Lesson #4: A Great Businessman is Only as Great as His Vision
Lesson #4: A Great Businessman is Only as Great as His Vision
Before diving head first into any new business ventures, Johnson took the time to craft a strategy, to see what he needed to do to get to where he wanted to go. It was a simple strategy that Johnson decided on: crafting a niche out of themes with which he had intimate experience.
“All of my businesses deal with people, customer service and entertainment because that’s what I’m good at,” says Johnson. “Everything flows together from that, and all the companies help each other.”
Take, for instance, Johnson’s partnerships with both T.G.I. Friday’s and Starbucks. He has been criticized for branching himself out too broadly, for over-expanding, but Johnson says it is all part of his original strategy. “I can promote my Friday's and Starbucks in the movie theaters and do the same thing in those venues promoting the theaters,” he says. “We have 1.8 million [people who go] through our theater doors every year in Los Angeles. The goal is to get a lot of that same audience to go to your eateries. Then, on the music side of it, it works because we can play our artists in those same theaters or restaurants. There's great synergy, and it all works together.”
To critics who say is he growing too fast, Johnson counters, “I say everything is working together. We’re growing but not so fast that it’s not manageable. And as long as I have knowledgeable people working with me, I’m not worried about branching out.”
To that end, part of Johnson’s vision entails making sure he has the right people on board, “People who don’t need my money,” he jokes. “People who have done well themselves…If you’re the best, you have to go with the best.”
Still, no matter how qualified the people around him may be, Johnson says that at the end of the day it all comes back to him and his vision. “Magic Johnson makes up Magic Johnson. I've got a team of people who work for me and advise me. But I call my own shots,” he says. “That's one thing about me. I'm my own businessman. I'm my own person. The team I built taught me how to get into business, how to run a business. They gave me the knowledge I needed to have. But now I'm on my own. If you ask Howard Schultz, if you ask the Sony people, they'll tell you I make my own deals. Everybody knows they have to deal with me.”
Lesson 4 A Great Businessman is Only as Great as His Vision
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What is the difference between an average point guard and a great point guard? According to Johnson, it all lies in the vision. Great point guards see the court differently than everyone else. They envision where they need to go and how they are going to get there before they even touch the ball. Johnson, unarguably one of basketball’s greatest point guards ever, used that very same vision in crossing over to the business world.
Before diving head first into any new business ventures, Johnson took the time to craft a strategy, to see what he needed to do to get to where he wanted to go. It was a simple strategy that Johnson decided on: crafting a niche out of themes with which he had intimate experience.
“All of my businesses deal with people, customer service and entertainment because that’s what I’m good at,” says Johnson. “Everything flows together from that, and all the companies help each other.”
Take, for instance, Johnson’s partnerships with both T.G.I. Friday’s and Starbucks. He has been criticized for branching himself out too broadly, for over-expanding, but Johnson says it is all part of his original strategy. “I can promote my Friday's and Starbucks in the movie theaters and do the same thing in those venues promoting the theaters,” he says. “We have 1.8 million [people who go] through our theater doors every year in Los Angeles. The goal is to get a lot of that same audience to go to your eateries. Then, on the music side of it, it works because we can play our artists in those same theaters or restaurants. There's great synergy, and it all works together.”
To critics who say is he growing too fast, Johnson counters, “I say everything is working together. We’re growing but not so fast that it’s not manageable. And as long as I have knowledgeable people working with me, I’m not worried about branching out.”
To that end, part of Johnson’s vision entails making sure he has the right people on board, “People who don’t need my money,” he jokes. “People who have done well themselves…If you’re the best, you have to go with the best.”
Still, no matter how qualified the people around him may be, Johnson says that at the end of the day it all comes back to him and his vision. “Magic Johnson makes up Magic Johnson. I've got a team of people who work for me and advise me. But I call my own shots,” he says. “That's one thing about me. I'm my own businessman. I'm my own person. The team I built taught me how to get into business, how to run a business. They gave me the knowledge I needed to have. But now I'm on my own. If you ask Howard Schultz, if you ask the Sony people, they'll tell you I make my own deals. Everybody knows they have to deal with me.”
Lesson 4 A Great Businessman is Only as Great as His Vision
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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