Dear guys,
GENERAL(ist) or specialist?
Cheers,
Sunstone.
*********************
In feudal times the leader of each clan was, to put it bluntly, the biggest and strongest person around. Why? Simply because the biggest, strongest is able to physically make their point heard to anyone who might consider challenging him or her. Things didn’t change much in those days and any one leader could rule for a lifetime.
Business was also very simple as the stability of the leader and the unchanging nature of the times meant everyone knew their place in life. Most people were content just to keep on producing over their very short life spans.
That was until the spear was invented.
Now, technology began to have an impact on the group. The most proficient spear user became the potential new leader. Then the bow and arrow came along, followed by body armour. This development necessitated the invention of an even more sophisticated weapon – the gun.
The most effective user of this new technology (the bow and arrow, the gun, etc) could now quite easily become the new leader.
As more and more inventions came to pass, and more and more products hit the market place, business and staying in charge began to tax the minds of the leaders.
Here’s where it all gets interesting….. the leaders realized one very important fact. If they were to stay on as leader, they needed to ‘think hard’ rather than to ‘work hard’.
You see, if the leader was the smartest as well as the biggest person around, something truly extraordinary happened. The leader enrolled the inventors, those who knew things the leader didn’t, as employees.
The leaders now made sure these spears were only made for them, the guns were only made for them. As a result, another amazing thing happened.
The leader taught each employee to be a Master Specialist. He then encouraged his Master Specialists to take on apprentices so they could teach other people to specialise in the same skills. By doing so, they started a trend where everyone aspired to learning a trade and getting a job rather than becoming a landowner.
Eventually we moved from an agrarian-based society to a manufacturing-based one. The leader still employed all the specialists who knew more than he did in certain areas. Schools were built to teach people from early on how to be good, how to do as they were told, how to fit into society and how to get a good job (as a Specialist).
Society started to teach us a good citizen was someone with a good education and a good job.
Eventually colleges and universities appeared, making us specialise even more. Over time we’ve been taught to specialise into the tiniest fields of expertise and thus become even better employees.
You see, in the agrarian age, you made the most money as a landowner, not as a specialist worker. In the manufacturing age, you made the most money if you owned the manufacturing plant, not as a specialist work in the plant.
Those who specialised have always worked for those who led – in other words, those who generalised led those who specialised. However the high cost of land ownership, and then plant ownership, stopped most from progressing from worker to owner.
Yet now, in the information age, you make the most money if you own, or simply have, the best information. And, information is not only available in abundance, it’s relatively cheap.
In other words, breaking free from the specialist mould has never been easier.
Let me take this one step further……..
With most people being taught to specialise, to follow orders, to conform, to fit in, and to get a good job with a good salary, we’ve created a monster when it comes to letting people start their own businesses.
You see we’ve been taught to do the opposite of thinking for ourselves, to do the opposite of getting rich, and in most cases to do the opposite of learning how to be a true entrepreneur.
A true entrepreneur is best described by this fable about Henry Ford. I’m sure the story has changed a little over the years but there’s still a level of truth to it. As the story goes, a major newspaper defamed Mr. Ford when it published an article that portrayed him as ‘ignorant’.
Mr. Ford took them to court and whilst on the stand, he was questioned a length by the newspaper’s legal counsel. Question after question was put to him. And he only had answers to a few of them. Thus, concluded the attorney as he presented his case to the jury: “Mr. Ford is ignorant.”
Ford’s own lawyer then asked some questions.
“Mr Ford, when you need to know the answer to any of the previous questions, what do you do?”
Ford’s reply teaches us one of the secrets to true entrepreneurial success. This is a common sense secret that is the opposite of what we’re taught as a specialist employee.
“When I need to know about finance, I call in my finance manager and ask him all the questions I need to have answered. The same goes for any other subject,” Ford replied.
In other words, the smartest leaders in the world employ specialists who are smarter than they are.
Henry Ford knew what every great entrepreneur knows…..
