Unfuck Yourself

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Gary John is a personal development expert in the industry. His “Urban Philosophy” approach represents a new trend of empowerment in both personal career and life mastery that has provided miraculous results for people in the quality and performance of their lives.

The author focuses on giving the readers the best way of living their best life and helping the reader find everything they have ever wanted residing within them. In this book, Gary differentiates assertive self-talk and narrative self- talk or affirmation. Instead of telling yourself “you’re not going to be great” rather tell yourself “you’re great.” Self actualization has a great impact on self-perception. Take control and be the captain of your own ship. Stop limiting yourself to the reality you choose. To succeed, you have to prove those firmly held (negative) beliefs WRONG. And believe me, there is a solution for everything.

Unfuck yourself also talks about embracing uncertainty. We often steer away from uncertainty because of the need to feel safe. And today, this instinct can give rise to a negative effect. The author believes that if you want to win, you have to be willing to let others judge you. The worst decision is making no decision. The absence of decision leads to the absence of experience and  that ultimately boils down to the absence of learning. This can lead to the worst regrets in life. Another important way of getting out of your head and into your mind is to conquer fear. If you want to improve be comfortable to be thought of as foolish and stupid. There is no destination, there is always an exploration. You have to believe that you are what you do and not your thoughts. Who cares about your thought? Focus on your deeds. You don’t have to feel that you like it in order to do it. This mindset is the only way to happiness.

The author explores the art of relentlessness. You have to take what you want out of life. Do not wait to be given to you. It will be painful but nothing worth having comes easy. Be focused. Destroy obstacles one after the other. Expect nothing and learn to accept everything. Disappointment is an unmet expectation. The idea is to accept reality as it comes and deal with it with no emotional bias.

Love what you already possess and be in control of your emotional state. Dispute your beliefs. Dispute your interpretation of things. Accept and act. Own your reactions. Real life has more value to your outcomes than the narrative you have about it. Make a habit of questioning your mind, always put things in perspective. There is always a solution to everything.

Keep your mind set on winning. You are wired to win. If you find yourself suddenly struggling with something you normally excel at or you’re stuck in a shitty relationship, remember that you always have a choice to change the game. Just understand the rules of the game and understand the players, including yourself. Do not limit yourself to the reality of your choices. Do not stop doing what you want to keep winning, as the only way to unfuck yourself is by getting the reaffirmation of your greatness as you keep winning. When you lose, see it as a learning experience and win again.

 

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point #1:  Be relentless. Don’t give up and be prepared for disappointments.

Key point #2: Expect nothing and accept everything that keeps you moving towards your goal.

Key point #3: Embrace uncertainty and strategize as most as possible.

 

One Last Thing:

“Life won’t stop for your pauses and procrastination. It won’t stop for your confusion or fear. It will continue right along without you. Whether you play an active part or not, the show will go on.”

― Gary John Bishop, Unfuck Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life

You Are a Badass

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You Are A Badass is a book which explains how and why we are the way we are. The author shows how we can embrace our inner badass, how to get over our own badass and finally, how to get out there and kick some ass!

Jen Sincero says, “My subconscious made me do it!” She emphasizes the important role the subconscious mind plays in every decision we make. She describes the subconscious mind as the blueprint for our lives; essentially comprising we consider to be our beliefs. She went further emphasizing  the importance of embracing the moment and being present. Doing it will let you lead a richer, joy-filled life. She says “being present gets you out of your head and connects you to source energy, which raises your frequency and attracts things like frequency to you.” And all the high-frequency things and experiences are already here, just waiting for you to be part of the party. All you have to do is shut up, show up and usher them in.

