The Amazon Way

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John Rossman, a former Amazon executive, weaved his own war story at Amazon around their 14 leadership principles. He colorfully brought them to life using personal and insightful commentaries. The Amazon Way reveals the leadership ‘secrets’ behind one of the most disruptive companies in the world. While these stories are no secret, Rossman effectively aligns them with Amazon’s guiding principles that can be applied to all decision making processes, both business and everyday life, and can be used every day by every employee.

The Amazon 14 Leadership Principles:

  1. Obsess over the customer
  2. Take ownership of results
  3. Invent and simplify  
  4. Leaders are right – A lot
  5. Hire and develop the best
  6. Insist on the highest standards
  7. Think Big
  8. Have a bias for action
  9. Practice frugality
  10. Be vocally self-critical
  11. Earn the trust of others
  12. Dive deep
  13. Have backbone – Disagree & commit
  14. Deliver results

 

  1. Obsess Over the Customer

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and deduce even their unwanted needs. Most times, we only listen to what our customers want and fail to go deeper into what they really need or what they could need in the future. Nothing replaces a “nothing but awesome, beyond this universe” customer satisfaction. Being obsessed over the customer is the central dogma in every aspect of Amazon From the website login page, the actual site, the display of products and services, to how they managing complaints. In a nutshell, yes the customer is not always right, but Amazon makes sure that your process and experience does not make you, the customer, realize that.    

  1. Take Ownership of Results

Every employee at Amazon acts as an owner. From the leader to the guy helping loading trucks, no one says, “that’s not my job.” They always work on behalf of the entire company. If there’s a more effective way to clean the toilet, they will test and implement. Amazon believes that Senior employees should also relate with customers, answer queries, go out for interviews or make a couple of sales calls. These strategies will help get first-hand feedback and truly understand the user/customer and instead of a filter version. Regardless of your role in the organization, everyone is responsible for taking ownership of delivering the best customer experience possible and the small details that it involves.  Amazon’s compensation plan rewards long-term thinking – in as much as employees typically get stock options rather than lavish salaries or excessive perks. Take absolute responsibility for everything under your purview, even that which is done by some other team. Have a fall back for them so you can own the result and not blame it on someone else.

  1. Invent and Simplify  

Amazon has built-in systems that identify less than perfect customer experiences and then provides refunds, then works to perfect the customer experience. Amazon innovates at scale. Employees are expected to design and build innovations which will make things better for millions of customers and tens of thousands of partners.

Determine what your customers need and walk backward, even if it means learning a new skill.  Simple sells much more than complex, so think big. The most radical innovations are those that help others unleash their creativity.

  1. Leaders are Right – A lot

Develop robust frameworks for decision making. Great leaders use it all the time and articulate to the team for effective decision making. Embed real-time metrics right from the start of an initiative.  Avoid minimization framework. Sometimes, we have to ask ourselves the question of “will I regret having done this/not having done this when I am 80?” This helps give a good perspective of things that might seem confusing now and helps to separate the short term from the long term. It is easier to stop things from happening then it is to make things happen. Leaders at Amazon understand details and metrics two to three level deeper than leaders at most other companies. Flourishing companies are filled with bright people who have the authority to achieve but also the confidence that if they fail, somebody will pick them up, dust them off and give them another chance.

  1. Hire and Develop the Best

Here is a question that you will hear every day, at every meeting or informal conversation among Amazonians. How are we raising the bar here? And this is even more important when hiring new staff members.  As part of the hiring process, Amazon has a team of Bar Raisers. It is the responsibility of the Bar Raiser to assess if the candidate is bringing to Amazon a set of values and skills that is making Amazon better. Every new hire should not just match Amazon values, but bring extra value that will raise the bar of Amazon as a whole. Amazon’s hiring process is famous for its rigor. It is not unusual for potential new hires to go through twenty or more interviews over a five- or six-week period before a decision is made.

  1. Insist on the Highest Standards

Amazon leadership expects nothing less than every employee thinks and act like a leader or, at a minimum, a leader in training. This approach forces every  Amazonian to step us their game and keep raising the bar for themselves and for the team.

  1. Think Big

One of the most impactful leadership principles for me is this one, mainly because of the point of view of the Amazonians, in the thinking big process. For someone to continually think big, they have to destroy the previous paradigm. The must move away from the way they were thinking yesterday. For this reason, for every Amazonian, every day is DAY ONE. To keep up with Bezos and his leadership, you have to come prepared to “go big in your thinking or go home.” As a reminder, a building in Amazon’s headquarters is labeled DAY ONE. It is a reminder of the mindset under which you should be every day.

