What’s the success strategy shared by Warren Buffett, possibly the best stock market investor of all time, and Payton Manning, one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time (three-time NFL most valuable player [MVP] and the 2006 Super Bowl MVP)? They are both masters of preparation and opportunity exploitation.
They both research, study and find ways to exploit opportunities that others don’t find. In Warren Buffett’s 1984 speech “The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville” at Columbia University, he stated his success strategy for choosing companies to invest in: “… search for discrepancies between the value of a business and the price of small pieces of that business in the market … exploit those discrepancies without the efficient market theorist’s concern as to whether it is January, or July, etc. …” He still successfully uses the same approach 40 years later.
Buffett’s research doesn’t just evaluate the performance and opportunity of the company as a whole, which is what most stock investors do. He breaks down the company and looks at the potential and opportunity of individual products in the market. Similarly, Manning breaks down defenses not just by looking for the basic opportunity to exploit with an offensive play versus different defensive formations, but he also studies and finds opportunities at the individual defensive player level versus different offensive formations and players.
Like Buffett, Manning is a master of study and preparation and finds very specific opportunities at the individual level to exploit. Jim Mora, who coached Manning for four years, said this about what makes Manning great: “What sets Manning apart is his preparation. That’s it in a word: preparation. He prepares himself mentally, physically and emotionally to be the best he can be. Now everyone wants to be the best. But Payton does what it takes to be the best. There’s a difference.”
How might a business owner use this strategy? It will be a little different for each business and leader, just like it’s different for Buffett and Manning. Here’s how one local, and soon to be superstar, entrepreneur has used it. Let’s call him John. John identified a niche Microsoft software product that was growing market share and sales quickly. He also discovered that for every $10,000 a company spent on purchasing the software, there was a $100,000 consulting/training opportunity to install and train employees on the use of the software.
John’s high-tech consulting firm is an EOS run company and was a perfect fit to be the consulting/training partner for this niche software. After a couple of years, it’s on its way to becoming the largest consulting/training firm in this space.
How could you use the Warren Buffett / Payton Manning success strategy?
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