Uncategorized

The Big Idea: Make faster, smarter decisions by harnessing AI as your strategic thought partner.

Ch 1: The Rise of AI and the AI-Driven Leader

• Make smarter, faster decisions by harnessing AI as a strategic thought partner.
• Always ask, “How can AI help me solve this problem?”
• Let AI do the heavy lifting by analyzing huge volumes of data.
• Let AI automate routine tasks and streamline processes.
• Let AI serve as your strategic thought partner to align short-term and long-term.

Ch 2: What Past Technological Revolutions Can Teach AI-Driven Leaders

• Embrace change. Adapt quickly.
• Lead by example. Use AI yourself.
• Acknowledge the risks and fears of the team when it comes to AI.

Ch 3: Shift from Operational Overwhelm to Strategic Clarity

• Microsoft CEO Nadella changed the culture from a bunch of know-it-all’s to a bunch of learn-it-alls.
• Successful change requires strong, visionary leadership.
• Remind the team that the goal is not to replace people with AI but to enhance them.
• Better quality prompts yield better quality answers.
• Ask AI to interview you to help clarify your thinking.

Ch 4: Understand AI

• Three ways to use AI: increase employee productivity, improve operational efficiency, create innovative products and services.
• AI risks: hallucinations, privacy, biases.
• Essential ingredients of a good prompt: describe the task, give context, assign a persona, specify requirements, establish limits, explain why, ask it to interview you.
• AI can generate 50% of the content but you should finish it from there.

Ch 5: Supercharge Your Leadership

• Top 5 ways to use AI to get more done: strategic thinking, decision making, content creation, idea generation, analysis.
• Explicitly ask for non-obvious ideas.

Ch 6: The High Price of the Wrong Questions

• Ask AI to play devil’s advocate to question assumptions and poke holes in the plan.

Ch 7: Collapse the Time from Data to Decisions

• Upload research papers, data files, or ask AI to review online data sources.
• Ask AI to perform fact-checking for you.

Ch 8: Navigate Short-Term Pressures Without Sacrificing Long-Term Growth

• Ask AI to interview you to identify how to deliver long-term value and also quick wins.
• 5 characteristics of a strategic mindset: focus on customer, turn vision into results, prioritize and communicate, think critically and act on data, be adaptable and embrace change.
• 4 drivers of growth: strategy, execution, people, technology.
• Ask: what’s the business that will put us out of business? How can we build it first?
• Ask AI to simulate how customers might respond to something.
• Ask AI to act as your executive coach, interview you, and point out any blind spots or holes in the plan.
• Ask AI to act as a board member and ask questions about the presentation.

Ch 9: Accelerate Strategic Momentum

Ch 10: Lead with Strategic Clarity

• 3 common strategic problems: not thinking big enough, losing sight of the bigger picture, doing it in isolation.
• Think bigger.
• Revisit your strategic plan every quarter: strategy, execution, people, technology.

Ch 11: The Critical First 30 Days

• Break down your plan into bite-sized actionable milestones.
• Block off time in your calendar to take action.
• Ask AI to review your strategic plan to make sure it’s broken down.
• Ask AI to review your calendar to make sure it reflects the top priorities.

Ch 12: 10x The Impact of Every Employee

• 10x is Easier Than 2x: you can 10x your growth by letting go of 80% of what you do and focus on the 20% that makes the most impact.
• Make sure your team is focused on their top 20% and ask AI to help you identify the top 20%.
• Elon Musk’s five rules for process improvement: question every requirement, delete non-essential steps, simplify what’s left, accelerate what’s left, automate what’s left.

Ch 13: Integrate AI Seamlessly

• Technology is a tool. It’s still strategy first, technology second.
• Change management: get people involved early, get quick wins, encourage a growth mindset.

Ch 14: Go from 0 to 1

• Build a competitive advantage in the long-term through actions taken in the short-term.
• Remember to always ask: how can AI help me do this?
• How to use AI: ask AI to interview you, ask AI to generate a high quality prompt,

The Big Idea: Learn the tools to live a more productive, healthy, and intentional life.

1. Start challenging conventional wisdom by asking: What problem are you trying to solve?
2. Ask 5 Why’s to get to the root cause.
3. Refusing to take no for an answer often leads to breakthroughs and key innovations.
4. Dig your well before you’re thirsty by cultivating relationships and being helpful to others.
5. Always end conversations by asking “How can I help?”
6. Learn people’s names the very first time you meet them.
7. 4-3-2-1. Have 4 stories ready to tell, 3 facts you are passionate about, 2 quotes that inspire you, and 1 question you can ask anyone in the world. (Eg. Knowing what you know now, if you had to do it over again, what would you tell your 20 year-old-self?)
8. Other good questions: What are you excited about right now? What brings you joy? What’s keeping you up at night?
9. Send people handwritten notes.
10. Send people video messages.
11. Try to avoid the small-talk and dive into the deep end by sharing something vulnerable about yourself.
12. Know what your top 3 values are.
13. Know what others’ top core values are.
14. Know your Zone of Genius and try to spend more time there.
15. Top performers value rest and recovery.
16. Prioritize getting quality sleep.
17. Spend some time outside every day.
18. Thoughts become words. Words become actions. Actions become habits. Habits become character. Character becomes destiny.
19. Read more. Listen to podcasts. Meditate. Focus on one thing at a time.
20. Find a mantra. Eg. Make It Happen.
21. There is no growth in comfort. Push yourself out of your comfort zone.
22. Worried about failing? Write out the worst-case scenario. You might realize that you probably won’t die.
23. Use the zip code strategy to figure out where you want to live. Visualize your ideal life.
24. 7-7-7. How would you live if you had 7 years to live? 7 months? 7 days?
25. Remember that life is short. We get about 4,000 weeks so be intentional about life.
26. Cultivate an abundance mindset to reach orbit faster and more efficiently.
27. Elon Musk has said he has dedicated his life to “accelerating the inevitable.” Eg. Electric vehicles and getting to Mars.

Introduction

Nobody can hope to succeed without a clear strategy, an effective leadership team, and a well-defined culture.

We are not fans of cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approaches to leadership.

The simplest questions of leadership — What is your strategy? What does success look like for your leadership team? — are often the most difficult to answer.

We’ll focus on how to lead effectively.

1. Can You Develop a Simple Plan for Your Strategy?

Simplifying complexity is a leader’s superpower.

The ability to simplify complexity is a necessary time-management tool.

Can your leaders stand up in front of their employees and, in a simple and memorable way, explain where the company is headed and why, along with a plan, timetable, and ways to measure progress along the route? This is the cornerstone of any organization.

The leader’s job is to simplify complexity, and be right.

You have to have a relevant point of difference for the consumer.

The role of the simple plan is to help address two questions that every employee deserves an answer to: What should I be working on? Why is it important?

You have to convey your priorities clearly and repeatedly. “This is where we want to be. This is how we’re going to get there.”

Intel created an approach called OKRs. Salesforce’s Marc Benioff created his V2MOM framework.

We have found the most useful framework is an approach that Dinesh Paliwal, the former CEO of Harman International, developed. What is the goal, the core message, in one line? What are the three key actions we’re taking? What are the three key challenges? And how do we measure success in twelve months?

One of the most important questions is whether the best people are working on the most critical projects.

Ensuring that top talent is working on key organizational priorities is essential, and most companies simply overlook this fundamental fact.

Finally, you need a way to measure progress. What’s the scoreboard?

1.1. Focus on Outcomes, Rather Than Priorities

What are the three or four things that, if we accomplish them over the next twelve months, will make this a good year?

Priorities have to be geared to a specific outcome in mind. And they have to be measurable, but they don’t always have to be quantitative.

Your strategy is a bridge to the future.

The vision you have painted is vivid and clear.

When you create a very structured alignment, then you can get this whole ship moving through the water at a very good speed.

1.2. Edit Ruthlessly

Can you create a vision that the frontline person can understand, and see how they fit into it?

