Warren Buffett (Left) and Jack Welch (Right)

The internet is one of the great equalizers of information. Just a few decades ago, the wisdom offered by business leaders would have been relegated to college classrooms, low circulation books, and print media. And unless you happened to live in a major city, all of these could be difficult to find or access. Today, things are different. With a few quick searches, you can learn from some of the brightest luminaries of today’s business world.

Advice from Entrepreneurs About Business and Beyond

Like many of our articles, this one is quick and focuses on just a small sampling of what’s out there.

On Reality by Jack Welch

“Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.”

Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric (GE), is a business icon… if you’re over 30. For those younger than that, Welch made a few appearances on “30 Rock” opposite Alec Baldwin who sought out his advice. Why? Because Welch is credited with leading GE through explosive growth in 1980s and 1990s.

Welch credits much of his success to a realistic world view, as the above quote shows. Success in business, or anything else for that matter, depends on a realistic assessment of the challenges ahead. While you’d think this would be obvious to most business owners, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey would like a word with you. His hit show, Kitchen Nightmares, is known for featuring obtuse business owners losing money by insisting their way of doing things is the right way. As Ramsey always points out, and I imagine Mr. Welch would agree, if it’s working, you should be making money. It doesn’t help anyone to stubbornly hold onto opinions that aren’t leading to positive results.

On Value by Warren Buffett

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

To most people, Warren Buffett doesn’t need an introduction. Legendary investor, one of the world’s wealthiest people, and voice on kids cartoon show, Buffett’s advice on money management is treated as gospel. The “Oracle of Omaha” has said many things that seem obvious and none more so than the quote above. Unfortunately, most people seem to forget his time honored maxims. Companies and consumers routinely pay more than they should for a variety of goods and services. The biggest cause of this is associating price too closely with value. Restaurant food is a great example of this. You can pay for the ingredients and save a lot of money. But the value of restaurant food is not having to prepare it yourself. What is the value of that preparation related to the price? Thinking about everyday transactions through this filter helps keep money in your pocket.

On Mistakes by Adam Osborne

“The most valuable things you can make is a mistake. You can’t learn anything from being perfect.”

Adam Osborne knows a good bit about failure. Born in Thailand to British parents, Osborne was one of the early pioneers of personal computers. His company, Osborne Computer Corporation, developed one of the first “mobile” computers, an early precursor to the laptop. At one point, Osborne’s company was shipping 10,000 units a month. The business went south when Osborne mentioned in an interview that his company was introducing a new, more advanced version of their computer. This, unfortunately, led to a complete collapse in orders as customers decided to wait until the new model was available before purchasing the existing product. Just two years later, the company closed. As a result, tech companies nowadays are incredibly secretive about their product development and release dates to prevent what is now known as the “Osborne effect”. Osborne went on to found other companies with varying degrees of success. He passed away in 2003 at age 64.