Page 138 - 25148.pdf

126 • The 100 Greatest Ideas for Building the Business of Your Dreams

one and a half days concerned the last and smallest item, and made a difference to
him after tax of less than £10 in today's money. There must have been something
better he could have done with that time.

The very serious side of this is that managers can look at a decision that makes
complete sense in every way except tax and have to drop the idea. On the other
hand, wrong decisions driven by avoiding tax could be costly.

Idea 82 - Don't dream your way into stupid projects

Sometimes our dreams are really prejudices and ill-conceived desires. I know a con-
sultant who lost a major customer because he bought a Ferrari just after the cus-
tomer had helped him out of a cash flow problem.

When the fashion is to buy, prices go high. At the top of the economic cycle
there are many temptations to pay too much for a company, for the head office
building or for the annual kick-off meeting in the Bahamas. An old mentor of mine
used to say that if a company built a new head office building with fountains and a
helicopter pad and then got the Duke of Edinburgh to open it - run like hell. He
regarded this as a sure sign of trouble just round the corner.

Keep your feet on the ground and stick to the knitting.

Idea 83 - Learn from the mistakes of others

This could be combined with 'If your instincts say it is wrong, it is probably wrong.'
If you see something going pear shaped in another business and realise that you are
acting in a similar way, then change things. History in business does repeat itself
and there are loads of cautionary tales from which we can all learn.