Lessons Learned From History That Can Help Modern Business People

You don’t have to be a history student to know just how much we can learn from the people that have gone before us. Whether that is people from famous events in history, or people that we know who have been successful in business; they all have done things that we can learn from that can help to grow businesses.

For example, Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb and other wonders, was quoted as saying that when it failed, he simply had found ways that didn’t work. He never focused on the failures and just carried on. This is an important lesson that we can learn from business; to keep going and to not worry about failures. They are going to happen from time to time, but the important thing is that you don’t give up, and find a way that does work for you. From looking at the history of the steel industry to the building of the Titanic, there are so many things that we can learn that will help us with modern business. Here are some things to think about.

Don’t fear rejection

Although embracing rejection isn’t something that you should necessarily focus on, it is something that you expect when you’re a business owner, and not something that you worry about or fear. History has so many examples of people who had rejection but who didn’t give up and who persevered until they got the yes that they needed. One example of this is a man named Chester Carlson, who you may know as the man who invented photocopier or Xerox machines. He was initially turned down by a number of companies before he was able to sell his idea, and now they’re commonplace in every office and most homes.

Take inspiration from other industries and sectors

For a lot of Isaac Newton’s life, he was a scientist that was well respected in what he did, with the known view at the time that the world worked much like when balls collide. Roll on a number of years and he started looking at things like magic and alchemy, reading up on mysterious substances and how they have antipathies with one another. At the time this was thought to be a question about his sanity, but really, these occult books helped Isaac Newton to have a different look at things. These magical forces he was reading up on inspired him to look at how forces of attraction work, and it was the catalyst that led to the universal theory of gravity. So don’t just stick to your own industry, but rather, learn from and take ideas from others.

Networking

Many previous successful business leaders stayed at home and shied away from being bold. They were out there working hard and getting to know others. For example, the poet Langston Hughes worked at a hotel before making his break, and he put three poems by the bed of the already established poet Vachel Lindsay. This was just what was needed for Hughes to get out there as a poet. He took a risk, was bold, and got out there to get to know other people. You need to be bold in business and you need to network with others.