The strategy and the business can be complex, but you have to explain them in a way that’s really easy to understand.

1.3. Make Yourself Uncomfortable

The simple plan should be ambitious enough to prompt a collective “can we really get there?” gulp by the team.

1.4. Beware of “Expert-itis”

Another reason people can get lost in expert-itis is that there is a sense of job security in complexity.

What is your one-page plan?

1.5. Test It

Pressure-test the plan with key focus groups, including employees and, if you’re the CEO, perhaps key directors.

Now you need to live a key principle of leadership: there is no such thing as overcommunication.

You have to repeat the simple plan relentlessly, no matter how redundant the messaging may feel to you.

“If you don’t communicate, people will make up narratives themselves, and they may be negative.”

Prepare to be teased for endlessly repeating the strategy.

2. Can You Make the Culture Real—and Matter?

It’s about walking the talk.

Building a strong culture is a leadership imperative, another crucial test that will determine whether they succeed.

The top leaders must own and model the values, so that there is no gap between what they say and what they do.

You can’t force a culture.

It is the CEO’s job. You can’t outsource it to HR or do a companywide poll. It’s your job to own the process.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has long evangelized the idea of “Day 1” thinking to remind employees to approach their work every day as if they were building a startup.

At Microsoft, Satya Nadella has challenged the company to move from a culture of “know it alls” to a culture of “learn it alls,” crystallizing the ideas of fixed-versus-growth mindsets.

Lars Kolind, a Danish entrepreneur and author who wrote Unboss. Its simple point is that teams are best positioned to come up with solutions, so the leader’s job is to support them rather than telling them what to do.

SendGrid had its own four values of hungry, happy, honest, and humble.

2.1. Twilio came up with a refreshed list of ten values:
Be an owner.
Empower others.
No shenanigans.
Wear the customer’s shoes.
Write it down.
Ruthlessly prioritize.
Be bold.
Be inclusive.
Draw the owl.
Don’t settle.

The actual words are less important than whether top leaders model them and continually reinforce and bring them to life

Twilio hands out “Superb Owl” awards to employees who have been role models for the values.

Culture is the responsibility of the CEO and senior leaders

Perceptions of the culture among employees must be measured through periodic all-staff anonymous surveys.

3. Can You Build Teams That Are True Teams?

They are the key to driving the strategy.

3.1. What Is the Purpose of the Team?

To work together on tasks and setting priorities that are best executed as a team.

Prioritization is notoriously hard for teams.

You simply can’t do everything.

3.2. Who Should Be on the Team?

Even in really good companies, you’ll find you only have 75 percent of the right people. In really bad ones, it’s probably only 25 percent.

The team itself can work together to decide what good looks like by developing a shared set of criteria to evaluate the performance of every member on the team.

3.3. How Will the Team Work Together?

Corporations are a team sport.

At Harman International, Dinesh Paliwal used pay structures to send a clear signal that collaboration matters. At the highest levels of the company, executives’ bonuses were tied 100 percent to the overall performance of Harman.

The key to a high-performance team is having high-trust-based relationships, having a series of operating principles or a social contract, and then a commitment to each other to keep those up.

There are really only two kinds of days—ones when your team gets better and ones when your team gets worse.

3.4. What Is the Leader’s Role on the Team?

Here are some of the key responsibilities that come up time and again across conversations with hundreds of CEOs.

Psychological Safety
Clear Agendas
Clear Rules of Debate
Inclusive Conversations
Coaching
Talent Scout
Grooming a Successor

The top three keys to success are the team you build, the team you build, and the team you build.

4. Can You Lead Transformation?

The status quo is enormously powerful, and it is the enemy of change.

Transformation is now a fixture of every leader’s job description.

Employees tend to prefer sameness over uncertainty.

No single playbook can address the unique challenges that each company faces.

Enlist allies to build an unassailable case for the need to change.

Clarify what is not going to change, particularly mission and purpose.

Engage your team.

Be transparent and communicate relentlessly.

Ensure commitment is shared by the CEO and the top leadership team.

Acknowledge the uncertainty but reinforce the certainty of the need to change.

4.1. The New York Times Company

You are not going to succeed as a CEO if you try to impose a set of ideas or a new culture on Day 1.

A key lesson for any company attempting its own state of the union report is that it should include only unassailable facts.

Communication is often the last item on the checklist but it’s always the most important.

Mission should never be tinkered with. You mess with mission at your own risk. Tradition needs to be constantly interrogated.

Leaders need to be crystal clear about their company’s reason for being.

Once you’re able to articulate your reason for being and what’s not going to change, that needs to be communicated really aggressively throughout the company.

Uncertainty has to be acknowledged and addressed head-on.

We are going to try some things that will work, and we will try some things that won’t work.

4.2. Amgen

Pressing for change is always harder when things are going well,

Transformations can be serial events, but if done right, they turn into long-term continuous improvement.

4.3. BetterCloud

What if your entire business model suddenly comes into question? Such existential threats require wholesale transformation, magnifying the challenges and accelerating the timetables for change.

Startup CEOs should share the dark moments they face so that they can all learn from each other.

“I think it’s important as an entrepreneur to be open about the challenges, and not trying to live the Instagram life of only the really, really good things.”

It was a clarifying moment to realize who was willing to sign up for what turned out to be a two-year challenge, with no certainty that the plan would work.

“The only people who were willing to stay on were people who wanted that challenge and that risk.

To keep people feeling as if they were making progress, even if the ultimate goal seemed far off, he adopted a strategy of celebrating small wins.

We told everyone that we have to cut out anything that is not targeted at getting this platform out or selling the existing platform so that we continue to grow revenue.

Rally everyone around: to sign up a hundred customers for the new platform.

Enlist allies to build the case for change.

Be clear about what is not going to change.

Be transparent and communicate relentlessly.

Ensure commitment is shared by top leaders to implement the plan,

Acknowledge the uncertainty while balancing it with the confidence in the team,

5. Can You Really Listen?

Danger signals can be faint, and bad news travels slowly.

The art of listening for leaders is one part mindset—the discipline of pushing aside all distractions and judgments in the moment to listen purely for comprehension—and one part commitment to create systems and processes on all fronts to elevate the idea of “active listening” to one of hypervigilance.

When the leader asks questions, the default response is often a two thumbs-up, “Everything’s great, boss!”

Leaders often trap themselves in information bubbles, a result of their confidence and outdated ideas about leadership.

The single defining characteristic of every underperforming company we went after was that the CEO had walled himself off from any kind of skepticism.

As you get higher in the organization, it gets tougher to get people to be honest with you.

So how do leaders break through the bubble?

Tell your team: “You have a responsibility to help me actively work the blind spot. You’ve got to bring the truth forward. You’ve got to speak with candor. We have to have that level of trust.”

If you get bad news early, you can react faster, and that reaction time is precious.

If you really want to know what’s going on, you get out there and you listen to folks on the front lines.

Listening for danger signals is crucial, but it’s just as important to listen for signals about opportunities.

Do regular surveys of the leadership team about what they think of your performance.

6. Can You Handle a Crisis?

Avoid the predictable mistakes that trip up so many leaders.

it’s a safe bet that some other crisis is going to turn the world upside down over the next decade or so.

Leading through a crisis is a kind of final exam of all the tests.

If you’ve established a simple plan, fostered a strong culture, developed a cohesive team, and built an ecosystem to ensure you’re hearing important signals, you’re much more likely to better weather the next crisis.

Your team will be looking to you, as the leader, to be calm, confident, and credible,

6.1. Show Up and Be Human

In these moments, it’s important for leaders to show their human side.

Leaders need to be more visible than usual during times of crisis, because they need to set the tone through their words, deeds, and body language.

Employees want a confident leader, but they also want to see their human side.

6.2. Capitalize on the Urgency

Many of the core business skills that companies typically struggle with—prioritization, speed of decision making, and innovation—become much easier in a crisis.

