The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

by Michael E. Gerber

As in any game, the “people game” has rules that must be honored if you are to become any good at it. I’ve included a few here to give you a taste for them. As for the rest of them, you’ll have to discover them for yourself by playing a game of your own. You’ll learn the rules in the process. 1. Never figure out what you want your people to do and then try to create a game out of it. If it’s to be seen as serious, the game has to come first; what your people do, second. 2. Never create a game for your people you’re unwilling to play yourself. They’ll find you out and never let you forget it. 3. Make sure there are specific ways of winning the game without ending it. The game can never end because the end will take the life right out of your business. But unless there are victories in the process, your people will grow weary. Hence, the value of victories now and then. They keep people in the game and make the game appealing, even when it’s not. 4. Change the game from time to time—the tactics, not the strategy. The strategy is its ethic, the moral underpinning of your game’s logic. This must remain sacrosanct, for it is the foundation of you and your people’s commitment to each other. But change is necessary. For any game can become ordinary, no matter how exhilarating it may be at the beginning. To know when change is called for, watch your people. Their results will tell you when the game’s all but over. The trick is to anticipate the end before anyone else does and to c...