FREE ESSAY ON LESSONS OF BUSINESS

LESSONS OF BUSINESS

Mr. Joe Hall, who is the former President and Chief Operating Officer of Food Lion, spoke
about various lessons which he learned while dealing with different businesses throughout
his life. He spoke about nine lessons in particular that he had discovered. These lessons
were about character in the workplace, relationships, trust, relying on rules,
understanding business, mentors, patience, initiative, and learning from mistakes.
Mr. Hall stated that "every business is a people business" and this is something that you
have to apply in every job which you have. In all jobs you will have to deal with people
and create some kind of relationship with these people. The key to this is to capitalize
on these relationships and build them to a point where they are helpful to you, both on
the job and off. He said that he often used these relationships to know what was
happening on the floor of the Food Lion warehouses and to stay informed on what
manufacturers were correctly shipping and what manufacturers were over-shipping or
under-shipping. Use these people to your advantage to ensure that you know what is going
on in your business. In order to establish these relationships, you will have to go out
of your way to talk to employees and establish friendships with them. People always seem
to react more positively to a person who they consider a friend, or at least have no
reason to think of them otherwise. Another factor to establishing these relationships is
trust. This coincides with the employee seeing you as a friend and not a foe. People are
much more cooperative when they believe and trust you. Mr. Hall also commented that you
must build a "trust account" in the workplace, which you can draw on when you do let
someone down. If you always fulfill your promises to someone, then the time when you let
them down will be much easier. It is a simple matter of doing what you say you will do. 
Another topic on which Mr. Hall spoke was the use of positive reinforcement. It should be
used to persuade employees to do what you need them to do, but they are apprehensive
about doing. You should reward positive actions and punish negative or detrimental
actions. 
Hall spoke on the fact that one must learn what business it is that he is in. He should
learn all facets of the business that he can and then make sure that he actually
understands the business. One must also be aware and cautious of the things which are the
key drivers in the industry which they are a part. He mentioned the fact that young
business-people will have been with an average of nine companies by the time they are 32
years old, possibly reinforcing this fact that most business-people do not understand the
business which they are in. 
Finally, Mr. Hall talked about satisfaction in work. He stated that you must find what
truly makes you happy and pursue that field or occupation. If you are not happy in an
occupation, then it will make your life miserable. You must know yourself and find what
you need to be happy. Additionally, he said that we must learn to gain something from our
mistakes and take something away from them. Everyone is going to make mistakes along the
way, but the ones that succeed are the ones which capitalize and learn from these
mistakes. You should not be afraid to make these mistakes either, for that will only
leave you unable to take risks and advance your career to the next level.