Last Lecture

The Last Lecture:

In my last lecture I would simply say, go for it! I will say this because I did.

Since starting this course 13 weeks ago a close friend, who is also enrolled in this course, and my brother started taking the plunge. We have started our own property management company. In these weeks we pitched to a large customer and even though we were not successful in getting all the business we pitched for, we got a contract document a 10-year maintenance plan for them. This is a once off cash injection into our business and a foot in the door for the next 10 years. Looking at it now this is exactly what our business needs now. We also signed a small complex two weeks ago with two more to come. We are not making enough money for any one of us to get into it full-time but we have made a start. It is our goal to devote more and more time to the business so that one by one we enter into it on a full-time basis.  

I have always wanted to work for myself but lacked the courage to do so. I have also not found the right partners to work with until now. I have made many false starts but this has come at the right time and I feel we are in the right market. Together we have the right skills to offer a quality service.

Do not sell yourself short. You need to trust in yourself. If you are not able to trust yourself how can others do so? Business is built on trust, without it there can be little progress. We each have infinite potential, that stretches from eternity to eternity, acknowledge this, feel it, and know it!

Resolve now to never compromise on your moral standards, no matter what. It may seem like the immediate reward outweighs the long term consequences. It never does. Elder Tanner speaks about two fundamental elements required for self-mastery, personal moral standards and willpower. Acknowledge and take a stand for what is good and right without compromise. Do not give up. Put forth the that little bit of extra willpower that will allow you to triumph over competitors. The world owes you nothing. You need to work at your dreams and should not be deterred.  In the book A hero’s journey a concept explains this idea well. “Greatness is reserved for those who put in the effort to overcome good. It is easy to be good but being great requires hard work and dedication.” The remarkable thing is, once you have become good at something the vast majority of the work has been done. With a little more effort you can turn good into great.

Surround yourself with good people you can trust and take the leap to greatness. It is better to have failed than to have never tried.    

Specialization is the best way.......False!

“Specialization is the best way. False!” Stan Christensen said in a video about avoiding the wrong job. He encouraged us to not specialize but rather choose to be a generalist. This is something I have wondered about and at some point I thought of doing additional post graduate studies in Architecture. It now makes sense why not doing this was a good. He said that the more we specialize our returns are diminished. I never thought of it like that before. It was one of those light bulb moments. The amount of effort it takes to become an expert in something can be less rewarding that diversifying. Especially if what you are specialized in becomes irrelevant in an ever changing job market. This is in contradiction to the book we read called Mastery. Here the author motivates that we need to devote the time needed to be an expert. Taking these seemingly contradictory views I think you can become an expert in diversity. Learning anything brings you closer to self-mastery. Learning should be enough to be of value. Finishing what you start is definitely the mark of a master. It however may not be mastering more and more in a very specific field of study.    

It is often said that architects are terrible business people. This is true of other specialized disciplines like Engineers, doctors etc. You may be excellent but it require more than being good in one niche market to be successful.

Three questions from "What's Business For?"

Based on what you read in the first two pages (pages 3 and 4), why are virtue and integrity so vital to an economy?

Virtue and integrity is extremely vital to the economy; without it no one would trust anyone to do business with. Even the perception of dishonestly will spook the markets and cause great losses because the markets are sensitive to perceptions. One once the markets loose trust it is hard to regain it. This is because behind the markets are people that have emotions, fearing that they stand to lose.

 According to Charles Handy, what is the “real justification” for the existence of businesses?

The real justification for business is not profit, it is to make a profit so that that profit can do something more or better. Making profit is a means to an end.

What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why?

The first solution proposed was that business needs to be more honest. The financial reporting done by companies should be a real reflection of what is going on. Too often corporates influence the perception of their business in order to fool the public in order to benefit unduly. These practices erode trust and suppresses the economy.  

The second solution is that companies should have a deeper purpose than just making money. Through their success they should seek to make the world a better place. By seeking to uplift others, society will benefit and the man in the street will be able to have a higher standard of living.

I agree with the first solution and the second as long is the side effect would not be detrimental to a free market economy. We would not want entrepreneurs to lose their drive asking, what is the point of working harder and finding ways so do things better if we are simply to give it away.