Are You a Student of Business?

Posted on December 18, 2006

Many CEOs come away from business presentations only to dismiss them as off point or not relevant to their own situation. They discard the points they heard that don’t fit them at first glance and choose not to reflect on the matter deeply enough to get real value. It only takes one “A-ha!” to turn that 45 minute talk into a goldmine.

He is a student of business. Are you?

Bo Burlingham, deeply involved with Inc. Magazine for nearly 25 years, has spent most of his lifetime studying business. In his third book, Small Giants, he picked a topic to write about – companies that chose excellence over maximum growth. Using the millions of hours of research that he and his peers at Inc have spent over the years, he identified dozens of businesses that could have been a fit for his topic. Then he spent thousands of hours more studying them and writing a book for us to read. He further reduced that to a 45 minute talk to spoon-feed us a few key points. The talk was excellent, as is the book, which I’ve read. Most Alliance members I talked to enjoyed the talk as well.

But I was puzzled at a few comments I heard from my peers. One was, “We’re going to have huge growth next year, so we’re the opposite of what Bo about.” Another was, “Regardless of what I heard this morning [about employees coming first], my customers come first.” I worry that people find aspects of what they heard that don’t fit them at first glance and choose not to reflect on the matter deeply enough to get real value. It only takes one “A-ha!” to turn that 45 minute talk into a goldmine.

Many business writers are students of business. By that I mean that they regularly and routinely seek ideas and business knowledge without a clear monetary purpose. They research and investigate them, trying to synthesize an understanding of what they saw. Whenever you spot one of these types, avoid dismissing anything they write or say until you’ve studied it yourself. There are nearly always elements of truth and value in their conclusions. Study it by reading their book. Study it by debating it in-depth in your Alliance group, or with a CEO peer one-on-one. Make sure someone takes the position of finding how the idea under discussion could be true even if it seems that it is not.

I suppose book authors are supposed to run around the world giving speeches summarizing their book, and that’s what Bo did, too. While I did appreciate hearing those key points, a part of me would have rather seen Bo’s mind at work – studying business. That might have been Bo leading a raging debate on some point that he’s still digesting for the future book he has under way now. I’m guessing that might have been really fun for Bo and the audience, and if were able to appreciate how his mind works, we might all run out and buy all three of his books.

Takeaways:

• Don’t dismiss out-of-hand any advice from an experienced professional.
• New insights aren’t just handed to you. They require some thinking on your part.
• Always be a student of business.