Few generals have hated each other as much as The Duke of Wellington and Napoleon.
After the battle of Waterloo the Duke made a point of sleeping with two of Napoleon’s old mistresses.
One was an actress named Josephine Weimer.
Someone asked her who was the better lover and she replied “Monsieur le Duc etait beaucoup le plus fort.” which means “The Duke was much stronger.”
What do you suppose that means? Was it his weaponry or how he deployed it?
After that little bit of excitement, here are two quotations I recommend to you.
Napoleon once said “The important thing is to decide.”
He pointed out that after you’ve made a decision you will make quite a few others that may render it irrelevant.
But what he said was incredibly important.
Most people fail, not because of what they do but because of what they don’t do.
What don’t they do? They don’t do anything.
People sit around thinking about all the things they plan to do but never get around to doing a damn thing.
If you’re planning to do something for goodness sake stop thinking about it – get on with it. Get on with it now.
The Duke of Wellington also had a handy turn of phrase.
Towards the end of his life he was asked to what he owed his victories.
He said nothing what-so-ever about strategy or tactics and simply said “Attention to detail.”
I cannot emphasis how important it is to pay attention to detail.
In a big business, which I hope you will have if you don’t already, this means constantly keeping in touch with all your customers and employees and what’s going on.
To explain, here’s another Ogilvy story for you.
I once rang up our office in Singapore to speak to somebody.
The person on the phone told me she had gone home: who should he say had called?
I told him Drayton Bird, and he told me he was reading my book.
I said, “Oh, very kind of you. How come?”
“David Ogilvy told me to.”
David Ogilvy had this business with offices all over the world, the second biggest advertising agency in the world at the time.
He was in touch with someone who had only just joined, half way across the world in Singapore.
He knew that the biggest asset service businesses have is people.
This guy eventually went on to start a very successful agency with a friend of mine.
Ogilvy always kept in touch with every single thing happening at every level in his business.
You should do the same.
If you want any more helpful suggestions about what matters in business – and what doesn’t – you’ll find lots in Ask Drayton.
Best,
Drayton
