Learning By Example

Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other.

Remember the saying Do as I say, not as I do – Well, that’s the way of the traditional establishment. Rather it should be just Do as I do. That’s how it always was in the old days. The real olds day. Let me explaining.

In feudal times, the leader of each clan was, to put it bluntly, the biggest and strongest person around. Why? Simply because the biggest and strongest was able to physically make their point heard to anyone who might consider mounting a challenge. Things didn’t change much in those days and any one leader could rule for a lifetime.

Business was also very simple then, as the stability of the leader and the unchanging nature of the times meant everyone knew their place in life. Most people were content just to keep on producing over their very short life spans.

That was until the spear was invented. –

Now, technology began to have an impact on the group. The most proficient pear-user became the potential new leader. Then the bow and arrow came along, followed by body amour. This development necessitated the invention of an even more sophisticated weapon – the gun. The most effective user of this new technology (the bow and arrow, the gun, etc.) could now quite easily become the new leader. As more and more inventions came to pass, and more and more products hit the marketplace, business and staying in charge, began to tax the minds of the leaders.

Here’s where it all get interesting … the leaders realized one very important fact – If they were to stay on as leader, they needed to ‘think hard’ rather than ‘work hard’. You see, if the leader was the smartest, as well as the biggest, person around, something truly extraordinary happened. The leader enrolled the inventors, those who knew things the leader didn’t, as employees. The leaders now made sure these spears were only made for them; the guns were only made for them. As a result, another amazing thing happened.

The leader taught each employee to be a Master Specialist. He then encouraged his Master Specialist (nowadays known as Master Craftsmen) to take on apprentices, so they could teach other people to specialize in the same skills. These apprentices learnt by closely watching what the Master Specialist did and how he did it. The Master Specialist became the apprentice’s mentor, and this system has worked very well through the centuries. It’s still the way apprentices learn their trades today.

But the problem crept in when society moved from being predominantly agrarian-based to one that was largely industrial-based. The leaders, who white-collar workers, turned away from the mentor system towards a more academic system of learning. The motto here was do as you’re told, with the emphasis being on repeating, parrot-fashion, as much as possible. School were built to teach people from early in life how to be good, how to do as they were told, how to fit into society and how to get a good job (as a specialist).

The mentor system had long-since gone out the window. The lessons of history had all but been forgotten.

Luckily all this seems set to change as more and more business people, the world over, are realizing the advantages of watching and following the example of successful businesses. They are re-discovering the mentor system. They are learning that if a system works for one business, it should work for others. And they are seeing for themselves that they don’t have to blunder around in the dark trying to reinvent the wheel – all they need to do is find a successful mentor and learn by example.

So how do you find other successful businesses to emulate? How do you discover who has a winning formula? After all, business people are notorious for playing their cards close to their chests. It’s a competitive business they‘re in and it’s often a case of the survival of the fittest. You can’t just walk into the office of a prosperous-looking company and ask the owner if you can go through their accounts or take a look at their marketing and business loan.

That’s where this book comes in. read about the experiences of real business people and how they’ve overcome some of their most challenging issues. These are their own accounts, written largely in their own words. See for yourself how they’ve turned the seemingly impossible into the easily achievable. Marvel at how they’ve transformed struggling businesses that were nothing more than millstones around their necks into thriving entities that are now the envy of many.

And best of all, you’ll begin to understand that if you learn from their experiences, your business can also flourish beyond your wildest dreams. So let’s go and visit some businesses that have done just what. More detailed stories, refer to page 11 of Action speaks louder than words.

Othman Ali