Step 1 – Know yourself

Like most goal-setting and planning frameworks do, Patrick starts by mapping the current situation. Know yourself and understand where you are. Also, define where you want to be and who you want to become. On one hand, there is nothing new here, but as the author’s life has been very challenging, the book includes many personal examples from which to draw inspiration. 

The more I think about this point myself, both in the past and now, the more I realize how important it is. Time and time again, the subject comes up in conversation or in our own training sessions, and surprisingly few people have really thought it through for themselves. It might seem funny to ask an adult: “Who do you want to be when you grow up?”. Yet that’s exactly what you need to ask yourself.

What’s more, you have to do it in your own company. The mindset that if we do the right thing we will succeed anyway can also work. However, if we don’t know what winning looks like for us, how do we know we have achieved it? How and what do we learn in the process? Patrick says that if you want to grow into a big and successful company, you have to behave like one long before you become one.

Step 2 – Become a master of analysis

Problem solving is a daily part of life. From the smallest day-to-day decisions at the grocery for example, and at home, to complex situations in the business world. The more complex the problem, the more important it is to be able to make sense of the situation for yourself and others. In other words, to analyze the situation and find out as precisely as possible what is going on before deciding what to do.

This doesn’t always mean hours or days of a complex decision-making process, but sometimes you need to analyze and decide immediately and quickly. In the Defence Forces, we used to call this a ‘tactical pause’, meaning that even in extremely time-sensitive situations it is wiser to pause for a moment and assess the situation. This is especially important when information has shifted and all team members need to get back on the same page.

Patrick offers both analytical and more general tools to develop this skill, and here I will highlight the following example from his many lists.

Eight skills to develop to become a great analyst:

1. Ask lots of questions – the more information you have the better conclusions you can draw;

2.  Don’t worry about whether you make mistakes or not – focus on finding the truth;
3. Don’t make excuses – wasting time and energy on things that went wrong will not get us results;
4. Don’t be afraid of challenges;

5. Be curious – problems cannot be solved without knowledge;

6. Prevent more problems than you solve – spot risks before they materialize;
7. Learn to negotiate;

8. Concentrate on the final solution to problems – avoid putting temporary ‘patches’ on.

In addition, he also offers a number of ways to identify the best between different plans of action, focusing specifically on the business perspective. All of this together provides a lot of food for thought, as well as concrete solutions to try. There is a lot to recognise in this chapter for those who have attended our ‘Practical problem-solving model’ course. At the same time, it offers a number of interesting perspectives with real-life examples and provides food for thought for leaders at all levels.

Step 3 – Build the right team

Focus on what you can do to make it easier for others to do their job.

Three key ideas to think about when working in a team:

1. What value and benefit do you provide to others?
2. How do others grow by working with you?
3. How many people’s lives have you positively influenced in the last year?

Think about who you need to help to achieve your long-term goals. Help them, and they will eventually help you. The team will always be the main people who value you, regardless of your position. If they see that you are developing yourself and helping the company get to the next level, they will find ways to support you.

An interesting idea Patrick puts forward is the task of drawing up a plan to replace all team members. By doing this, no people’s problem is too big. For example, in a situation where someone’s departure comes as a surprise. The team is the core of any organization, but no team lasts forever. So continually work on mapping out the key capabilities as well as the skills that are essential to a department or to the organization. Through this, it is also possible to get a clearer understanding of who should do what so that they can focus on their strengths.

This is particularly important as the organization evolves, as you need to understand what to do yourself and for how long.

Organizational growth is often held back by leaders who don’t let go of some roles at the right time. Rather, develop people who are able to pass on and anchor the organizational culture. Through this you will multiply growth and others will do the same.

Of course, all of this goes hand in hand with the principle of knowing your people and devoting time to them. Both in terms of developing them and motivating them. It’s not about delivering the pizza at the right time, it’s about really understanding what motivates them and what makes them take action. By doing this you can also help them to achieve their goals, which in turn will help the whole organization to grow in the long run.

Step 4 – Become the master of scaling up

Here are a number of issues specific to startups that you should consider before raising money or expanding. However, Patrick quickly gets to the point that the most important thing is still human resources, or who and how supports your goals. So the speed at which your organization grows is also directly related to how well your team works. To grow and improve effectiveness, people need to take ownership for their part.

How do you ensure ownership?

1. Don’t be afraid to call someone out if they don’t keep their word. It’s not what we think or say that counts, but what we accept! (Be sure to feedback on the action, not the person);

2. Ask why they broke the promise and focus on the details;
3. Use specific measurable deadlines and deliverables;

4. Use clear evaluation and consequences;

5. Help employees get better at what they do;

6. Understand each person’s role, tasks and responsibilities;

7. Don’t forget empathy and humaneness.

All this is also important in reverse. As a leader, everyone is watching you, and much more keenly than people often think. Take the time to notice all these things about yourself and be open to reporting back to the team on your own actions. If at all possible, find someone who will also tell you honestly if you do something wrong or break a promise.

In addition, the author offers a number of other ideas on how to speed up processes, reduce complexity in the system and why it’s always important to remain a little paranoid. With detailed action plans, of course, but as I mentioned at the beginning, you don’t have to get stuck in these lists. It is important to understand the concept of the idea. Help those who believe in your idea and they will do their best to succeed together.

Step 5 – Learn to win at the critical moment

The last part focuses on operating outside your business, i.e. how to deal with the ‘giants’ in your field. In every industry, there is a company or organization that is considered the biggest or most powerful. As you grow and develop, it is important to take them into account, because sooner or later you will come into contact with them or become a threat to them.

Some of the points he recommends to consider:

1. Know your weaknesses;

2. Know your opponent’s weaknesses;

3. Pick three things you do better and make yourself really good at them;

4. Don’t try to be like your competitor, but know what he is doing;

5. Focus on a specific area that you are better at.

The list goes on, and provides plenty of food for thought, whatever field you’re in. I really like that Patrick also focuses a lot on advertising and marketing. For example, when you’re small, do everything you can to appear big and instead make your competitors worry about you. Also the principle of not being afraid to advertise and make your successes look even bigger. Success breeds success, and failing to seize any momentum can cost you many times over in the future.

Of course, he also adds some thoughts on how and what to do when you are big enough to have the power to influence the market. Maintaining power and staying in a position of strength is often more difficult than achieving it, but again, it all starts with a plan that also gets executed.

All in all, this is an incredibly comprehensive and detailed take on the framework that Patrick has covered in his hundreds of YouTube videos and podcasts. The content focuses on running a private business from a leader’s point of view, but there is food for thought here for everyone, whatever their position or field.

The overarching theme is analyzing the situation, making a plan and executing it. Just like a person playing chess does – plan your moves ahead, and your chances of winning are multiplied.