I recently read An American Saga, Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire.  It was a fascinating read but more importantly it is almost a primer in how successful American businessmen work.  Here are some of the key lessons:

Connections always matter:  Juan Trippe was born into the upper social classes of America.  This gave him two advantages.  The first was obvious.  When you have Yale classmates and personal friends with names like Vanderbilt, raising a little capital is not going to present a problem.  The second lesson is more subtle but perhaps more important. Having been born into that class, Trippe instinctively knew the rules of dealing with powerful people, everything from how to dress to what not to order at a business lunch.  He had immediate social acceptance in business situations, not only because of his birth but also because of his personal presentation.  Trippe made new connections easily because he was viewed as someone important even if the person didn't know who he was.  The subtle choices of clothes, manners and personal presentation came naturally to him. When I worked for computer companies, they took great pains to teach us those things because powerful people won't consider what you have to say if the don't consider you, if not their social equal, at least a person who will not embarrass or betray them.  Back then, companies like IBM and Xerox had strict dress codes and paid tens of thousands of dollars to teach their representatives the secrets of personal and business presentation that people like Trippe knew naturally.

You must be ahead of the curve:  Trippe understood that you have to stay ahead of the curve to be successful.  Trippe did not let his customers define his business or the services he provided them because they rarely knew what they needed or what was possible.  Instead, Trippe chose to define his own market and services in such a way that he was always considered a trend setter.  He literally made his own markets and customers flocked to them.  For example, when other airlines were worrying about delivering a few bags of mail between American Cities, he was working with aviation experts to design long range flying boats that would link the major cities of the Caribbean and South America with luxury passenger service.  If he had listened to his customers, he would have been one of many competitors that might or might not have had moderate success in a turbulent US market.  Instead, he set the curve in a new market and emerged as literally a world changing leader who was a defacto third diplomatic force in foreign politics involving the US. The Boeing 707, Americas first jet liner, was built to Pam Am specifications on the promise of their order if the specs were met.  It was built to serve markets he had created, the long haul Atlantic and Pacific runs. The Boeing 747, the first jumbo jet, was also built to Pan Am specs and Pan Am engineers had significant input into the final design.  Pan Am engineers in cooperation with RCA literally developed the long range radio navigation systems that are still in use and were the only means of radio navigation until GPS.  Trippe realized that long term success requires more than just showing up and doing what is asked.  You have to define what needs to be done and then do it better than anyone else.

You must demand excellence:  Everything about Pan Am was the best.  When other pilots and air crew were allowed to fly in leather jackets and civilian suits, he demanded that his crews wear spotless naval style uniforms.  They were not allowed to smoke or drink in public nor even appear in public without their jackets and ties.  Pan Am flight-line services set the standard for the rest of industry.  Trippe never forgot that he was in a life and death business and that lives depended upon everything being done right the first time.

So long as Trippe was alive, Pan Am was the leading overseas airline in the world.  As he passed so did Pan Am.  The reasons are complex but they boil down to the fact that his successors lacked his vision and ability to demand excellence.

So what are the lessons for a small businessman?  You may not be born into social and business connections but you can make yourself into a person that any businessman will be happy to do business with regardless of which side of the tracks you were born on.  You can choose that your business will be ahead of the curve in everything it does, that you will define your market and services based upon the superior knowledge of your industry that you have worked hard to develop.  And, you can decide that "good enough" is never good enough, that excellence is the only acceptable standard.