Read this week’s excerpt of the week ‘Do not wait for anyone’ from the book titled “The Unwritten Laws of Business”. (This book is also one of Warrens Buffett’s favourite books of all time.

In carrying out a project, do not wait passively for anyone--suppliers, sales people, colleagues, supervisors--to make good on their delivery promises; go after them and keep relentlessly after them.

Many novices assume that it is sufficient to make a request or order, then sit back and wait until the goods or services are delivered. Most jobs progress in direct proportion to the amount of follow–up and expediting that is applied to them. Expediting means planning, investigating, promoting, and facilitating every step in the process. Cultivate the habit of looking immediately for some way around each obstacle encountered, some other recourse or expedient to keep the job rolling without losing momentum.

On the other hand, the matter is occasionally overdone by overzealous individuals who make themselves obnoxious and antagonize everyone with their incessant pestering. Be careful about demanding action from others. Too much insistence and agitation may result in more damage to one's personal interest than could ever result from the miscarriage of the item involved.

Confirm your instructions and the other person's commitments in writing.

Do not assume that the job will be done or the bargain kept just because someone agreed to do it. Many people have poor memories, others are too busy, and almost everyone will take the matter a great deal more seriously if it is in writing. Of course there are exceptions, but at times it pays to copy a third person as a witness.

Click here for more info.