You Are A Badass also describes ego as a false self, the self that is essentially being an asshole. Ego is a big snooze because if your ego is acting up, it’s because we are still asleep and yet to realize how amazing we are and how wonderful the world is. The big snooze will do everything it can to stop you from changing and growing, especially since you’re attempting to obliterate the very identity that you and everyone else has come to know as ‘you’. The author took a step further by offering some thoughts to prevent the ugly ego from acting up. Some of which are:

-Stop at nothing

-Have faith

-Stay on course no matter what happens

-Believe that you are awesome

Jen prioritizes the concept of self-love, believing you can’t be unhappy with self-love. You have to start appreciating how special you are, drown yourself in affirmations, do things you love, let the love in and don’t compare yourself to others. You have to stop worrying about what others think and stay true to yourself. You can’t control people’s perception about you because it says more about them than it does you. What you can control is what you say and do. So keep being you and celebrate you.

This book also talks about the act of positive thinking. Through your life, send awesomeness to everyone around you. It can be as simple as smiling or by complimenting people and making them laugh.

In life, we get to choose and experience and in essence, our reality which comes down to choosing to create a life you want to live. Let go of things that don’t serve you well and change your reality to one filled with joy and happy experience. Jen said “most of the time, it’s not lack of experience that’s holding us back but rather lack the determination to do the needful to be successful. We put so much energy into coming up with excuses why we can’t be, do or have the things that we want, so our next step is, designing the perfect distractions to keep us from our dreams.” Jen highlights procrastination as one of the key ways you constantly self-sabotage.  All it takes to turn the fear factor around is learning to be comfortable instead of terrified of the unknown. And this is done through hope, the greatest gift to us humans is to belief in things not seen. So, we have to take a leap of faith into a real realm that you strongly desire to be in. Demand of yourself that you rise to the occasion and start living your damn life already.

As a closing argument, Jen sums it up by saying “give yourself the permission and the means to be who you are, regardless of what anybody else thinks or believes is possible. You are powerful, you are loved and you are surrounded by miracles. Believe what you desire is here and you can have it all, yes, all!  If haters going to hate, then doers going to do. So start doing!

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: Don’t worry what people think about you. Keep doing what needs to be done. as a principle, only actions bring reactions. Do productive and positive actions.

Key point #2: Forgive yourself. Mistakes along the way are learning experiences. Perfection is an illusion for the ego.

Key point #3: Don’t let your ego or any one’s ego gets in the way.

 

One Last Thing

“We only get to be in our bodies for a limited time, why not celebrate the journey instead of merely riding it out until it’s over?”

― Jen Sincero, You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

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

Hacking Work. Breaking Stupid Rules for Smart Results

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The authors identified the most straightforward way of working smarter and faster and therefore decided to expose the workaround codes that enable people to work more intelligently. The system is HACKING, that is, how to break free and really get stuff done.  Once staff members learn how to hack their work, they accomplish more in less time.

What many business leaders missed to admit, or probably afraid to explore is, that businesses structures and processes as we know it, is broken. Although hacking work is not new, technology is creating vast of opportunities to work smarter and faster.  Leaders that encourage new ways of doing things are outcast, outliers and judge by their C-suite counterparts, leading to isolation and accusations. This is a cruel reality that leaves most of us screwed and feeling helpless about change. We have become slaves to our infrastructures, to business controlling tool, procedures, and mandates.

The authors, write about some real-life examples from ordinary day folks like, Elizabeth a manager whose bosses would not approve her customer satisfaction project, even though the entire senior team deemed it crucial because of payoff wouldn’t be realized for at least four fiscal quarters. So she secretly videotaped customers voicing their complaints as well as their wish lists for enhancing the company’s product lines and posted it on YouTube. Within days, there was enough public outcry that senior management reversed their decision and approved her project.

Also, Matt, a new hired, that disagreed with his employer’s assessment process, he Googled “performance assessment” and built a seventeen-question mash-up that matched his career goals— not just the company’s goals for him. His boss and the HR department were shocked and pissed off, but he had spent months refining his performance tool. He did his homework, seeking advice from one of the gurus in the assessment field whom he’d contacted through LinkedIn. With the support of his co-workers, Matt stood his ground, and management ended up using his assessment in conjunction with their own.

