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August 11, 2009

Gary Hoover's 8 Principles of Winning Businesses

Gary Hoover shared these 8 Principles that Separate Winners from Losers in business during our conversation on my BlogTalk Radio show.

1. Curiosity: the people who lead and create great enterprises are always looking for answers in unexpected places. People tend to see or discover new breakthrough ideas from outside of their industry. Information is everywhere; it is just waiting for us to see it.

2. Sense of history: learning the lessons of big history and learning the trends and how things change over time. Nothing in business is really new, but there is a huge amount to be learned from the past and its visionaries. Trends – you can only look as far forward as you are willing to look. If you want to see 5-10 years into the future, you have to look that far into the past. Trends happen slowly over time. Look at demographic changes or the changing role of women in the workforce...these changes have slowly evolved over time. Study them.

3. Sense of geography: 90% of the business world does not know the metropolitan geography they live in. Americans are probably worse than most people at not knowing what is going on around us. You need to visit your own neighborhood. Discover that area.Explore! We need to understand where it us comes from. It shapes us. Having that sense of context is one of the most important advantages of an entrepreneur. The winners figure it out and put their business in context.

4. Clear Vision: Clarity: no buzz words, plain English. Straightforward plain talk

5. Consistency: once you figure out what you are going to do and it works, stay with it. Be true to what you love, what you are good at, your passion.

6. Service: The only valid reason for the existence of any enterprise is to provide goods and services!You must put the customer first.

7. Unique:need a unique vision to be successful. Do not copy other companies. You won’t be another great by doing what someone else does. Do your own thing and make it the best.

8. Passion: You must love what you do and without that passion, you won’t be as successful. Whatever you love is where you have the greatest chance of success.

Here's 3 ways you can gain more insights and tips from Gary Hoover:

1. Read the highlights of our conversation

and/or

2. Listen to the full conversation on-demand.

3. Read his blog. Gary Hoover writes a great blog at Hoovers World.

Posted on August 11, 2009 at 04:01 AM in entrepreneur, innovation, Innovation Resource, My Business Radio Show Interviews, small business, small business leaders, Small business resources, Transcripts of My Business Radio Show Interviews |

Tags: entrepreneur, gary hoover, hoover's world, leadership, small business principles, small business tips, vision

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