Running a business will take a lot of learning. This can be a challenge as you’ll also be doing a lot of work; time will be short. If you don’t listen to audiobooks, it’s a good time to start.
Learn to Lead
Ultimately, someone needs to be the decision-maker when you’re running a business, and eventually, it’s going to be you. Study the Norman Bacal Take Charge book to help you
- define the issue
- consider the eventual outcomes
- move forward in confidence
The choices you make in growing your business can help you ease off in the future or have a better chance of selling your business as a package to protect your employees and legacy. Leading, rather than working on, your business is critical to these plans.
Improve Communication
As business leaders, we often reach out to communicate because we need to share information, an opinion, or an idea. If your ears don’t start working as soon as your mouth stops, you risk
- missing out on a great idea
- damaging a relationship
- wasting the experience and knowledge of the people you employ
Reading The Lost Art of Listening by psychology professor Michael Nichols can help you build real-life listening skills for work and home. Building a business will be a hard task if your employees don’t bring their best ideas to the table. If they get them and you’re not listening, you will teach them not to talk to you or share their best thoughts. This is especially tough in meetings; be ready to create space for the quiet folks to speak up as well.
Increase Your Focus
Being a business owner can lead to a great deal of noise. You’ll get lots of unsolicited advice, recommendations for growth, and even suggestions for education. If you find that all your time goes into improvement without time going towards your business, check out The War of Art.
Steven Pressfield offers a great deal of consistency with his message. He also pulls no punches. A favorite recommendation offered by Pressfield to help you stick out the tough times and transitions is to “shut up and keep humping.” While his message isn’t warm or fuzzy, it’s very useful.
Focus can also be easier if you study off an audiobook There are many audiobooks on business and habit-building that are extremely dense. Be ready to go back in and listen repeatedly if necessary to glean the necessary information.
How to Embrace Change
Change is hard, especially if you look back at all the work you put into getting where you are now. However, change is inevitable and your business can’t grow without adapting.
Check out some of your favorite authors to see what they now offer. For example, The New One Minute Manager by Blanchard and Johnson gives readers an update on the strong and useful message found in The One Minute Manager.
Learn to Follow
Every generation coming into your business will have a basic understanding of the skills you struggled to build as an adult. Be ready to become a follower of folks who function at a higher level of tech than you do. Their primary platform knowledge could be exactly what you need to ramp up your business with an online presence and expand your business.
Go into this with a childlike mindset. Ask your experts on particular platforms to recommend games that you can try out to learn the skills necessary to more quickly use new software and function both faster and more effectively.
New generations are also moving toward a more simple life. If you are ultimately interested in downsizing your personal life, learning from folks who grew up with a focus on topics such as minimalism and Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less can be of great benefit to your sanity and your income, both personal and business.
Every skill that you learn to be a better businessperson can also make you a happier human. Knowing how to listen can help you save or salvage cherished relationships. Learning to follow and use a child’s mindset can help you connect with children and grandchildren. Communication is key to a happy, robust future.
