Lyle Berman's Lucky 13

11. Deal with potential partners effectively.

Being an entrepreneur can be challenging and exciting, but it also involves interactions with people who want your money—interactions which, if not handled properly, can be unpleasant or unprofitable for you and your potential partner. Here’s how you can minimize the number of difficulties that could arise.

When you have to say “no,” do it in the most humane and effective manner possible.

What I’ve learned in both my personal and business life is that when you’re required to make a decision and you know you’re going to say “no,” the sooner you say it, the better. I didn’t always think that way. Early in my business career, if someone presented me with a business idea on the phone I’d say, “Well, let me think about it, and I’ll call you back,” even if I knew in my heart that there was no way I was going to accept the idea. I thought it would appear rude if I just up and said “no” right away. Furthermore, I didn’t want to make the caller think the plan had no merit whatsoever. But I didn’t realize that by saying, “I’ll think about it,” I was giving the caller hope. It’s never pleasant to say “no,” but the longer I waited to return the call, the more disappointed the potential partners became when they finally received a rejection.

Today, when people call me with a new business investment, I make an initial assessment of their idea. If I need more information, I’ll ask for it. But if I know from the outset that I’ll never want to do the project, then I immediately say, “No, that’s just not for me.”

Always listen to new ideas.

Why? Because you never know when the next idea might be the idea. When I get phone calls from strangers, I call them back quickly because I’m curious. I want to hear what they have to say. I’m accessible because of that.

When I was in the leather business, if a salesman called and wanted to show me his product line, I never said “no.” Other buyers would, but not me. I always wanted to look, because I got ideas from seeing the products. When I was in the casino business, every time a new gaming establishment opened, I wanted to go there and see if I could learn something that might make my business better. If there was something I wanted to see in Hong Kong, I’d fly there to see it.

Be wary of people bearing compliments.

I’m often in a position where somebody wants something from me. Thus, when people pay me compliments, I’m quick to understand that such behavior comes with the territory. Not that this knowledge makes things any easier. In fact, it tends to make me skeptical and too cynical at times, to the point where an honest compliment can sometimes be misconstrued as just another calculated attempt to win me over. It’s kind of like elected officials who spend a lot of their time dealing with lobbyists on the job. They forget that not everyone out there is asking for a favor. I try not to get jaded when a potential partner praises me or says flattering things about my reputation or skills, but I certainly take each compliment with a tablespoon of salt.

Watch out for deals with “hair” on them.

A while back, a guy we’ll call Ted telephoned and wanted me to meet this fellow who had “the greatest idea you’ve ever seen.” The problem is, I know Ted gets a commission if I back this gentleman’s idea. I’m still willing to meet with the individual, but Ted’s opinion of whether the investment is good or bad means nothing to me because it has “hair” on it, meaning it has problems. It isn’t coming to me clean.

When someone says, for example, “That is a beautiful piece of property, but it has hair on it,” it might mean that it sits on a toxic waste site, has sinkholes or a major railroad line running behind it. To you, it should mean: Be cautious—investigate carefully before you go further.

12. Vision is nothing without execution.

Do you recall the scene in the movie Bugsy where the gangster gets out of his car, walks a few yards into the Nevada desert, frames the desolate landscape like a photograph between his outstretched hands, and sees the vision of a gambling mecca stretched out before him? That is a visionary!

As an entrepreneur, you’re going to run into a lot of visionaries, or at least a lot of people who think they are. That’s because people who come to you for funding are usually selling a new idea.

The problem is that many of these people don’t know how to bring their vision down to earth, down to the bottom line. They don’t know how to develop their idea. Vision without development remains a dream. Vision with incorrect development can turn into a nightmare.

The most successful entrepreneurs have a proper mix of big-picture vision and an eye for detail. This combination gives them the ability to conceptualize where an idea can go and the skills to get it there. I had a boss at W. R. Grace [the large chemical firm that owned Berman Buckskin for a few years] who used to say he could envision the perfect drugstore, but he could never run one. I think it is important to be able to do both.

When I first went into the gaming business, I stood in an open field near Hinckley, Minnesota, and envisioned exactly how the casino and the surrounding landscape would look—a Bugsy moment. But I didn’t stop there. I stayed up for days and nights, laying out the floor, rearranging slot machines, designing menus for the restaurants, tasting the food. What I’m saying is that a good entrepreneur can be both head chef and bottle washer. He or she should be able to work at both the micro and macro level. That is the best way to guarantee that a great idea will evolve into a great business success.

13. Take the road not traveled.

I have a mountain home near Telluride, Colorado. There’s a cozy fireplace in the bedroom that is just perfect for a cold, snowy winter’s night. Above the fireplace, I have a framed picture of a road that goes through the woods to. . . nowhere. I love gazing at that picture. To me the picture symbolizes the mystique of the road not yet traveled, an invitation to explore what lies just beyond my view. I like to think if I had grown up centuries ago, I might have been Marco Polo because, at heart, I’m an explorer. It’s the idea of what could be out there that keeps me going.

I guess that’s why I love being an entrepreneur. Looking for that next fork in the road, that new idea, that challenge to create something innovative or different—these are the opportunities that make me smile when I come to work. When I am able to create something or make improvements to some existing idea or business, it gives me a glorious feeling of accomplishment, a sense that I have done something worthwhile.