The Best and Worst Business Advice I've Ever Received Ever since Ben Franklin advised, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” Americans have been giving each other business advice. Such notables as Billy Rose have said, “Never invest your money in anything that eats or needs repainting,” while Polonius, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, advises his son Laertes, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” To update these sages, we surveyed a group of private banking customers to see what kind of advice they’d been given in their careers, and what advice they have to give.  Here in South Florida, poised at both the edge of the Caribbean and the beginning of a new millennium, we hoped to find some words of wisdom that would help City National Bank customers better manage their money, careers, and lives. One of our first calls was to Sam Gordon, president of West Indies Fruit, who began his career importing bananas.  “My Uncle Izzy Hecht was good with people, and at doing business with people,” Gordon says.  “He told me that a good handshake is better than a forty-page contract if you’re dealing with the right people.” Gordon went on to sell out to Del Monte, then worked for them, taking the banana business from $2 million to $500 million in sales.  He often used this insight in managing contracts and relationships throughout his career. Michael Meyers, president of Centre City Parking, also received his best advice when he was just starting out, from an older man. “Our family has been in the parking business for a long time, and many, many moons ago, when I was young, my father and his brothers had a partner in England named Alex.  He was a real valued guy, almost like another  brother in the family, a wise old sage who had worked with the Rothschild bank in France and was pretty well connected.  He came over and visited often, and he used to watch me running around trying to get locations.  When I wasn’t successful I’d get upset and start fretting about what I didn’t do and what I could’ve done.  He gave me some advice which I’ve never forgotten.  He said, ‘You can’t kiss all the pretty girls.”  That’s advice I still remember today, when I’m running around trying to get new locations, if I miss one or don’t hear about one in time, and someone else gets it, then I say to myself, ‘You can’t kiss all the pretty girls.” This sentiment was echoed, in a slightly different manner, by Paul Feinsilver, chairman of the board of First Miami Securities.  He told us that he best advice he has been given is that “the secret of success in business is to know something that no one else knows.  Specialize.”  Feinsilver noted that this advice has been particularly useful in his career.  “It’s been useful to us because we specialize in tax free muni bonds, and we built a business where there’s no question that we understand and know how to trade tax frees with a great deal of satisfaction for everybody.”  Instead of trying to kiss every pretty girl in the investment business, Feinsilver concentrated on an area where he felt he could excel. It’s not enough, of course, just to concentrate on one particular area.  You have to try and do the best you can.  Part of that involves being true not only to your vision, but to your customers as well.  “Your word is your bond,” says Sam Yohanan Sr., president of Gulf South Forest Products Inc.  “Particularly in dealing with overseas customers, as we do, I’ve always been told and believed that consistency is an asset as well. Being honest and consistent is very important—we are very service oriented and honest with our customer base, and that piece of advice has been a big part of our success.” Dante Fiorini, who is president of the corporation that owns the Biscayne Building in downtown Miami, agrees.  “The main thing that I’ve been told through the years is that you should be consistent with what you say to people, and don’t try to take advantage of the situation, and that has been good advice.  In our business, we try to keep a policy of being straight with the people we deal with.  We say we’re going to do something and then we do it.” Fiorini was also able to cite the worst piece of advice he’s ever received.  “I’ve been told to always borrow more than you need—and that’s not a piece of good advice.  You’ll always find a use to spend business money if you have more than you need, and it’ll always come back to haunt you later on.” It’s important to create a strategy and follow through with it, but be careful you don’t get too locked into what you’re doing, cautions Lou Ireland, an executive with The Ireland Companies, a prominent local land development firm.  She has learned that you can’t pay slavish attention to even your own best advice. “When we first heard about Sawgrass Mills, we didn’t see how it could be successful – the closest market is Plantation and I don’t think of that as a budget market!” she says.  “But once it was up and running we ended up buying some property out there, and we’ve done quite well with it.  So we’ve learned, don’t be so convinced that you’re right that you can’t see what’s happening—don’t be close-minded to what’s really happening.  If we’d stuck to our own advice we never would have done so well out there.” When it comes to receiving advice, we also look to the professionals with whom we deal to steer us in the right direction regarding what they know best.  Dr. Gordon Miller says the best advice he ever received was “to start young, investing in quality stocks and bonds.  Don’t be a trader, don’t look for a killing.  I didn’t follow that advice back then—I made some killings and some big losses, too—but it would have been a more peaceful and less anxiety-producing pursuit if I’d listened.”  Dr. Miller also received some bad investment advice—“To take some income-producing property and sell it, and put it in the stock market—in August of 1987!”  Nowadays, Dr. Miller has decided, “It’s best to leave the investing to the professionals, and stick to whatever you do—concentrate on that.” Taking this advice in hand, we asked Mark Hildebrandt, a Miami attorney, what kind of advice he gives to potential clients. “I tell them, never litigate out of principle—because principle doesn’t pay your bills,” Hildebrant says.  “You litigate to right an obvious wrong, in the hopes that somewhere in the course of the judicial system you’ll find a right that will balance out the wrong that has been done.” It seems obvious that when it comes to business advice, the simpler the better.  Often the best advice is just common sense—but it usually takes someone a little removed from your troubles to be able to show you where that common sense comes in.  So the next time you run into a problem, think about what these executives have learned, don’t be afraid to ask for advice, particularly from professionals; use your own common sense; and be willing to change your mind as your understanding of the facts changes.