Wrestling Possums | with Chris Savage

Vidal Sassoon Told Me This Key To Success- Have You Got It?

by Chris Savage on May 15th, 2012

Hairdressing icon Vidal Sassoon died a couple of days ago. To hairdressers, he was quite simply a rock star. But it was something he told me almost 20 years ago that I want to share with you today. It startled me when he said it, and the truth of it resounds just as powerfully today. See if you agree.

Vidal Sassoon – self-made, highly driven and from a grindingly poor background – revolutionized the hairdressing craft. His obituary in The Sydney Morning Herald read: “ An astute businessman, he made a fortune from his salons and products, and became a household name.”

I was having lunch with him during a promotional tour we were coordinating in the mid-1990s. I asked him about his success and fame. And it was then that he told me a simple truth that not only underpins my approach to my career and life, but is something I have shared with as many people as I can. This is what Vidal told me.

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How My SAAB Car Teaches Us A Critical Lesson In Business- And In Life

by Chris Savage on May 8th, 2012

My car buff mates ridicule me because – in 25 years- I have only ever owned Saab cars. I’ve had seven of them. Now that Saab has gone bust, they laugh even louder. But little do they know that the essence of Saab, and why I buy them, has also taught me the most critical ‘must have’ to survive in business. If you don’t do this, you will fail- guaranteed.

Last night at dinner in a brightly lit Japanese restaurant in Jakarta, my colleague Mike B wept with tears of laughter.

“What are you going to do now that Saab has gone out of business?! No more spare parts for you…hahahaha!” He rubbed it in by telling me the TV car show ‘Top Gear’ had done a great segment on the demise of Saab, and he’d send me the link. Watching it an hour later, I suddenly realized why I always bought Saabs, and why that very same reason had underpinned my ability to keep surviving in business. If you don’t have this in your armory, beware. You WILL come a cropper.

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I Am Ashamed Of My Greatest Failing-But At Last I Am Beating It

by Chris Savage on May 1st, 2012

What do WD-40 ( a type of grease lubricant), an amazingly successful entrepreneur, and my greatest failing in life all have in common? Calm down! This is NOT an R rated story. It’s a story about fear. Maybe it will help you beat yours? Read right to the end – there’s a surprise there for you.

I had breakfast last week with an inspiring and highly successful young entrepreneur, Creel Price. He sold one of his businesses a few years ago for $100 million. (He paid for breakfast.) From his website www.creelprice.com :

“Creel developed his serial entrepreneurial nature from the age of 11 when he started a strawberry business that within two years was employing both his parents. … Creel recently established the Club Kidpreneur Foundation, a social enterprise committed to assisting youths start and grow their own micro-enterprises in order that one day they may choose entrepreneurship as a career.”

“What’s the point of Kidpreneur?” I asked him. And the first sentence of his answer summed up one of my greatest failings, and greatest fears.

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You Have To Have This To Succeed- Why We All Need A Justus In Our Lives

by Chris Savage on April 23rd, 2012

Justus died the day before I was to have lunch with him- about three weeks ago. His death really struck me. Not only because I’ll miss him. But because I realized how lucky I had been to have him in my life, for one year, 15 years ago. Here’s why, and there’s a powerful lesson for us all in this story.

When Justus came into my life, I did not want him in it. He was appointed my Chairman, with a brief to keep me under control. He was a tough, opinionated, seasoned former big time CEO. A Dutchman. He asked questions I did not want to answer. I deeply resented his forced intrusion into my world.

But then I began to look forward to being with him: I began to long for it. Because Justus listened to my answers. And then made suggestions- not directly, but by sharing his experiences in similar circumstances.

When I decided to resign from that role and phase of my career, it was Justus I told first. He understood. He embraced me. And we kept in touch ever since. Justus had been for me, for that one tough year, the most valuable asset we can have. He was my:

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A Very Weird Story on How To Be Your Own Very Best Coach

by Chris Savage on April 16th, 2012

I am worried. This post might be just too weird, and I will see “Unsubscribe’ emails dotting my screen. I’ll take the risk, and share this one simple idea that has been at the core to my resilience in my career, and my life. I use it every day. But be warned- it’s a bit weird. Here it is.

One of my greatest fears is reaching the end of my career, at a timing not of my choosing, and knowing I could have achieved more – that I had not encouraged and backed myself to realize my full potential. Actually, I fear this about my life – will I push myself to be the best I can be: as a father, son, husband, brother, uncle, in law, cousin, friend, boss, colleague, neighbor…. The list is long.