  1. Have a Bias for Action

The status quo is not a status. It is mostly an insult for Amazonians.  Amazon’s leaders err on the side of taking action. To promote action, every quarter, the company holds an all-hands meeting where awards aligned with Amazon’s values are given. By far, one of the most prestigious awards is named the “Just Do It” award, which encourages leadership to try new things all the time rather than suffering from analysis paralysis. This is another reminder of the high tolerance for initial failure that the organization promotes.

  1. Practice Frugality

Amazonians don’t spend resources on things that would not be of importance to customers. All resources (money, time, energy) are managed with a frugal mindset. This breeds resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and innovation. The bottom line is that it doesn’t take a genius to throw money and complexity at a problem. Amazonians are expected to know better.

  1. Be Vocally Self-critical

“Open your Kimono”. In Amazonian-lingo, this means that you are expected to be open to criticism and to speak up when things are not going as planned.  Doing that is more comfortable than covering things and hoping for the best. Open your Kimono or go home.

  1. Earn the Trust of Others

Jeff Bezos’ expectations of his leadership is to operate in the same way he works with them. Everyone should contribute to an atmosphere of trust at Amazon. The key is to encourage everyone to embrace and live the 14 principles and when in doubt, or conflict, Amazonians should contrast the conflict or doubts versus the principles.  

  1. Dive Deep

For Amazonians, there is no doubt in what ownership means. Ownership equals accountability. Therefore, Amazonian leaders understand the expectations of getting involved in the details of every project they are responsible for.

  1. Have a Backbone – Disagree & Commit

Often Jeff Bezos describes Amazon’s culture as being an intense-friendly environment. No PBS (Political Bull Shit) is allowed and everyone expects people to challenge each other. This includes Bezos and his ideas and he demands robust conversations.

  1. Deliver Results

These principles are designed with one goal in mind: delivering the most amazing customer experience, beyond the level of quality expected, on time and as a team.

In conclusion, Amazon’s leadership principles are tactical in nature however they drive everyday decisions and actions. If we take into consideration that Jeff Bezos holds the record as the wealthiest person in modern history and Amazon, the most disruptive organization of our time, any leader should pay close attention and use the 14 principles as prescriptions for their teams.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Keypoint 1: The very best kind of customer service is no service at all – everything just works.

Keypoint 2: The first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging that it exists.

Keypoint 3: Minimize time and energy spent on routine interactions and instead spend time on innovation.

One Last Thing

“If you’re competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor to do something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.” – Jeff Bezos

Extraordinary Influence

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It’s no secret, anyone who has ever lead a parent, a boss, a teacher or a coach, would love to know the recipe for bringing out the best in others. In this  book, Extraordinary Influence, Dr. Tim Irwin explains the power of affirmation. He outlines the powerful approach to motivating others and shows us the key to sustaining peak performance in the organization by motivating people to extraordinary performance through affirmation, inspiration and positive influence.  He says “although it is very satisfying to know deep down that we are pursuing purpose, perhaps the most personal affirmation occurs when another person acknowledges the strength of our character. When someone of significance affirms us particularly in a deep way, certain beliefs are formed. These beliefs are stored in our core (that person living inside of us who thinks, feels, forms opinions and quietly speaks to us). As opportunities and circumstances occur, beliefs direct our actions. Research has shown that affirmation from others whom we respect forms beliefs in our core that guide our actions.”

Affirmation from those we respect, admire and love profoundly changes us. As we incorporate and utilize words of affirmation, we begin to influence others and bring out the best in them. Criticism focuses on defects while affirmation strengthens abilities and achievement in a positive manner.

Dr. Tim Irwin also shows the difference between being polite and compliments.  He said “compliments are by their very nature superficial social rituals.” But  they are perfect for our social well being and needed in our lives as political and civilized beings.  As humans, there is a need for affirmation at different levels but most importantly at our core. Both the words we use and the frequency in which we give the affirmation are equally important. There are things that need to be affirmed on a daily basis, others weekly and monthly.  

Also, in organizations, employers need to foster intrinsic motivation so that individuals will grow to becoming better employees, better athletes or better students. The method used in providing feedback to employees such as performance appraisal or multi-rater feedback systems sometimes accomplish the opposite of what we intend. We inadvertently speak words of death instead of words of life. Many brain research studies have demonstrated  that these methods tend to engage a natural “negativity bias” that is hardwired in us all. How do we redirect employees who are out-of-line without engaging our natural negativity bias? The author urges leaders to ban the term “constructive criticism”. Brain science also tells us that we can establish a connection between the employee’s work and his or her aspiration.

