We’ve all got our skills and our weaknesses. Thankfully, we make use of the former when it comes to running our businesses. However, many of us seem to really get bogged down in what we’re really good at. You’re probably thinking that’s no bad thing. When it’s all you do, it’s fantastic. But when it comes to running a business, you’re going to need to manage several different things at once. I’ve talked recently about spreading ourselves too thin when it comes to social media channels, etc. But when it comes to being prepared to run a business, you’re going to need to have what’s called a ‘full-stack’ brain.
Building a ‘Full-Stack’ Brain
There are plenty of people in the world of business, sadly, who lead without a full-stack brain. These people like to try and apply themselves to everything as if they have an immediate understanding.
The worst people, of course, are those who assume they know best. Ultimately, there are far too many people out there running businesses who never take the time to learn the major facets which make up their day-to-day running.
That’s pretty sad when you think about it. Let’s not expect Business Owner A to know everything about marketing. Business Owner A isn’t going to be able to research the right buzzwords or put together a call to action that beats all others.
What Business Owner B does differently is he takes time to immerse himself in the facts. Business Owner B is constantly educating himself. Running a business should be all about constantly learning, and re-learning, in order to better understand an ever-changing marketplace.
Again, I’m not suggesting you need to know every minuscule piece of data that applies to sales, marketing or production. However, it helps massively to really immerse yourself in as much of your business as possible.
If you’re running a business and can legitimately say you have absolutely no idea how one section or wing operates, you’re going to need to start brushing up.
Successful People are ‘Full-Stack’
The full-stack, in this sense, refers to having knowledge of all of your business’ faculties stored away. You may not be a master of any of them, but you know what they do. You know how they work, why they’re important, and what you need to do if you need to make changes to your firm. Successful people have full-stack brains because they can report to the right people and make the right changes where needed.
They don’t bumble around looking for the cause of a problem. They don’t idly point the finger without doing research. Having a full-stack brain when running a business means you have a core understanding of, and appreciation for, everything your firm does. You know what your teams do, you know why they’re important, and you know how you get to the end result – your final product.