Six business lessons from The Wolf of Wall Street - remarkably there are some - SmartCompany

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, the infamous Wall Street stock market guru who built an incredible fortune selling penny stocks and laundering money, before facing the wrath of the FBI, prison time and millions of dollars in fines.

DiCaprio’s character can teach us a few things about the right and wrong ways to do business.

Belfort's career started at a high-flying stock broking firm, but when it crashed he found himself at a dodgy local operation that sold worthless ‘penny stocks’ in companies unlikely to succeed. Not perturbed, he fearlessly built a livelihood from scratch.

DiCaprio’s portrayal showed how much Belfort loved his industry and was intensely motivated to sell and succeed. 

If a business owner channeled passion like this in a legal way, there would be no stopping them.

DiCaprio's Belfort could sell anything – from someone’s own pen back to them, to stocks in a company that barely existed. 

The art of building a rapport with a client, enlisting their confidence and making them feel positive about a purchase is a skill all business people can learn.

Donnie Azoff wanted to work for DiCaprio’s Belfort, despite having no experience, but Belfort spies his hunger for money and takes him on. He trains him to lead a ‘wolf pack’ of hard-hitting sales gurus.

This becomes his hiring technique – gathering people with potential rather than impressive CVs.

Although efforts for staff incentives by DiCaprio’s Belfort are not appropriate, he did aim to build camaraderie and reward success. 

In turn, this fostered loyalty in his team, which should be the aim of any business owner.

DiCaprio’s Belfort had the art of a captivating monologue down pat. He revelled in showing his passion, motivating his team and twisting a bad scenario into something uplifting.

Being a polished public speaker, good staff motivator and being a face of a business are all elements a business owner can take away.