Dr. Tim Irwin does a great job in explaining the biological and physiological responses of humans when facing  criticism vs. affirmation. When criticized, the amygdala (specific part of the brain that allows human to feel and perceive certain emotions) activates, decreasing attention and decreasing the higher functions of the brain. In contrast when we receive affirmation, the higher functions of the brain are activated bringing out activities such as creativity and productivity.

The author asks a thought-provoking question:”what would happen if we applied these principles of affirmation more broadly?” His response was a food for thought. He says, “my opinion is that the research I referenced throughout the book is prescriptive for individuals; however, we as a society would be much more likely to flourish if we became more affirming and less critical.”  This book explains a new approach to align staff members with an organization’s mission, strategy and goals.

 

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Keypoint #1: As opportunities and circumstances occur, beliefs direct our actions.

Keypoint #2: Affirmation from others whom we respect forms beliefs in our core that guide our actions.

Keypoint #3: Criticism focuses on defects while affirmation strengthens abilities and achievement in a positive manner.

 

One Last Thing

“Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” John C. Maxwell

Hit Makers

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Hit Maker takes an in-depth look at what makes a viral or popular product. In this book, Thompson provides detailed research on the key factors that cause content and products to become popular. Thompson argues that the products that become popular are a balance of familiarity and newness. He cited Raymond Loewy, the industrial designer, whose approach was summed up in his acronym MAYA “the Most Advanced Yet Acceptable” idea. This theory explains that people are simultaneously Neophobic, afraid of the new, and Neophilic, attracted to the new. In order for a new idea, content or product, to be popular, it must balance this tension. It is not the most innovative or advanced products that become sought but those that blend acceptability with innovation.  He also argues that there is a need for newness, as there is a danger in too much familiarity or too much of the same content which leads to a sharp fall in popularity. There must be a balance between newness and innovation.

Derek Thompson believes that familiar ideas or content leads to more liking of the content. He quotes an interesting study where people were asked to either name two things they liked about their partner or ten things they liked. The study found that people liked their partner more if they are asked to name just two things they liked. When asked to name ten things, it became harder and they rated their partners lower after the exercise. He uses many examples where companies use familiarity, including movies. Because we like familiarity, a key ingredient of popularity is repeated exposure. Most of the top revenue grossing movies of the last ten years have been based on popular novels. There is safety and familiarity in such movies. Also, car manufacturers blend familiarity with newness by changing a car’s style every few years. Derek Thompson also explores products that manage to make it big through the combination of timing, weird circumstances and savvy use of repetition while their pairs never made a splash. After reaching a tipping point, customers do not just buy a product but the popular conversion. A great example of this is Apple products. It is no secret that Apple has somehow lost its magic when it comes to disrupting markets through innovative products and yet, it became the first American company to surpass a trillion dollar value as I write this Bite.  No one wants to be the last to read or watch so they buy to participate in the conversion.

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One of my favorite sections of the book is on the power of creating popular phrases. It talks about the power of repetition. Through Thompson’s lens, repetition can explain anything that is popular. He argues that human beings love music because of our love for repetition. Repetition, he says, is the God particle of music.

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Hit Makers is full of “aesthetic aha”. This is a term for the moment when you look at something and for the first time, you understand and everything just clicks and comes together. The moment when you read an essay’s thesis and feel that it’s expressing something you’ve thought of before but never had the chance to put into words. It is that moment when your eyes light up because something clicked and was understood in your brain, the “aha moment.” It is beyond the feeling that something is familiar. It’s when something new, challenging or surprising that opens a door into a feeling of comfort, meaning or familiarity.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: Popularity will always be found in the balance between familiarity and newness.

Key point #2: Repetition is key in creating popular and viral phrases.

Key point #3: It is not the most innovative or advanced products that become sought after but those that blend acceptability with innovation.

One Last Thing

“A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”

― Derek Thompson, Hit Makers: Why Things Become Popular

How to be a Productivity Ninja

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Graham Alcott discovered the low level of productivity caused by information overload in the twenty-first-century workers; therefore he took a deep dive into his book, how to be a productivity Ninja where he shows how to worry less, achieve more and love what you do. In this book, Graham combines all his teachings from his public productivity workshop from all over the world into a simple and practical guide to working faster and smarter.

The goal of this book is to teach you how to overcome procrastination, how to use email more effectively, and new ways to increase your personal time and how to de-clutter an information overload.

Graham identifies stress as one of the critical components for procrastination, within the first chapter he goes into details on how stress agent is created and our ability to deal with them. The author identifies several causes of stress agent among which he listed conflict, overload panic, fear of being foolish among others. He continues by highlighting the aspects of developing a mindset of a Ninja to use in your productivity. This is about living in the present moment and not thinking about what you need to do or worrying about tomorrow. People’s best work happens when they are present and live in the moment.

