Old, But Still Good Advice

Sometime around the year 1930 an up-and-coming management
consultant by the name of Ivy Lee approached Charles Schwab, the
head of American Bethlehem Steel.

To cut a long story short, Lee told Schwab that he could improve
the efficiency of the company by 50%.

Suspicious, Schwab asked what it would cost.

Lee said that he would give Schwab the secret and after putting
it in action among the company’s executives for one month, Schwab
could pay Lee whatever he thought it was worth.

It sounded like a good deal so Lee handed Schwab a small piece of
paper.

On it was written the following:

“Write down the most important things you have to do tomorrow.
Now, number them in the order of their true importance. The first
thing tomorrow morning, start working on an item Number 1, and
stay with it until completed. Then take item Number 2 the same
way. Then Number 3, and so on. Don’t worry if you don’t complete
everything on the schedule. At least you will have completed the
most important projects before getting to the less important
ones.”

Schwab thought that the advice was simplistic, but a deal was a
deal. He circulated the note around the company.

Four weeks later, Ivy Lee received a check for $25,000 – over
$275,000 in today’s money.

If one of America’s toughest businessmen valued that ’simplistic’
advice so highly, don’t you think it would be worth having a go
yourself?