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Business Rule #1:
Step Up and Make a Decision
September 9, 2004
(PAGE 2 of 3)
You can’t expect to be a valuable employee if you don’t step up to the plate, take a few hits, and make yourself useful. Think about it: what do you contribute to the company or group? Can you honestly say that you’re instrumental in keeping things humming and moving along? Do you work wholeheartedly or half-heartedly? Are you just going through the motions and hoping no one will notice? The only person you ever fool is yourself. You can’t fool others—and you certainly
can’t fool me.
Decision making is a key part of "stepping up." Like Trump says in tonight’s episode, "You can make a good decision, but if it takes too long, who cares? If you make a quick decision and it’s the wrong one, you’re going to be fired." It’s that simple. You’ve got to hone your business mind to make split-second assessments and rapid-fire choices that are in concert with your business plan.
You do have a business plan, don’t you? If you don’t have a plan, then all those important judgment calls, which you’re bound to have to make, just become that much harder. Bradford didn’t have a plan and took a dictatorial approach with the women. While his intentions may well have been in the right place, he just wasn’t able to make his points and rally his team around him as a natural born leader would. You can never go on a power trip like he did, unless you’re truly in control. Control your situation. Control your environment. Be the commander of your field. Generals motivate their soldiers; they inspire them when it is necessary. We all need a boost now and then. Get to know the personalities that you’re managing and learn to tailor your method accordingly.
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Case in point: I was structuring a deal to purchase 200 acres of undeveloped land in the suburbs of Chicago for a mere $30,000 per acre, making it a $6 million deal. An absolute steal when you think about it. I knew I had the cash not only to purchase the land but also to build my first home on it and have enough left over for the advertising necessary to pre-sell the rest of the lots. I quickly resolved all of the zoning issues and got all of the needed approvals from the local city commissions. Just two days before closing, the land owner calls me, saying he wants to raise the price of the parcels to $50,000 per acre.
I held the phone, knuckles whitening, completely dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We had an honorable deal on the table and now, several months into it, he tells me he wants to increase the price of the land by an astounding 40%, making the deal a cool $10 million.
Most people would have freaked out and stormed out of the deal. Even my ordinarily calm and staid attorneys were losing it, but me, I kept my wits about me. We sat down at his office and I said, “Listen, I’ve got a vested stake in this property now. We agreed to the purchase price months ago and I’ve gotten my financing in place and have the permits in hand. Why be greedy?”
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You’ve got to hone your business mind to make split-second assessments and rapid-fire choices that are in concert with your business plan.