One of the key components of the book is attention management. We often read about how important our time is, but attention is finite and should be used as a precious resource more than our time, at the end of the daytime alone has no real value, it is the action in time what gives value to time. He went further to state that the key to productivity and ultimately the application of this precious resource will determine your success. He developed an equation to back up his point which is:

TIME + THE RIGHT ATTENTION AND FOCUS = DONE

He categorizes attention as follows:

  •    ACTIVE: Ticking along but flagging a little
  •    PROACTIVE: Fully focused and alert
  •    INACTIVE: Light is on but no one at home

The author also proposed several strategies to maximize periods of proactivity. This includes taking yourself away from distraction and improving concentration then use mechanism for managing task and determining what to do at any given time. Graham proposed the CORD Model.  CORD is an acronym that stands for Capture, Organise, Review and Do. The first two C and O requires for you to operate in ‘BOSS mode’ while the last two will be R & D needs to perform in “worker mode.”

CAPTURE: means collecting ideas and new tasks quickly and efficiently. This allows you to take distraction out of the way soon and get back to the task at hand.

ORGANISE deals with the appropriate filing of the collected task. The task to be organized in lists and give a sense of scales; therefore activities spanning months are not mixed in with tasks requiring minutes. The goal of this model is to ensure that when operating in execute mode, we are clear on what needs to be done and what is committed to at the moment of executing.

REVIEW:  The review process is a formal and regular look across the tasks to be done taking all things into account like context, priorities, what is needed, waiting for items, etc. after the review is complete, the next step is doing.

DO: Graham outlines an excellent separation between the worker and boss views when he explains the different dashboards that are available to each.  The dashboard contents for each are the followings:

Boss mode:

  • Waiting  for list
  •  Masters action
  •  Calendar
  •  Good idealist

Worker mode:

  •    Master Action List
  •    Calendar
  •    Daily list

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point #1: Say NO to as many distractions as possible

Key point #2: Knowing what tools to use but being clear about what the tools are will save you time and not provide distractions.

Key point #3: Have good systems to help you react and respond quickly.

One Last Thing

A productivity ninja is not a superhero, but they often do a great job in appear so. Graham Alcott, Productivity Ninja

GREAT BY CHOICE: UNCERTAINTY, CHAOS, AND LUCK WHY SOME THRIVE

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Great by choice is a masterpiece of Jim Collins in-depth research. It was written in collaboration with another influential management analyst, Morten. T. Hansen.  Great by Choice aims to solve the problem of “why in spite of ambiguity, chaos, uncertainty, and market volatility, a few companies thrive, and others struggle.” Collins tackles this question by comparing those who outperformed their competitors by a factor of 10 (10Xers) in given time frame and set of variables.

The authors confirm that the great companies are no luckier than good companies, average companies or bad companies. Luck does not make them succeed because even in times of chaos and uncertainty, they go on working as if nothing has happened. These companies succeed because they have acquired an antifragility trait through a process which combines discipline and preparedness. It is not something in the DNA or something you get by luck or sheer courage. It is through a process that can be learned.

The authors successfully illustrate their point with the story of conquering South Antarctica. In 1911, two explorers made dangerous trip to Antarctica in an attempt to become the first people to reach the South Pole. One was led by a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, while the other was led by a British Navy officer, Robert Falcon Scott.  Looking at both explorers, you would expect the latter to be remembered by history. That was not the case. It was Amundsen’s expedition who won the race to immortality. Why? Simply put:

PREPARATION. Roald Amundsen didn’t know where he was going, but he had a good idea of the conditions that he may be facing and spent as much time as he could researching Eskimo habits and trying all potential food sources.  Scott, on the other hand, wanted to reach the pole faster, so he carried a lot less weight and used the “untested –for-that-terrain” motor sleds. No one remembers if Scott’s team ever made it home. Neither Amundsen nor Scott knew what they would face on Antarctica, but the former did better in preparing for it.

My favorite part of the book is how much research was included. The authors analyzed the companies which beat their industry indexes Y at least ten times in as many years (10X companies) and found out that they were able to overcome stressful situations because they were prepared.

Firstly, they were disciplined. They were not in a hurry to become better than anyone else; they choose consistency over a rapid rise. By setting targets for themselves and hitting them precisely year by year, they became immune to external influences.

Secondly, they were bold. Their leaders weren’t interested in taking unnecessary risks and as a consequence weren’t required to be anymore of visionary than those of merely good companies.

Lastly, they were productively paranoid, just like Amundsen. The polar explorer tried dolphin’s meat to prepare for the worst-case scenario. The 10x companies do this regularly. In the event that something terrible happens, they already have a good strategy.

