Bryan Cressey, co-founder of four private-equity firms, shares five principles he credits with success: seek win-win deals instead of zero-sum competition, ask what-if questions rather than repeat habits, prioritize ruthlessly, take full responsibility for all outcomes, and use humor as a leadership tool.
Hi, I'm Bryan Cressey, and I'm going to tell you how to create your new world. I'll share with you things I've learned that create success. I originally compiled these for my 3 daughters, and now I want everyone to benefit from these. When your life improves, our world improves, and I love that.
Bryan Cressey, co-founder of 4 of the most successful private equity firms in the United States, is one of the country's greatest investors. He's an innovative builder of companies and leadership talent, and he wants to help you become financially successful, personally fulfilled, and enthusiastic about life.
A major reason many people have not succeeded is they were taught Backwards. Much of what we're taught is the opposite of what works. So when you do these 5 major things the opposite way, you can create success. What are these 5 things? Here they are. First, we're taught to win while others lose. However, life is not a zero-sum game. Everyone can succeed, and when that happens, the world around us improves. People playing for win-win solutions where both parties succeed are more successful than other people. So seek win-win solutions. In an early acquisition, we suggested that instead of selling 100% of their company to us, the founding sellers keep some ownership. They did. And over the next 10 years, that company expanded and became a powerful site for performance electronic products. The share that the sellers kept became worth more than they had sold the entire company for previously. They did great. Twice, and we did too. That's a true win-win. And guess what else? As enthusiastic part owners, they helped our team continue building the company highly successfully. The second item is most people do what they have learned to do. That sounds correct, right? It's wrong. Successful people don't do what they've learned. They do what they have discovered to do. Become a discoverer. Do that by asking what-if questions. What if things don't actually work that way? What if I try this? Or what if I do that? Experiment and learn to do things in novel ways. You will love the adventure of inventing. Have a discovery mindset. In our business, we do everything differently than we did 20 years ago. We experiment to bring the future into our lives today. The third one is We're taught to complete everything on our to-do lists, right? Wrong again. Do the opposite. Prioritize aggressively. Great entrepreneurs do what is important. They don't try to finish long lists. I've learned that success goes to the person who gets their most important things done. Remarkably, although a person may have, say, 10 priorities for a year, if that person completes only 3 of those, the 3 most important ones, they win big. I've experienced this many times with CEOs who grew great companies by focusing on their very top priorities. Fourth, it can be painful to take responsibility for our life's results. True? When they're negative, we want to say, it wasn't my fault. And when we're young, we're often allowed to say that, right? But when it's not my fault becomes a habit to say and to think, You've given up being responsible for your life and your outcomes. Because you don't take responsibility for your mistakes, you don't learn from them. Mistakes are my best teacher. I make many, many mistakes, and I learn lots from them. People who don't admit mistakes but simply blame others Don't learn, and they also don't succeed. To accomplish your goals, do the opposite. Take responsibility for everything in your life, even those things that maybe you're not really responsible for. I've learned once you take responsibility, you take charge. And once you take charge of your life, you readily move forward. So take charge. Fifth, have fun. Life doesn't always have to be serious, and fun is a great reward. It's free and it's unlimited. People love being with you when you're having fun. Many people believe they must act serious to feel. Or be perceived as important. But they're missing life's joy, and showing humor actually displays leadership and confidence. So have fun throughout your life. It's the frosting on the great parts of life. Do the opposite of what you were taught on these 5 and achieve your goals. For more ways to bring joy and success into your life, explore my new book, Be a Winner, which I've written so everyone can increase happiness, joy, and success in their life. I want you to experience that I have been fortunate and learned how it is possible For anybody. Thank you for joining me today.
Bryan's book, Be a Winner, discusses how to become financially successful, personally fulfilled, and enthusiastic about life. Available at Amazon and all major booksellers.
