The devil's advocate 100 business rules you must break

248 Pages·2013·3.326 MB·English

by  Woods, Caspian

If success in business was as simple as following the commandments
laid down over the last few hundred years then why aren’t all
businesses created equal?
The simple truth is that the winners are bending the rules that the
rest of us so diligently follow. Their willingness to go against the
grain, take short cuts and challenge conventional wisdom is what
makes them stand out, get noticed and grab the advantage.
And it’s that unconventional, sometimes counterintuitive wisdom
that this book offers. It doesn’t have all the answers (who does?)
and it will not make you an instant millionaire. It will sharpen your
maverick mind and challenge you to think twice before you follow
the received wisdom.
It will hone your instincts so that you can spot the opportunities
the rest of the frenzied herd just galloped past, avoid the pitfalls
others merrily plunge into and give you the courage to carve your
own path to business success.
£10.99
BUSINESS
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CVR_WOOD9490_01_SE_CVR_v5.indd 1 06/12/2012 14:19
THE
DEVIL’S
ADVOCATE
100
BUSINESS RULES
YOU MUST BREAK
CASPIAN WOODS
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PEARSON EDUCATION LIMITED
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow CM20 2JE
United Kingdom
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Web: www.pearson.com/uk
First published 2013 (print and electronic)
© Caspian Woods 2013 (print and electronic)
The right of Caspian Woods to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Pearson Education is not responsible for the content of third-party internet sites.
ISBN: 978-0-273-77949-0 (print)
978-0-273-78161-3 (PDF)
978-0-273-78164-6 (ePub)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for the print edition is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for the print edition is available from the Library of Congress
The print publication is protected by copyright. Prior to any prohibited
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or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, permission should
be obtained from the publisher or, where applicable, a licence permitting restricted
copying in the United Kingdom should be obtained from the Copyright Licensing
Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
The ePublication is protected by copyright and must not be copied, reproduced,
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
16 15 14 13 12
Cover design by Nick Redeyoff
Text design by Design Deluxe
Print edition typeset in 10/13.5pt Caslon book by 30
Print edition printed and bound in Great Britain by Henry Ling Ltd, Dorchester, Dorset
NOTE THAT ANY PAGE CROSS REFERENCES REFER TO THE PRINT EDITION
A01_WOOD9490_SE_01_FM.indd 2 03/12/2012 15:28
To Mr Coombes,
my third form English teacher who, in the lesson where he had the
class climbing all over the school desks barking like crazed hyenas,
taught me that ‘convention’ is only for the lazy and timid.
(cid:31)
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Contents
(cid:31)
Part one
Leadership
1 The only thing you need to be a great leader 2
2 Ask for favours 4
3 Sleep in your car 6
4 Leave stuff half-finished 10
5 This software can kill you 12
6 Forgive (but don’t forget) 14
7 Ignore urgent tasks 16
8 Be ill-informed 18
9 Use guilt to motivate 20
10 Say less 22
11 Wait for the tide to go out 24
12 Ask the bride to dance 26
13 Take fewer risks 28
Part two
Strategy
14 Don’t diversify 32
15 Stop obsessing about quality 34
16 Embrace awkward suppliers 36
17 Fight like Nelson 38
CONTENTS v
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18 Your next competitor makes toilet paper 40
19 Burn your business plan 42
20 Set unrealistic goals 46
21 Don’t dance where elephants play 48
22 More IT is not the answer 50
23 There’s no prize for predicting the Flood 52
24 Embrace chaos 56
25 Sell invisibles 58
26 Use a lawyer like a condom 60
27 Target the poor 62
28 Don’t make it in China 64
Part three
Innovation
29 Reward failure 68
30 Sacrifice the sacred cow 70
31 You are in the wrong business 72
32 Sleep with your customers 76
33 Judge the book by its cover 78
34 Use research like a drunk uses a lamppost* 80
35 Come last 82
36 Creativity needs a sergeant major 84
37 Get lost 86
38 Fire, ready, aim 88
39 Seek out your worst customers 90
40 Don’t start from where you are 92
41 Rip up your confidentiality agreements 94
42 Allow for the law of unintended consequences 96
vi CONTENTS
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43 Remember you are French 98
44 Anticipate complaints 100
45 Get stotious 102
46 Ban the brainstorm 104
47 Steal with pride 106
Part four
Sales and marketing
48 Stop making sense 110
49 Don’t give your customers choice 112
50 Learn from the Wizard of Oz 114
51 Don’t ‘do’ social media 116
52 Recommend your competitors 118
53 If you’re pitching to win – you’ve already lost 120
54 Be brief, be brilliant, be gone 122
55 Don’t hire a hotshot agency 124
56 Put the small print in BIG LETTERS 126
57 Dull is the new sexy 128
58 Make your literature illegible 130
59 Nurture your nutters 132
60 Create a crisis 136
61 Shut up 138
62 Get your face slapped 140
63 It’s only worth advertising on your forehead 142
64 Fake sincerity 144
CONTENTS vii
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Part five
Staff
65 Pay your staff to quit 148
66 Money doesn’t motivate 150
67 Hire some baboons 152
68 Don’t recruit by experience 154
69 Forget the big idea 156
70 Drive a clunker 158
71 Take your name off the door 160
72 Be a pacifist in the talent war 162
73 Send your team home 164
74 Don’t delegate – abdicate 166
75 Remove the safety net 168
76 Sack early 172
77 Seek out the disabled 174
78 Encourage trade unions 176
79 Fire the founder 178
80 Cultivate some enemies 180
Part six
Finance
81 Pay yourself £1,000 an hour 184
82 Max out your credit cards 186
83 Don’t lend £10,000 to your brother 188
84 Be unaffordable 192
85 Don’t compensate for the size of your manhood 194
86 Say ‘no’ to cheap money 196
87 Double your costs, halve your reward 198
viii CONTENTS
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88 Set fire to your price list 200
89 Treat suppliers like fellow combatants 202
Part seven
Personal
90 Cry as a negotiating technique 206
91 Pile on the stress 208
92 Avoid the passion trap 210
93 Don’t give money to charity 212
94 Stop thinking positive 214
95 Disinherit your kids 216
96 Nurture self-doubt 218
97 Jump off a chair 220
98 Be a psychopath 222
99 Don’t get harpooned 226
100 Be lazy 228
CONTENTS ix
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