The Power of Leverage

May 13, 2024 Julie Entwistle MBA, BSc (OT), BSc.

Benjamin Franklin said that people can either “buy wisdom or borrow it.” To buy wisdom you make the mistakes yourself. To borrow it, you learn from others.

The optimal leveraging of your abilities will help you achieve more than you could otherwise.

Understanding Leverage

Leverage includes delegation, and this was discussed in other blogs.

But leverage can also include other things. Consider these:

Energy. Highly effective people give off a certain energy. Spend time with people whose energy you feel positively impacts your own.
Knowledge. Highly effective people are always scanning their lives, and the things and people around them for more knowledge. Reading, websites, social posts, podcasts, conferences, conversations. Are you doing this?
Money. Highly effective people know how to borrow money or use money to their advantage. They know the difference between an investment and an expense. Both require cash, but investments are meant to return themselves in multiples.
Success. Highly effective people know how to leverage the success of others. Study other successful people and their businesses. They study the companies they want to emulate. This can include studying them as people, or studying outcomes (good or bad).
Failures. Benjamin Franklin said that people can either “buy wisdom or borrow it.” To buy wisdom you make the mistakes yourself. To borrow it, you learn from others. Who has failed in your field? What can you learn from that?
Ideas. One good idea, implemented well, can change the course of your life. But the person that reaps the benefits is the one that acts. Ideas without actions have no value. Making other people’s ideas better counts as a strategy for success.
Contacts. Knowing people who know people, or getting a friendly introduction, are faster ways to grow a network. Ask to be connected or leverage social media to mine for new opportunities to build your bank of contacts.

Want to learn more? Let’s connect.