Jun 21, 2020
Rob Lawrence retires at the end of this month and
recently turned 70. Last week I interviewed him about
his life journey and that will come out later this week, but in
this short episode he offers 20 life lessons from his last 50 years
working in business.
Rob's photography site: https://www.roblawrencephotographer.com/
Linked In profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-lawrence-a678375/
Email: birdman22@xtra.co.nz
1. The sooner you learn to let go of something the more
opportunity is created for everyone.
2. Throwing rocks at Government is really a waste of time - and
rocks. You always hit the wrong person and they bounce off
anyway.
3. You can never please everybody all the time - but spend the
time pleasing the most important, your family.
4. Use the Force whenever possible. It may not be
anything that may be fantasy and not work, but it sure feels good
saying it.
5. Turn the NOs into NOWs every chance you get.
6. There is never enough market validation on anything.
7. There is never enough money, but check your business plan
first before you start complaining about availability of
funding
8. Read children’s books. They explain everything more
clearly than any consultant can.
9. Live to enjoy the people around you - your life is too
short, and it is nice to leave a place better than you found
it.
10. Look both ways when crossing the street - no matter which
hemisphere you are in.
11. See value more than cost.
12. Collaboration is not as painful as you think and we need
to do more of it. Both as business people and as a
nation.
13. The more you have to hide your IP, the less you have to
show.
14. Life is like a jigsaw, walking away is often the best way
to see the solution more clearly.
15. Have fun, don’t be too serious. Life is just too
short. A corollary to that: aways have interesting work.
I’ve been lucky in my business to have interesting
jobs.
16. Government needs to recognise more fully that there is
value in digital development, not just R.
17. You can be productive anywhere.
18. Don’t be afraid you don’t know - it is better to have
integrity and credibility than trying to appear to be smarter than
you are.
19. Failure is always the best teacher, but don’t fear it.
You learn more from what doesn’t work than what does, and you
grow from it.
20. The world is bigger than you, having a faith helps - and
it helps guide you through your journey.
For more visit www.theseeds.nz