Comments

This is a great interview! However, I do have some thoughts on one of the statements. The lead-off here makes the statement...
"I learned that business was just the means to an end. The question is, what kind of life do you want? You want to better your life for yourself and your family."

This may get me blasted here, but I think that a statement like this is a bit self-centered in nature, and I believe that true success will come when we are more selfless.

Later on Brodsky does say...
"I was trying to achieve my life goals, which weren't about money."

I think that this is an important distinction to make when working for success. Often in our culture, money = success. That only leads to a greed that drives us to do more and make more.

Instead if we define our success by how we can help others (a selfless perspective) then we are more likely to do the things that result in success (even financial).

So I just think that a more accurate statement would be something like, "The question is, how are you going to improve someone else's life?" or "How are you going to give someone else the life that they want?"

Am I crazy, or does this make sense to anyone else?

Posted by Dan King at October 3, 2008 11:20 AM

Your comment makes terrific sense to me Dan.

I would say the best currency of measuring our usefulness when we evaluate our lives on our death bed is how many people we’ve helped rather than the money we have in our bank account. If we make enough money to live comfortably that’s good too. I am with you in that if we are selfless the probability is the finance will come.

Not wishing to take the thread down a religious route I would say this whole issue is also heavily influenced in some people’s opinion – certainly mine – by our faith and for whom we actually work at the end of the day. Good to see Norm Brodsky reminds us early on in the interview that God provides us with the information needed – it’s what we do with it that’s important.

Posted by Trevor Gay at October 3, 2008 1:50 PM

Interesting interview, but I found something else Norman said as surprising: "The truth of the matter is, you have to make money on almost everything you do. You can't give away your service or your goods." An unusual comment in the internet age. But the interview gave me something to chew on.

Posted by John O'Leary at October 3, 2008 1:51 PM

Thanks for validating my thoughts Trevor... And not to take this down a religious route either, but that is also what I think drives my thoughts on selflessness as a means for driving success. Not to drop a shameless plug or anything, but that is what my site is all about...
http://managementbyGod.com

I did really enjoy the interview! And agree with John that it really gives you some interesting thoughts to chew on!

Thanks!

Posted by Dan King at October 4, 2008 2:53 PM

I really enjoyed this interview, namely for its hard-hitting points about the reality of business and how profit is made; it seems simple enough. But does the gross margin ever indeed become gross? When considering the 200M+ packages of these executives as their companies tanked, I am grossed out.

I have wondered about gross margins as I pay my construction crews. They seeking to make a profit. I am demanding a price within my set budget with eyes on a profit margin. (I usually win.) They complete the job with excellence; I sweeten the deal and hire them for the next job. I usually make a nice profit, but why sweeten the deal, if the gross margin can be larger still? I do wonder about the other voice in my head, the one that doesn't say take or be taken or take more or else you will have less.

It often seems that great businesspersons come to the reality of being in life for others after they have become a great financial success; often times the light comes after the fact, as if ethics and business do not go together during the fact. Besides business as livelihood and purpose, for many successful person it's a high stakes game. Perhaps I will never get to that level.

The Knack just arrived on my doorsteps. I like the sub-title: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up. My partner and I in a real estate venture make a great team. He is an engineer senior executive for a Fortune 500 and trader. I am not. I guess I would be the street-smart entrepreneur who's learning daily how to better handle whatever comes up. He is often amazed at what I come up and how profit is made, namely through excellent products (the houses), service, and relationships. There's big heart in my game.

I'm looking forward to reading the book. Thanks, Erik, for another terrific interview!

Posted by Judith Ellis at October 7, 2008 1:32 PM