Book Insights "What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School Summary" Authored by Mark H. McCormack

Mark H. McCormack, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in American business, founder of IMG (International Management Group) and widely credited as the founder of the modern-day sports marketing industry.

IMG now has 3,000 employees and operates out of the 85 offices in 33 countries. In business now include the world’s largest sports and lifestyle licensing agency. Mark McCormack who died in May 2003, never attended Harvard business school, but the success of his company has been taught there a case study.

In his book Mark contemplated 3 major aspect of business, people, sales and running a business. He inculcates practical nuances essential to run a business but never taught in any business school. His purpose in writing this book is to fill in many of the gaps- the gaps between a business school education and the street knowledge that come from the day-to-day experience of running a business and managing people.

PEOPLE-

READING PEOPLE- Business situation always come down to people situation and more or soon if we able to know the person we are dealing with, the more effective we going to be. People reading is a matter of opening our sense to going in situation and take insights from tangible and intangible evidence.

Talk Less -we’ll automatically learn more, hear more, see more- and make fewer blunders. Ask question, and then don’t begin to answer them yourself.

Creating Impression- The subtlety of making impression is what demands the self-awareness- conscious connection between the impression we create and the impression we want to create. Creating right impression can be as simple as treating people the way they want to be treated. Or as difficult as treating then that way even they beg not be. Consider doing the opposite of what someone expect, often, it’s remarkably effective.

Being Yourself- Everyone has, or should have, certain principles by which he or she lives and conducts business. But “principles” is too often a convenient cover-up word for bruised ego. There are a lot of insensitive, insulting people out there, and there are occasions when it’s perfectly acceptable to take certain actions in the name of bruised ego. But don’t call it ‘principle’ if it isn’t. That’s dangerous form of self-deception.

We Don’t Have To Be Perfect- Everyone make errors. Its’s when those errors are repeated that is become mistake. We don’t have to perfect, but we should learn from our imperfections.

Taking The Edge- In each business situation there is an edge out there for the taking. Don’t be greedy, don’t be pushy, don’t be impatient, but we should keep looking for the edge. Eventually it will show itself, and when it does be ready to do whatever we have to do to take it. Never be overeating in any business situation. In any business crisis we not need to reactive. First we need to analysis the crisis in term of its potential for both opportunity as well disaster then only need to respond.

"Three Hard-To-Say Phrases"-

1. I Don’t Know- Self-effacing approach is almost always more effective than the know-it-all approach. The inability of others to say, “I don’t know”, even in innocent social situations, can give us an insight about their business characters. People Usually failure to realize is that not admitting “what they don’t know” can lead to suspicion about “what they actually know”.

1. I Need Help- System is set-up for getting and receiving help. Few people are often afraid to ask or accept the help they believe that somehow this will show that they are inadequate. Asking help is the way we learn, expand our knowledge and expertise as well our value in organization. Its demonstrates a willingness to work with others.
2. I Was Wrong-There is business philosophy which says, “If you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t trying hard enough”. The people those are least secure about their abilities have the hardest time admitting their mistakes. They fail to realize that making mistake and admitting it- owning up to it- are two totally sperate acts. It is not the mistake itself but “how a mistake is handled that forms the lasting impression”.

Don’t Try Change The System:- Work Through It- Too many people spend too much time fighting the system. The best and brightest spend their time learning to how to use it. 

Burn-out And Boredom- Boredom occur when the learning curve flattens out. It can happen to anyone at any level of the corporation. In fact, it occurs most often in successful people who need more challenge and stimulation than do others. Redefine job all the time, taking news tasks or constantly creating new challenges for ourselves is way to come-out from boredom.

Fear of Failure- What many people don’t appreciate is that fear of failure is one of the greatest positive motivation in business. If we aren’t afraid to fail. Then we probably don’t care enough about success.

Silence in Business- Silence has so many different selling applications. If we stop talking and start listening, we might actually learn something, and getting a chance to collect our thoughts. The tactical use of silence serves one of the two purpose. It either lets the other person talk or forces the other person to talk.

Marketability- Many year ago, one friend of Andre Heiniger, the chairman of Rolex, ask to him “How’s the watch business going on”. Heiniger reply “ I have no idea”, his friend laugh here Andre Heiniger said “ I really don’t have any idea, Rolex is not the watch business, we are in the business of luxury”. Heiniger’s comment summed up the concept of “Marketability”. It is to know what business we are really in and understanding the underlying perceptions that connect our product to the customer.

Negotiation- Negotiation ability is more powerful than sales skills, because it is much harder to make someone “want to buy” than define the term under which they are buying.

Diversify The Expertise- If we have had formula for growth it ha been: start with the best; learn from the best, expand slowly and solidify our position; then horizontally diversify our expertise.

Hire the Best For Training- Important of training is more important than hiring, Which after twenty years, may be an indication of an organization maturity.

Think Flexibility- We have sell the flexibility of the structure to the people who are working for us, and the only way this can be done is by deeds rather than words. Our team must see the tangible proof that the structure is not only flexible, but that this is flexibility work to their advantage and their self-interest.

Manage Unconventionally- ‘It’s too easy to say’, ‘It’s worked this way before’ or ‘This is how we’ve always done it’. Companies by nature are conservative. People resist the change; they always feel the company they are working for now will look pretty much the same five years from now. The irony is that a mature company gain momentum by pushing against the flow of the existing momentum.

 Take Five Hours To Save The Five minute- People in management often fail to appreciate this very simple arithmetic. Either underestimate the importance of training or lack the patience to deal with train to subordinate. By teaching subordinate to do the job what we are doing, we are freeing-up our time for more important tasks and greater responsibilities.

Dealing With Subordinates- four general philosophies for dealing with subordinates, first- Help them to get pay what they are worth, Second- make them feel important, third-Make then think for themselves and fourth-separate office life from social life.

Lead By Example- “Don’t demand anything from subordinates that we aren’t following’.

Danger of Analytics In Decision Making- Decision making is more an intuitive process than an analytical one, and no amount of market studies, data going to change the facts. The danger is that the more data people is going to chew upon, the more likely they are to underestimate the importance of intuition.

Decision making is process of taking analytical data, facts and figures and converting them into sensory perceptions. If we eliminate the need to ‘feel’ a decision, we won’t make very good decisions, or we won’t make them at all.