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Lessons on Business from my Two Year Old
My two year old son, Tyler, is an amazing kid. I am constantly in awe of him. I have learned so much watching him and listening to him. I started to think the other days about how things I am learning from him related to business. Here are “Tyler’s Rules” of business:Â
Sometimes you hit back. Now in business you’re not going to get physical but you do need to “hit back” and at times to throw off your competition and show people that you can’t and won’t be pushed around.
Ask “why” over and over again. Great entrepreneurs ask “why” over and over again. Asking that one simple question has been the catalyst for starting so many great businesses. If your kid asks you “why” all the time them you may be raising a future entrepreneur.
View the world without walls. My son loves the show Oobi. One day he asked my wife if he could go to Oobi’s house to play. I love that. He has no concept of the problems associated with going to a fictional TV characters house to play. A lot of times we get run down or beat in business because we view the possible as impossible. Are we just lazy? Maybe we don’t care. Sometimes we need to let our imagination run a little more wild. Â
When you need help find a partner. My son views my oldest daughter, Emily, as a sort of “second mom” rather than a sister. Emily is eight, Tyler is two. Tyler is two feel tall, Emily is four feet tall. Emily has a great command of the English language and she also speaks “Tyler” so she can act as a translator. She is a sort of “mentor” to Tyler. In business we need the same thing sometime - someone who is bigger and smarter who has been around the block before. I can’t overstate the value of good mentors. Â
Don’t ask for permission. While my daughters are busy asking me for permission to do something, Tyler is usually already doing it. There’s an old saying about it being easier to gain forgiveness than it is to get permission. In business, good entrepreneurs break others rules and then make there own rules. Â
Loud and obnoxious get’s you negative attention. Think “Super” Dell Schanze. Enough said.
If you don’t like someone then don’t play with them. Likewise, if you don’t like someone don’t do business with them. I like to do business with people I like. Plain and simple. Â
What have your kids taught you about business?
Great post.
Left by Justin on 12/13/2006Great stuff…through the eyes of a child, right?
I was showing my 10 year old daughter the other day a podcast I did a month or so ago. The topic was an interview of a colleague of mine at a national lab out in New Mexico. After letting her listen to a couple of minutes of it, I turned it off and the conversation went like this:
Me: What did you think?
Her: Why don’t you talk like you?
Me: That was me.
Her: I know but why don’t you talk in your normal voice. Make it fun…nobody likes to listen to you when you are serious like that.
Ding…ding…ding. We have a winner!
Cheers,
James
Left by James Weddle on 12/14/2006Life is short. Get to it.