Book of The Month ‘Your Next 5 Moves’
By Patrick Bet-David
This is a fabulous book for anyone wanting some great fundamental insights about how to succeed in business with tons of great lessons and takeaways from a man who has been there and done it.
Who is Patrick Bet-David and why would you want to read this book?
I have been a big fan of Patrick Bet-David for a few years, since I first subscribed to his YouTube channel ‘Valuetainment’ which as the name suggests provides valuable entertainment often providing insightful discussion and interviews about current affairs, business, entertainment and politics that are rarely mentioned in the mainstream media. However, it was in the world of insurance that Bet-David ‘lived the American dream’ and achieved astounding success. His family fled the Iranian revolution with nothing, and at the age of 12 he found himself in a new country where he didn’t speak the language. He recognises that it was his challenging childhood circumstances that gave him the huner and drive to be successful. The book is written in a very ‘down to earth’ and entertaining ‘streetwise’ style that reflects Bet-David’s challenging youth. At 18 years old Bet-David joined the military and served the USA, his new adopted country, for six years. On leaving the military, he became an insurance salesman and through devouring books and having some great mentors he was able to effectively direct his ambition, he first came to prominence when he founded the insurance agency PHP at the age of 30 years old. Eventually he sold this business for US$300 Million. He has gone on to own the most famous team in baseball The New York Yankees, and now has many millions of people follow him on his social media channel ‘Valuetainment’ where he has built a reputation for being a provocative thought leader, as well as providing a platform for interviewing many other thought leaders in a range of different areas of life.
Introducing the ‘Intrapreneur’
There is a goldmine of useful guidance for anyone wanting to get ahead in business, not just ‘entrepreneurs’ but as Bet-David calls them ‘intrapreneurs’ who are people with an entrepreneurial spirit who work as employees and add massive value to the businesses in which they are employed. Bet-David explains a major reason that he has been successful is that he learned to recognise, develop and handsomely reward great ‘intrapreneurs’ in his own businesses. He has written the book for both intrapreneurs and intrapreneurs
Valuable Lessons in Business
Using a host of his own interesting stories, Bet-David provides a goldmine of ‘lessons from the frontline’ of growing a business. His stories are told in a very direct style and are about trying to get ahead, making mistakes, learning from books and mentors and learning how to build powerful relationships and learning how manage your own ego as well as other people’s egos.
Here are just a few examples of the great lessons Bet-David includes in this book that all really resonate with my own experiences in business:
- Know Yourself
For Bet-David the biggest mistake you can make in business is not knowing who you are and what you stand for. I am very much of the same belief which is why I work so hard with my clients to get clear about their core / highest values. Knowing who you are is the foundation for living your potential both personally and professionally. - Know your next 5 moves
Not only is this the title of the book it is an important metaphor that explains the difference between mediocre business leaders and great ones. Bet-David speaks about how a chess Grandmaster like Magnus Carlson can anticipate his opponents’ probable moves and his own optimal moves many moves ahead. He picks the number 5 as an optimal number of moves a business leaders should be thinking ahead in any given situation. Bet-David’s experience which correlates with my own is that the vast majority of business leaders have NOT though out their next 2 or 3 moves, let alone their next 5. The most successful leaders are the small handful that have thought our their next 5 moves when dealing with any challenge or any opportunity.
“An amateur panics, a grand master does not.” Patrick Bet-David
In business the grandmasters are the ones who have thought our their next 5 moves to whatever gets thrown at them. - Master The Ability to reason
Being able to think critically and rationally is one of the most fundamental skills to be successful in business.
Bet-David, identifies the ability to think ‘stoically’ as essential and he cites one of my favourite quotes from a book which, coincidentally, was my ‘Book of The Month’ last month …
“You have control of your mind, not outside events, realise this and you will find strength.” From the book Meditations by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius
“I spent my early career chasing certainty; it was both unproductive and exhausting.” Patrick Bet-David
2 key elements that Bet-David learned to quell his overwhelming anxiety for certainty was to ‘know his next 5 moves’ and to develop an effective process to deal with decisions. Bet-David says in business you have to make small to big decisions every day, when you have a robust process for dealing with decisions, the stress and worry of those decisions is massively reduced by simply applying your process.
My 2 favourite Patrick Bet-David quotes are about making a difference to others:
“Do you have a list of people whose lives have been enriched from being around you?”
“Instead of being selfish and looking to see what I could take from other people, I learned to focus on what I could give them, and I improved my worth in the process. That paradigm shift, that one decision changed my life for the better. I stopped asking how other people could make my life better and instead asked how could I make everybody else’s life better, just by the benefits I offer them!”
Finally, I would imagine that the biggest takeaway for many business leaders who read this book might be the insights Patrick Bet-David provides using real stories about the power of having a clear and effective system for processing decisions. Every day, business leaders face a constant range of big and small decisions that can radically change their reality as well as causing stress and anxiety. I have helped many of my clients to create a clear and effective decision making process, which has a lot of overlaps with the wisdom provided by Patrick Bet-David ……
PROCESSING DECISIONS – 4 Key Steps
- Identify the ‘x’ – the problem / potential opportunity (defence) or opportunity / potential challenge (offence). Ask what is x and WHY is it happening? Find the causes not the symptoms.
- Take responsibility / ownership (put your ego to one side)
- Identify what you can and cannot control
- Solve for ‘x issue’ – Investigate, Solve and Implement
Investigate
Urgency,
Impact,
Real cause of issue
Solve
A list of who is needed / who could help?
List of Solutions
List negative Consequences
Implement
Assign & Appoint with Buy in
Apply – Investment, time return formula – Allow for growth and unforeseen costs and unforeseen returns
Reflect
On how you have processed a decision regardless of success or failure of the decision.