Few broadcasters achieve mainstream success, and even fewer rise to the challenge of building an empire around long term relevance. With a net worth of over half a billion dollars, Howard Stern is a clear exception.

Over the last 35+ years Stern has built a successful career not only by entertaining adoring fans but also by becoming an effective team leader. Look past the adult film stars and fart jokes wafting through his studio and you’ll see a sharply run organization engineered to deliver laughs, scale audience, and adapt to a constantly changing media landscape. Throughout his years in show business, Howard Stern has employed major key business principles that have helped cement his title as the King of All Media – and he’s minted a fortune in the process.

Here are eight business principles you can learn from Howard Stern:

1. Disrupt the Norm and Embrace the Weird

Traditionally, FM radio hosts talked for 2 minutes, spun a record, rinsed, and repeated. This is a format that was untouched for decades until Stern made multi-hour conversational rants the norm. Over the years, he built a soap opera around his staff, chronicling mundane back office shenanigans. He introduced us to the Wack Pack, a side show of lovable freaks that subscribe to a distorted brand of reality. His show defied the typical radio format and crafted its own distinct voice.

A business that sticks to a general, copy-and-paste format is a commodity, and will struggle to compete with a broader market. In order to build any level of protection around your business, you need to differentiate your product and provide customers with an experience they can’t get elsewhere. A commodity with no brand identity or voice can only compete by lowering prices, which results in a self-destructive race to the bottom. Be weird. Be different. People will pay for originality.

2. Build a Cross-Platform Brand

Howard is primarily a radio show personality, but his entertainment brand exists in multiple mediums. He released Private Parts as both a book and movie in the ‘90s, and his radio show has been repurposed into a TV show. He makes video clips of his radio program widely available on YouTube and Facebook. Many of his staff members have also built large followings on social media, expanding the brand’s touch points with fans even further.

While your business likely has a primary avenue to reach customers, consider adapting your product for other platforms that can expand distribution while still conveying a cohesive message that represents your core brand. Often, a small amount of work adapting your product to an additional platform can dramatically expand your reach and safeguard against changing consumer trends. By diversifying your product and distribution, you also increase your revenue opportunities while reducing your dependence on a single outlet.

3. Never Neglect Your Craft

The success of Howard’s show relies mainly on his virtuosic skill as a broadcaster. Outside of the performance of the show itself awaits a bloated list of responsibilities and opportunities that threaten to blur his focus and creativity. His organization is dependent on his ability to entertain an audience for four hours, and the show would immediately suffer if his craft was not his top priority. This is why it’s important for him to carve out safe spaces of time and energy to continually hone his skills.

As your business grows, you may find yourself in a role that forces you to neglect your craft – the very skill that has made you successful in the first place. Founding programmers often find themselves drowning in organizational management minutiae overnight, and their product suffers as a result. Faced with a rapidly growing business, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by new challenges and opportunities, but dulling the primary craft that put you in the position for growth can be a death sentence for your company.

4. Don’t Bow Down to the Incumbents

During the early ‘90s Howard moved his show to WNBC, operating under one of the largest media companies in America. The relationship was a complete disaster, as top management exerted every level of pressure to control the show and redesign it to fit the needs of their advertisers. Eventually, Howard severed ties with the network and landed at a less established radio station that offered him more independence. The show flourished under this new atmosphere of creative freedom.

Don’t allow the lure of a successful incumbent or a marquee partnership lure you into a deal that may compromise your values and product. Just because the incumbent has a well known name and can provide substantial distribution doesn’t mean that the relationship is guaranteed to succeed. Try to retain some level of flexibility when negotiating with a larger partner and avoid getting carried away (and ultimately crushed) by their legacy.

5. Look Beyond Traditional Business Models

Despite a massive audience, Howard struggled attracting traditional advertisers like Coca-Cola and McDonalds to pay for placement alongside his off-color humor. While the show found moderate financial success with fringe advertisers, Howard’s real payday came from an exclusive deal with upstart Sirius Satellite Radio. Instead of the traditional advertising media model of leveraging audience to earn money from ads, Sirius charged listeners a monthly subscription fee, and Howard shared in the company's upside.

Great products don’t always align with existing business models from the start (see: Instagram, Twitch, Slack, Skype). It can take years of early customer development and consumer engagement before a product leads to financial success. If you build a product that people love and you maintain an open, realistic mind as to monetization, you’re likely better off than compromising your product early for short term success. Just be sure that you have enough runway to stay alive in the interim.

6. Amplify Quiet Voices

Howard has a knack for putting a spotlight on voices that would normally go unheard. JD Harmeyer is a socially awkward member of the show’s staff who is often called into the studio to comment on Stern’s daily musings. JD’s sheepish commentary and uncomfortable presence provide a relatable voice that you rarely hear in media. He also provides an excellent foil to Stern’s confident bravado and a fascinating glimpse into an organization that encourages open discussion.

Many great ideas from quieter team members go unheard because they’re suppressed by the loudest voices in the room. Introverts spend spend more time thinking than talking, often only sharing their thoughts if thoroughly encouraged. An effective leader extracts a diverse range of ideas by creating a level playing field for discussion and a safe place for communication.

7. Let go of toxic team members, even when they're adored

For a decade, Comedian Artie Lange sat in the studio with Howard, punctuating the show with his relatable perspective and hilarious stories. Both the fans and core team loved Artie. Unfortunately, his addiction to drugs ebbed and flowed, and his performance on the show was erratic and inconsistent. Artie’s excellent qualities as a performer and coworker were eventually eclipsed by his negative effect on the rest of the team. He was eventually let go from his post.

In many cases, the amount of value a star player brings to your business may be negated by the damage they cause to overall efforts. A team member that does not fit a company’s core values and work ethic will infect the larger organization and diminish productivity. As difficult as it is to let go of a well-liked team member, allowing a toxic environment to fester is terrible for everyone. When a leader compassionately removes a problematic employee, it signals to the entire team that sustainability and long term growth are the main priorities.

8. Nurture a Strong Top Level Team through Empowerment and Loyalty

Despite the show’s turbulent history, Howard, Gary, Robin, and Fred have all remained loyal to each other as a cohesive team, each empowering the others to succeed and share the spotlight. Gary slowly progressed from an intern to a top producer, Robin blossomed into a prominent newswoman, and Fred elevated the show with his modest, muted humor.

Sticking with your team during rough periods will build long-term loyalty, unity, and cohesion. A strong leader encourages individual career development because it will embolden the team. A high functioning team with a stable dynamic allows individuals to focus on their own craft and benefit from autonomy in the workplace. An effective leader who earns loyalty worries less about retention and team morale, and can focus on execution.

Mike Frankel is the founder of Liquid Social, a platform that allows you to put a price tag on your meetings. Sign up at http://www.liquid.social