Leadership lessons from building billion dollar businesses
Being business rich is the quickest path to wealth, but you have to know your non-negotiable principles to guide you on your way.
I won’t do anything unless it creates a win-win-win.
The business has to win.
The customers have to win.
And the shareholders have to win.
If all three aren’t aligned, it’s a non-starter for me.
That principle has guided every major decision of my career as I’ve built not one, but three billion dollar businesses.
It’s not just about the ethical aspect (though it’s certainly my personal “Golden Rule” central to how I lead). At the core, it’s about building businesses that last.
Because companies built on one-sided wins don’t compound wealth. They eventually collapse.
Know who you are
The people closest to me would probably tell you I’m opinionated as heck. (I would definitely have to accept that assessment.) But they’d also say I’m smart and fair.
Now, there are plenty of smart people in the world and I don’t think my intellect is extraordinary. But my fairness and opinionated nature have, more than anything, shaped my leadership style for 2 reasons:
1. Fairness builds trust.
2. Opinions keep things moving.
Leaders who don’t know themselves, or worse, who pretend to be something they aren’t, struggle to earn followership.
In my case, embracing those traits has allowed me to steer companies with clarity, even when the road was all uphill.
Know what you’re passionate about
Money for money’s sake doesn’t get me going.
In fact, I’d argue that’s a pretty empty sentiment for anyone. There has to be something more. For me, it’s helping others achieve success by doing things in ways they’ve never done before.
I could spend days talking about what makes billion dollar businesses run because I live to analyze, model, and simplify.
And that obsession is what once led me to sit down in my office in 1999 and ask:
My non-negotiable principle is simple:
That curiosity turned into hundreds of models broken down into a formula I call The Value Equation, which eventually led to an award-winning published article in Strategic Finance Magazine.
(And later became a book "indispensable" to entrepreneur and investor libraries.)
Years after that article was published, I used the Value Equation in my companies leading eventually to Warren Buffet investing in us, making Berkshire Hathaway our single largest shareholder.
That’s why it has to be about something more.
The things you’re passionate about aren’t distractions. They’re the engines for your greatest contributions.
Know what to ask yourself from the start
If I got in front of a Harvard Business class today, I wouldn’t lecture the students on EBITDA multiples or market timing.
I’d ask them 6 simple questions:
1. Do you know what direction you’ll take after graduation?
2. Do you know what you’re good at? (And what you love to talk about?)
3. How important is financial success to you?
4. How do you define financial success?
5. Do you want to lead people?
6. If yes, what level of leadership do you aspire for? A department? Division? The whole company?
Most people don’t have those answers figured out until much later in life.
But the sooner you know, the sooner those decisions can help shape not only your career, but also your financial trajectory.
Leadership doesn’t happen by accident. It happens through preparation and intent.
The difference that billion dollar businesses are built on
I’ve spent years refining The Value Equation into tools anyone can use to evaluate wealth creation and, even so, I still feel this way:
Numbers only get you so far.
Wealth is often explained in charts and spreadsheets, and those models and formulas matter a lot. They’ve helped me raise capital, attract investors, and create billions in value.
But the thing that sustained those billion dollar businesses was leadership: setting values, building trust, and helping teams achieve success.
So I’ll leave you to ponder those same questions I’d ask a classroom filled with business students.
What are your non-negotiables?
What are you passionate about?
What kind of leader do you want to be?
Answer those questions early and you won’t just build a career or even a way to “be your own boss.”
You’ll set yourself up to build lasting wealth.