The 10x companies are neither more innovative nor more bolder than competitive companies; they were merely more attentive. They use bullets until they are entirely sure of their target and then they fire the cannon balls.

In conclusion, be SMaC: Specific, Methodological and Consistent. That is how discipline is implemented within a company. However, it is  only one aspect of what will help you through hard times. The other is being productively paranoid. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best!

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point #1: Be Attentive. Fire the bullets, then the cannonballs.

Key point #2: Be specific, methodological, consistent and productively paranoid

Key point #3: Greatness is a long-term strategy, strengthened by a consistent discipline in tactics.

One Last Thing

“The great task, rarely achieved, is to blend creative intensity with harsh discipline so as to amplify the creativity rather than destroy it. When you marry operating excellence with innovation, you multiply the value of your creativity.” Jim Collins & Morten Hanson. Great By Choice

Cashflow Quadrant. Guid to Financial Freedom

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Robert Kiyosaki is an active investor in real estate and specializes in the development of small-cap companies. He teaches business and investment principles and shares some of his knowledge through his book, CashFlow Quadrant.

The Cashflow Quadrant describes the four ways income can be generated:

EMPLOYED: Working for someone for a paycheck.

SELF EMPLOYED: Working for yourself, receiving an income that depends on you.

BUSINESS: Owning process/system, i.e., work happens without them being present, so they get a paycheck even when they are not present.

INVESTMENT: Making your money work for you. none or little interaction is needed for getting a paycheck.

Robert does a great job explaining the complicated financial and economic concepts in a very simplistic way. He offers a plan for those on the left side of the quadrant (employed and self-employed) to move to the right side of the quadrant (business owners and investors). The right side of the quadrant is where the rich focus all their attention in order to become financially independent. As part of his plan, Kiyosaki explains that it is not enough to be making a lot of money. What is really important, what makes the difference, is to be financially free. Being financially free is the difference between a medical doctor, a highly paid employee and Jeff Bezos, wealthiest man in history.

Robert Kiyosaki’s main point is to earn enough financial literacy to move from one quadrant to another.

The quadrants are:

EMPLOYEE: This is probably the most challenging quadrant in which to become financially free. Most people fall into this quadrant because of the way their mindset has been programmed since childhood. They get the same suggestion from their parents while growing up, “study hard, find a high paying job and have a secure life.” Your parents’ advice, coupled with schools and colleges is designed to create employees who need security, live from paycheck to paycheck and depend on allowances. There is very small proportion of children who get advice from their parents to start investing or open their own business.

To this group, job security is more important than financial freedom. Although you can become rich in this quadrant, it is quite tough compared to other quadrants.

SELF-EMPLOYED: Those in this quadrant have the mindset of “if you want to do it right, you have to do it yourself.” They are sometimes referred to as “solo-people.” They own their job and often do their work because of the perfectionist mindset, and they do not trust anyone else with their job. A few examples are the retail shop owner, small company, doctor, etc. They trade their time for money. Unlike employees who enjoy the benefits of medical allowances and paid leaves, the earnings of a self-employed is very fragile. If they get sick, it would be hard for them to make an income. The self-employed have to devote more time if they want to earn more. Their income is directly dependent on how much work they can do, i.e., their time equals money. Also, their freedom is more important than their financial independence.

BUSINESS OWNERS: This quadrant allows the best opportunity to become financially free. Those here are people who own the system or process where people work for them. According to Forbes, big companies are those with over 500 employees. However, in recent times, this rule is no longer valid. There many big companies which do not require 500 employees to work. For example, Whatsapp is a multi-billion company with less than 50 employees. Unlike the self-employed who can not stop working if they want a regular  income, the business owner does not need to trade his time for money as he owns the system. Even in their absence, their employees will work for them.

INVESTORS: This group of people make their money work for them. Investors are the fourth and highest level of the cashflow quadrant. You cannot jump into this quadrant without being successful in one of the other three quadrants mentioned above. The investors are one of the most financially free groups who make their money work for them. They invest in business stocks, real estate, etc. Most times, they do not need to get involved in the working of the business or asset they’re investing in; hence they get plenty time, money and freedom.

In conclusion, it is comparatively easier and faster to become wealthy when you’re working on the right-hand side of the quadrant. You do not need to shift to another quadrant entirely at once. You can keep your feet in two or more quadrants. However, the best way to get rich is to stay on the right side of the cashflow quadrant.

 

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point #1: The self-employed believe if you want to do it right, do it yourself.  Often self-employed people think they have a business, but if your business requires you to be there in order to keep generating an income, you don’t own a business, you own a job.

Key point #2: If you own a process/system where others work for you, you’re a business owner. As a business owner, you are more comfortable to reach the ultimate goal, financial freedom by having your money working for you as an investor.

