As I pondered a topic to write about in my post today, I stumbled upon an interesting list of business tips from Bill Gates. The article I read says these are his ‘secrets’ for business development.  But, as I read through them, I realized these tips should be anything but secret. They certainly are simply stated strategies that may be difficult to act upon consistently over time.  In my opinion, these points should be communicated clearly (and often!) across every organization that wants to be successful.  They are great tips and so I would like to share eight of Bill’s ‘secrets’ with you:

• Set clear goals and work tirelessly to achieve them.
• Firmly believe in yourself and your ideas, even if others do not see the benefits of what you do.
• Never let anyone convince you that something is not possible.
• Partner with intelligent and capable people and believe in that team.
• Give high priority to the elimination of bureaucratic obstacles in your business.
• Give high priority to cost reduction.
• Optimize communication within your organization.
• Create an identity for your company and promote it relentlessly.

These tips are a great foundation for any kind of business. They are clear and to the point.  The trick is determining how these points get acted upon in your particular business environment.  I recommend starting with one of these thoughts, expanding upon it and building an actionable plan to achieve it. Once you have a plan in place, move into the next one until each point has been addressed and planned for.  Of course we can’t all be Bill Gates by just following his advice in these bullets, but we can certainly improve ourselves and our businesses by being actively aware of these best practices and putting them to good use.