2. Develop flexible social and leadership strategies.
Secret agents must develop social flexibility; their careers (and lives) depend on it. Similarly, an entrepreneur’s social acumen is often measured with a hint of Bond psyche. While not all of Bond’s character traits make for good business, some do. One in particular is his agentic social and leadership style.
But the key is flexibility. Leadership is multifaceted — and a good leader engages in group, transactional, and transformational leadership. But more often than not, you must lead from the front and take on an ‘agentic leadership‘ style by demonstrating assertiveness, competitiveness, independence, courageousness, and most importantly — mastery in achieving the task at hand.
3. Master your image and become a class act.
“Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define it for you,” this is law number 25 according to The 48 Laws of Power written by author Robert Greene.
“For me, James Bond is representative of class, ‘Bond wears so many suits, [Angelo Petrucci of Italian fashion house Brioni] muses, because he likes power, and that’s what men [and women] so often feel in a made-to-measure suit.'”
Whether your professional image is similar to Bond’s or not, it’s important to develop a positive one.
Entrepreneurs need to brand themselves first.
Like it or not, “People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment, which are rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace,” according to research by HBS professor Laura Roberts.
When you’re conducting business, image matters.
4. Develop a very particular set of skills.
Bond is willing and able to do whatever it takes because he has skillfully mastered a ‘very particular set of skills.’
“He can fight, shoot, drink, make love, drive fast cars, ride motorcycles, fly airplanes, helicopters, and even the space shuttle,” according to Capitalism Magazine. It’s one of the reasons we love James Bond — he’s specialized, and with that specialization comes the exercise of knowledge, understanding, and focus on core competencies to serve specific needs.
As an entrepreneur, you should never underestimate the value of specialization in your own business.
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