You don’t need an idea—you need an “I did.” That’s how you close the execution gap. That’s how you convert thoughts into things. And that’s how you convert experiences into moneymaking wisdom. s much, leverage must become an essential component to your entrepreneurship lexicon. Leverage is “increasing the rate of return from an investment.” But leverage isn’t a word or a strategy or something you do to make money. Leverage is a lifestyle, a way of thinking, and an approach to doing business. Take it from a guy with no background, no job experience and no credentials—who turned a simple idea like wearing a nametag every day into a successful enterprise. Twelve books later, if that’s not leverage, I don’t know what is.
The following series of leverage questions will help you kill two stones with one bird. If everything you’ve done up until now is just the beginning, what’s next? Past is prologue. Past brought you here. Past made you who you are. When you start to align your thinking with this truth, a new world of possibilities opens up. Your challenge is to extend gratitude for—and embrace the value of—everything you’ve already accomplished. At the same time, don’t overvalue prior successes. Arrogance will bite you in the ass. As John Mayer explained during a 2009 interview with Esquire, “To evolve, you have to dismantle. And that means accepting the idea that nothing you created in the past matters anymore other than it brought you here. You pick up your new marching orders and get to work.” Will you view the past as a crutch or a fulcrum? What will you do differently next time? Kaizen is the Japanese term for continuous improvement. That’s exactly what this question is all about: Honoring
March 2011 SPEAKER | 17