6.3. Embrace the Ambiguity

Employees have to know that you’re giving them accurate information, including what you know and don’t know.

Barbara Khouri, a veteran of six turnarounds:

“You have to know when to laugh and when to take things seriously. In turnarounds, you need more prioritizing, more connection with others, more humanity, more trust, more communication, more clarity, more transparency, and more willingness to be there for people. But there is also less of a need for perfection and for having all the data before you make a decision.”

6.4. Reimagine Your Organization

If we were building the company today from scratch, what would we do differently?

Our job as managers and leaders is to create that belief around what’s possible, so everyone stays focused.

Five critical pieces of advice:
Act fast.
Communicate widely.
Fix the root cause of the problem.
Stay calm and project confidence.

Crises are a brutal test of leadership, and many executives don’t survive them.

7. Can You Master the Inner Game of Leadership?

The conflicting demands and challenges must be managed.

It’s possible to balance compassion and accountability.

You have to be who you are.

Leadership is a series of contradictions.

Here are seven other paradoxes that are hallmarks of a leader’s life

7.1. Be Confident and Humble

7.2. Be Urgent and Patient

7.3. Be Compassionate and Demanding

People do their best work when they are treated more like volunteers than mercenaries.

7.4. Be Optimistic and Realistic

The best approach is to let people know about the big challenges (ideally paired with a plan for addressing them) while not overwhelming them.

7.5. Read the Weather and Set the Weather

Read the room but also set the tone.

7.6. Create Freedom and Structure

You’re not going to get a big, game-changing idea from trying to do what you’re doing now,

7.7. The very best leaders are selfless

7.8 Acknowledge the Pressures

The amount of responsibility you carry around on your back is unbelievable.

7.9. Keep Your Ego in Check

For those who tend to take themselves too seriously, all those signals can conspire to inflate their egos.

7.10. Focus on a Few Achievable Goals

The best time-management strategy I have,” said Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach For America, “is to reflect an hour a week on the overall strategic plan for myself.”

7.11. Try to Make Yourself Dispensable

Work on making yourself obsolete rather than being considered as essential.

Try to set the priorities and assemble a team so you wake up in the morning and actually have nothing to do.

7.12. Recharge Yourself

You must build time into your schedule to stay physically fit.

The Big Idea: Leadership is the practice of imperfect humans leading imperfect humans.

INTRO: Trust Us, It’s Fixable

• You need trust and speed. No one’s getting on board a plane without confidence in the aircraft and without enough speed, you’ve not even getting airborne.
• Organizational trust relies on authenticity, empathy, and logic.
• Your most important job right now is not to be good; it’s to make sure that the people around you have a shot at being great.
• Your mission is to convince yourself and the people around you that everything is fixable.

MONDAY: Identify Your Real Problem

• Choose curiosity.
• Build a team of problem solvers.
• Explore what’s holding you back. Draft a list of problems that need to be fixed.
• Pick a candidate problem to solve first.
• Collect the organization’s problem data. Use the data you have now.
• Build a case with the data you have. Enlist your data analyst
• Learn more about your problem. Talk to people most affected by the problem.
• Decide what you’re going to fix this week. Choose a problem with elevated urgency, clearest source of disruption and distraction.

TUESDAY: Solve For Trust

• Fail with enthusiasm. At this stage, it’s more important to learn than to be right.
• Find your organization’s trust wobble. Frame your problem from the perspective of the stakeholder to gain their trust.
• Ten organizational trust pitfalls: aversion to making choices, reliance on heroic employees, shiny object syndrome, disengaged middle management, casual relationships with other people’s time, comfort with collateral damage, high incidence of the Sunday Scaries, people pleasing in the boardroom, tolerance for misalignment, delusions of meritocracy.
• Do a business model checkup. Make sure there aren’t any logic cracks in the foundation of your business model.
• Make your people better. Development can be formal (training) or informal (stretch assignments).
• Change how you work. Be open to systemic solutions to your problem. The problem may be the system.
• Identify “new” talent. Look internally first.
• Make the difficult people decisions. Learn how to gracefully part ways with employees.
• Don’t make it all about you. “Always ask the turtle”. Understand others’ motivations and perspectives.
• Walk the talk. Prioritize the repair of any systemic breaks in authenticity.

WEDNESDAY: Make New Friends

• Figure out why you’re doing this. Inclusion >> diversity.
• Find your place(s) on the Inclusion Dial. Championed >> Celebrated >> Welcome >> Safe.
• Make it physically safe to be different. Everyone must feel physically and emotionally safe when they come to work.
• Welcome everyone despite their differences.
• Celebrate uniqueness on your own team.
• Champion uniqueness at the scale of the organization.
• Include yourself, too.

THURSDAY: Tell a Good Story

• Understand deeply to describe simply.
• Honor the past (the good stuff). Identify what you love and don’t want to change. This is comforting for people to hear.
• Honor the past (the not-so-good stuff). Be honest about what’s wrong.
• Provide a clear and compelling change mandate. Share why it’s important for the organization to change.
• Describe a rigorous and optimistic way forward. Data is your friend. Optimism is infectious.
• Put the pieces of your story together. Stories are the best way to teach, inspire, and connect with our fellow human beings. It doesn’t have to be long; sometimes a single image can tell an entire story.
• Repeat yourself. Repeat the message until you are sick of hearing yourself talk.
• Identify and use your emotions. As a leader, your mood is quite literally contagious.
• Ten underrated emotions in the workplace: frustration, regret, enthusiasm, devotion, happiness, discomfort, anger, joy, fellowship, grace.

FRIDAY: Go as Fast as You Can

• Ten beliefs that get in the way of moving fast: meaning change happens slowly, we can do it later, other people’s time is an abundant, low-cost resource, we need more information, going fast is reckless, going slow is righteous, our people are stretched too thin, we have to be great at everything we do, structure is the enemy of speed, we need more time to prepare.
• Get out of the way. Remove yourself as the bottleneck. Empower more people to make decisions.
• Be bad at something else. You can’t be great at everything. Choose what you want to be great at and bad at.
• Become a cultural warrior. Leaders must be good at strategy and culture.
• Run better meetings. Agendas, note-taking, red team, summary, action items.
• Reduce work in process. Prioritize to move faster. Little’s Law.
• Create a way to fast-track projects. Identify special, high-impact projects and fast-track them.
• Lean into conflict. Learn how to handle conflict gracefully. Books: Crucial Conversations, Radical Candor.

The Big Idea: Successful CEOs share these qualities. Passionate curiosity. Battle-hardened confidence. Team smarts. A simple mindset. Fearlessness.

Introduction

While setting overall business strategy is certainly an important part of a CEO’s job, leadership shapes every part of their day.

The culture and tone starts at the top, and each company reflects the personalities of its CEO.

The leader who understands how to get his employees to work together as a team has an advantage.

Most businesses fail because they want the right things but measure the wrong things, and they get the wrong results.

You can hire a brain surgeon, or you can hire a proctologist at half-price who wants to learn. Invest in better service and employee morale instead of single-mindedly cutting costs.

One good story about leadership and management from an executive who has worked hard to learn it – is equal to ten theories.

Successful CEOs put a premium on direct and frank communication, and flattening the organization.

Successful CEOs try to use questions more than statements, so that their employees take ownership of their roles rather than simply take orders from the CEO.

Many successful CEOs reward honesty and input, and show their interest in learning what others think, by holding town-hall meetings, seeking the advice of people at all levels of the company, and asking employees what they would do if they were in charge.

Successful CEOs also try to create a culture of learning.

There is no single way to lead or to manage. We all have to figure out what makes sense on our own.

PART ONE SUCCEEDING

CH 1. PASSIONATE CURIOSITY

The qualities successful CEOs share: Passionate curiosity. Battle-hardened confidence. Team smarts. A simple mindset. Fearlessness.

The CEO’s ultimate job: student of human nature.

