by Dusty Farrell

My son is a business consultant. The company he works for is a middle market financial consulting company working with businesses which have lost their way and for any reason they are in big trouble and everyone is scared, lost and angry because of where they have found themselves to be. He is 28 years old and working alone until last week with a defense contractor that is in huge turmoil. The CEO has delivered unto him his complete confidence and has even offered him the title of Chief Financial Officer. Son has little business experience but he did graduate in the top ten percent of his class in college. Most of the board of directors have complete confidence in the kid who has been sent by his bosses and the owners of the company he works for to do a huge job. He thinks he can do the job.

I hope you are wondering how this can happen to someone so young. I can tell you it is because of his attitude. He grew up from a very young age in the family businesses and the attitude of being a person who has answers or can get answers was imparted to him. I can’t take credit because I did not do that for him on purpose. I see it now only because I have grown as well. He is self reliant including knowing when he needs help and how to find those qualified. He scares me now, I know if I tell him about a deal, I better have all the information I can find and be able to describe my interpretation thereof.

Any person can open the most fail safe enterprise on the planet earth and success comes down to what Henry Ford said:
If you think you can’t, you’re right and if you think you can, you’re right.

If you have a job, that environment has created a mindset in you. Everything you hear will be interpreted accordingly. I or the greatest business person ever born can tell you how to do business and you will see that information the only way you know how based on the experience of your life thus far. I tell people that my way of doing business is not the only way, but it is the only way I know. So it is with us all.

If you already have a business, it is affected by the education derived from your life experiences. Do you know enough to be extremely successful? No, not now, not ever. You can’t educate yourself with the goal of finding what worked for someone else and just implementing that without your own insight. New material must soak into you and become a part of who you are and thereby changing how you operate. Exposure to proper information will change what you see and how you interpret circumstances.

Most people are insecure and do not like anyone who would expose their weaknesses.

Do you know who has information which is vital to your uninterrupted improvement?

Competition!  Right, you need to know what weaknesses your competitors see in you’re operation. You should hope for smart competition.

Read The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt. Challenge your self imposed limits.