These are not isolated incident. Bill and Josh are outing the most prominent open secret of the working world. Today’s top performers are taking matters into their own hands. They are bypassing sacred structures and breaking all sorts of rules just to get their work done. They are set to expose the cheat codes for work and to share them with the world.

Want to work smarter not harder? Start hacking. Wanting to leave a legacy that makes a difference? Start hacking. Wanting to be a better manager, leader or entrepreneur? Start hacking. Hackers never stayed within the lines of their coloring books neither do they allow childlike wonder to be squeezed out of them. They tend to figure out why anyone would give up digging their fingers into everything just to learn how it works and how they could be changed, that’s the core to any hackers drive: unleashing the untapped potentials in everything, reworking the status quo, so it works better.

Hacking work speaks to all workers who feel defeated by overbearing and outdated bureaucratic rules, regulations and old school paradigms that prevent work from getting done smoothly and efficiently.  Hacking work is a forbidden innovation. It is the act of getting what you need to do by identifying loopholes and creating workarounds.

It is taking the usual ways of doing things, and creating a bypass to produce improved results. Once employers know how to hack theory work, everything is up for grabs.

The authors dedicated this book to the benevolent hackers and introduced two things about benevolent hackers. Firstly, benevolent hackers challenge outdated rules and procedures. Secondly, see the future and pulls us towards it in whatever way works best.

Benevolent hackers are on a mission to save the business from itself and you from the business.

In conclusion, benevolent hacking is the duct tape of the work. It is the universal solution to every poorly designed and corporate centered procedure, tool, rule, and process.

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point#1: Hacking work is not new

Key point#2: Hacking is bypassing, reworking, and bending the rules that keep you from doing your best.

Key point #3: Hacking work is not just for techies sometimes it involves simple changes in a relationship, sharing information differently or using tools you already have.

One Last Thing

The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

 ~Warren Bennis

If… Then… Else….

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In “If…, Then…, Else…;”, the authors; Davids, Secor, Farnum, and Lewis offer a practical analysis of typical behaviors and personalities found in Information Technology systems organizations and applicable advice on how to minimize the potential damages these negative influences often assert.

One of the first things every Information Systems (IT) professional learns is that there is a huge difference between data and information. The authors combine to share over 100 years of IT experience and have endured numerous attempts to bridge the “IT Communication Barrier” through “off the shelf, generic teaching materials or let’s say unhelpful data.  These canned training aids far too often soar over the heads of IT professionals who neither relate to nor care for the “psycho-babble” the materials offer.  “If…, Then…, Else…;” offers instantly recognizable, thoroughly applicable, and immediately useful information organized in a format consistent with an IT professional’s paradigms – or what IT folks would call, information!.  This empowers the reader to recognize the negative patterns and communication cravats often associated with common day-to-day IT workplace interactions and transforms that situation from a setback to a constructive, contributing engagement.  Michael Davids says, “The intent is to provide a path to effective and efficient ways to adapt to these real-world use-cases and effectively interact with these common, stereotypical IT personalities.”

The book “If…, Then…, Else…;” focuses on common personalities and situations expressly within the IT world offering career-beneficial insight on navigating those often choppy waters. The authors provide a unique tapestry of character and scenario intersections certain to resonate with anyone involved with IT participants. As personalities and situations “hit home” with the reader the authors provide invaluable guidance on successful interaction in those specific conditions.

Furthermore, the authors collaboratively provide insight and guidance on the best way to identify and respond to the general temperaments and attitudes of IT professionals. This book is written by IT professionals for IT professionals about IT professionals, “If…, Then…, Else…;” proffers a tool to aid professionals in achieving a favorable interaction and the best possible outcome throughout daily IT operations and interactions; a key in attaining overall career success. Also, it identifies how  IT Professionals can focus on specific personalities that represent actual people in which they interact within real-world situations they find themselves in virtually every day. With that, you can extract truly applicable, and immediately useful insight into:

•    How to recognize when a challenging behavior appears

•    How to most effectively respond to the behavior transforming a deterrent into a contribution (or at least minimize the potential damage).

