You don’t need to know much about your business. Surprising? Well that’s what an entrepreneur who has spent £150m buying Gleneagles has said – he claims not to be an hotelier or golfer. But he says he surrounds himself with people who are expert in these fields and has a continuing “intellectual curiosity” about the business. Sharan Pasricha started off by managing a leather goods manufacturing plant which, he says, was a humbling experience but he learnt lots and now he is building a multi-million-pound business.
For me, there are two key points here: whatever your business does, it is first and foremost a business rather than a supplier of X service or manufacturer of Y product; and secondly, the importance of continually learning is critical to success.
Brad Sugars, himself a successful entrepreneur, makes similar points in his sometimes-challenging book “Billionaire in Training”. He outlines the do’s and don’ts in the progression from being employed to entrepreneur, and stresses the importance of seizing learning opportunities, and as soon as you can to get someone more knowledgeable in to manage the business whom he calls a “jockey”! Then, he says, it become a lot of fun!
Perhaps not all of us will become multi-million pound entrepreneurs, but how many of us would like to be having lots more fun in our businesses?
For the full article about Sharan Pasricha click here.
