More on Traits of Successful People

Introduction

Jack Cowin is a food industry tycoon. His business empire includes restaurants like KFC, Hungry Jack's, Dominoes, meat processing and exporting, plant-based meat company, etc.

His tips for business success:

1. Be passionate and realistic (know your strengths and weaknesses; make sure your passion is realistic, ie don't let your passion for an idea blind you;
"...If if you can't tell the difference between work and play, then you have found the right career. One you love......the secret of working life is finding joy as work isn't work if you are having fun...'
Jack Cowin as quoted by Peter Canvin, 2022)

2. Hard work and being lucky (need this combination to work in your favour)

3. Be able to survive downturns (have enough spare resources to handle the hard times; both business and life go in cycles, ie you have 'ups and downs';
"...you get knocked down, you have to get up..."
Jack Cowin as quoted by Peter Canvin, 2022)

4. Best opportunities are in hard times (buy low, sell high
"...Get out when it becomes fashionable for all and sundry to enter the market..."
Jack Cowin as quoted by Peter Canvin, 2022

5. Use complementary skills (balance your strengths and weaknesses with others so you complement each other, ie complementary skills
"...playing on a team teaches you about the strength of complementary skills. Key is building a team of individuals with many skills different and better than your own..."
Jack Cowin as quoted by Peter Canvin, 2022)

6. Control the variables you have control over (don't worry about the uncontrollable ones)

7. Everybody makes mistakes, (eg misjudging opportunities, getting the timing wrong, etc; learn from them)

8. Reduce risk by testing, testing, testing, etc

9. Be curious and creative (read widely to understand what is going on in other industries that could affect yours, eg identify future trends; life is about a journey, not a destination; think of different ways of doing things)

10. Be willing to seek outside advice (an example of the benefits of outside advice is demonstrated by an associate visiting one of Cowin's restaurants:
"...He right away asked the manager, 'how many phone lines you have here?'. He said three. My associate looked at me and said, 'it wouldn't cost you much more to put in 10, then you won't keep losing customers who don't wish to hang on the line with a busy signal in rush periods. This was the breakthrough we needed for a high-volume mentality. Also, with a growing home delivery, it changed everything for us..."
Jack Cowin as quoted by Peter Canvin, 2022".

Summary

"..how can I maintain some control over the variables? Will everything work? No. Will people disappoint me? Yes. Some people wear blinkers thinking there is only one path to go on. Wrong. If it doesn't work, don't linger. Just work out what you can control in your life and don't worry about things you have no control over. Find out what you are good at and pursue it strongly..."
Jack Cowin as quoted by Peter Canvin, 2022