•    How to prepare for and clean up after an ensuing interaction with a person you know has the propensity to fall short of expectations and hopes.

  If you are an IT professional, work among IT professionals, or simply interact with IT professionals, you already know they are “unique”; why not attempt to learn to understand them?

I am a medical doctor by training that happens to have a knack for technology and innovation. I am constantly reading and learning how to help my team succeed. Without a doubt, this is one of the best books I have ever read in my effort to better understand the IT professionals entrusted to me. It creates not only an understanding but also a roadmap on how to help them grow and succeed in their career path. There are too many takeaways from this book and can only be tapped into if you get a copy.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS:

Key point #1:   To gain the “comfort” in the realization that you are “not alone” and the behaviors that challenge you in your workplace are common among virtually every IT organization.

Key point #2:     To learn how to “catch yourself” from falling into the same old reaction patterns which allow these behaviors to escalate into detrimental directions; instead, channel the “gems” hidden within these unique personalities to glean the benefits they have to offer!

Key point #3:  By focusing on specific personalities that represent actual people in which you interact in real-world situations you find yourself in virtually every day, you can extract truly applicable, immediately useful insight into:

  • How to recognize when a challenging behavior appears

  • How to prepare for and clean up after an ensuing interaction with a person you know has the propensity to fall short of expectations and hopes.

One Last Thing:

  “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” –Ken Blanchard

The Age of Agile

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Stephen Denning, the former program director of knowledge management at World Bank, now works with various organizations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia on leadership innovation, Agile management, and organizational storytelling to discover the unfolding age of agile. This book focuses on how some organizations are learning to operate in a way that is much better for those doing the work, recipients of the work, the organization and the society.

The author discovered the default operating system for almost every medium-sized business and large-scale business to be bureaucracy (an organization system that discriminates between the managers-thinkers and the employees-doers). This system of management was designed to produce a consistently average performance to a set of internal rules. Its vertical chain of command was never designed nor is it capable of moving fast enough to respond to what is known as VUCA Markets. VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous marketplace also referred to as ‘Agile.’

 

The agile movement began decades ago in the manufacturing arena but gained traction recently in an unexpected place; software development. It was published in Agile Manifesto in 2001. The unusual part is that no one would associate the Information Technology department with such a robust management system. The author affirms that organizations that operate as agile are capable of being highly innovative and pragmatic. Take, for instance, an organization like Morningstar. The world’s largest tomato processor has no manager and all the key decisions are made by the “Blue Collar” employees. The company has move competence down to the individuals who have information and the context to make the best decision instead of moving it upward.

The Age of Agile offers insight on how to get individuals to think and behave like owners and reap the financial benefits that flow from this. One of which is the organization must be transformed into small localized units, each with its profit and loss responsibility. Most importantly, traditional management practices such as manipulating staff and trying to manipulate the customer must be dumped and replaced with treating people like an adult. The Agile paradigms are neither easy to understand nor easy to implement for traditional managers. Agile has become widespread and popular over the past decades with tens of thousands of organizations around the world. The author explains that the new paradigm is a journey, not an event. It involves unending innovations regarding specific innovation generated by the organization for the customers and steady improvement to the practice of management itself. He further explains that Agile Management is based on three laws; the law of the small team, the law of customer and the law of network. The law of small team requires that work is done in small, autonomous, cross-functional teams, working in short cycles on relatively small tasks and getting continuous feedback from the ultimate customer or end user. When you work in such teams, situations can be analyzed, decisions can be made and action taken as a single uninterrupted motion. Work can be fun and everyone will flow with it.

 

The law of customer is that the highest priority is to satisfy the customer.  Many managers are aware of the common phrase “The customer is number one”! While continuing to be internally focused, bureaucratic and fixated on delivering shareholder value. In an Agile organization, everyone is passionately obsessed with delivering more value to customers.

The third law according to Stephen Denning is the Law of the Network where leaders are not fierce conquering warriors but rather like curators of gardens.  When an organization truly embraces Agile it is less like a giant warship and more like a flotilla of tiny speedboats. This law is the recognition that competence resides throughout the organization and outside the organization. A problem can be solved and innovation can emerge through networking inside and outside.

