Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy

by Patrick Bet-David

The people I know who are expert processors have very different personalities and business strategies, but they share the following eight traits: 1. They ask lots of questions. Having more data leads to making better assumptions. What caused this? How can we solve it? How can we prevent it from happening again? 2. They don’t care about being right or wrong. They’re interested only in the truth. Great processors want to handle the situation and move on. If someone else has a better idea, great. Ego doesn’t become an obstacle to making the right decision. 3. They don’t make excuses. Wasting time and effort on why things went wrong isn’t their style. 4. They like to be challenged. Their priority is handling a situation quickly and effectively, and if other people have a solution—even if it differs from their own—they want to hear it. They relish people who cause them to consider alternatives or defend their position. 5. They’re curious. You can’t solve problems without knowledge. Processors are always learning more about their business and how it works. They love critical details as much as big ideas. 6. They prevent more problems than they solve. People who are really good at processing issues are also really good at spotting yellow flags before they turn red. 7. They make great negotiators. Curious problem solvers use logic to find a win for all parties involved. 8. They’re more interested in permanently solving a problem than putting a Band-Aid on it.