MENTORS MAGAZINE | EDITION 2 | 73
Neil: Yeh
Ivan Misner: So, when I teach someone how
to do something, some of the information
leaks out, and if they then teach someone
else even more in-
formation leaks out,
and when they
teach another per-
son, you know you
end up with half a bucket of information.
And when someone gets half a bucket of in-
formation, the first thing they do is go 'ahh
something is missing here' so what do they
start doing? They start putting in their own
stuff, and their own stuff and their own stuff
may or may not work. And so, the more you
can plug those holes, the better. So, some-
thing like a book, podcasts, I do weekly pod-
casts. And a lot of it is stuff from various
books that I wrote. And I talk about core val-
ues and podcasts are aimed at BNI mem-
bers, and so I talk about our core values reg-
ularly, our traditions.
So, books, the internet is great because it
flattens the communication hierarchy. Peo-
ple can connect with each other... I mean
look how we are doing this interview. This
was unheard of 15/20 years ago, you know.
Sitting in different countries with micro-
phones online doing a recorded interview,
it’s just it was unheard of when I started BNI.
So, the second largest line of my budget in
1985 was the telephone bill. The phone bill,
staff were number one, salaries were num-ber one, phone bill was number two. Today I
don't even know where the phone bill is in
my budget, its buried under something. So,
its minimal. So, there are a lot of things that
we can do to pass
on the culture of an
organisation. And
it’s really one way
or another whether
it’s a podcast or a book or online, it’s about
story telling.
Neil: Knowing what you know now, is there
anything that if you had known it when you
started out, that would have helped you to
short cut the learning curve?
Ivan Misner: Well yes of course, so there are
many things, that I would do differently, in
concept. I mean I am hesitating because I
think it’s an interesting question but not a
question that works well, I think in the sense
that.. look, it’s that learning process that
gives us the experience to know better the
next time. So, I can give you some thoughts
and I will give you something here in a mi-
nute, that if you have not experienced it and
you pay attention, maybe you won't make
the same mistake. But I never go back, I nev-
er regret. So, the issue with this question is
that it almost feels like, do I have a sense of
regret with something I did wrong. You know
what? My failures are what helped teach me
how to succeed. So, failures do not particu-
larly bother me. But there is a lot of failures
that taught me a lot of things.My failures are what
helped teach me how to succeed.