I fear it because I know I am weak and flawed, and live on the edge of a darkness that I can easily slip into… not an evil darkness, just a place of slovenliness and lost opportunity. I saw ‘The Lorax’ movie yesterday: “A tree falls the way it leans. Watch out which way you lean.” I keep leaning the right way in my life, just, and growing and contributing positively, through following three critical steps, every day. But one is really weird. Here they are.

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Why Coming Second Will Help Ensure You Win- Every Time

by Chris Savage on April 10th, 2012

I have always believed to succeed in business, ‘being first’ would be a bloody good place to start. But I was wrong. The fact is, coming second, or even third, is critical to succeeding in business and often, in life. Here’s why.

Malcolm Gladwell spoke about it at the Cannes Creativity Festival in June 2011: how innovators often are not the ones who end up commercializing their innovations. Rather, someone else sees it, tweaks it, refines it, popularizes it, and makes a fortune out of it. Think “Steve Jobs , the mouse, icons and stealing Xerox’s great ideas…” Jobs stole the ideas and made them great. He made a fortune out of this.

I liked the concept, but did not really understand the point, until I read this great quote from an Australian rugby union legend, John Eales, who said:

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Why I Told The Monk Not To (Rude Word) With Mickey

by Chris Savage on April 3rd, 2012

Monks are generally gentle and peace loving people. So why was my heart beating so fast and why was I paralyzed with fear when I looked the monk in the eyes and said: “OK- I will start very slowly – but beware- whatever you do, don’t (rude word) with Mickey.”?

The story begins a few years earlier when a Walt Disney CEO, who when advised by a consultant to refresh the Disney logo, very bluntly said: “Don’t (rude word) with Mickey.” The Mickey logo was sacrosanct – a proven winner and well-loved symbol of everything the company stood for – and was never to be tampered with.

And that was equally true with what the monk wanted to do to me that day, and I just wasn’t having any of it. This is what he wanted to do to me.

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Do this Every Day and Die Happy

by Chris Savage on March 28th, 2012

Do You Have The Courage To Take One Simple, Life-Changing Action Every Day?

I am weak. I promised myself three years ago I would do this, every day. It’s so simple and powerful. So incredibly valuable to living a fulfilling, evolving and exciting life. But I have failed (so far). I have not had the guts to do it. Can you do any better? Here it is.

Peter Cullinane, founder and CEO of STW New Zealand-based business, Assignment, and one of our industry’s genuine leaders, suggested I read “Fun While It Lasted” by Barnaby Conrad- an incredible, true story of how an American in the 1940s trained and became a matador in Spain. One of Barnaby’s hobbies was collecting great ‘last words’… notable death bed last utterings of the famous and the ordinary. He ends his book with such a line, from a woman whose last words were: “Well, it’s all been very interesting.”

On reading this, I realized I was cruising. That a part of my life was an opportunity missed. To be able to say last words of: “Well, it’s all been very interesting”, I simply had to do one thing every day. And this is it.

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The Mouse, The Maze and The Cheese – A Secret to Great Leadership

by Chris Savage on March 21st, 2012

I can be a very impatient person. It’s a flaw in my leadership abilities because, to be a great leader, sometimes you have to let the pace slow and be patient, even if it drives you mad. This story about the mouse, the maze, the cheese and the Scottish creative director explains why.

Bruce Matchett is hard to understand at the best of times. His passion, energy and strong Scottish accent make him hard work to follow. But one night in Singapore in 2011 he told a story about leadership which I actually understood. It shocked me. It made me realize how my impatience made me a less effective leader, and an appalling coach. It’s stuck with me ever since, and often is front of mind now as I am about to counsel a colleague on a course of action. In fact, it makes me shut up. Here’s why.

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What The Therapist Told Me That Changed My Life

by Chris Savage on March 14th, 2012

I went to therapy for five years in the mid 1990s. The issues were complex- deep insecurities, lack of self love, low self-esteem. It was a terrible burden that was ruining my life. Then, one day, my therapist gave me the clue to shedding the darkness. It’s a great insight for business too. Here is what she said.

I recently read a blog post on ‘The Top Five Regrets’ people on their death beds have expressed, as reported by a nurse who helped care for thousands of people as they approached their final moments.

It was when reading the Number One Regret that I was reminded of the insight my therapist had given me almost 20 years ago- an insight that helped me regain my life and my future. Here’s what the therapist told me, here’s also that death bed Number One Regret, and here’s what the lesson is for business and for life

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