Playing to strengths

Buy low; sell high 

Two things, very simple; makes sense. In 40 years in finance I rarely found people who were consistently good at both. The industry has a natural bent to invest rather than divest. In early years as an analyst, people asked me what to buy; few asked what to sell. 

Some were better at shorting, ie selling, but not always good at covering the short, ie buying. When natural buyers or natural sellers had to do the opposite of their strength, it was often too early or too late.

Click to read more ...

Lucky you are not good at everything

Why delegation is at the core of leadership

It was pretty obvious watching the Rugby World Cup: some players are hopeless at some things and really good at others.

It’s the same for most team sports. You don’t have to be into rugby to get this. In fact you don’t have to be into sport at all. Bear with me.

There are two parts to a rugby team: forwards and backs. Forwards are the chunky ones who often don’t look athletic. Many have no necks. A famous forward once said rugby is one of the few games where fat people can compete at an international level.

Click to read more ...

The upside of your limitations

Focus is as important as effort.

There are infinite ways to improve your life. Trying to do them all is a recipe for underperformance. Success often comes down to doing a small number of things extremely well.

Business is no different. Quality rather than quantity makes customers come back for more. What you do is what they want.

Click to read more ...

To overtake competitors, overtake yourself

Why your personal best is better

Competitor analysis is a great way to assess where you stand in the marketplace. If you methodically work through the key strengths of your competitors, it will soon become apparent where you do well and where you could do better. It’s a useful process; one that should be ongoing, not just a one-off project.

But there’s a danger here. If you focus only what the others are doing better than you, it is easy to lose sight of what you do well. It is an axiom in life that some people do some things better than you. Conversely, you do some things better than others.

In business it is no different. Competitive advantage comes from all sorts of sources. It might be location, time in the market, technology, training, key personalities or something special to them, or you.

Click to read more ...