How She Does It

I just finished reading, "How She Does It" by Margaret Heffernan. I really enjoyed her tone-of-voice and clever insights about what it's like to be a female entrepreneur and run your own business -- something I've thought about doing. I learned alot about how I work from reading this book. I tend to be more masculine in my emotional and communication styles, so it was good for me to be able to learn from other people's life stories and see how I can embrace my femininity not only at work, but in life. I highly reccommend it to anyone serching to improve their business - male or female. And if I ever do get the courage to start my own company, I'll refer back to these critical lessons.

Pattern recognition is essential. Broad peripheral vision will keep you better informed than market research.

Intuition, empathy, and a sense of zeitgeist are mission-critical talents. Recognize them, reward them, hone them. People with these talents are much harder to find than number crunchers. **Zeitgeist is capturing the spirit of your time, before the market realizes it's time.

Business isn't rational, and companies are living organisms, not machines. Don't expect them to perform like machines.

A successful company is built on values and a sense of purpose. People want to contribute to something bigger than themselves.

Leadership is orchestration, not command. The true test of leaders may be how little they need to do.

Besides having a market to sell to, culture is the most important thing in business. Nurturing people is the way that companies build value out of nothing.

Great cultures turn personal values into process. It is how cultures survive their founders.

Service is ennobling, not demeaning. Customers are the only source of revenue, and everything else is an expense.

Mistakes are learning. Those who don't make mistakes don't make anything.

Be a good planner, but a brilliant improviser. Success hinges on handling surprises, not denying them.

Asking for help is a sign of strength. If you can't accept help, your business will never be smarter than you are.

Families develop professional talents. They aren't competition, but sources of education and perspective.

External commitments enhance managerial excellence. All work and no play makes both Jack and Jill stupid and burned out.

To understand the market, you have to spend time in it. Every minute you aren't at your desk, you can be picking up signals.

Emotion is not weakness. It is inevitable, honest, and an energy source. Recruit people with emotional intelligence who have and inspire passion.

Sustainability is the true hallmark of business success. Profits matter more than revenues.

Stories are us. They're more articulate and more memorable than numbers.

Business is one way of making the world a better place. It is about contributing, not consuming.

Business doesn't follow rules.