Being an entrepreneur is about becoming a generalist, rather than a specialist.
A specialist (often known as an employee) is easily replaceable. A specialist is taught to follow. A specialist ends up working for a living, rather than living a life.
Let me explain …..
Working in a job, you have about 1/3rd of your pay taken off in taxes, about 1/3rd taken to pay for your mortgage or rent, even more to pay for your car/s and so on. Eventually you’ve got just enough left over to EXIST on.
Generalists, on the other hand, think for themselves. They are great leaders, they take on the risks and reap the rewards from things like tax deductions and more importantly, they collect long-term income from the work they do today. They also enjoy the profits, as well as so much more.
The generalist, the person I refer to as the entrepreneur, works today to make money for the long-term. They work to build wealth rather than make income.
In school, we’re taught to learn exactly what we’re told, how we were told it, and when we were told it. Plus you’ll get good grades as long as you repeat it back in your tests exactly as it was taught in the books.
Even teachers are taught to follow the system. In the military every solider is taught to follow orders. Only the GENERAL(ist) is taught to think for him or herself and to make decisions.
In the business worlds employees are taught to acquire higher and higher levels of education, to specialise, work hard, and make enough income to pay taxes, the mortgage, and then to exist until retirement.
True entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are required to be generalists, to think a lot and work a little, take profits, write expenses off before paying taxes, and live the life of their dreams …
In the truest sense of the word generalists are leaders. They live by the ideal that it’s better to have 1% of one hundred’s people’s effort than 100% of their own.
Becoming a generalist is the first major task of anyone considering venturing into business for himself or herself.
It’s the single biggest mindset change all employees who want to start their own business must make. Being the best at your trade, your profession or your job in no way means you’ll succeed in the world of entrepreneurial business.
In fact, this is often the biggest hindrance to the success of most businesses.
Excerpt from “Billionaire in Training” –Brad Sugars.
http://www.bradsugars.com/cart/suns...=27&prevaction=category&previd=24&prevstart=0
**************
GENERAL(ist) or specialist?
Cheers,
Sunstone.
*********************
In feudal times the leader of each clan was, to put it bluntly, the biggest and strongest person around. Why? Simply because the biggest, strongest is able to physically make their point heard to anyone who might consider challenging him or her. Things didn’t change much in those days and any one leader could rule for a lifetime.
Business was also very simple as the stability of the leader and the unchanging nature of the times meant everyone knew their place in life. Most people were content just to keep on producing over their very short life spans.
That was until the spear was invented.
Now, technology began to have an impact on the group. The most proficient spear user became the potential new leader. Then the bow and arrow came along, followed by body armour. This development necessitated the invention of an even more sophisticated weapon – the gun.
The most effective user of this new technology (the bow and arrow, the gun, etc) could now quite easily become the new leader.
As more and more inventions came to pass, and more and more products hit the market place, business and staying in charge began to tax the minds of the leaders.
Here’s where it all gets interesting….. the leaders realized one very important fact. If they were to stay on as leader, they needed to ‘think hard’ rather than to ‘work hard’.
You see, if the leader was the smartest as well as the biggest person around, something truly extraordinary happened. The leader enrolled the inventors, those who knew things the leader didn’t, as employees.
The leaders now made sure these spears were only made for them, the guns were only made for them. As a result, another amazing thing happened.
The leader taught each employee to be a Master Specialist. He then encouraged his Master Specialists to take on apprentices so they could teach other people to specialise in the same skills. By doing so, they started a trend where everyone aspired to learning a trade and getting a job rather than becoming a landowner.
Eventually we moved from an agrarian-based society to a manufacturing-based one. The leader still employed all the specialists who knew more than he did in certain areas. Schools were built to teach people from early on how to be good, how to do as they were told, how to fit into society and how to get a good job (as a Specialist).
Society started to teach us a good citizen was someone with a good education and a good job.
Eventually colleges and universities appeared, making us specialise even more. Over time we’ve been taught to specialise into the tiniest fields of expertise and thus become even better employees.