The CEOs are not necessarily the smartest people in the room, but they are the best students.

In the best of all worlds you want someone who’s whole-brained—someone who is analytical and can also be creative.

Jen-Hsun Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, the computer graphics company, said both sides of his brain play important roles in finding new opportunities. “I don’t like making decisions with analytics,” he said. “I actually like making decisions with intuition. I like to validate the decision with analytics.”

Ask: ‘Tell me what you’re passionate about.’

Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney, said curiosity was a key quality he looked for in job candidates.

A trait that sets CEOs apart: an infectious sense of fascination with everything around them.

Though CEOs are paid to have answers, their greatest contribution to their organizations may be asking the right questions.

In business, the big prizes are found when you can ask a question that challenges the corporate orthodoxy.

Some of the most important advances come from asking, much like a persistent five-year-old, the simplest questions. Why do you do that? How come it’s done this way? Is there a better way?

Ask questions. Show genuine enthusiasm. Be interested in the world.

CEOs focus on being interested rather than trying to be interesting.

CH 2. BATTLE-HARDENED CONFIDENCE

You can never really tell how somebody deals with adversity.

Many CEOs seem driven by a strong work ethic forged in adversity.

So when I interview potential executives, I will ask them directly: ‘Give me an example of some adverse situation you faced, and what did you do about it, and what did you learn from it?’

If I’m recruiting people for very senior positions, I will delve quite extensively into their personal lives.

The number one most predictive trait is perseverance, or what we would call internal locus of control.

Many CEOs recognize that failure is part of success.

The best hitters in Major League Baseball, world class, they can strike out six times out of ten and still be the greatest hitters of all time. That’s my philosophy—the key is to get up in that batter’s box and take a swing.

This ability to celebrate failure needs to be an important part of any company that’s in a rapidly changing world.

It is okay for a CEO to say that the strategy didn’t work, that the technology didn’t work, that the product didn’t work, but we’re still going to be great.

I don’t think you can create culture and develop core values during great times.

‘Culture’ is a big word for corporate character. It’s the personality of the company.

What does it take to have a great company? It takes major setbacks and overcoming those. I mean a near-death experience.

Leadership, in my opinion, is best learned, or honed, through adversity. In abundance, it’s very easy to lose focus. But in adversity, one must have extreme focus.

Understand what you can control.

Challenges become learning experiences rather than disappointments.

A dream employee will eagerly accept a challenge, and say those words that are music to a manager’s ears: “Got it. I’m on it.”

CH 3. TEAM SMARTS

The most effective executives are more than team players. They understand how teams work, the different roles of individual players, and how to get the most out of the group. They know how to create a sense of mission and how to make people feel like everyone’s getting credit. They know how to build a sense of commitment in the group.

Team smarts is an essential skill.

Teamwork is developed by conveying a sense that you are looking out for a colleague, that you’ve got her back.

Try to add value to everything.

You know you’re going to drop the ball. If you’re good with people and people like you and you treat them right, they’re going to pick up the ball for you, and they’re going to run and they’re going to score a touchdown for you. But if they don’t like you, they’re going to let that ball lie there and you’re going to get in trouble.

Part of team building is understanding the roles that different personalities play in a group.

People are either “glue” or “solvent” within a team. People who are glue within the team disseminate things effectively, motivate and improve the morale of people around them.

So much of leadership is about trust and belief. People have to believe in you.

Nell Minow of The Corporate Library said her best lesson for building a sense of teamwork is to organize a group around a simple word: we.

Another key strategy for building a sense of teamwork is learning to share credit.

Teamwork can be built by being explicit about the roles people play, and insisting on rules and routines.

If you’re not worried about your own success, but you’re worried about the success of the team, you go a lot further.

Perhaps one of the simplest ways to think about teamwork is to forget organizational charts and titles. Companies increasingly operate through ad hoc teams, formed and disbanded to accomplish various tasks.

The people who truly succeed in business are the ones who actually have figured out how to mobilize people who are not their direct reports.

CH 4. A SIMPLE MINDSET

Be concise, be brief, get to the point, make it simple.

Few people can deliver the simplicity that many bosses want.

Next time you’re in a meeting, ask somebody to give you the ten-word summary of his or her idea.

The shorter your business plan is, the more succinct and to the point it is, the better.

Some CEOs put strict limits on PowerPoint slides.

Simplifying the complex is the CEO’s job, and CEOs do it all day long.

Create order out of chaos, to identify the three or five things employees need to focus.

If I can’t simply put what needs to be done on one page, I probably haven’t thought it through very well.

You need to show you care. Nothing today is about one individual. This is all about the team, and in the end, this is about giving a damn about your customers, your company, the people around you.

I don’t micromanage, but I have micro-interest. I do know the details. I do care about the details. I feel like I have intimate knowledge of what’s going on, but I don’t tell people what to do.

As a CEO, part of my job is not only to help develop direction but to teach storytelling.

Be brief, be bright and be gone.

CH 5. FEARLESSNESS

Many successful CEOs try to create a culture of action, in which employees are encouraged to make decisions that are outside the strategy playbook.

I had to learn to make decisions quicker, on the spot, and follow my gut. You’re not going to have all the information.

You have to have people in an organization who are willing to truly embrace change,

CEO of HSN, the parent company of Home Shopping Network, likes to see evidence of risk-taking in the resumes.

CH 6. PREPARATION, PATIENCE, AND OBSTACLE COURSES

Think of a career as an obstacle course.

Much of the CEOs’ advice for succeeding on the career obstacle course falls into two broad categories: preparation and patience.

Prepare for a career, they say, don’t plan it.

On the whole, many professional people are more worried and more afraid than they should be.

The most important thing is to focus on learning experiences.

Several CEOs mentioned selling as an important skill that can pay off throughout a career.

Several CEOs said that travel is the best preparation for a career.

Patience is extremely important because people set goals for themselves that often are unrealistic,”

Do the work well, they say, and the promotions will follow.

New employees should focus on figuring out the culture of an organization. Catch on to who really pulls the strings and where the real power base is, whom you have to collaborate with, whom you have to inform, whom you have to seek out for advice.

I tell people, just show up, get in the game. Something good will come of it, but you’ve got to show up.

Take the time to meet people and to build relationships.

PART TWO MANAGING

CH 7. THE SURPRISES THAT AWAIT YOU

Read everything by Peter Drucker.

As the leader, people are looking at you in a way you could not have imagined in other roles. You have this megaphone attached to your shoulder that amplifies everything you do. Everything that you say or do or amplified. You can’t have a bad day.

You need to be always authentic.

I’ve learned to overcommunicate in a way I never did before.

Be open with employees so that they are not left wondering what’s on your mind.

Be as open as possible about who you are, what they should know about you, what they should understand about you, and how you like to operate.

People like the fact that you’re one of them and that you’re going to sacrifice as much as you’re going to ask them to sacrifice.

People put the CEO on such a high pedestal, and that you get more credit than you deserve for just being friendly and approachable.

CH 8. TIME MANAGEMENT

Ask yourself whether what you’re doing is “action” or “activity.”

Make sure you spend time on the action that’s going to drive results.

One of the things you have to worry about as a leader is to make sure that you’re not just creating activity.

Constantly assess and reassess your top priorities.

What are the three most important things I need to do today?

End each of my three most important meetings each month by saying, ‘Okay, here are the three most important things we’re doing.’

Mark Pincus of Zynga adopted a system called OKRs. The idea is that the whole company and every group has one objective and three measurable key results.

Ask everybody to write down on Sunday night or Monday morning what your three priorities are for the week, and then on Friday see how you did against them.

Successful CEOs make time — daily, weekly, or quarterly—to study their time. The best time-management thing I do is reflect an hour a week on the overall strategic plan for myself. Make sure I can carve out a certain period of time every week to step back and think about the big picture. This gives you long-term focus.

Build thinking time into your daily schedule. Flying time is often a useful opportunity to think in peace and quiet.

