TEB Book Review: Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish

It has been said that everyone has between 4 and 7 critical moments in their life, when you make a decision that will significantly impact every day that follows.

Wednesday August 23, 2017 was one of those days for me. I at the house of a friend at Port Aransas, Texas. I was on a fishing trip with 3 of my best clients. Not only are these men fantastic clients and shrewd entrepreneurs who have grown multiple companies, but they are strong men of character and faith. I thoroughly enjoy working with them. During the conversation that evening, one of the men asked me what my plan was for the next 10-years and what I did every day to better myself professionally.

Honestly at that time I didn’t have a 10-year plan and I had no plans of going back to get another degree. As I stumbled through my current assessment, my friend’s response was as kind as it was gracious. I don’t remember the exact words, but the gist was that if I wanted to have more clients like them, then I needed to start thinking like them. This included having a strategic vision (i.e. 10-year plan) and to learn how to be a better banker EVERY day. Then he dropped the real value bomb. The key to daily improvement was through education. Not necessarily by going back to university and obtaining another degree, but by reading and consuming knowledge that so many entrepreneurs have shared. He then uttered 19 words that impacted every day of my life since: “You need to start reading and the best place to start is Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish”.

That was the day I decided to start the journey to define my 10-year plan and committed to growing professionally every day. That decision altered how I look at my calling and has led me to strive to think more like an entrepreneur than a banker. Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is without a doubt a book that has shaped and guided that change. First, as a way to peer into the mind of the clients that gets the most value out of me; but then more recently as a blueprint as I am trying to track critical data and establish a rhythm of meetings with my team.

If you have not read this book, you need to put this at the top of your reading list (you have one right?). Here are my top 3 take-aways from this amazing, transformational work:

• The 3 Rockefeller Habits: Priorities, Data, and Rhythm. It shocks me how many entrepreneurs continue to run their business with no regard to these three critical habits. The reality is that many entrepreneurs acknowledge the importance of these habits but they misalign their time, resources, and attention on activities so that these 3 critical items are pushed to the back burner. As a result, they have no strategic vision and they are slaves to their company. They run their company by bouncing from one fire to the next. I know it takes a huge amount of effort and discipline to establish and maintain these habits, but I also know that if these 3 habits once allowed John D. Rockefeller to manage his vast entrepreneurial empire, then they can help your manage yours.
• Mastering the use of Core Values (chapter 4). I was particularly struck by the advice to use storytelling to communicate the “why” behind your core values. Since the beginning of mankind, we have used stories as a way to communicate knowledge and emotion. It seems like an obviously stroke of genius to apply this to the things that make your company unique (your core values). Many times, these core values provide you with a competitive advantage; so why don’t you make sure that they are woven into the belief of every single employee? The key is to be able to boil your values down to just a handful and then repeat yourself often until your entire team believes in them as much as you do.
• Mastering the Art of Bank Financing (chapter 10). You really didn’t think I would pass up the opportunity to mention a chapter that was written specifically about me, did you? It would be amazing to have the loan package that Verne and his chapter co-author, Rick Russakoff describe. But in my 13 years of banking, there has only been a handful of times that I have received a loan proposal package that is on par with what is described in the book. It is not that the entrepreneurs I serve are lazy or not able to put together the information. Rather it is that most of them are so consumed with running their companies that they just don’t have the time to put such a detailed package together. This is where I strive to come in and focus on the banking so that they can focus on the business. One of the greatest nuggets of wisdom in this chapter is the belief that your loan package should be a strategic planning document. I have often said that an entrepreneur should not run their business exactly as the bank thinks they should. Instead, they should run their business by sound business principles with an eyes-wide-open assessment of opportunity and risk. Because banks and entrepreneurs need to be aware of all risks. Many entrepreneurs may not know this, but most banks require a risk memorandum to be created with every loan request, outlining the major risks and their mitigants. A detailed loan package, like the one outlined in chapter 10, is 80% of the loan (risk) memorandum. In fact, I would challenge every reader of this article that has a business loan to ask your banker for a copy of the memo for your last request. I bet the insight you receive will be shocking.

Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is a must read for every entrepreneur that wants to lead a company with clarity and purpose. It played a critical part in my life as in 2017, it put me on the path that has led me to establish The Entrepreneur’s Banker brand and to create this content focused on the high growth entrepreneur.

 Being an entrepreneur is one of the most difficult and demanding things you can do. The good news is that entrepreneurship today is a team sport. Hit the connect button on LinkedIn or Facebook NOW and together we will start maximizing your profit, strengthening your leadership skills, defining your strategic vision, and using your bank as a strategic advantage. When we connect, tell me about your latest “critical moment” in your entrepreneurial journey.

Greg Martin is an entrepreneur’s insider to the banking industry and passionately believes that every person was uniquely designed for a higher purpose and calling. Greg guides entrepreneurs in defining and achieving their purpose and calling. His deepest passion is living life with his wife and their wonderful son.