The 3 Skills to Succeed in ANY Business
Wouldn’t it be great to have the skills and confidence to succeed in any business?
When asked what subjects he thinks everyone should study before they enter the workforce, GM of a multinational training organization responded, “Simple … arithmetic, communication and human psychology. If people have these competencies I can train them to do anything. I don’t need them to have a formal qualification.”
We got curious and asked him why.
Here are his answers …
“Firstly, it’s arithmetic. I don’t mean rocket science mathematics. Everyone who works is in business. Business is about making sure you deliver value to the market but also stay profitable. If you understand the bottom line and how you contribute … it makes it very easy to; get funding from an investor, negotiate a pay rise, prioritize mission-critical tasks, arrange a win-win situation with clients who want profitable businesses too … I can’t tell you how frustrating it is if someone does not know how their contribution shows up financially. This is business!”
When asked what about the more technical jobs like engineering or software programming, he responded “With a solid grasp of arithmetic people have a strong base to be trained to learn the more complex things. And to run a business you don’t need to be the expert at programming … you are trying to be an expert at business. You just need to know enough technicals so you understand the implications on your business. Again I say, this is business … it’s not a university exam.“
When asked about communication, his response was, “So many problems arise just because someone misunderstood an email communication or misunderstood something someone else said. They’ll say, “Oh I thought you meant…” or “Oh I assumed that …” Something that can be addressed in minutes can end up taking a day. Like a task that has to be done all over again. This happens in business meetings too. A meeting that can be wrapped up in minutes can end up taking an hour.”
He continued to summarize …
“We are in the business of working with and influencing people’s behaviors. Closing sales, marketing, leading teams, managing people … all involves getting someone to do something we want. That means you must understand human psychology. If you know this skill you can always get yourself out of a tight spot–or you can always get help from someone who can help you. This skill is universal … anyone can learn it and everyone should!”
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