Get Smarter: Life And Business Lessons

A review by Andrew Forward, of Seymour Schulich book on improving your personal, financial and business life. Great insight, fun stories and an overall easy read

The Decision Maker

When you have to make a decision, follow this process.

1. Identify the positives
2. Identify the negatives
3. Rate how positive (or negative) each item is on a scale from 1 to 10
4. The postive score should far outweigh the negative score

Know Your Edge

How do you beat Bobby Fischer? Play him at anything but chess

Reciprocity

Give to give, obviously, but know that giving helps you to better receive.

Money's Value Falls 90 % Every Thirty Years

• Keep a good portion of your wealth in inflation sensitive assets including real estate, commodities, precious metals.
• Lock in your debts at low interest rates
• Be skeptical of life insurance. Buy term, and get only as much as you need.

Be a positive person

Duh! "Two men looked through prison bars, One saw mud, one saw stars." (Oscar Wilde)

There's No Such Thing as an Overnight Success

Even Starbucks took 10 years to really hit it off.

Rules for Aging (or Living)

• Nobody is thinking about you. So stop worrying about what others think, they don't really care.
• Avoid swine (merchant).
• Appearance is usually reality
• Envy no one - ever
• After 30, stop blaming your parents
• Never bring news of slander to a friend
• Never expect gratitude - that way when you do get it, it is a pleasant surprise
• Do not self praise, eat some humble pie instead

Be the Promoter, not the Promotee (or Patsy)

One way to succeed in life is to copy successful ideas that other promoters exploit. There are no patents on good business ideas.

Selling

• Once you have made the sale, stop selling
• Never bring bad news to clients
• Don't point out hypocricy
• Fine line between persistent and pest

Track the cash

If your company has more cash this week, compared to last week, things are probably okay. Simple measure, maybe, but effective

Speeches - Ten Rules to Use

1. Be brief
2. Communicate one main idea
3. Create a surprise
4. Use humour
5. Slow it down
6. Use cue cards and look up often
7. Self-praise is no honour - get someone else to introduce you.
9. Never speak before the main course in a dinner speech
10. Reuse good material
11. Use positive body language

Dealing with Bosses or Successful People

A super-ego business goes on a fishing trip. He hires a local guide to find the best spot. After a few hours, the business man has caught nothing and screams at the boy, "Hey, they aren't biting". The boy's reply "They didn't get big by being stupid".

The point? Well, you may think that your boss is a moron, but she got there somehow, and it probably was not by being or doing stupid things. This story will help you to deal with decisions you don't quite understand.

There are 4 types of workers: amiables, drivers, analytics, and dreamers. Drivers work hard and make great CEOs, amiables listen well but can be indecisive, analytics are deep thinkers, and avoid dreamers, they have a hard time getting ideas off the ground.