In What It Takes, Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Blackstone, shares the story of his success. Below are his 25 rules for work and life woven throughout the book. It might be a worthwhile exercise for you to reflect on how each of these rules may apply to you. You’ll see under each rule, the questions I’m reflecting on to apply these rules. 

1. It’s as easy to do something big as it is to do something small, so reach for a fantasy worthy of your pursuit, with rewards commensurate to your effort.

  • What are you working towards right now in your career? in life? If you achieve what you wanted, what rewards would come your way?
  • How might you increase the size and scope of the goal you’re pursuing?

2. The best executives are made, not born. They never stop learning. Study the people and organizations in your life that have had enormous success. They offer a free course from the real world to help you improve.

  • Which successful person are you learning from right now? Who has achieved the success you want to achieve?
  • How can you continue to find high-quality people or resources to further your learning?

3. Write or call the people you admire, and ask for advice or a meeting. You never know who will be willing to meet with you. You may end up learning something important or form a connection you can leverage for the rest of your life. Meeting people early in life creates an unusual bond.

  • Who can you reach out to today for advice or to connect?
  • How will you make connecting with others a regular practice?  

4. There is nothing more interesting to people than their own problems. Think about what others are dealing with, and try to come up with ideas to help them. Almost anyone, however senior or important, is receptive to good ideas provided you are thoughtful.

  • Think about the key people in your professional and personal networks. What problems are they grappling with right now? How might you be able to help them?
  • Can you reach out to one of these people today to offer your ideas? 

5. Every business is a closed, integrated system with a set of distinct but interrelated parts. Great managers understand how each part works on its own and in relation to all the others.

  • Do you understand every part of your business and how each part connects with each other? (Knowing your business has been advice echoed by Andrew Gorsky, Ken Chenault, and Mary Barra). 

6. Information is the most important asset in business. The more you know, the more perspectives you have, and the more likely you are to spot patterns and anomalies before your competition. So always be open to new inputs, whether they are people, experiences, or knowledge.

  • What new experiences will you participate in to broaden your information base? List 3 specific new inputs for this month, this quarter, and this year.

7. When you’re young, only take a job that provides you with a steep learning curve and strong training. First jobs are foundational. Don’t take a job just because it seems prestigious.

  • What new things are you learning from your job right now?
  • If you’re not learning anything new, how can you adjust your role to get back to learning?

8. When presenting yourself, remember that impressions matter. The whole picture has to be right. Others will be watching for all sorts of clues and cues that tell who you are. Be on time. Be authentic. Be prepared

  • What are you doing to manage the impressions people have of you? What clues and cues are you giving off to people? If you’re not sure how to manage this, this article on personal branding might help.

9. No one person, however smart, can solve every problem. But an army of smart people talking openly with one another will.

  • Who are the smart people you talk to on a regular basis? If you can’t list anyone, what will you do to find these people? 

10. People in a tough spot often focus on their own problems, when the answer usually lies in fixing someone else’s.

  • Whose problem can you help fix right now based on your skill set and resources?
  • Can you take action today to fix someone else problem?

11. Believe in something greater than yourself and your personal needs. It can be your company, your country, or a duty for service. Any challenge you tackle that is inspired by your beliefs and core values will be worth it, regardless of whether you succeed or fail.

  • What are your beliefs and core values? (This pdf and this article might help if you’re not sure.)
  • What is the greater cause you’re striving for?

12. Never deviate from your sense of right and wrong. Your integrity must be unquestionable. It is easy to do what’s right when you don’t have to write a check or suffer any consequences. It’s harder when you have to give something up. Always do what you say you will, and never mislead anyone for your own advantage.

  • Over the last 3 months, what situations have tested your integrity? What did you end up doing in those situations?
  • What investments or sacrifices have you made over the last 12 months because it was the right thing to do?

13. Be bold. Successful entrepreneurs, managers, and individuals have the confidence and courage to act when the moment seems right. They accept risk when others are cautious and take action when everyone else is frozen, but they do so smartly. This trait is the mark of a leader.

  • What is the last bold thing you did in the past 6 months? 
  • What are you doing now to help you take quick action when the moment is right?

14. Never get complacent. Nothing is forever. Whether it is an individual or a business, your competition will defeat you if you are not constantly seeking ways to reinvent and improve yourself. Organizations, especially, are more fragile than you think.

  • What are the specific things you’re doing right now to reinvent and improve yourself and your organization? 
  • What are the inputs that have you decide what to improve/reinvent?

15. Sales rarely get made on the first pitch. Just because you believe in something doesn’t mean everyone else will. You need to be able to sell your vision with conviction over and over again. Most people don’t like change, so you need to be able to convince them why they should accept it. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.

  • What vision would you like to sell to people?
  • When was the last time you sold this vision or ask people for what you want? How are you selling that vision right now?
  • Who is one person you can pitch this week?

16. If you see a huge, transformative opportunity, don’t worry that no one else is pursuing it. You might be seeing something others don’t. The harder the problem is, the more limited the competition, and the greater the reward for whomever can solve it.

  • What transformative opportunity do you see?
  • What is one thing you can do now to capitalize on that opportunity?

17. Success comes down to rare moments of opportunity. Be open, alert, and ready to seize them. Gather the right people and resources; then commit. If you’re not prepared to apply that kind of effort, either the opportunity isn’t as compelling as you think or you are not the right person to pursue it.

  • Are you connected to the right people and resources? How can you secure enough “dry powder” to take advantage of the opportunities when they come?

18. Time wounds all deals, sometimes even fatally. Often the longer you wait, the more surprises await you. In tough negotiations especially, keep everyone at the table long enough to reach an agreement.

  • If you’re in an active deal or negotiation right now, what can you do to close the deal so both parties are taken care of?
  • What might you be doing that needlessly jeopardizes the deal? 

19. Don’t lose money!!! Objectively assess the risks of every opportunity.

  • Do you have a good process to objectively assess risk? 

20. Make decisions when you are ready, not under pressure. Others will always push you to make a decision for their own purposes, internal politics, or some other external need. But you can almost always say, “I think I need a little more time to think about this. I’ll get back to you.” This tactic is very effective at defusing even the most difficult and uncomfortable situations.

  • What decisions do you have to make right now? 
  • Which ones can you make faster and which ones should you slow down?
  • What is your decision-making process? (see rule #22)

21. Worrying is an active, liberating activity. If channeled appropriately, it allows you to articulate the downside in any situation and drives you to take action to avoid it.

22. Failure is the best teacher in an organization. Talk about failures openly and objectively. Analyze what went wrong. You will learn new rules for decision making and organizational behavior. If evaluated well, failures have the potential to change the course of any organization and make it more successful in the future.

23. Hire 10s whenever you can. They are proactive about sensing problems, designing solutions, and taking a business in new directions. They also attract and hire other 10s. You can always build something around a 10.

  • How many 10s are you working with right now? 
  • Who are the 10s in your network? 
  • Where can you find 10s in you need to recruit them?

24. Be there for the people you know to be good, even when everyone else is walking away. Anyone can end up in a tough situation. A random act of kindness in someone’s time of need can change the course of a life and create an unexpected friendship or loyalty.

  • Who can you be kind to right now?

25. Everyone has dreams. Do what you can to help others achieve theirs.

  • What are the dreams of the people close to you? Can you do one thing to move them forward in those dreams? 

Take some time and answer the questions for each of these rules. Then take action aligned with your responses. One action I’ll take to support you in your dreams is to offer you the e-book version of my Dreams to Reality Fieldbook free. Just email me and we’ll send a copy over to you. 

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