Many executives make time for themselves away from their gadgets.

Turns off your work phone and email at the end of the week and encourage your staff to do the same. You want your people to have a life.

CH 9. BANANAS, BELLS, AND THE ART OF RUNNING MEETINGS

Having a clear agenda and sticking to a timetable certainly helps.

People will be more engaged if they’re clear about the point of the meeting from the start.

People I work with know I don’t like meetings and that they will do better to just keep it moving.

Too many leadership meetings are all focused on internals, so half of meetings has to be externally facing — our market share, our clients.

Encourage everybody to be a hall monitor. ‘Hey, are we wasting our time here, or not?’

People like rules in meetings, and they like them even more when the rules are enforced fairly.

The best idea wins.

Being succinct and efficient is also a measure of preparation and command of the facts.

If you don’t speak up in the meeting, you can’t later come back and say: ‘I really hated that.

Meetings can easily descend into a conversation between two people, with others watching.

“Every Friday, we have the senior leadership team come for about an hour-and-a-half operations check, and we have the checklist of items we need to get to, and we will go through that list, but I will never lead that meeting,” she said. “Each one of the executives leads the meeting.”

Waiting for people to contribute doesn’t always work. Sometimes you have to seek out opinions.

CEOs said they make it a point to hold back on sharing what they think until they get more input.

As you become more senior in a company, you tend to be viewed as more authoritative when you speak and therefore you have to back off a little bit.

If meetings are fun rather than a slog through an agenda, people will be more engaged and listen to the rest of the group more intently.

CH 10. SMART INTERVIEWING

I love asking people what the meaning of life is.

‘On your deathbed, what do you want to be remembered for?’

‘What’s the most important thing that’s happened to you over the last three years?’

‘Just tell me about your life.’

‘Wherever you worked before, what made it a good day?’

Ask questions about their families, friends, and social networks.

‘What are you passionate about?’

Hire people who are Tiggers, not Eeyores.

Several CEOs said they ask candidates about the last few books they read, the value of teamwork and how to contribute to a team effort. They listen carefully to how often the person says “I” and “me.”

“Who are the best people you recruited and developed and where are they today?”

“I’ll ask somebody to teach me something,” he said. “They’ll get on the whiteboard.”

‘Can you describe a decision you made, or a situation you were involved in, that was a failure?’

Find out if the person he’s interviewing can handle working without a clear road map.

‘Do you know what you’re good at, and what you need to work on to get better?’

‘If you had to name something, what would you say is the biggest misperception that people have of you?’

Know what skills people are trying to develop more, as a way to gauge their self-awareness.

‘Do you know why you want to work at this company?’

They want to know if people have done their homework, and believe in what the company does and its mission.

‘If you could be in my shoes today, what would be the top three things you’d do?’”

Some CEOs know that a piece of writing can provide a window on the way job candidates think.

Many CEOs said an absolute must of the hiring process is to share a meal with someone. Do they talk down to the busboy? Can they read social cues and keep a conversation going? Many candidates have lost job opportunities based on their performance at a restaurant.

I have to remind myself that there’s no pressure so great to fill a job.

CH 11. LOCK YOURSELF OUT OF YOUR OFFICE

Executives have to make the time to get out and walk around. The less time spent in the office, the better.

CEOs say that the investment of time delivers enormous rewards on all fronts — employee retention, insights on company strategy, and worthwhile feedback.

People generally want to bring only good news. When you move into the corner office: “Watch how funny your jokes become.”

Management By Walking Around is essential.

Leadership is about ensuring that you have the right people within your organization. You do that through actively knowing the people.

Try to see a client every day.

The best thing you can do is spend at least 50 percent of your time in the office communicating with as many staff as you have time to communicate with.

Brian Dunn, the CEO of Best Buy, also visits stores, and he approaches his company like a customer so he understands the experience. “I surf our Web pages. I call our call center. I visit our stores.”

Talk to people who are leaving. When people are leaving, they’re often in a very reflective state. And because they’ve often made a very difficult decision, they’re also stunningly direct, because it’s like they have nothing to lose.

Every boss needs people in the organization who are going to tell her that her jokes aren’t funny — in other words, give her straight feedback.

One way to avoid the isolating trap of the corner office is to eliminate the corner office.

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask for feedback.

Dan Rosensweig of Chegg often uses annual performance reviews to ask for feedback on how he is managing.

CH 12. BE A COACH, NOT A CRITIC

As a coach, a manager’s job is to elevate individual players, make the team better, and try to give guidance and input.

A boss will get more out of the people who work for her if her goal is to make them better.

Get a sense of what the one thing is that makes their eyes light up, that they get excited about and won’t stop talking about.

There is no single right way to give feedback.

One way is the “criticism sandwich”.

Tachi Yamada prefers not to mix positive and negative feedback.

“By listening first and trying to understand how we got here and their story, I think it allows them to then hear my point of view later. And then we can move into solutions. When people feel judged right out of the gate, it’s hard for them to open up and listen and improve.”

In sports, this is what coaches do — giving constant feedback in practice to help people get better and help the team win.

Being direct is not a personal attack.

PART THREE LEADING

CH 13. CREATING A SENSE OF MISSION

What’s the difference between management and leadership? Management is about results. Management is quantifiable, measurable.

Leadership is an art. People report to managers, but they follow leaders.

Leaders who can create a sense of mission are far more likely to succeed.

Employees like to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and to work toward an ambitious goal.

The job of leaders is to set a goal that people can believe in.

There is no formula for creating a sense of mission, though certainly one necessary ingredient is conviction, since nobody will follow a leader who doesn’t believe wholeheartedly in what he or she is saying.

Apple is often talked of as a place where people want to build products that will change the world. “We believed in the Mac division that we were making the world a better place.”

What are we? What is our real purpose?

The higher the calling, the higher the compelling vision you can articulate, then the more it pulls everybody in.

A reporter asks a bricklayer, ‘What are you doing?’ And he says, ‘I’m building a cathedral.’

People love to compete, of course, so another way to marshal the collective energy of a workforce is to establish a clear scoreboard to measure performance against competitors, and then reward the team when it wins.

There’s got to be measurable goals that everybody understands, and then you start strategizing on how to get there, and figure out how everybody wins.

Once you’ve established what your organization’s mission is, you must repeat it endlessly. Even when you’re tired of what the message is, you need to do it again and again and again. You’ll know that you’re effective as a leader, because you hear them saying it.

Many CEOs agree on this point — that there is a need for relentless communication.

We share everything. We believe in complete transparency.

There’s nothing quite as powerful as people feeling they can have impact and make a difference.

Employees need to be won over constantly.

CH 14. SMALL GESTURES, BIG PAYOFFS

Many CEOs said they made time for the small gestures — the handwritten note, the phone call, taking time to drop by an office to chat—because they recognize their power.

Continue to motivate people to do better and better. Get them excited and create the right environment.

There’s an innate need for well-deserved recognition.

There are two things that are very important about recognition. One, it needs to be deserved. And two, it needs to come from the heart.

People leave companies for two reasons. One, they don’t feel appreciated. And two, they don’t get along with their boss.

CH 15. TYPE A TO B

Once they’ve won the top job, many CEOs said they’ve had to learn how to pull back and listen more so that they are not dominating every conversation and meeting.

You really want to get the best out of people, you have to really hear them, and they have to feel like they’ve been really heard.

Being too exciting and too motivational is overbearing, and it turns people off.

The job of leadership is developing people and that it involves not doing everything for them.

Many executives said that one of their biggest challenges was learning to listen more.

Make sure you have the right people in place and they’re motivated correctly. The way to do that is to listen to them.

If I wanted to stay surrounded by great people, I had to get out of their way and create the room and make sure they started to get the recognition and the credit.

What defines successful leadership — earning people’s respect.

CH 16. CREATING A CULTURE

One of the most demanding aspects of leadership is to create a positive culture that engages employees at a personal level.

Creating an effective culture is an art.

