the billionaire’s nine point plan for personal success
Currently reading "What they teach you at Harvard Business School" by Philip Delves Broughton because it's much easier and quicker than actually doing a Harvard MBA. Interested to learn that if you get in to Harvard it's actually quite hard to fail an MBA. Also quite liked this simple nine point philosophy for personal success, as laid out by visiting speaker/billionaire Meg Whitman, then CEO of eBay. (Now in the same role at HP.)
1. Do something you enjoy, because if you don't enjoy it you're unlikely to be much good at it.
2. Deliver the results whatever you're doing
3. Codify the lessons learned – what worked, what didn't and why.
4. Be patient and stick around good people and good things.
5. Build a team and share credit
6. Be fun to work with.
7. When there's something you don't know or don't understand – ask
8. Don't take yourself too seriously
9. Never, ever compromise your integrity
She had one further point: "Remember this. And this is something I have not been particularly good at. You probably won't look back and wish that you'd worked harder… In the end your family and friends are the most important thing."
The author then wonders if the speaker regretted her choices and whether, given the option, she would give up her fortune in return for getting back the years spent working. "What then? Almost everyone listening to her (at Harvard) was contemplating a future of ninety-hour work weeks, personal sacrifice in return for professional success. Could Whitman have done more to change their minds?"
Anyway, still working hard. Still haven't cracked that first billion.