Age of Agile furthermore cites common mistakes leaders make when planning to implement and derive the benefits of Agile. These include introducing agile as just another business process with top management hedging their bets on its success by a less than fulsome commitment.

The author affirms that agile can continuously deliver more value to customers from less work and will result in terrific returns to the organization.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1:  Agile helps organizations to be highly innovative and efficient as well as passion filled and pragmatic.

Key point #2: Agile management, when done right, can continuously deliver more value to customers from less work and yield a substantial result.

Key point #3: Agile organizations also have a hierarchy, but one of competence and not authority.

The Power of Habit. Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

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Charles Duhigg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discovery that opens up our minds to how habits come to be, why habits exist, how patterns are formed and how we can change and rebuild them. With his ability to distill the vast amount of information and penetrate intelligence, Duhigg shares his perception about one of the most challenging human natures and how it can be transformed. In this book, he divides the science of habit into three levels: individuals, business, and society. This book is based on interviews, organizational research and a load of studies.

 

HOW HABITS WORK

In the first chapter, the author tells a story of Eugene Pauly, whose brain was damaged by a virus. After the damage, he finds it difficult to remember the slightest event for more than a minute. Despite that, he was able to navigate his way around his house and even the outside world to some extent, which was only possible because the part of the brain responsible for habit was intact. What supports this theory is that whenever something changes, his behavior falls apart; he would get lost and unable to complete the simplest of activities.

Even though habits are automatic and sometimes are an unconscious series of actions, they can be changed. The author gave his insight base on a further experiment with Eugene Pauly, “Habits are powerful but delicate. They can emerge outside our consciousness or can be deliberately designed.”

The habit loop starts with a cue which is like a trigger followed by an automatic response which can be mental, physical or emotional and then reinforced by a reward and then the cycle of a new habit begins. What keeps the habit loop rolling is the craving and anticipation of reward which locks in the routine and habit. Once a habit is formed, it runs automatically even without conscious thought and continues that way even when reward changes.

THE GOLDEN RULE OF HABIT CHANGE

Chapter three of this book describes how transformation occurs. Once you are aware of how your habit works, once you recognize the cues and reward, you are halfway to changing such habit. This was supported by a story of a girl who has the habit of nail-biting. The cure involved was to make her aware of the cues, making her note when the cues emerge. Eventually, she was able to replace the habit with rubbing her hands together. The signals stayed, the behavior changed.

At the end of the chapter, the author makes two essential remarks which are: it is difficult to draw the line between habit and addiction and the second is the process of habit change is easily described, it does not necessarily follow that it is easily accomplished.”

Other chapters of the book explore why some habits are stonger than others, willpower and dow it can be turned into a habit, organizational habits or routines. The final chapter discusses moral questions related to habits and to what extent we are responsible for them.

 

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

 

Key point #1: Habits can be changed by removing cues that trigger the routine or by replacing a bad habit with good one.

Key point #2:  It is difficult to draw a line between habit and addiction.

Key point #3: Once you’re aware of how your habits work, once you recognize the cues and rewards, you’re halfway to changing them.

 

One Last Thing

“The Golden Rule of Habit Change: You can’t extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it.” ― Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Start With Why

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Start With Why is about an effective way of thinking, communicating, innovating and influencing people as a leader. Simon Sinek displays the notion that capable leaders inspire other people by emphasizing on the intention (‘the WHY’) before the procedure (the “HOW”) and the product or service (the “WHAT”). The more organizations and people who learn to start with WHY, the more those around will live a fulfilled life.