You see, in the agrarian age, you made the most money as a landowner, not as a specialist worker. In the manufacturing age, you made the most money if you owned the manufacturing plant, not as a specialist work in the plant.
Those who specialised have always worked for those who led – in other words, those who generalised led those who specialised. However the high cost of land ownership, and then plant ownership, stopped most from progressing from worker to owner.
Yet now, in the information age, you make the most money if you own, or simply have, the best information. And, information is not only available in abundance, it’s relatively cheap.
In other words, breaking free from the specialist mould has never been easier.
Let me take this one step further……..
With most people being taught to specialise, to follow orders, to conform, to fit in, and to get a good job with a good salary, we’ve created a monster when it comes to letting people start their own businesses.
You see we’ve been taught to do the opposite of thinking for ourselves, to do the opposite of getting rich, and in most cases to do the opposite of learning how to be a true entrepreneur.
A true entrepreneur is best described by this fable about Henry Ford. I’m sure the story has changed a little over the years but there’s still a level of truth to it. As the story goes, a major newspaper defamed Mr. Ford when it published an article that portrayed him as ‘ignorant’.
Mr. Ford took them to court and whilst on the stand, he was questioned a length by the newspaper’s legal counsel. Question after question was put to him. And he only had answers to a few of them. Thus, concluded the attorney as he presented his case to the jury: “Mr. Ford is ignorant.”
Ford’s own lawyer then asked some questions.
“Mr Ford, when you need to know the answer to any of the previous questions, what do you do?”
Ford’s reply teaches us one of the secrets to true entrepreneurial success. This is a common sense secret that is the opposite of what we’re taught as a specialist employee.
“When I need to know about finance, I call in my finance manager and ask him all the questions I need to have answered. The same goes for any other subject,” Ford replied.
In other words, the smartest leaders in the world employ specialists who are smarter than they are.
Henry Ford knew what every great entrepreneur knows…..
Being an entrepreneur is about becoming a generalist, rather than a specialist.
A specialist (often known as an employee) is easily replaceable. A specialist is taught to follow. A specialist ends up working for a living, rather than living a life.
Let me explain …..
Working in a job, you have about 1/3rd of your pay taken off in taxes, about 1/3rd taken to pay for your mortgage or rent, even more to pay for your car/s and so on. Eventually you’ve got just enough left over to EXIST on.
Generalists, on the other hand, think for themselves. They are great leaders, they take on the risks and reap the rewards from things like tax deductions and more importantly, they collect long-term income from the work they do today. They also enjoy the profits, as well as so much more.
The generalist, the person I refer to as the entrepreneur, works today to make money for the long-term. They work to build wealth rather than make income.
In school, we’re taught to learn exactly what we’re told, how we were told it, and when we were told it. Plus you’ll get good grades as long as you repeat it back in your tests exactly as it was taught in the books.
Even teachers are taught to follow the system. In the military every solider is taught to follow orders. Only the GENERAL(ist) is taught to think for him or herself and to make decisions.
In the business worlds employees are taught to acquire higher and higher levels of education, to specialise, work hard, and make enough income to pay taxes, the mortgage, and then to exist until retirement.
True entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are required to be generalists, to think a lot and work a little, take profits, write expenses off before paying taxes, and live the life of their dreams …
In the truest sense of the word generalists are leaders. They live by the ideal that it’s better to have 1% of one hundred’s people’s effort than 100% of their own.
Becoming a generalist is the first major task of anyone considering venturing into business for himself or herself.
It’s the single biggest mindset change all employees who want to start their own business must make. Being the best at your trade, your profession or your job in no way means you’ll succeed in the world of entrepreneurial business.
In fact, this is often the biggest hindrance to the success of most businesses.
Excerpt from “Billionaire in Training” –Brad Sugars.
http://www.bradsugars.com/cart/suns...=27&prevaction=category&previd=24&prevstart=0
**************