Key point #3: Everyone has money problems. For most people, money leaves faster than it comes. For others, they have money but cannot reinvest it fast enough. For those who can reinvest it, more money comes in. Yes, the rich do get richer.

One Last Thing:

“A lot of people are afraid to tell the truth, to say no. That’s where toughness comes into play. Toughness is not being a bully. It’s having  backbone.” ~ Robert T. Kiyosaki, The Cashflow Quadrant.

Zilch – The Power of Zero in Business

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Nancy Lublin is the founder of Dress for Success and the CEO of the youth volunteering organization, Do Something. In her book, she draws out her concept on how to do more with less of everything, especially human and financial resources while still upholding innovation, creativity and passion. In a time when best-known companies have become non-for-profit organizations because of their dysfunctional models. There are many things profit-oriented organizations can learn from the not-for-profit organization. The challenge of not- for- profit organizations has been thriving in a tough environment where there is not enough money, people or time. This book focuses on how to do something with brand, people, finance and their suppliers.

Lublin addresses the structure and operating practice of the organization. She felt that unless an organization changes its operating model, the chance of survival is low. She decided to transition from operating out of physical offices in different cities to become online organization using social media. By transitioning, it could be faster in delivering its service and cheaper in its operating model. It could also be an organization that is web and social media based and doesn’t require local adult involvement on projects or charge people money to become a member. Nancy explained the five qualities she uses when screening ideas before acting on them: 1) First 2) Only 3) Faster 4) Better 5) Cheaper

Lublin went further to offer ways by which organizations can increase the value of their brand by focusing on hard work and not just marketing. She encourages leveraging on social media to support operations and growth. She also shares advice on ways in which organizations can get more out of their staff and the board of directors to bring value to the organization and not just showing up for meetings throughout the year. This can be done by creating organizational mission and culture where everyone feels like they are part of something big. It is amazing how motivated the employees will be. If there is something more important than profit at stake, it makes everyone more devote and engaged to success. You need to make everyone in the organization pursue the same purpose and develop an organization that communicates its mission.  

 

She proposes that companies should broaden their understanding of reward and compensation so that employees will be motivated and also offer great techniques for extracting the best from people like offering skill development, set specific and attainable goals, give millennials responsibility early, dole out titles and make your work environment communicate your mission etc.  She also shares advice on branding, doing more for customers, stretching finances and many more. She concluded each chapter with eleven questions to prompt creativity in specific areas.

According to Nancy, doing more with less is not so easy but the ideas in Zilch can make it a little easier to do. This book distills the best practice any company, private or public, can adopt.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1:  Money does not make people work hard, everything else does.

Key point #2:  Make everyone in your company pursue a corporate goal.

Key point #3:  Leverage on social media for operation and growth.

One Last Thing

The way I think about culture is that modern humans have radically changed the way that they work and the way that they live. Companies need to change the way they manage and lead to match the way that modern humans actually work and live.”

– Brian Halligan, CEO, Hubspot

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

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In his book, Rich Dad Poor Dad,  Robert Kiyosaki makes an illustration of the mindset beliefs that make a rich person rich and a poor person poor. He does so by contrasting the advice of his real dad, who was poor, with the guidance of his financial mentor, his friend’s father, who was rich. The big idea is to have the right financial mindset which the education system does not teach.

At a very young age, Robert Kiyosaki learned the first rule of how to make money. The first rule was that the rich people do not work for money; their money works hard for them. Robert and his friend Mike worked for Mike’s father at a very young age. The first thing Mike’s father did was to pay them both 10 cents per hour. With this, they could experience a salary they find short and imagine how that works if multiplied over the time span of 50 years. Then Mike’s father, taught them working for free which taught them two lessons: first, most people are guided by fear of not being able to pay for their bills or desire. Secondly, the need to think of alternatives to make money which Robert and Mike did. At a very young age, they set up a small library room where they provided leftover magazines to other kids for a token.  Which became their first official, entrepreneurial venture.

One of the most interesting topics covered in the book, is Robert’s idea about the differences between being poor and being broke. There is a difference between being poor and being broke. Poor is eternal while broke is temporary. Money, as they say, comes and goes but if you have the right education with regard to how money works, your power over money will be unlimited and you will begin to build wealth. Most people strive for the feeling of security when it comes to money,  driving them to be fearful about their money. This causes them to be directed by fear.. When fears enters, passion exits, and passion is one of the main driving forces to build wealth. The illusion that working for money is safer is ingrained in our heads since we are kids. The reality is that it’s easier to work for money, but as history has shown it’s not safer.  So, if you want to secure your financial wealth, don’t work for money, work to learn.

