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Business Lessons Learned From Paul Revere
by Aaron Turpen of Aaronz WebWorkz |
Recently, I've been doing a lot of reading and research into the American Revolution. It's an interesting subject to me as it is the story of how this great nation, the United States of America, began. Amazingly, many lessons learned from the founders of this nation are easily applicable to business.
One of the books I've read in my research is "Paul Revere's Ride" by David Hackett Fischer. The book has a bibliography almost as thick as the main volume itself. Using letters, documents, and other clues from the past, this historian paints a much more detailed picture of Paul Revere than most Americans know from school. Everyone has heard of the famous ride across the countryside as Revere alerted the minuteman militia that "The British are coming!" In actuality, at the time, Americans still thought of themselves as British and the cry would have more than likely been "The Redcoats are coming!"
Regardless, the ride itself was only a very small part of the total involvement that this simple goldsmith (most believe him to be a silversmith, which is false, though he did mainly work in silver) had in the American Revolution. Paul Revere was quite the mover and shaker, unbeknownst to most of us.
In business, the person who works "off the cuff" with little or no planning is almost certainly doomed to fail. The same was true of Paul Revere. He worked hard and diligently creating some of the most renowned works of useful art in the colonies. He also worked hard at setting up a careful network of "criers" and dispatchers to get the word out when it was needed before and during the battles of Lexington and Concord. The legend we tell now of the lone rider flying through the countryside is inaccurate, as the real work of Paul Revere - though he did ride long distances to carry information and alert the minutemen - was building a network of people to more expediently do this task and do it quickly and well.
His efforts, and the efforts of those he enlisted, were solely responsible for the gathering of over 2,000 American militiamen and the sound defeats the British suffered that day and shortly afterwards.
In business, the same meticulous and careful planning is also generally rewarded. Planning for every contingency, setting a network of good communication, and being prepared in all ways to quickly take advantage of changing trends or quickly change course when your current plan goes awry is the roadmap to success.
Paul Revere built a strong plan and took decisive action when the time came and so should you. |
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Copyright / Atlantic PC,
Inc. |
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