What Tommy Vercetti can teach: gangster approaches to the business you can safely and legally use

Tommy Vercetti, the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, is known for his savvy in navigating the criminal underworld and building a vast empire. While his methods are often illegal, some of his strategic approaches can be adapted to legitimate business practices. Here are five approaches that legitimate businessmen can learn from Tommy Vercetti:

• Strategic Vision and Expansion:
  Lesson: Have a clear vision and plan for expansion.
  Application: Tommy starts with small-time operations and systematically expands his influence by acquiring various businesses.
  Tips: Learn to identify growth opportunities, plan strategically, and diversify the investments to ensure long-term success. Split big tasks into smaller ones and consider them as “missions”. You can also give yourself a (small) reward after each mission.

• Building Strong Networks:
  Lesson: Cultivate and maintain strong relationships and alliances.
  Application: Tommy forms alliances with key figures to strengthen his position. In the business world, networking is crucial. Building and maintaining relationships with industry peers, partners, and clients can open doors to new opportunities and provide support during challenging times.
  Tips: If you can, visit offline events and communicate with people there. Try to get new contacts, and try to make people remember you. If you don’t have offline events nearby, go to LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, or other platforms where people hang out. In this case, you’re not looking for clients, you’re expanding your business network.

• Adaptability and Resilience:
  Lesson: Be adaptable and resilient in the face of challenges.
  Application: Tommy faces numerous obstacles and setbacks but adapts quickly to changing circumstances. In business, adaptability and resilience are key to navigating market fluctuations, economic downturns, and unexpected challenges. Embracing change and learning from failures can lead to sustained success.
  Tips: See if there are non-trivial ways to solve a problem. Sometimes finding workarounds works better than head-on solutions. And treat challenges and failures as a part of success: this is what makes us who we are.

• Effective Leadership and Delegation:
  Lesson: Lead effectively and delegate responsibilities to capable individuals.
  Application: Tommy knows the importance of leadership and delegation, often relying on his trusted associates to manage different aspects of his operations. Business leaders should focus on developing their leadership skills, empowering their teams, and delegating tasks to ensure efficient operations and foster a productive work environment.
  Tips: There are multiple tools to delegate, track tasks, and manage projects. You can use Scrum + Kanban or the classic waterfall model, for example. Or you can use the MLM approach: pick 1 to 5 (depending on your company size) key members, whom you will delegate your tasks. In turn, each of them also picks 1 to 5 key members, to whom they delegate tasks. Use the power of delegation.

• Build multiple different income streams:
  Lesson: Use what you already have to multiply income, and invest in new property.
  Application: At some point, Tommy Vercetti starts aquiring businesses. After a couple of missions, each business starts generating stable income. Tommy uses this money to buy more companies.
  Tips: Start small, but try to invest when you have the ability. You can start investing by buying a website or a SaaS, for example. Or you can start it from scratch rather than buying it. Anyway, when you get something stable, monetize it and use this income to buy another project (i.e. to create another income stream).