Many CEOs recognize that culture is the engine that drives results.

Some of the most successful CEOs have taken steps — symbolic and practical — to create a culture that is less hierarchical, where people can make decisions themselves and learn from one another.

CEOs become facilitators of the culture rather than the focus of the culture.

If you see your job not as chief strategy officer and the guy who has all the ideas but rather as the guy who is obsessed with enabling employees to create value, you will succeed.

How do we push the envelope of trust? By creating transparency. All our company’s financial performance information is on our internal Web site.

Collaboration is one of the most difficult challenges in management.

The point is to get people talking to each other rather than always trying to involve the CEO in every decision.

When you start telling people what to do, they no longer are responsible; you are.

Values in a corporation act as a guide to help make tough decisions. Values also appeal to employees who want a sense of mission beyond dollars and cents.

At Zappos, the company tells employees that values are not just suggestions — they can be used as grounds for dismissal if employees aren’t abiding by them.

“At Zappos, we view culture as our number-one priority,” Tony Hsieh said. “We decided that if we get the culture right, most of the stuff, like building a brand around delivering the very best customer service, will just take care of itself. We would actually be willing to hire and fire people based on those values, regardless of their individual job performance.”

Zappos pushes the culture of transparency to an extreme that might make some companies uncomfortable. It publishes a “culture book” every year.

It’s a real cliché to say that the boss is the one that sets the tone, but it’s absolutely true.

It’s not the words of the mission statement or the words on the value statement, it’s how a company deals with the people who breach the core values. That’s what really defines the values.

Have very clear goals and clear compensation schemes. People don’t feel that they need to be talking about compensation or about their bonus.

For leaders, the ability to laugh at yourself is key.

Does the CEO, as a role model, encourage healthy debate and appreciate tough questions and challenges? Or does she set a my-way-or-the-highway rule?

Ursula Burns of Xerox, who has talked to her employees about overcoming what she described as the company’s “terminal niceness.” Meetings are all about challenging the status quo and questioning what’s wrong and what can be done better.

Jen-Hsun Huang of Nvidia said “intellectual honesty” is one of the core values of his company. “One of our other principles is that people who are successful are the ones who ask for help.”

Some CEOs make sure that people are rewarded in ways beyond their paychecks.

It’s always interesting for me to hear how newcomers feel after they’ve been in the brand for a period of time and to get feedback.

CH 17. SO WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?

What are the intangibles that serve as a kind of connective tissue for all the skills of leadership?

Unbridled Passion for What’s Possible

Why does a line of followers form behind some leaders?

Employees have to trust a visionary leader before they will follow him.

“Trust has a couple of dimensions,” Barrett said. “It starts with competence.” People have to trust that you have a point of view about what the enterprise is going to look like. They have to trust that you understand them.

Build a Story Around Their Capabilities

Leaders also have a feel, an instinct, for what people are capable of becoming, even if they can’t see it themselves.

Leaders who are committed to helping the people who work for them will have committed followers.

Bringing the Group Together

The ability to bring a team together to achieve a goal is a rare skill.

Command-and-control leadership won’t cut it in a world where the real competition is for talent.

“I think of myself less as a leader,” said Tony Hsieh of Zappos, “and more of being almost an architect of an environment that enables employees to come up with their own ideas. My associates can work anywhere they want, and my job is to re-recruit them every day and give them a reason to choose to work for us.”

Leaders think about others first.

You don’t make all the decisions.

A leader has to be comfortable with having the weight on his shoulders. And that’s not for everybody.

Effective leaders must care about people enough to get the best work out of them, yet they must keep a distance so that any difficult conversations are about performance.

People want to follow a confident but not overconfident leader.

Have a sense of everything that is going on at the company, and what needs to be done, yet be present when talking to employees so they don’t get the impression you’re distracted.

Sometimes leadership is about having the right answer. Other times it’s about having the right question.

The Big Idea: Compensation is one of your largest expenses and, therefore, one of your most important strategic decisions.

Overview: 5 Principles for Effective Compensation Design

Principle #1 – Be Different: Aligning Compensation with Culture and Strategy

The first principle of compensation design is to Be Different. Strategy is about being perceived as different versus your competition. Ideally, all your People practices (recruiting, leadership, compensation) reinforce these differences. They must incentivize behaviors in your employees that your customers appreciate.

A Good Jobs Strategy means paying significantly higher salaries than your competitors, nevertheless, enjoying lower labor costs per unit and higher profits because your employees are more productive.

You might feel tempted to copy the compensation systems of these outstanding firms. But that would be a big mistake. Your system will only be effective if it is tailored to your unique context. Make compensation a critical part of your strategy, make it your own, and make it different.

Principle #2 – Fairness Not Sameness: Creating a Coherent and Flexible Base Pay Structure

Scaleups need to go to the drawing board and design a compensation system that deserves the name.

The key is to design a transparent and equitable system that allows for meaningful differences in base pay between low, average, and top performers. Performance is not normally distributed, and thus base pay shouldn’t be either.

Principle #3 – Easy on the Carrots: Using Incentives Effectively

Zehnder decides to be deliberately old-fashioned. The firm could do what everybody else in the industry does and pay its people juicy commissions. Yet this would be unwise, given the firm’s culture and strategy.

Financial incentives influence employee behaviors in three ways. They help people decide if they want to work at your firm (selection effect), they tell employees what is important (information effect), and they can motivate people to try harder (motivation effect).

Most bonus plans fail to drive performance. Instead, they become entitlements and cause undesired behaviors. We argue that individual financial incentives only work for simple, routine, measurable, and independent jobs and that your sales roles are likely the only candidates where such carrots will be effective.

Principle #4 – Gamify Gains: Driving Critical Numbers Through Pay/Play

In gain-sharing plans, teams or even an entire company commit to moving the needle (often in a gamified manner) on a metric that points to a specific challenge of the business (productivity, spending, quality). This number is then tied to a bonus and paid out to employees when the goal is achieved.

The power of gain-sharing schemes lies in their information effect. By making goals specific and tangible, and tying a reward to them, gain-sharing plans inform people what is important.

Principle #5 – Sharing Is Caring: Getting Employees to Think Like Owners

While stock and stock options grants are standard practice among Silicon Valley-style tech companies, we find these tools underutilized in the vast majority of mid-market firms.

Compensation is Not Logical, It’s Psychological

In this book, we focus on the monetary elements of your compensation system. However, when discussing monetary compensation, you always need to consider the total reward package as the different reward elements complement each other. Small and midsize companies have great opportunities to offset less competitive salaries and benefits with relational rewards.

Ch 1. Be Different: Aligning Compensation with Strategy

Being different is key to any effective strategy – and that includes designing a “strange” compensation plan that incentivizes the behaviors your customers and other stakeholder expect.

But make sure your comp plan aligns with your culture / core values or risk it being rejected. This is why it is dangerous to just copy someone else’s compensation plan.

Don’t look at people as a cost; they are an investment.

The first principle of compensation design is to Be Different. Strategy is about being perceived as different versus your competition.

The role of the compensation plan is to incentivize behaviors in your employees that your customers appreciate and make them reach for their wallest. Only then do your HR policies create true value for the firm and make you stand out in the marketplace.

Your People systems should be outright strange.

One of the Container Store’s core values is “1 Great Person = 3 Good People.” Therefore, they are willing to pay them up to twice as much as competitors.

The Container Store wants excellence and has the firm belief that performance differences among people are huge and that outstanding people deserve to be lavishly rewarded.

Incentives are powerful shapers of culture.

Your design choices should reflect your culture’s position about people and money. If you trust that team will always work hard, you will pay them a high fixed salary. If you don’t, you pay them variably. If you believe that competition among colleagues improves performance, you will pay individual bonuses. If you think cooperation produces better results, you will reward team bonuses.

Culture (and strategy) influences a company’s choice about compensation and vice versa. You need to start with a well-defined culture. Do you have three to five core values that describe the basic behavioral norms everybody in your organization has to follow?