The first part of the book talks about a world that doesn’t start with WHY. Simon discusses two ways to influence behavior which is inspiration or manipulation.  Salespeople believe they attract customers with their features or price. In other words, we have no idea, so we manipulate sales, promotion the whole time. And yes, manipulation works. Prices, promotion, fears, aspirations, and novelty are all used to manipulate and motivate a purchase. All of these techniques work but Simon made it known that they are not sustainable and are short-lived. Regarding leadership, they can push you to the top, but they won’t make people follow you. Leadership is the ability to rally people, not for a single event but for years. However, there are few leaders who choose to inspire rather than motivate people. Whether individuals or organizations, every inspiring leader thinks, acts and communicates the same way. Consciously or not, how they do it is by following a naturally occurring pattern called the Golden Circle.

Part two of this book shows how leaders can inspire actions instead of manipulating people to act. The golden circle revolves around the WHAT (product or service), the HOW ( the procedure) and the WHY (the intention). Inspiring companies start with WHY. There is no trickery or manipulation. They just reverse the order of information. As humans, we crave a sense of belonging and we do this to survive. Starting with why helps to eliminate fear, share your beliefs and create a sense of belonging.

Part three of this book introduces us to the leaders’ needs. Leaders need a following. As members of the human race, we are attracted to those whose values, cultures and beliefs align with ours. When we recruit employees, we recruit people who believe what we believe so that we can trust one another instead of hiring purely based on skills and experience. In order words, leaders must build trust before building followers. The emergence of trust shows that trust is not a checklist. Instead, it is a feeling. We trust people and companies even when things go wrong, and we don’t believe others even when things might have gone the way it should. The idea is as a leader; you must earn trust by communicating and demonstrating that you share the same value and belief. That is why recruiters don’t hire for skills but attitude. Skills can be taught, but attitude must align with the organization’s culture. When you have a belief, i.e., a ‘WHY’ your what is just one of the ways of bringing that WHY to life.

Other parts of this great book discuss building trust, marketing and branding, the big Why and many other cogent topics that add value to organizations and individual.

The WHY does not come from looking ahead at what you want to achieve and figuring out an appropriate strategy to get there. Finding WHY is a process of discovery and not invention.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1:   To influence people’s behavior, you either manipulate or inspire.

Key point #2:   A clearly stated WHY helps separate you from others and build trust.

Key point #3:   Clients identify with organizations that have their WHY clearly stated.

 

One Last Thing

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe”
― Simon Sinek, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Zero to One

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This book is composed of Peter Thiel’s advice on startups with different take away such as the DO’s and DON’TS of startups, what to focus on when building a startup, insight of building a billion-dollar startup that stands the test of time and many more. He gave an illustration of the first team he built which is known as the “PayPal Mafia” who have gone out to help each other start and invest in successful tech companies. They sold PayPal to eBay in 2002 for $1.5billion. Ever since then:

  •    Elon Musk has founded SpaceX and co-founded Tesla Motors
  •    Reid Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn
  •    Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim together founded YouTube
  •    Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons founded Yelp
  •    David Sacks co-founded Yammer
  •    and Thiel himself co-founded Palantir
  • And today, all these seven companies are worth over $1billion.  

This book begins with Peter’s favorite interview question which is, “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”  He justifies this question by saying that “brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is even shorter than genius”. He further says that globalization without new technology in a world of scarce resources is unsustainable. Because the truth is that technology matters more in globalization. The best way to create wealth is not by spreading old ways but by innovation. And to introduce innovation, we have startups. He points out that competitive market destroys profit. He said, “if you can recognize competition as a destructive force instead of a sign of value, you are saner than most.” To get more capital, you need to be a monopolist and escape competition. You may think monopolies are bad but thinking of it in a world where it’s possible to invent new things, it brings about more creativity and innovations. Creative monopolists add new categories to the categories of products available, thereby giving customers more varieties to choose from.

What makes a monopoly durable? What does a company with large cash flows far into the future look like? There are four key characteristics to describe:

  1. Proprietary technology
  2. Network effects (aka virility)
  3. Simple scalability
  4. Branding

Peter’s next favorite question is “What valuable company is nobody building?” You get a valuable company when you create value and capture value. If you want to create and capture value as an entrepreneur, don’t build an undifferentiated commodity business. The author makes the difference between a perfectly competitive market and a monopoly and explains how both companies are trying to disguise themselves. The author takes us through various schools of thought of startups in each chapter of his book. Some of which are: the ideology of competition which explains why people compete, secrets which reveal why people are not looking for secrets and why companies need to stop believing in secrets, the mechanics of mafia and so on.

