I don’t pay for suits. My suits are on the house or the house burns down.
- Always Put Family First. At the end of the day if you have no one to share your success with, then it truly means nothing. Form a close family with those whom you trust and always put them first, as they will support you to the very end.
- Fake It Till You Make It. Always make sure that you are delivering on your purpose in every way possible. When your team expects something special from you, stand up and deliver on it even if you don’t know what you are doing. Learning along the way is critical for success, authority, and respect.
- Do Not Try to Control Everything. When push comes to shove, you’re not going to be able to control everything as unforeseen circumstances are going to arise. Trying to control it all leads to undue hardship in the way of stress. Delegate out the responsibilities and trust that others are going to get the job done but step up when you are needed.
- Never Let Success Pollute You. An exceptional leader will be able to take credit without forsaking accountability. Meaning, they will be able to take responsibility for all actions, decisions, performance, and behavior including the ones that deserve applause and the ones that deserve an apology. When a leader is accountable, employee engagement increases as responsibility and humbleness creates a culture of respect.
- Good Planning + Better Execution = Better Results. In order to create a good plan, one must first know what end they have in mind. This requires a leader to have three qualities. Passion or a drive/motivation, an initial vision of how to set this passion in motion, and a mission to make it happen. Furthermore, individuals that are able to create a mission statement based on the end that they have in mind will be better able to communicate this with their team.
- Always Make a Good Entrance and an Even Better Exit. Remember that having “enough” is never the end goal. When you begin as a leader, you may start small with a good, solid entrance but that will not be enough as you will want to make an even better exit. What this means is that starting off with a solid plan that is executable is great but reaching that end result that is a million times better than what you started with, is what you should be aiming for.
- With Great Power Comes Even Greater Burden. Keep in mind that the more your business grows, the more you will be responsible for. This may come in the form of having to manage more employees, or deal with miscommunication and mistakes and so the burden of doing everything properly will become great. Put measures in place to help you through this.
- Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew or You’ll Choke. Although not directly related to business, biting off more than you can chew will always cost you, no matter what business, situation, or circumstance you are in. Taking on too much will cause situations to turn negative real fast because you’ll choke, either on workflow stagnation, creativity, or motivational drive.
- The Lower Rungs of Society Hold Vital Decision Making Information. Always remember that it is your position within the company that will attract attention and not necessarily you as an individual. This means that even those who are at the top need to understand that it is those at the lower rungs who hold the vital information required for making important decisions. As Tommy Shelby shows, no one is so important that they cannot shovel the shit too and only when you do, will people buy into who you are and the vision you provide.
- A Strong Foundation Keeps Everything Else From Crumbling. Without a strong foundation built on core, uncompromising principles, your business will crumble as you will not have the pillars to hold it up. As Tommy Shelby does, sew together a foundation built on passion, vision, and a solid mission that all members of the operation can get behind.