Don’t just copy another company’s comp plan. Make it a critical part of your strategy.

The Good Jobs Strategy (coined by author Zeynep Ton) directs companies to pay people extremely well to put a powerful flywheel in motion that leads to operational excellence, loyal customers, and increased revenue and profits.

Mercadona, a follower of the Good Jobs Strategy, invests $5k per new employee in a four-week boot camp, offers intensive tutoring, gives regular salary increases, generous bonuses, 30 vacation days, and family-friendly schedules. It is Spain’s largest and most profitable supermarket chain and beats Walmart by a factor of 3x.

Worry about what people do, not what they cost. (From Jeffrey Pfeffer’s classic HBR article Six Dangerous Myths About Pay).

Costco pays 30-40% higher than Sam’s Club.

Netflix says: one outstanding employee gets more done and costs less than two adequate employees.

Hire fewer but far more productive people.

To be clear, the higher worker productivity at these Good Jobs Strategy firms is not the result of paying people higher salaries to work harder and smarter. The higher worker productivity is the result of getting the best talent and retaining them.

A compensation philosophy is a written statement that outlines how people in your organization are paid and why.

PwC pays low salaries but develops its people to land big jobs elsewhere.

KKR believes every employee of its portfolio companies should be an owner.

Unilever offers great management training with guaranteed promotions if goals are met.

Startups and scaleups can’t offer great salaries but can offer long-term wealth creation and dynamic work environments.

Ch 2. Fairness Not Sameness: Creating a Coherent and Flexible Base Pay Structure

Base compensation is rarely motivational – and raises are short-term in their impact. Base pay is considered a hygiene factor. As a company scales, it’s important to establish clear pay grades. Performance is not normally distributed, and thus pay shouldn’t be either.

The 3 drivers of base pay: competencies, sustained performance, relative labor market value

Read Pay People Right! by Zingheim and Schuster.

Base pay does not motivate. People won’t work harder because you increase their base pay. Base pay drives attracting and retaining talent.

However, paying people below what they consider fair is highly detrimental to motivation and performance.

Extrinsic fairness means your people are paid fairly relative to the market.

Intrinsic fairness means your people are paid fairly relative to their co-workers.

Perception of fairness is not logical. People’s assessment of fairness depends on how they feel about their boss.

Read 12 Elements of Great Managing by James Harter

Read First Break All The Rules by James Harter

Humans are not rational when it comes to pay. Receiving $1,000 less per year than the colleague next door can easily be perceived as a massive personal insult.

Although compensation is not rational, a well-thought-out pay structure can go a long way to reduce anxiety, social envy, and drama.

As your company grows, you must introduce pay structures, with standardized salaries and pay bands for jobs.

You might need to create two separate pay structures and career paths for Leaders (managers) and Makers (individual contributors). This allows individual contributors to advance in their career without having to become a manager.

Set up a pay structure early in your company’s life. Don’t wait.

Pay for high performance. For skilled jobs, high performers are 10x+ more productive.

When employees ask for a career path, this is often a coded way of asking “How can I make more money?” The solution: wider pay bands in your pay structure.

If competition and ambition are important values in your firm, a large pay band might make sense. If you want to foster values like solidarity and generosity instead, then you might want to limit the salary spread and pay people more equally.

Read Are You Paid What You’re Worth? by Michael O’Malley for help with pay structures.

Read The Leadership Pipeline by Ram Charan about leadership development.

Base salaries should be reviewed once per year for everyone, at the same time. Don’t be forced to a schedule based on employee start dates.

Don’t mix performance reviews and compensation reviews. Learning from performance feedback is difficult when money is on the table.

Increase base pay to adjust for: cost of living, promotions, increased responsibility, sustained high performance, relative market rates.

Tenure alone is not a good reason to give people a raise.

Quarterly Priorities, Critical Numbers, KPIs are great ways to assess high performance that can be rewarded with raises in base pay or payout incentives.

For smaller companies, a pragmatic way of reviewing performance and comp is for the direct manager to suggest increases and run them by a compensation committee (CEO, CFO, HR, trusted first-line employee).

A raise is only a raise for 30 days. After 30 days, a raise is just someone’s normal base salary.

It’s a sad fact that the majority of workers are financially weak, vulnerable, and living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Peter Drucker believes a healthy CEO:worker pay ratio is about 25:1.

Consider paying your workers weekly.

Consider teaching your workers personal finance management.

It’s hard to predict how people will react if they learn what their bosses or peers make. Until you have a very well thought out compensation system, keep your salaries confidential.

Ch 3. Easy on the Carrots: Using Individual Incentives Effectively

There are 8 conditions in which monetary rewards are effective, but they only rarely apply. Thus, go easy on the carrots.

Egon Zehnder does not pay any kind of performance bonus.

The main rationale is to foster tight cooperation and the long-term view that Zehnder adopted as a core element of its strategy.

Egon Zehnder uses its unique compensation system to retain long-serving consultants and to reward time invested in building client relationships instead of chasing the next deal.

Zehnder looks for consultants with two characteristics: in it for the long haul, team players.

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton explain 3 effects of financial incentives in “Do Financial Incentives Drive Company Performance?”

1) Selection Effect: Do I want to work here, with people who care about this incentive?
2) Information Effect: What is important here?
3) Motivation Effect: Try harder for the reward

Some studies show financial rewards have little or no influence on work performance and can even be detrimental. Other studies show that financial rewards can have a positive effect on performance.

Bottom line is that financial incentives do work. The question is rather how they work and how they can best be applied in practice.

Inappropriately applied incentive schemes can have multiple “side effects”.

Unwanted side effect: too much of a good thing. Employees focus on the incentive at the expense of other job duties.

Unwanted side effect: too complex or too simple. A too-simple model ignores relevant variables and will not deliver optimal results. The right balance is rarely achieved.

Unwanted side effect: cooking the books. People can get creative about hitting the metric but not achieving the intended goal.

Unwanted side effect: performance measures tainted by biases. It’s rare to find a task that is measurable and dependent only on one person. Performance evaluations are subjective. 97% of executives believe they are among the top 10% of performers.

Eight conditions for successful incentive schemes: 1) role is repetitive and focused on one task; 2) goals are unambiguous and one-dimensional; 3) easy to measure both quality and quantity; 4) employee has complete control of process and outcome; 5) cheating or gaming the results is practically impossible; 6) role is independent; 7) employee is not expected to help or support others; 8) employee considers the incentive as meaningful and payout is frequent.

TMC abolished all individual and group incentives (except sales) and tied 80 percent of everybody’s bonus to the company’s financial performance.

Bosch eliminated all individual bonuses for all 378,000 employees.

Rockstar companies like Netflix, Mayo Cliic, and SAS Institute never had any performance bonuses.

Intrinsic motivation is much more powerful and sustainable than extrinsic motivation.

SAS avoided trying to attract people with money so that they don’t also leave for money.

For sales teams, it does make sense to additionally motivate people with monetary incentives.

Smaller firms often have difficulties competing with larger competitors in terms of base salary and benefits. But they can make up for the difference, especially if they are growing, by generously sharing the upside with their people.

“People now join us for our culture, development opportunities, and many other reasons, and we like that. Pay is still very attractive and up to 30-40 percent above industry average, but it is only one of several decision factors.”

Compensation is anything but an exact science. Human psychology is too complex to capture in universally valid formulas.

Ch 4. Gamify Gains: Driving Critical Numbers Through Play

Shorter-term gain-sharing plans are used to gamify the business and add a level of fun and excitement (and dopamine addiction) to achieving FAST (vs SMART) goals.

In a gain-sharing scheme, teams or even the entire company commit to moving the needle on what Jack Stack would call a critical number, i.e., a metric that points to a challenge of the business (productivity, spending, quality, customer service).

Because people engage and change their behavior purely to have fun, the monetary incentive becomes secondary or even irrelevant.

