Hair Club For Men (Hcm)
Realize your own shortcomings.
“What helped me was one powerful idea—to realize my own shortcomings and tap into the creativity and expertise of others to fill the gaps in my own knowledge and abilities.”
When Sy Sperling started the Hair Club for Men, he had a partner who tried to do everything himself, because he thought no one was smarter than him. “His detriment and the cause of his failure was that he did not realize his own shortcomings. I succeeded by seeing what he did wrong and avoiding his mistakes,” says Sy.
Sy recommends finding people who know more than you. “ Lawyers, ad agencies, accountants—tap into them. Pick their brains. Hire them. You do not have to reinvent the formula for success. Just find out what it is and model it.
“Buying a franchise is a great way for an entrepreneur to make money from someone else’s success formula. At the Hair Club for Men, half of our locations were company-owned, and half were franchised. By buying a franchise like HCM or McDonald’s, you are buying their success formula, and increasing your own odds of making your business a success.
“You can overcome any shortcoming. What you don’t know can be learned from other people. Find an expert who knows more than you do, and pick his brains for an afternoon or for a day.
“My other favorite leadership principle is to learn to relate to people,-especially the average guy in the street. I would always talk to our employees—from the executives to the lowest levels—build a relationship, and kid around with them.
“At one time I thought HCM had outgrown my abilities to manage it, and I brought in a corporate guy to run things. I told him it was important to spend time in our locations to learn the business. But he never left his office, never got into the trenches. He failed as a result.
“Being smart is valuable, but people skills are even more important. Look at Bush and Gore. Gore is a an intellectual with a high IQ; Bush is of average intelligence, and now Bush is president of the United States.”