Louis Ferrante has no formal education, yet he is an example of business leadership: at 16 he was a mid-level figure in the Gambino clan of the Mafia, at 20 he had his own crew, and before he turned 21 he masterminded one of the biggest heists in the United States. Ferrante served eight years in prison and doesn’t hide his past when he advises business owners. Business schools compete to book him for talks, and he is now presenting a book about business success, published in Spanish as Aprenda de la Mafia para alcanzar el éxito en su empresa (legal) (“Learn from the Mafia to succeed in your (legal) business”).
A few months ago we published an article called “What the Mafia teaches us about business“. Today, Ferrante gives us advice on succeeding in a company, whatever your place in the organizational pyramid.
1. If you do what you love, you’ll be on holiday all year round
Ferrante tells the story of Joe Massino, boss of the Bonanno family. Massino was a multimillionaire who lived in hiding in Pennsylvania, a convenient base for running one of the family’s profitable businesses. He was never arrested, until one day his passion for what he did led him to make a mistake. What was it? Walking into a pharmacy and not paying for some aspirin.
When asked why he did it, Joe Massino replied: “Why pay for them when I can take them for free?” It wasn’t about money, since he was carrying enough cash to buy the whole pharmacy, but he couldn’t help himself. He loved his work so much that his working day lasted 24 hours. Carry that mindset over to a legal business and it would explain why Massino succeeded. Still, it’s better to pay for the aspirin.
2. Once you spot a business opportunity, move fast
Joe Puma, another former mobster, was a born spotter of business opportunities. He made the most of the property boom, but even before the housing bubble he had created other million-dollar businesses. One Christmas, Joe Puma noticed the Santa Claus business. Seeing how much each person dressed up as Santa was earning, he decided to set up a company of this kind and put more than 200 Santas on the streets and in shopping centres. He is said to have made more than 20,000 dollars a day in net profit over the Christmas season. The lesson: there are always business opportunities around us, but you have to keep your eyes wide open.
3. Respect what isn’t yours
Michael Devine worked for a Mafia clan. He once got too close to the wife of someone in the organization. He turned up dead. The Mafia doesn’t tolerate that kind of disrespect. Ferrante tells us: “There are plenty of fish in the sea; find your own.” Relationships at work are often problematic enough already, so getting involved with the wife or sister of a colleague, manager or boss can have serious consequences for how the organization runs. That kind of disrespect should never be tolerated. Respect what belongs to others.
4. Be careful what you say, where you say it, who you say it to and how you say it
Ferrante says he has seen scores settled far too often over simple comments taken out of context; talking too much to the wrong person has even put the organization’s businesses at risk of police raids.
Never speak ill of a colleague, let alone a boss. Even someone you trust can twist your words and pass them on. The same thing happens in companies, and comments like these are sometimes behind a lot of business disputes.
5. Watch your gestures
We’ve already talked about body language techniques. In the Mafia, gestures can cost you your life. Ferrante tells the story of a negotiation in which a capo was sent to deal with a man who had run over a mobster’s son. The family wanted 50,000 dollars, and the man insisted he couldn’t pay more than 10,000. In the end, the capo came back with 35,000 dollars. He explained that he could tell the man was lying when he said he couldn’t pay more than 10,000, and that he was telling the truth when he reached 35,000. He knew it from his gestures. In any business negotiation, watch your gestures.
6. Leave gracefully
It’s often said that once you belong to the Mafia you can never get out, and that if you try, you may end up “disappeared”. Ferrante says that isn’t true, and that he left the Mafia with the support of all the bosses and his associates. He never informed on anyone, always acted with integrity and still keeps friendly relations with some people in the organization (outside of business).
When you’ve acted with integrity in a company, everyone wishes you luck when you leave; they will always be your family, and you’ll always be welcome. Other people leave the organization on bad terms, and that’s frowned upon. If it’s possible to leave a company on good terms, why do so many employees insist on leaving badly?
7. Be ambitious, but not greedy
Which brings us to the difference between greed and ambition. Ferrante argues that running a business is like driving a car. Just as you need to know how to accelerate, you need to know when to brake so you don’t go off the road. If your company covers several lines of business and things are going well, don’t try to open more fronts in the business war: if you have enemies everywhere, sooner or later they’ll all want to finish off your business.
8. Keep ideology out of business
Ferrante gives an example. Two Mafia bosses strike a deal, and as they each get into their cars, one of them notices that the other’s car is giving off too much smoke. If he decides to break the deal because he doesn’t like people who don’t care about protecting the environment, he could end up in a landfill.
Business is business: what does it matter whether the person you’re doing business with is left-wing or right-wing, Jewish or Christian…
Respect the deal, and if you don’t like someone on the left or the right, don’t ask them who they vote for. That way you won’t get voted out of the deal.
Further reading
Featured image: FBI, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
