, I may be wrong from time to time but I’m never in doubt.
You never heard of a high performance individual whine and say well I don’t know if we’re going to make it. Failure is testing. Failure is learning, even if they shred your little business plan which you probably don’t need, and throw it in your miserable face is a positive experience and no reason to damage your emotional bank account. So get moving, make those financial presentations and make some more. You’ll find somebody somewhere to lend you the money to reach your dream.
Money talks and bullshit walks.
The 3 greatest personal hazards you face:
- The depth of personal commitment you require. Your acquisition deal must take precedence over normal personal consideration, you must have commitment of support from your family.
- The total financial risk involved. You must be willing to make a total commitment of your financial resources. To put everything you own on the table.
- The degree of stress you must endure. Sooner or later stress can kill most people.. the fact is life eventually kills us all, life after death isn’t so important as life before death.
If you want a deal badly enough you’ll make a bad deal.
Never apply short term solutions to long term problems, never use operating fund’s to make the equity contributions in a second leveraged buy out. Don’t use short term borrowing to make long term purchase.
Think beyond cost reduction and more sales.
The CEO World is largely populated with careful comfortable founders and owners who were once bold and courageous entrepreneurs, at one point in their lives they snatched control of their destinies, stacked all their chips they had on the table and created or acquired a business of their own. They took a ballsy chance and succeeded. Then recoiling from the shock from their own unexpected success they decided one big score was a lucky break, a fluke and they could never repeat it. So they took up a safe defensive posture to protect what they had miraculously achieved. They dug in and frittered away the rest of their career trying not to lose what they had achieved. Today years or even decades later they’re still dug in.
You have two exit strategy options: die or sell.
Selling is a natural end to a cycle.
You as a company owner need to pull money out of the company to pay yourself.
Never forget the employees who have made your company successful enough to become a marketable item, when you borrow money borrow enough to tuck away for employee bonuses, the cliche is true take care of your people and they will take care of you.
The market, not you, will decide what you get for your company. Not you.
Nobody believes projections or even current figures provided by the seller.
Sell during the next up cycle and get the hell out.
Whether a person is buying a car, a house or a business, much of the decision is emotionally based.
Prior to trying to sell your purpose and joy, paint and repair as needed.
Think of your dream company as a stepping stone, not as the end product of your dreaming. You can grow and nurture it but never develop such an attachment that you can not bare to sell it some day regardless of your best interest.
High performers regard companies as a means to the greater end. That being enormous wealth and total independence to pursue further goals in life.
Conventional wisdom is almost always wrong.
You have to get comfortable with making decisions by realising that every decision is not a Sophie’s choice and nobody is going to die if you screw up. You have to take risks to understand that failure is only a learning opportunity not a social disease. Risk means you are not taking a chance, you are giving yourself a chance for super success. There is absolutely not the slightest hope you will succeed by sitting smack inside the middle of your comfort zone. The more mistakes you make the more action you are taking towards achieving your final goal. Action is the key.
You must focus on the ends and not the means. Think macro and big picture. Executing a good plan right now.. instead of a perfect plan next week or never.
You got to think big. Not only for yourself but for those you take along with you. Your dream must be big enough for everyone to see, like the flag at the front of a parade, like a beacon of clarity that cuts through the fog of bullshit. You must have passion and be obsessed with your dream and the values it represents, when values are clear, decisions are easy.
You can’t just wake up one morning and be successful, you have to practice success, take actions that assume you are successful, act as if you have no limits to your abilities, put yourself in risky situations and work your way out, build your confidence, expand your comfort zone and all the time visualise your dream down to the smallest detail.
Write down your dreams, and read it every day.
Retired success are national treasures we ignore. Claim one for your own.
If you are perceived to be successful people will want to be associated with you.
You’ll need first class accountants, lawyers, bankers and associates… because you can’t do it alone. Get help. Give equity. Don’t hire Prudential so much as attitude. Hire people with an appetite for adventure, then lead them on that adventure. Give them responsibility, enable them to make decisions and mistakes. Pay them but pay yourself, directors and team first.
Forget about plan B or safety nets, fight or die. Commit yourself and people to fight for the deal. Dream as if there’s no tomorrow.
Nothing you can do in a business suit is more satisfying than to out flank a dufus banker, shake his hand and take his money.
There should be no limit to our abilities. In the heat of the most difficult battle with the odds stacked truly against you, you should go in knowing you will win.
Action really is the key to making it big in this world littered with layabouts and armchair dreamers. Anyone can say they want super success. Anyone can set goals for super success. Anyone can dream of super success. But the rewards come only to those who actually do something. Not talk about doing something
Overall: 95%