Eight Principles.
Some business principles come and go. A company I worked for started so many game-changing transformational programs and then, like a disgraced member of the Politburo, quickly abandoned and airbrushed them out of our corporate history so we could start yet another “business-critical” program that would be abandoned. We referred to them as the “acronym of the month.” Fortunately, there are some business principles you can use forever: 1. Look past the messenger and focus on the message. When people speak from a position of power or authority or fame, it's tempting to place greater emphasis on their input, advice, and ideas. Warren Buffett? Yep, gotta listen to him. Sheryl Sandberg? Yes. Richard Branson? Absolutely. That approach works to a point–but only to a point. Really smart people strip away all the framing that comes with the source–both positive and negative–and evaluate information, advice, and input idea based solely on its merits. When Branson says, “Screw ...