The Personal MBA: A World-Class Business Education in a Single Volume

After persevering in the face of adversity and vanquishing the foe, the Hero receives a mighty gift or power, then returns to the normal world to share this knowledge, wisdom, or treasure with the people. In return, the Hero receives the respect and admiration of all. Your customers want to be Heroes. They want to be respected and admired by all, t

The test drive is used to sell cars all over the world for a very good reason: it works.

As you develop your offering, you can’t avoid making choices between competing Alternatives. Should you add a particular feature, or not? Should you optimize for market A, optimize for market B, or attempt to please both?

People don’t buy quarter-inch drills; they buy quarter-inch holes. —THEODORE LEVITT, ECONOMIST AND FORMER PROFESSOR AT HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL

Nobody—no matter how smart or talented they are—gets it right the first time.

Using Amortization to figure out whether or not a big investment is worth it is smart—just remember you’re making a prediction, and proceed accordingly.

All human relationships are based on Power—the ability to influence the actions of other people. We can never control people in the sense that we’ve discussed in the section on Perceptual Control—we don’t have direct access to the inner processes that make people do the things they do. All we can really do is act in ways that encourage people to do

don’t expect skills that aren’t related to the Five Parts of Every Business to be economically rewarded. Find a way to use them to create Economic Value, and you’ll inevitably find a way to get paid.

If you don’t have a plan, your actions will be determined by someone else. By refusing to make the effort to move in the direction you think is best, you’re ceding Power to those who do have plans. Refuse to understand that Power is important, and you’re likely to find that any influence you have rapidly disappears. The only way to win is to decide