I’m always interested to see how successful people think and to learn how they go about building competitive marques. In 2009 – 2010, in the course of working alongside Alex and the crew at Milk on Will to Win, a history of the Pryde Group and its brands, I spoke with Neil Pryde many times.
On a number of occasions, he talked about how he approaches running a global business. I thought I’d take a moment this morning and share with you the philosophies Neil shares in the book:
1. Strike the right balance between measured risks and natural optimism.
2. If you look back at your career and you’ve made more good choices than bad, you’re ahead.
3. Love what you do – but not too much. Too many businesses are wrecked by emotional decisions.
4. Be paranoid. Recognise that nothing is static. React quickly.
5. Never forget that sport is the business, and the business is a sport – always, play to win.
6. Always be prepared to walk away. If you’re going to fail, make sure you fail fast and move on.
7. Document. Everything.
8. One of the great myths of delegation is that you give away control. Never give away control.
9. Don’t carry. Be profitable at every step in your business. It’s part of the discipline.
10. The best relationships happen face to face. Technology hasn’t changed that.
11. Costs are opportunities. In a manufacturing business, over half your product costs are in your materials. Every percentage point you can save on materials makes you more competitive.
12. Plan as much as you can. Even though most plans seldom survive their first contact with reality, that’s still a whole lot better than having no plan at all.
13. Don’t burn bridges. It’s amazing how people you think you’ve said goodbye to can come back into your life, sometimes in the most surprising ways. You need to be able to work with them the second or third time around as well as you did the first time.
If you’d like to get your hands on your own copy of Will to Win, it’s available online.
