Continuing with our analysis of Napoleon’s thoughts that apply to business, let’s look at a quote from Napoleon on success.

” The most dangerous moment comes with victory”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

In the culture of celebrity CEO’s this quote couldn’t be more true. Just because you’ve been right once doesn’t mean that you’ll be right a second time or a third. You need to not let your success get in the way of having your ideas and plans thought through. It’s far too easy to get caught up in the excitement of success and immediately push for more, but the road to success has been littered with the cast off failures of many great minds.

Also, you need to take the time to analyze your successes. It’s easy to take a success at face value, but much harder to pick it apart and learn how it could be done better.

Producing a brand identity is no easy task. Necessary steps that include advertising and promotions, emphasis on product features and benefits, availability and typical practices to which the product can be found are key assets to help such a product get the needed boost to accomplish its planned output and purpose.

Brands often take a back seat as far as commodity goods are concerned. Many would consider other factors such as price, quantity, packaging, availability and consumer feedback and endorsements prior to purchasing such commodities. Brands play an integral role as well, some carrying the tag of being efficient and reliable, most of which are known world wide due to the various years of its existence.

Most of these established brands have gone through some time frames prior to being able to get where they are now. Time is essential in everything, and in the marketing and sales undertakings, this is not exception. The continuous product development cycle for a brand will always be under the jurisdiction of the research and development team of any company. Through them, exploring all possibilities will be the most critical aspect that could spell the difference in a bumpy road ahead or a smooth sailing operating organization with a promising future ahead.

Reference Articles
Brand Identity
Developing a Brand Identity

Moving on in our look at Napoleon, let’s look at his views on time.

“Strategy is the art of making use of time and space.
I am less concerned about the latter than the former.
Space we can recover, lost time never.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

In a world where we’re often more concerned with meetings and consultations than with direct actions, it’s easy to lose track of the importance of time.

One way to deal with this is to empower your employees for more direct actions, or at least remove some of the impediments. How can you speed things up so that new projects can be approved quicker? This is a question you should be asking yourself. While a certain amount of care and research is necessary, too much delay can mean that you’re behind the times before you even start.

So, eliminate red-tape where you can. Rules and regulations are like a good garden. To be healthy, they need to be pruned now and again. If you can get ahead of the curve, people will react to you instead of you reacting to them.

In our last look at Napoleon, let’s look at his thoughts on thinking itself: 

“There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon viewed the mind as a much more powerful tool than the sword.  And, if a great general pays attentiont to the power of the mind, why shouldn’t you?  The suggestion box is a tool that has long been underrated.  Yes, the majority of the suggestions that come in are not appropriate, but some will be extremely useful.  And if you have to wade through 99 bad ideas to get to the one you’ve always dreamt of, isn’t it worth the work?

So, keep your eyes and ears open.  Everyone in a business has a brain, and that brain might have the information in it that you’ve wanted.

Into any business, bad times may fall.  What does this mean for employees?  Let’s look at what Napoleon says:

“Courage is like love: it must have hope for nourishment.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte (“Maxims”)

In the worst business situation, employees can survive if they have hope.  If they believe there’s a brighter future on the horizon, they will work extra hours, work without pay, and put in more effort than they EVER would for a healthy company.

 What this means for bosses and managers is that they MUST keep motivated even in the worst of situations.  If they can provide hope for the employees, than there is the food they need for the courage to move on.  However, if hope dies, get ready for resumes to be printed on the company time.

Even though he was cosidered by many to be a great General, Napoleon wasn’t afraid to give credit where it was due: 

Soldiers usually win the battles and generals get the credit for them.
- Napoleon Bonaparte

That’s a lesson to definitely remember in the business world.  Often, the person to present results is the one who gets credit for them.  The CEO gets the credit for the company as a whole, and managers get credit for their departments.  Praise is free, so it doesn’t ever hurt to spread it around and let some of your employees have a taste of it.

In the trend of my earlier post on historical figures, I’d like to open up a bit of a series of posts on Napoleon.

While I will investigate historical figures, these discussion pieces are meant to look at their words, rather than their actions. I don’t endorse their methods, I just display an interest in them.

“A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction.
You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

In this quote, Napoleon displays an understanding of human nature that is still being lost on many business people. Employees, be they soldiers, clerks, office workers, retail staff, or whomever, do not work just for money. Since most of us spend a third of our working day at our jobs, we also want to find something more. It might be friendship with coworkers, a sense of team, accomplishment, or anything else. We work for money, but we work WELL for that additional thing that “speaks to the soul”.

Wal-Mart has its song that employees sing. Many places have distinctive outfits for employees. It might be the company softball team, or the challenge of a project, but you should work to supply the chances that people need to become truly involved in their jobs. It’s only then that they will do their best work.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of reading historical material. Many people discount history as something that can’t apply to the present day. How can the lessons of 500 years ago apply to modern business? Well, as much as technology might change with time, people are still surprisingly similar.

This means that a thoughtful insight into the human condition that was made hundreds or thousands of years ago can still apply today. Sun Tzu has been translated into a number of languages, and has been become better known as a business reference than a war text, because Sun Tzu’s insights can be easily applied to the world of business, and are at least as important today as they were when they were first written.

So, put down that book on the latest management trend, and look into history. You’ll be surprised at the wisdom that our past has to offer.