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Study your own trends and tendencies. Go on the long and hard journey of getting to know yourself and see your natural reaction to conflict and decide if this is working for you.

Calculate your company's current valuation and get clear about what drives value. According to John Warrilow, author of Built to Sell and his latest book The Art of Selling Your Business, there are eight unique factors that acquiring companies care about.

Figure out one product/offering that you can do better than anyone else. Think long and hard about cross-selling, since it's usually a huge mistake. Watch my interview with Warrilow to learn more.

About the pros and cons of capitalism and communism. To do so, study the history and get views from both sides.

Watch my interview with Professor Asatar Bair, a self-described communist. Before you do so, leave any pre-conceived notions behind and process the capitalism-communism debate with an open mind.

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William Thorndike. Warren Buffett called it, "An outstanding book about CEOs who excelled at capital allocation."

Read it. Each of the CEOs/companies is a separate case study, so you don't have to read it in one sitting. Then get clear on how you allocate capital since that's what ultimately drives shareholder value.

Freedom

First, I want to express my condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers in Afghanistan. It saddens me to see all the suffering there. When I see people who are willing to risk their lives to hang on to a C-17, it makes me think about FREEDOM. You can see why this hits home with me because of what I lived through in Iran.