The Ignored Growth Strategy

When people ask which tycoons best exemplify the Tycoon Playbook approach to building a business empire, Carlos Slim always comes to mind. If you scan the annual lists of billionaires you will see that most made their money either through wheeling and dealing in assets (i.e., businesses for the most part) the way Carlos Slim did. Some used it as their primary growth strategy while others used it as a secondary one. The billionaires who made their money by focusing on building one technology company are far and few between. Unfortunately, the media is currently obsessed with the Zuckerbergs, Brins, Pages, and Bezos.

My mission is to right this sorry state of affairs and swing the limelight back to the best role models for most entrepreneurs.

Carlos Slim Richest Man in the World 2013

Why are people like Carlos Slim and Tom and Alec Gores the better role models for the most part? The answer is transferable skills. Many entrepreneurs can learn their deal-making skills and apply them to their own businesses in order to grow faster. In contrast, there are aren’t any transferable skills that most of us can learn from the likes of Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerbergs. These guys are  geniuses. They came into this world gifted with off the charts IQs.

If you want to learn how to succeed in business study the deal-makers. The common thread in all their stories is that they started with a small grubstake and parlayed it over time into a fortune.

Carlos Slim is one of the best examples to learn from.

With this post I kick off “Carlos Slim Week” on the Tycoon Playbook blog.

It’s long overdue.

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