Throughout the book, the author makes a case for teaching financial literacy. Financial literacy is an essential aspect of life and yet, it is not taught in school, not even in finance classes. With the level of simplicity, most people tend to ignore it and not focus on it.  However, there is only one rule: know the difference between an asset and a liability and buy the asset.  For instance, people think of a house as an asset. In accounting definition it is but, in reality, your home results in cash moving out of your pocket, the mortgage payment, insurance, property tax and the worst of all is that you missed opportunities because your money is stuck in your house instead of having it available to work for you. Instead of pretending your house is an investment, acknowledge it as an expense.  When you want to buy a liability, first buy an asset that generates enough cash to cover the liability

The author contends that making money is nearly as important as how you spend what you make. Therefore, the author urges young people to seek  work for what they will learn, and that they have opportunity to learn more than what they will earn. Aim to learn a little about a lot instead of seeking specialization because specialization is for employment and not being rich.

 Most importantly, the author recommends that you be sure to develop skills in communication, sales and marketing as those skills combined well with other skills are often necessary to create wealth.

Conclusively, this book lists important tips on how to start making money and to improve your financial life. Contrary to popular wisdom, it does not take money to make money. It takes education about money. Start early, buy a book, go to a seminar. Start small and practice. What is in your head determines what is in your hand. Money is only an idea. This book by far is one of the best available books for entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs to be and employees with the desire of understanding the basic concepts on the entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mindsets. I received a copy of this book as a Christmas gift in December of 2004 from my girlfriend at that time, now my wife. The book changed my life. As a young medical doctor, it transformed my point of view in regards to work and in regards to my career path. Today, I am as excited for starting new lines of business inside the workplace (intrapreneurism) as I am outside of work (entrepreneurism). The book’s basic principles of 1) increasing your value in the market is to increase the value of the people around you, 2) creating life project teams, 3) increasing your assets and 4) acquiring as few liabilities as possible are as vital today as they were thirteen years ago. This book has many jewels. Getting yourself a copy would be a great investment.

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point #1: The rich do not work for money

Key point #2: Know the difference between asset and liability and buy assets.

Key point #3: Don’t confuse your profession with your business. Bring replicable value to both of them.

One Last Thing

“I am concerned that too many people are focused too much on money and not on their greatest wealth, which is their education. If people are prepared to be flexible, keep an open mind and learn, they will grow richer and richer through the changes. If they think money will solve the problems, I am afraid those people will have a rough ride. Intelligence solves problems and produces money. Money without financial intelligence is money soon gone.”

― Robert T. Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad

The Art of Thinking Clearly

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The Art of Thinking Clearly translates complicated results from cognitive bias experiments, interprets and synthesizes them into short, easy to understand summaries.  Humans experience diverse reasoning patterns out of which many are limitations to logical thinking. Most cognitive errors made by humans are standard and can be identified when you know what you have been and are dealing with.

Knowing these will help you to minimize them, and then you can open yourself up to logical alternatives. The author opens up the reader’s mind to human psychology, reasoning and how to avoid cognitive errors for better decision making.

Among the logical errors, Dobelli explores survivorship bias or systematic overestimation of the chances for success and social proof or feeling that an action or decision is right because a lot of people are doing it. You come across survivorship bias when dealing with money and risk. It becomes especially pernicious when you become a member of the winning team. The author suggests an amazing solution to help clear your mind against survivorship bias, which is a frequent visitation of graves of once-promising projects, career and investment.

Clustering Illusion: When it comes to recognizing a pattern, we are oversensitive. However, it is best to regain your skepticism. If you or someone, close to you, thinks you have found a pattern, first take in consideration that may be pure chance. If it seems too reasonable to be true, see a mathematician and have the data tested statistically.

Social Proof:  It dictates that individuals tend to think they are behaving correctly as long as they act the same as other people.  In other words, the more people follow a particular idea, the better we think the idea is, and therefore support it.

Outcome Bias: Attributing positive outcomes to our capabilities and blaming external issues on external circumstances. This attribute was tested by having two groups of subjects take a personality test then arbitrarily assigning good or bad scores. The students with positive outcome believed the test results were fair and reflected their abilities. The students with the not so good score, on the other hand, found the test was garbage and didn’t reflect their personality. An excellent way to overcome your judgment is to listen to honest feedback and to learn from it without taking it personally.

An illusion of attention:  We often think that we notice everything around us but this couldn’t be farther from reality. As a Harvard study found, it is easier to lose attention than what we think. The experiment had subjects watch a video of students passing balls back and forth while counting how many times the player in white shirts passed the ball.  Later they were asked if there was something unusual that caught their attention. Half of the subjects did not notice anything unusual, unaware of the fact that in the middle of the video, someone dressed as a gorilla walked across the room pounding his chest. We tend to remember things which happen at the beginning and end of a stream of information forgetting what comes in the middle.

