Book excerpt: In a world where most businesses fail, The Art of Preventing Stupid offers a system for leaders to solve common business problems before they happen. Author Matthew Neill Davis introduces the Preventing Stupid Method to running a business, a method that guides readers in identifying, categorizing, and prioritizing threats to and weaknesses in their business. This book details how to efficiently prevent and manage potential and present problems and helps business owners and managers learn how to create leads for a more profitable business. You will learn how to seize opportunities rather than wallow in problems that should never have made it to the surface. Forward-thinking risk management This book delivers bold business strategy rooted in forward-thinking risk management. It is about changing how leaders think, so they can run their business with confidence, effectiveness, and profitability. It shows struggling entrepreneurs how to weed out the stupid mistakes they’re making, so they can move forward. For those already running a business, it offers next-level risk management strategies to make work easier, more profitable, and more secure. ​Advice from a lawyer In The Art of Preventing Stupid, you’ll get a lawyer’s perspective and insight and the value of a fractional general counsel for the cost of a single book. Matthew Neill Davis of Davis Law, PLLC, a firm that has three times made the Law Firm 500 for being among the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, will show you how to make smart, meaningful changes to successfully grow your organization. With his extensive litigation and business representation experience and expertise in building and running custom legal departments for businesses and nonprofits, he has dedicated himself to helping business owners make smart business decisions.