Business works differently to engineering. In particular, the personal side. I find it generally hard to lie in the work place on technical issues. I want to be right and seen as intelligent. You ask a fellow engineer if he can help – he is happy to share his knowledge often with the feel good factor that he is clever enough to be able to help others.. And that it is the end of it..

In business, not surprisingly, this is not the case. An obvious statement, but for me the tricky bit is actually acting on that knowledge. Even knowing that business was cut throat having read and seen things on news, or been told anecdotes by mates and relations or wherever, I still acted on other impulsive thoughts along the lines of:

• but surely no one would rip someone off as nice and open and honest as me
• surely I would recognise the situation and not fall down the trap of a bad business relationship or partner
• the worst one though, in my recent knowledge was, having had a hunch that I was setting into a bad deal, I did not have the conviction to actually stand up and alter the direction to make the deal better. I still fell back to the first item above – essentially, too much belief in the honesty of others..

That is not to say that I no longer trust people. In fact, I trust my long term business partner implicitly. And I think he has the same trust in me. However, this has come from over 20 years of working together, with many opportunities for one to shaft the other, but we haven’t. So I think trust comes from knowing that you are leaving yourself vulnerable in some areas, but not being taken advantage of. These are the people to have long term relationships with. But do not start assuming all relationships will work out this way. It needs a balance of trust and listening to your hunches.. But at some point, in my experience, you have to take a chance, and that may mean opening yourself up to being shafted.. So when you do, listen to all your hunch’s and gut feelings before letting others in to your trusted zone..

The sad thing for me was I have made mistakes in all three situations. My clear thinking and personal confidence at times have taken a back seat to the muddled thinking of the three mistakes above. Therefore, I think that as engineers, we have some over simplicity that business people take advantage of. So don’t let them take advantage of you!

How can I quickly gain more confidence and knowledge of the business world?

Read..

I have now read over 30 books on business related subjects.. Some are easy to get into. Others for me, are far too money orientated and not holistic enough for an engineer/scientist.. However, I have bought and read a lot, as much to understand what they are being taught, so that I can at least “know the enemy!”

There are so many excellent books out there on business issues, but it took me till 5 years ago to start reading them – not a good record for someone who has been in business for over 20 years.

I make my family and colleagues laugh when they see what books I am reading..

How to think like a millionaire
Ogilvy on advertising
Strategy maps
Differentiate or die
Winning
Why Johnny can’t brand
Big brands – big mistakes

What is an engineer doing reading those books! They are written by salesman and Americans – a big insult if ever there was one! Sorry to you salesman out there!

However, fight that urge that these books are below you, or you do not need them. Some can be very over the top, some very corny, but if you try enough of them, I think you will start to find some fun in them.

What’s the best book to start with?

These are in order that I read them, and so then got interested in this type of book myself. However, you may want to try them in a different order.

Big Brands Big Trouble by Jack Trout

The one that really got me started, and I recommend this to you as a starter in the business books world. I found this fun, and so did some of my engineer friends and family alike. It gives  a very light anecdotal introduction to marketing, by taking the Mickey out of big companies. And in the process shows where mistakes were made, and good advice not listened to. Jack Trout is easy to read, and having read this, I started reading more of his more advisory text books, with a real cutting edge on how to make good decisions in advertising and other areas.

And I think that is the point at this stage – making good decisions. What have people done before? Where have they made bad decisions? What would have been the better decisions?

So don’t worry about the flack – go out and get some good sad peoples books on business, and read them. Find the ones that appeal to your style and sense of values.

Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin

The issues in here come up again and again in business books - why and how are you or your products different from other peoples?

When you have found the differences, shout them out loud and market them to the hilt. Part of the key in business is finding your niche, where you can claim to be Number 1. Depending on your product or service, this may get very difficult. Even so, someone has to have a reason for buying from you instead of someone else. Tell them cleverly and loudly why they should by from you - how you are different - and if you can, how you are best!

A Genie's Wisdom by Jack Trout

This was good fun to read. It puts one in the hot seat of a CEO for a company, and as luck would have it, you have a marketing genie that can tell you all the answers to tricky questions that your Finance, Marketing and Sales teams might give you. Like all Jack Trout's books, it gives a sound scientific or researched basis for how business works, and thus how you can logically make a business work well.

Intermission

You need to learn how businesses work. How they work together, against each other, in competition and in partnership. What will they do to undermine your growth. What can you do to increase your growth if necessary at their expense? How tough can you be? How loudly can you shout? How can you get the confidence to say “Our product is the best in the world!”. A Genie's wisdom above starts down that road. To get into more business science, there are some harder-to-read books, but you may find them easier than I did.

Strategy Maps by Kaplan and Norton

Some useful disciplines here..

Winning by Jack Welch

Some interesting thoughts and tips on management from a very successful businessman. Quite easy to read, but starts to get outside of the quietness and subtly thinking that is natural to engineers and scientists. Some of the big power hungry, money grabbing types of books annoy me - this isn't one of them, but it is getting closer to my tolerance level! I think that is one of my failings! Back to chapter 1 for me..

The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy

Gosh - now we are getting a bit scary! But actually it is a very good insight into something I thought I was very bad at. However, one the main things offered by Brian Tracy is that the conventional thinking of a salesman who is pushy, loud and annoying, is actually counter-productive. He suggests that the very best salesman have the abilities to listen, understand and then advise clients on the best products and services for them. Actually, much closer to how I think a lot of engineers might think of talking about a product. However, there is a bite to it - you have to then have the skills to follow through the interest and turn it into a sale, but in a nice way that the customer is happy and smiley about. In fact all the things I like to have when I am buying something! So do not get put off by sales books. Most of the best ones are advising normal sensible friendly clever stuff..