The Most Successful Small Business in the World – Michael E. Gerber

I recently finished this book, and when you look at the online reviews they are quite mixed.  I actually listened to it on audio-book and it’s read by the author.  It’s got quite a few good ideas in it, however I would not recommend this as a book to listen to, as Gerber’s speaking style is not conducive to easy listening.

Michael E. Gerber, famous for his book the E-Myth, distills successful small business practices into ten principles.  I liked these ten principles because when you look around at successful and unsuccessful businesses you can see why they are by putting them through the ten principle filter.  I’ve listed the principles below.

The Ten Principles:

1.  A small business, built rightly can grow to 10,000 times it size
2.  A small business is no more effective than the idea upon which it is built.
3.  A small business is a system in which all parts contribute to the success or failure of the whole.
4.  A small business must be sustainable through all economic conditions, in all markets, providing meaningful, highly differentiated results to all of its customers.
5.  A small business is a school in which its employees are students, with the intention, will, and determination to grow.
6.  A small business must manifest the higher purpose upon which it is seeded, the vision it was meant to exemplify, the mission it was intended to fulfill.
7.  A small business is the fruit of a higher aim in the mind of the person who conceived it.
8.  A small business possesses a life of its own, on the service of God, in whom it finds reason.
9.  A small business is an economic entity, driving and economic reality, creating an economic certainty for the communities in which it thrives.
10. A small business creates a standard against which all small businesses are measured as either successful, or not, to upgrade the possibility for all small businesses to thrive beyond the standards that formerly existed, whether stated or not.

The principles that invoked the most thought for me are the first three –  That a small business should be able to grow to 10,000 times it size, it is no more effective than the idea upon which it is built and that it is a system in which all parts contribute to the success or failure of the whole.

Businesses that do grow large were built that way in the first place.  Starbucks is a prime example.  Howard Schultz looked at the McDonald’s model before putting systems into place with Starbucks as he grew it from six stores to thousands.

The third principle exemplifies many of the poorly designed silo-structured organizations where departments don’t effectively communicate with each other.

Overall this is a good addition to the E-Myth, but for me the E-Myth is still Gerber’s best book.

Print or Share
  • Print
  • email
  • RSS
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Google Buzz
This entry was posted in Be Inspired, Books, Leadership, Sales and Marketing and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to The Most Successful Small Business in the World – Michael E. Gerber

  1. Harold Hagen says:

    Great overview, Matthew. Principle 2 exemplifies the importance of a solid and viable idea as the seed that can create incredible success.

  2. Michael Owens says:

    Thanks for the review. I’ll take a look at the book.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *