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leadership
old version see, PositionOS. This is now Snide Guide to Business
Snide Guide to Starting a Business
Unless you're going to go wild (no clothes and live off the land), you're probably going to participate in the market system. So, you have an idea for something that the market isn't providing. That's great! That's how the market is supposed to work: supply and demand. Of course, you're not going to over-diversify, because that would dilute your brand and increase the complexity of your business to you and your customers.
So you read up.
People should be able to live without dependency on money -- just as GOD/dess intended.
You have an idea, a space picked out, start-up capital, and are ready to hire employees. But there's a lot more to keeping a business. You'll soon be overrun with concerns you haven't prepared for, delays in supply, or lack of interest.
But don't think that just starting a business is being part of the revolution. It takes more than meeting supply and demand in an economy of spoiled addicts. Any fool can make GDP in a diseased system because it's always in some kind of low-level panic. (Wanna be a doctor?) Don't exploit it.
There are enemies on the path. They aren't other competitors, or banks, or your sister-in-law who thinks she knows better. No, they are tendencies within yourself.
Enemy #1: HowGreatThouArt. You've dominated the market, you have an expensive mansion. "You've MADE it!" Woo woo. That's why they call it the "filthy lucre". This false peak will deteriorate your goals and employees faster than about any other.
Hidden blow: You become a king (or queen) in a castle in which no one can visit or no one wants to visit except for people you loathe. Guided meditation.
Enemy #2: NoClearPurpose. You wanted to open a restaurant because you know what good food tastes like, but pretty soon you get swamped with customer demands and finances that you cut corners and forget why you started.
Hidden blow: You become the Champion on Team Mediocrity and suddenly your market has been taken over. How much did you really master of what you sell? Did you know how to make/service every part of it? The depression of being irrelevance to the global game hit you. You had your business focused meeting revenue over expenses, documented all of your procedures, and everything was running smoothly, except one thing: no one cared. Your customers turned into marks at a carnival and you played them.
What happens when you get defeated by #1: You become another hated capitalist amidst all of your paper success. You have all the money, but none of the happiness. #2: You become a slum employer whom people only work for because they have bills to pay or your back out on the street with no revenue.
The allies are crucibles: conflicting goals that you have to revolve for yourself. There's no book that can guide you how to resolve it because this is what will test you as a business.
Finances: Cheap and Dirty vs. Sustainable and Quality
Operations: Investing in the floor vs. Just getting it done
HumanRelationshipments: Customer is always right vs. Employees Need Support
Product: Quantity vs. Being the Best
Notice that marketing isn't mentioned? Beyond informing people that you exist, good products and services should market themselves. No one likes the clarion call always resounding from every corner of the township. If you see lots of marketing, it's because something's wrong with the product.
The basics: Business Acumen, Logistics, People Management, Product Quality. These are probably the main things you need to concern yourself with.
Check with your local city hall about what you need to start your business. The local development office may also have resources to help you, but may also misguide you, so stay aware and evaluate. Remember that unless you're just scratching some personal itch, that other people are just like you and there're lots of them.
Crafting your core DNA will help you hone your mission and focus. It's called a Statement of Purpose or Notice of Incorporation. If you don't have this, your energies will be pulled every which way and your primary contribution will get diluted.
Don't let legal issues interrupt your ability to contribute: if you've set up your above Statment, if you're doing basic diligence (safety and taxes), the law isn't supposed to penalize people for trying. This is true despite what your local city official told you. Remember those three branches of government thing? If you're being roadblocked because of the Executive Branch (police, city hall, etc), let them charge you with "X" and then go to court and argue how they were impeding your freedom without contributing anything to the public. The law is often too general. Each situation is unique.
If you've conquered the first enemy, you've put your business first instead of yourself and are a respected member of the economic community.
If you've conquered the second enemy, you've made your business a source of excellence and lead by example. Everyone loves you.
Now, when you're ready for the final challenge, move on to self-actualization. Good luck!
The author was once a manager for a university department who failed at it so bad that he left it to study AI. He then meditated on the issue from on top of the All-Seeing-Eye until he became enlightened. Now criticizes the Fortune 100 until they call him to negotiate a truce. \0xDynamite (talk) 15:38, 1 July 2017 (UTC)
By accident or purpose, you're in charge of others. Good leadership is a combination of vision, stewardship, action , and wisdom. You'd better assess the responsibility and risk that that entails, otherwise people get hurt or resources get lost. This guide is a one-page guide of highly-distilled, management experience. If there were a better guide, there would have been better leaders by now.
There are two and only two enemies of a leader:
Grandstanding: Hey you won! But no one cared about that. What they cared about was that you got things done that had tangible benefits to the community's values.
Hidden blow of this enemy? Data overload. If you don't know how to delegate, you will be swamped with minutae. Advice: Try one of the many books about management and delegation or stop trying to lead and be a student for awhile.
Entrenchment: You've worn a track going around with routine ways of handling things. Now you're dug yourself so far in that you can't see over the rut you've made. While the former enemy entices you with ego, this enemy entices you with comforts.
Hidden blow here? Misplaced trust. You've got tons of advisors, swamping you with intelligence and making you feel important but, in the end, no actionable knowledge. Advice: Start small. Try being a mayor or a public administrator. Learn where all the ropes are and how to handle and organize data flows.
Those who get defeated by the first enemy succumb to power and eventually get the boot, perhaps after a very high personal cost (cf. Hitler). Those who get defeated by the second, get shuffled to the sideline never knowing that the limelight has left them in the dark (Roosevelt after WWII).
Don't be the person that makes everyone give up on their organization. Fortunately, there are allies. Read on...
STUB...
There are two allies to help you understand the enemy and perfect yourself. That puts you at even odds with the universe itself.
- Tree of Knowledge: Your brain forms and assembles knowledge along with the collective soul, to avoid repeating past mistakes.
- Failure: That's right. A leader by definition breaches the Known and explores new territory. If it had already been done you wouldn't need to lead. Without the willingness to fail, opportunities waste away from atrophy.
REWRITING...
There are four masteries to perfect yourself. A good leader doesn't shy away from challenges, but dives into them. The crucibles below are two contradictory forces in tension. You have to choose when to utilize each, allow yourself to fail and learn as you go. If you don't allow yourself fail, you won't leave the island of the Known. You mustn't be limited to preconceived rules from reason alone.
- The Decision-Maker: Being Decisive vs. Keeping Attentive
- Perfect-Delegator: Pushing the River vs. Going with the Flow
- Mastery-of-Data: Data Drilling Precision vs. Avoiding Extraneous Noise
- Purity-of-Purpose: Your Personal Accomplishments vs. Making Community Successes
Stay present with these, embody the label on the left, and your community will be guided to success in no time at all.
True leaders have a foundation to stand on. It is not easy to come by such a foundation -- either you need Truth (capital "T") or have a long basis of experience to earn community Respect (capital "R" -- not respect out of fear). A good leader must stay constantly vigilant towards their arena of governance and delegate tasks to maintain that awareness.
When you defeat the first enemy, you become a person-of-action that people are willing to put their full faith into because you're no longer compensating for a lack of ideas.
When you defeat the second, you become a respected authority for the community, knowing that life is too precious and fleeting to waste on comforts and ego.
Along the path, you must master reason (rather than being merely logically consistent or self-righteous), decisiveness (rather than being negligent or passive), integrity (rather than being obsequious or friendly), and power (rather than being vain or weak-willed).
Finally, at the end of this path, when working for virtues like Truth, Justice, Beauty, Harmony, you will find endless possibilities await to make a better world.
See also:
Category: Justice League