© John Kuraoka
Quick finder:
Home | Advertising portfolio | Brochure portfolio |
Services | Experience | FAQ | Advice |
About me | Ad Blog | Contact
More than 200 years ago, Napoleon came to power and built an empire. Most
entrepreneurs desire similar results. However, they often lose the magic touch once their
small businesses turn into big ones. Here, we’ll look at Napoleon’s military
maxims as they relate to management. After all, he ran an army and an empire; he was
well-qualified to run a business.
Napoleon said: "Nothing is more important in war than unity in command.
When, therefore, you are carrying on hostilities against a single power only, you should
have but one army acting on one line and led by one commander.”
When a business enterprise is small, there is typically only one mission. It is easy for
one person to exercise leadership over everything. As an enterprise grows, however, issues
get bigger and intermediate goals multiply. That’s when it becomes important to
delegate some goals to people you trust to achieve them. It is equally important to let
those people achieve their goals in their own way, without interfering. Responsibility and
authority must go together, otherwise you are wasting your people’s talents.
There can be only one person in charge of one thing at one time.
Napoleon said: “The camps of the same army should always be so placed as to
be able to sustain each other.”
As a business grows, it often also expands, adding products or services. It is important
to make each diversification support or enhance your primary product or service. In other
words, keep your focus. The reason many big corporations are de-merging - selling or
spinning off divisions - is not because those divisions are unprofitable, but because they
divert resources away from the main business. Growth is good. Expansion is not always so.
Expansion opportunities must be evaluated in relation to how they will help you achieve
your primary business goal.
Napoleon said: “It is not by harangues at the moment of engaging that
soldiers are rendered brave. Veterans hardly listen to them and recruits forget them at
the first discharge of a cannon. If speeches and arguments are at any time useful, it is
during the course of the campaign by counteracting false reports and causes of discontent,
maintaining a proper spirit in the camp, and furnishing subjects of conversation in the
bivouacs.”
Constant, clear communication is the key to successful management. After all, people
won’t know what you want them to do, if you don’t tell them. Internal
communication lets your employees know what to expect, and unites them in action on a
day-to-day level. This principle applies equally to external communication; your marketing
and public relations efforts should deliver consistent messages regularly. In this way,
you “train” your customers just like your internal communications
“train” your employees. In addition, by communicating consistently, you give the
occasional pep-talk or sale ad additional urgency and impact. Corporate communications,
both inside and outside your company, is where theories of information management get down
to work.
Successful businesses communicate well, by communicating consistently.
Napoleon said: "You should by all means encourage the soldiers to continue
in the service. This you can easily do by testifying great esteem for old soldiers. The
pay should also be increased in proportion to the years of service. There is great
injustice in giving no higher pay to a veteran than to a recruit.”
Praise is, of course, highly valued. With each paycheck, however, you show each employee
exactly what you think he or she is worth. Underpaid employees feel underappreciated,
which leads to a gamut of other problems including poor work habits, bad attitude, and
employee theft. If you value an employee, praise him or her, but also show your
appreciation in this very tangible way.
In payroll, as in business in general, it is often important to put your money where your
mouth is.
That concludes this series for now. However, Napoleon Bonaparte is but one of many
unexpected sources of business savvy. Your personal heroes may have insights that you can
use in your business. And they needn’t be famous leaders. They can be athletes,
scientists, artists, ordinary folks, and even fictional characters.
So the next time you’re confronted with a tough situation, and you don’t know
what to do, consider what your heroes might do. After all, heroes can always help
you.
NOTES
The Military Maxims of Napoleon are quoted from Roots of Strategy, edited by Brig.
Gen. T.R. Phillips (1940, reprinted Harrisburg, PA, Stackpole Books, 1985), pp 401-441,
from an original compilation by Gen. Burnod.
Back to the top of the page
Back to the home page
Advertising strategy and other lies
An advertising copywriter’s bookshelf: recommended books
Brands and branding: a white paper
Do you make these mistakes in advertising?
Free (yes, free) advertising copywriting resources
Four ad copy traps that ensnare even experienced copywriters
How to become an advertising
copywriter
How to take your copywriting portfolio to the next level
How to write a brochure: advice from an advertising copywriter
How to write better ads
Long John Silver on writing ads
More career advice: what’s it like being an advertising
copywriter?
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs, Part I: starting the
enterprise
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs, Part II: the
entrepreneurial character
The ART of repurposing marketing copy (Or, why you shouldn’t use brochure copy as web content)
The economy (and what to do about it)
The Tightwad
Marketing project
When you should consider hiring a freelance copywriter
Advertising copywriting
mentorship
Back to the top of the page
Main page | Advertising portfolio | Brochure portfolio | Consumer goods | Eco-friendly products | Food services | Healthcare | Hospitality & tourism | Internet | Manufacturing | Packaged goods | Real estate & construction | Retail & restaurants | Service | Technology
Why should you hire me as your advertising copywriter? | FAQ
Awards & honors | Curriculum vitae | Ad Blog | Services