How would John Galt (Of Atlas Shrugged fame) run a business?

Let me just start out by saying although I am a fan of Ayn Rand's books, her approach is a bit over the top and not realistic at some level. If you have a wife and kids, you will sacrifice work time for them. That being said, the model she presents is fool proof. If you truly work hard with mind and body, you will ultimately succeed, there are no exceptions..

Getting Started: For those of you who don't own a business, the first step in the John Galt approach would depend on if you are buying a business, or starting your own. Either way, step one is fairly easy. John Galt wouldn't start a business he didn't know anything about. This is actually pretty logical, if you have a real passion for something, you will naturally know quite a bit about the thing.

Now let us get in to the specific charecterstics.

#1 You must have a purpose in everything you do.
It sounds obvious doesn't it? But it isn't. Having a purpose means that you have an ending point in mind. First, what is the purpose of your business. Well, for John Galt, Hank Rearden and Dagny Taggart, that purpose was making money. That should also be your purpose, and ultimate goal for the business itself. If you enjoy what you are doing, you can tell yourself that enjoying your work is your purpose. This is a trap. If you enjoy your work, but don't make a profit, you won't be enjoying it for very long. If you make a very good profit, and you can use the money to make other aspects of your life better, you'll enjoy your work even more. There is no way around this. John Galt enjoyed his work so much that he would not do it unless he could make a profit, and keep it for himself.

#2 You must drive yourself to the point of exhaustion.
Not every day, and you'll need long breaks. But at certain points of time, you must work yourself beyond what you believe are your capabilities. This is particularly true when you are already very busy or when you are facing a particular challenge. I have founded an added benefit to this approach. When I work twelve hours a day, for five or six days in a row, I learn a lot. Much more than I could ever learn by spending an hour or two three times a week in a college class, or training class.

#3 You must have complete and real confidence in your abilties.
The confidence that comes from knowing exactly what you are doing. This can take years to develop and should never be faked. The people you desire to conduct business with will see right through you if you have a false confidence. If you don't know something, say you don't know, and find out the answer. If you have any free time, during work, (not that you steal from committments to your children) you should be learning or sharpening your skills.

#4 You must take responsibility for your mistakes..
Everyone makes mistakes. When you are running a business you are taking a risk, every risk has a real chance for failure. And you will have failures and make mistakes. But they are usually easy to overcome.Accept the blame, and fix the mistake.

#5 You can never assist, or give credibility to the looters.
I don't think even Ayn Rand could have foreseen how bad this would get. In states across the country the voters have gone to the polls and told business what they must pay, and how much of their profit they must give to the people of the state. These are the looters and in The United States today, at least half of the voters are looters. A looter is someone who takes something that doesn't belong to them. They take only from the productive. It has recently been couched in Orwellian language, "You should give back to the community." You should never take anything from the community in the first place.

#6 You must be completely honest in your business dealings.
Many of Ayn Rand's characters are atheists. But they still have to live with themselves when they take something that doesn't belong to them. Profits are yours to keep, at the highest level that you and your customer can agree on. If you lie or pay a bribe to get a contract that you don't deserve, you are stealing, and it will come back to hurt you and your business.

#7 Don't take cheese from mousetraps.
CEOs and business owners get in more trouble than they can handle by making snap decisions. When confronted with a crisis, don't make snap decisions. Take your time and analyze the problem. I have witnessed this phenomenon in just about every walk of life, but in business it is usually disastrous. As little as ten minutes of clear thought can often turn a potential disaster in to a minor nuisance. When someone you are dealing with has an instant answer to every problem, you are speaking with a fool.

#8 Use your own mind, and use it often.
This is one of the biggest problems facing our country today. To many people listen to "experts" to help solve their problems. Whether they are personal problems or business problems, you can find your own solutions. This is how greatness is achieved. Today's business people often look to make existing solutions more efficient or cheaper. But real greatness comes from taking a completely new approach to solving a problem. John Galt developed a small motor by thinking for himself. Dagny Taggart built her rail road by taking measured risks, and Hank Rearden invented his metal by trying different things for years. Much of the work you do, you will have to grade yourself. When you come up with something new, work through every angle and keep making it better.

#9 Don't hire people just to be nice, or because they need a job.
Everyone needs a job. When you give someone a job because you feel sorry for them, or because they are related to you, you have taken something form a person who is more deserving. And you haven't done the person any favor anyway. If someone isn't any good at what they do, there is a reason for it. They have a skill they need to improve on, or they need to better their work ethic.

#10 Don't engage in flowery talk.
Words have real tangible meaning. If someone is speaking to you in political speak, that person is trying to steal something from you, or doesn't know the answer. When a politician talks about change, but doesn't mention the type of change, when a politician says he is a "conservative" but doesn't elaborate on how his conservatism will manifest itself in policy, he doesn't know the answer. If you have trouble communicating, don't by a grammar book, by a dictionary. Preferably an older one. Speak plainly and directly, say what you mean and deliver what your promise.

Eric Gurr
Editor SMBresource.com
President and CEO of Intralink
egurr@intralinkinc.com

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