He concluded by asking the question: Stagnation or Singularity? It all depends on us. Our task today is to find singular ways to create new things that will make the future transpire from Zero to One. The critical step is to think for yourself, see the world anew, afresh and as strange as it was to the ancients who saw it first. Then we can recreate it and preserve it for the future. Whatever decision you make today, determines the success we experience tomorrow. So think critically and take action not by acting upon a created solution but by searching out a unique problem and proffering a solution to it.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1:  The author encourages monopolization other than perfect competition

Key point #2:   Leverage on the power of exponential growth

Key point #3: Don’t just invent a product; invent an efficient way of selling it.

One Last Thing

“The best entrepreneurs know this: every great business is built around a secret that’s hidden from the outside. A great company is a conspiracy to change the world; when you share your secret, the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator.”
― Peter Thiel, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

THE OUTLIERS

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The Outliers is structured around a series of case studies, cultures and time periods that are all related to same theories and thesis. According to Malcolm, success has nothing to do with high intelligence, level of genius or innate ability. Instead, success is based on prior investment of hard work, creativity, time, support and opportunity. Gladwell says it is that simple. Your culture, legacy and environment also play a part. He backed his point using various case studies of triumph and success. When an opportunity presents itself, you must be prepared and ready to maximize on it. That is not the point where you begin your preparation. Your prior preparation will determine if you will seize the opportunity or lose it. There is no shortcut to mastery. You must put in the work.

Below is a quick summary of the six key points Malcolm Gladwell takes us through:

Opportunity: Success rarely comes to those who struggle to break from the norm. There must be at least a glimmer of talent in you to achieve success. Opportunity gives you the chance to access coaches and tools that you need to build your skills. Those tools prepare you for a more robust opportunity. Gladwell considers remarkable individuals in this section such as Bill Joy, Robert Oppenheimer, Bill Gates and an unsung intellectual Chris Langan.

Timing: Timing is crucial and critical to success and opportunity. When and where you are born can influence your opportunity. 14 of the 75 richest people in history were born between 1860’s and 1870’s when the industrial revolution was taking off. Also in 1935, there were fewer babies born, roughly 600,000, which means a smaller class size. During this period, there were greater chances of getting into college, good sports team or even getting a good job in better firms.

 

Upbringing: The quality of the upbringing a child receives also influences his/her success. Parents that are more involved in their kids’ lives provide them with opportunities that lead to the child’s success. This can include enrolling them in summer school, taking them to museums and assisting with their homework. Kids that do not have parental care or affection tend to lose more opportunity.

10,000 hours: It typically takes 10,000 hours to become a master of something. You must invest that amount of your time.

Meaningful Work: You must invest hard and meaningful work to get the best out of it. Meaningful work makes you want to put in more hours. For instance, immigrants value and practice hard work. Sociologist Louise Farkas confirmed this while studying the immigrants family tree. He found out that the offspring became professionals and successful. She concluded that in spite of their humble background, they have been trained to value and practice hard work.

Legacy: Value drives legacy. Our values are passed down to us from generation to generation which directly affects our current behavior. Dutch psychologist, Geer Hofstede, did an analysis on different country’s cultural tendencies. He identified different dimensions such individualism, collectivism, uncertainty, avoidance and power distance index. Gladwell believes the society of one’s ancestors has a tendency of determining one’s practice and preference, even in the present day.

The Big Three – Key Points:

Key Point #1    Success has nothing to do with level of genius or IQ. It has more to do   with hard work, culture, society, and opportunity.

Key Point #2    Success comes to those who are ready to become a master in what they do.

Key Point #3    To be successful you must be ready to seize opportunities.

 

One Last Thing

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”

― Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success