Do You Have These
7 Billionaire Behaviors?
What you can learn from the behaviors of 7 billionaires--in
their own words.
According to Forbes
there are about 1826 billionaires on the plant. Of those 290 joined the club in
2015. That's an increase of about 19%. At that rate the number of billionaires
would double every four years, which means that in about 90-94 years, depending
on population growth, everyone on the planet would be a billionaire. Absurd?
Well, yes, of course! But the math works only because I'm making three very bad
assumptions: that the number of billionaires continues to increase at an all
time high historic rate--very unlikely; that a billion dollars in 2110 will be
worth a billion dollars today--even more unlikely; and the most absurd
assumption, that everyone has the ability to be a billionaire--definitely not!
So, while I can’t
promise a formula for getting you into the billionaire's club, what I can tell
you is that there are a set of amazingly consistent behaviors and beliefs among
billionaires that set them apart.
While I've only had
the opportunity to know or work with six billionaires, I have noticed a
distinct set of seven behaviors among these individuals that illustrate in
vivid terms how they look at the world differently than most people do. And
what's most impressive is that their behaviors and their beliefs walk in
lockstep. Not true for most people whose behaviors undermine their beliefs.
See how close do your
behaviors come to each of these seven.
Oh, and by the way,
just so that we're straight; these behaviors don’t guarantee a billion dollar
valuation, but they are just as important to building success at any scale.
1.
They're
Patient
"The stock market is a device for transferring money from the
impatient to the patient." – Warren Buffet
The Oracle of Omaha
may be one of the best-known billionaires, but every billionaire I've met seems
to have the same uncanny aptitude for being patient and staying the course. You
can easily chalk it up to the fact that when you already have billions you can
afford to be patient, but I knew some of these folks well before they were
millionaires, much less billionaires, and they may have become more patient
with time but their belief in waiting out market cycles and sticking to their
vision is unwavering.
2.
They're
Impervious to Rejection
"Be prepared for the rejection. No matter how bad it is don't
let it overcome you and influence you--keep on going towards what you want to
do-no matter what... You need to be as enthusiastic about door number
one-hundred as door number one." – John Paul DeJoria, Founder John Paul
Mitchell
DeJoria was homeless and actually lived in a car before taking
to the streets to sell his first product, shampoo. The billionaires I've met
are nearly impervious to rejection. It's an ability to perform the equivalent
of radar lock on
their vision of the future. They seem to thrive on rejection as an indicator
that they are going in the right direction. It's a necessary behavior if you
are going to overcome all of the incredibly rational reasons why you can’t
succeed. Selling shampoo out of your car, really?
3.
They
Dream Big
If your dreams don’t scare you they are too small. – Richard
Branson
Billionaires dare to
dream big. Their goal is to change the world not to build wealth. Many people
translate this into arrogance. Perhaps it looks that way from a distance. But I
can tell you that up close it is a firm and unbending conviction in wanting to,
as Steve Jobs once said, put a definitive dent in the universe.
4.
They
Don’t Make Excuses
“The world wants things done, not excuses. One thing done well is
worth a million good excuses.” – H. Ross Perot
When I sold my company
to Ross Perot it quickly became evident that there was a clear attitude at
Perot Systems of, "Do whatever it takes; and never, ever make excuses for
why it can't be done." Unreasonable? Absolutely, but when Ross was at EDS
and two of his employees ended up being imprisoned in Iran he didn’t make
excuses for why he couldn’t do anything about it. Instead he took on the nearly
impossible task of rescuing them, including a personal trip to Iran that could
easily have cost him his own freedom. The rescue succeeded; no excuses needed.
5.
They
Do Not Have Regrets
“I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the
one thing I might regret is not trying.” — Jeff Bezos
If you've followed any
of my writing you know how I feel about having regrets; there is no place for
them, they serve no purpose other than to chew up time and energy that is
better applied to the future. Learn your lessons and move on to apply what
you've learned. If you're still dwelling on the past you just haven’t learned
your lesson yet.
6.
They
Don’t Stand Still
"The biggest risk is not taking any risk ... In a world
that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is
not taking risks."--Mark Zuckerberg
This is one of my favorites. While it's attributed here (and
often) to Zuckerberg, I heard it first from Peter Drucker. In his book Innovation and
Entrepreneurship he makes a solid
case for how the only risk in business is the risk of standing still, even
though the greatest perceived risk is innovating. We don’t want to believe
we're standing still, and yet that's the way most of us behave.
7.
They
Build The Future
"You can't just ask customers what they want and then give it
to them. By the time you build it, they'll want something new."--Steve
Jobs
This last one is to me
the single most important attitude of success at any level. Jobs created the future
over an over; first in computers, then in animation, then in music, then in
mobile devices. Accept that the future is just a continuation of the past and
you've accepted that innovation is simply not possible. You've locked the door
to disruption and left the keys under the doormat where you think nobody else
will find them. Yeah, that's not such a good idea.
So, how did you do?
Ready to start counting those billions? Let me give you a head start; rather
than focus on the billions focus on aligning your beliefs with these seven
behaviors and even if the billions don’t come the gratification of success
will.
Besides, you could
always bank on being around in one hundred years when we'll all be part of the
club!
