Hey Girdleyworld!
I spend a lot of time on Twitter. What an incredible place: direct access to thousands of brilliant minds, all for free… giving some of the worst business advice I’ve ever seen.
So today I’m setting the record straight on 11 pieces of bad business advice — and what you should do instead.
Let’s get into it.
1. “Hire good people. Leave them alone.”
Instead: Hire great people. Help them be their best.
Great people want to achieve more. Ignore them and you’ll lose them.
You, their boss, should be there to support, coach, and open doors for them.
Of course, you can go too far. This conversation was big a little while ago with the whole “Founder Mode” silliness. (Meme by yours truly!)
2. “XYZ tactic worked for me. So, you should do it the same.”
Instead: Learn from principles. Be wary of tactics.
Advice comes in two forms:
- Tactics - always changing, often can’t be trusted
- Principles - timeless, broadly applicable.
Trust the latter.
(And here’s a hot take: take this as a meta-warning about this whole newsletter — the more someone insists you follow their advice, the worse that advice probably is.
3. “Use these 5 questions to hire great people.”
Whatever those questions are, smart candidates are going to be 10 steps ahead of you.
They’ll prep great answers to whatever the hot questions of the moment are.
Instead: Get to know everything about a candidate. Learn their past results. Do in-depth reference checking.
Then you can predict future performance with some certainty.
(My preferred method: a modified version of Topgrading.)
4. “Always keep an abundance mindset.”
It’s a nice thought.
But if you’re bidding for a contract, angling for limited resources, or competing for a small market share… some games in business actually are zero-sum.
An abundance mindset all the time (giving away everything, assume there’s always another fish) can cost you big time.
Instead: Give what you can. Help others but don’t give away the farm.
5. “Focus on daily habits for a great outcome.”
Nobody ever got to the top of Mount Everest by saying: “OK, each day we take 100 steps that way.”
I spent decades of my life focused on the day to day. And sure, doing that stuff well is important, but you also have to spend time on the big picture.
Instead: Set a long-term plan. Develop good habits to help you get there.
Ambitious goals unlock greatness.
6. “Everyone can be an entrepreneur.”
I’ve seen so many people fall prey to this.
Some people are just wired for entrepreneurship, and chafe at regular jobs. (Like me.)
But it’s really hard, carries a lot of risk, and takes a huge amount of work.
Instead: Do what makes you happy. Any path is acceptable.
A ton of people will be much better off in a regular job. Reliable income, stable schedule, less risk, more time to focus on other things… those are all valuable things to pursue!
7. “Rich, successful people know what they’re talking about.”
We focus too much on what rich people say and think.
More money doesn’t mean someone is wise.
Instead: Everyone has something to teach you. Wisdom comes from a broad perspective.
8. “Just focus on delighting customers. You’ll be fine.”
You can delight a customer and lose money.
As CEO, you need to keep the ship pointed at the customer, not just chase good feelings.
And often, the customer doesn’t know what they actually want.
Instead: Build a customer-focused organization.
9. “[Industry] is a dead industry. Avoid it.”
Tailwinds in business are factors in your favor that make money-making easier.
Every industry has tailwinds. You just need the right approach.
Sometimes it’s finding the right time, or the right economic conditions, or the right angle to get involved.
Instead: Money can be made in any industry. Just figure out which way the wind is blowing, and let it fill your sails.
10. “Ideas don’t matter. Execution is 100%.”
There’s some truth to this — great ideas with no execution aren’t worth anything. And a big part of success is rolling up your sleeves and just doing it, even if it’s not perfect.
But no amount of sweat will turn a bad idea into a good business.
Instead: You want a great idea AND amazing execution.
A great team in a bad opportunity = OK results.
An OK team in a great opportunity = amazing results.
(Though great team + great idea is the dream.)
11. “Work smarter, not harder.”
The flip side of the last one. Also terrible advice.
If you think you can be a slouch and make greatness happen in business, it won’t.
You will not get ahead without hard work.
Instead: Work smart. Work hard.
Especially since learning and experience compounds over time.