Lastly, amongst others is alternative blindness. Whenever people think about an offer, they become blind to alternatives. However, to be able to make the right decision, you have to go out of your mental limit.  

To overcome these cognitive errors in reasoning, we have to be aware of them and take a conscious effort to defeat them.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: Cognitive biases cause simple errors in most of our day to day thinking.

Keypoint #2: Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. Therefore, make decisions based on facts, only lazy minds are comfortable with the illusion that perception is reality, perception is perception, reality is reality.

Keypoint #3: We are drunk on our own ideas. To sober up, take a step back now and then and examine their quality in hindsight.

 

One Last Thing

“If you ever find yourself in a tight, unanimous group, you must speak your mind, even if your team does not like it.”

― Rolf Dobelli, The Art of Thinking Clearly: Better Thinking, Better Decisions

Resonate

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Resonate explores deep into the art of presenting and analyzing what makes a presentation persuasive and memorable. The knowledge of Resonate will raise your game in the art of creating a compelling and convincing presentation. In this book, Nancy Duarte drives the reader through the use of story principle to hold the audience’s attention. She successfully makes a case for:

1- Placing your audience at the center of the story.

2- Seeing yourself as a mentor instead of a hero.

3- Building a workable call-to-action.

4- How famous communicators structure their ideas and most moving speeches.

Nancy advocates a new attitude towards presenting. She believes you need to see your audience as the HERO. Your presentation should not center around your brilliance or the brilliance of your company, but rather you should cast your audience as the hero while you, the presenter, step into the role of a mentor. You should invite the audience to come on a journey with you, from an ordinary world to your special world. Nancy says, casting yourself as a mentor gives you both wisdom and humility.  Audience insight and resonance can only occur when a presenter takes a stance of humility. However, there is a gap between the audience’s ordinary world and your specialized world; it is your role to make the gap clear and invite the audience to take the leap across the gap. Before your audience can be willing to go on a journey with you, you must deliver a concise formulation of what everyone agrees is true. Accurately capturing the current reality and sentiments of the audience’s world demonstrates that you have insight and experience about their situation and that you understand their perspective, context and values.

Nancy also sees the use of contrast as being a primary way of engaging and holding an audience’s attention. If you attempt to play down the contrast so as not to stand out or attract resistance or objections from your audience, your presentation will be bland and boring. The author suggests that for every idea or point in your presentation, you should also think of a contrasting idea. You may not use them all in your presentation, but even thinking about them will be useful. Nancy also suggests that you perform an audit of your content to ensure there is an appropriate balance between analytical and emotional content. She reminds us that whenever we recommend change, either behavioral or organizational change, even if it is a positive change, your audience is likely to resist because change involves loss.

During your presentation, be ready for nitpicking of any errors in your language, cynical body language and outright hostile questions or statements from your audience. Prepare yourself by thinking through your audience’s position. Research has shown that acknowledging and countering opposing viewpoints is more persuasive than only presenting your view.

Of course, always create a memorable moment in your presentation. Nancy refers to this moment as the S.T.A.R. moment, Something They will Always Remember. Traditional public speaking advice has advocated that this moment should be at the start of your talk. However, Nancy suggests that the attention-grabbing and memorable moment can be at any time in your presentation. Your attention-grabbing-opening or moment must align and magnify your big idea and should be worthwhile and appropriate, not kitschy or cliché.

In conclusion, a presentation has the power to change the world. Changing your stance from that of a hero to one of the wise storyteller will connect the audience to your idea and an audience connected to your idea will bring wanted change.

The author helps the reader to present stories that transform them into visuals. This book is highly recommended for any level of presentation geeks, from the beginners to the experts. Every point in the book is supported by detailed analysis of many presentations and speeches, which admittedly, is one of my favorite parts of the book.

As a professional, presentation designs and delivery are one of the most exciting parts of my job. It is a chance to not only express artistically, but also to connect with others. Nancy Duarte’s work is amazing, as seen in her other books, Slideology and Illuminate. If you yearn to be a phenomenal communicator, start with Resonate and let your audience to be the hero.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key Point #1: Cast your audience as the hero and yourself, the presenter, as the mentor.

Key Point #2: Incorporate stories into your presentation  Having the right balance of logic and emotion is essential to bring your audience into your specialized world.

Key Point #3: A presentation has the power to change the world.

One last point

“The audience does not need to tune themselves to you; you need to tune your message to them. Skilled presenting requires you to understand their hearts and minds and create a message to resonate with what’s already there.”

        ― Nancy Duarte