You can apply gain-sharing schemes as one-time thrusts to accomplish a particular objective and then move on to the next thing.

Group incentives have the advantage of fostering collaboration and teamwork.

Drawbacks are: 1) First, most people don’t want to depend on others when it comes to their pay. 2) Second, top performers are the least fond of group schemes. 3) Third, the free-rider effect (people slack because they trust that others will carry their load) can bring average performance down instead of up.

If you use gain-sharing schemes, make sure that individual performance is monitored as well.

A way to reduce unintended side effects of group incentives is to link rewards to metrics that reflect the overall performance of the organization, like company profit.

Organizational learning is an important by-product of gain-sharing schemes. People understand causalities and make better decisions because of these plans.

Walters tied everybody’s compensation to the achievements of the firm’s three annual priorities. Team members received a percentage of base salary when hitting the target for each priority.

Axiometrics’ priorities were operationalized through FAST goals (Frequently-discussed, Ambitious, Specific, Transparent–an update to the acronym SMART goals).

The real payout at Axiometrics was quarterly yet based upon YTD performance so that late performance could catch up with early non-performance.

Another example of a simple yet highly effective gain-sharing scheme is Continental Airlines’ punctuality bonus. It wasn’t the size of the bonus that mattered as much as the focus it brought to the airline’s on-time performance.

Sebastian at TMC paid a small bonus (= 0.5% of annual salary) to everybody when the team achieved the goals of the quarterly theme. It wasn’t the money that moved people to put in the extra effort but rather the game-like spirit these schemes created.

Read Great Game of Business by Jack Stack

Intermittent Reinforcement Schedules: Using financial and non-financial rewards in an irregular, ad hoc matter is an excellent tactic to increase the motivational effect and avoid the creation of entitlements.

Surprise bonuses are fun and tie into the one-minute manager concept of catching people doing the right thing.

“These surprise bonuses are one-time nonrecurring expenses,” concludes Berman. “They help to build culture and have been highly effective for me for a long time.”

TMC has the Invisible Hero Award. Anybody can suggest a colleague they think has made an extraordinary contribution or effort. The suggestion is presented and decided informally at the weekly senior leadership meeting. The award can be anything from a dinner for two to a voucher to a material gift. The upper limit per award is $ 1,000.

Verne advised HSN to turn its call centers into casino-like environments. Instead of earning a consistent bonus, reps earned the right to spin a big wheel installed in each call center.

Read Bringing Out the Best in People by Aubrey Daniels.

Non-monetary rewards come in countless forms: extra vacation days, sabbaticals, special projects, training or educational events (i.e., paying for a conference at an exotic location, including spouse or family), travel privileges (business class flight, 5-star hotel), or simply throwing a great party for your people.

Research indicates that non-monetary rewards have a more substantial impact on performance than monetary rewards of equivalent value.

People won’t remember the zeros on their bank statements, but they will never forget how you made them feel with that trip to Hawaii.

Paying for education is also more impactful than just handing over a check. Eg. Starbucks.

Spending money on others (whether coworkers or charity) increased the happiness and job satisfaction of givers and receivers and improved team performance.

Yes, many companies give to charity. But the twist of letting the employee choose the organization and deliver the money is crucial – the employee receives direct recognition by the charity for the gift instead of the company.

Some employees and teams will value non-monetary rewards over monetary. The idea of non-monetary rewards also allows you to customize your compensation for specific employees.

Incentives can trigger a great variety of responses in people, and the exact causes of behavior changes are difficult to establish. Variables like leadership, culture, or training influence heavily, regardless.

Ch 5. Sharing Is Caring: Getting Employees to Think Like Owners

Profit-sharing is also a way for mid-market firms to compete for talent. Longer-term value sharing (stock and stock options) goes even further in aligning the interests of owners and employees.

Phantom stock is a special form of value sharing that retains control for the owners but can create liquidity issues.

Rothschild of Access Fixtures implemented a profit-sharing plan in 2019 where 20 percent of the firm’s annual pre-tax profit is distributed on a pro-rata salary basis among his employees,

“For me to make serious money, the employees need to get a serious bonus.”

Profit-sharing often leads to sharing P&L information with employees.

Improving individual and group performance with financial incentives can be tricky. Yet as discussed, pay schemes like Zehnder’s or Access Fixtures’ that link rewards to the performance of the entire organization produce far fewer issues.

What’s the effect of profit-sharing on employee behavior? First and foremost, it is a way of aligning the interests of shareholders and employees (the information effect). Employees tend to decide more like owners when they have skin in the game.

Profit-sharing also helps attract employees and keep them loyal (the selection effect). If profit sharing is a significant component of overall compensation, employees are incentivized to stick around until their share is paid out.

At Allied Printing, 50% of the annual bonus is paid sometime after the end of the year, so it doesn’t get lumped in with base pay in employees’ minds. You don’t want annual bonuses to become entitlements.

The other 50% of the bonus then vests over the next six years, and is divided equally into six chunks. These future buckets of money increase with each year, and employees only receive them if they are still with the firm.

But as Steve Rothschild found out, profit sharing is not effective if you want people to work harder (the motivation effect). A profit goal is too aggregated and detached from people’s work, and first-line employees generally have little influence on the outcome. The payout is also too far away from the task.

The problem can be partially overcome with an open-book policy and financial education as promoted by Jack Stack and the Great Game of Business approach.

Cascading priorities, KPIs, and a planning process that drives top-down strategy and bottom-up execution, which are at the heart of the Scaling Up methodology, can also provide this critical line-of-sight between the employee’s task and the firm’s profits.

A profit-sharing scheme is a gesture of fairness and a way for owners to reward those who generated the profit in the first place.

Read Ownership Thinking by Brad Hams.

1) It is best to include all employees in the plan, from the cleaning staff to the CEO.

2) Profit-sharing shouldn’t happen from the first dollar. Start from a minimum threshold that allows the company to serve a return on capital, be it in the form of a minimum dividend to shareholders, debt repayment, or recapitalization of profits.

3) The amount of profit that you aspire to generate in the upcoming period should be determined.

4) Decide the percentage of profits (beyond the minimum threshold) that you want to dedicate to the pool. He would not cap the plan but generously share whatever profit was generated beyond the profit goal.

5) Decide how to distribute. One option is to distribute equally. The more common solution is to pay the amount in proportion to the employee’s base salary. A third option is to differentiate the percentage according to job levels (first-line, coordinators, managers, execs, etc.).

6) Profit sharing is generally done on an annual basis but consider half-yearly or quarterly payouts

7) Consider conditioning the payout based on available cash flow as profitable years can occur with poor cash flow. You also want to pro-rata the payout for people who have recently joined or already left the company.

8) An open-book policy is critical for any profit-sharing program. Management maverick Ricardo Semler, who implemented a generous profit-sharing program at the Brazilian equipment manufacturer Semco, shares regularly financial updates with employees.

9) To avoid entitlements, don’t give consolation prizes when profits are down.

The danger of profit-sharing programs is that they can incite short-term thinking, i.e., sacrificing future “good” profits for today’s “bad” profits.

That’s why it is best to combine such short-term programs (which are appreciated by employees because they also provide short-term payouts), with long-term, value sharing programs, (e.g., stock, stock options, performance units),

If you would like to share profits with your team but want to avoid the dangers of short-termism, then value sharing schemes are an option to consider. Value sharing is the category name for financial instruments that grant employees either real ownership (stock or stock options) or similar economic rights linked to the value of the company (phantom stock, performance units, etc.).

Read www.vladvisors.com and www.phantomstockonline.com.

Once people are on board, value-sharing programs also have a retention effect because of the long payout and vesting periods of these instruments.

Value-sharing programs also communicate what is important to employees (information effect). Partial ownership is enough to reinforce the role of employees as stewards of the company’s assets and interests. Owners and employees share the risks and rewards associated with the business activity and align their interests through these programs. Employees who are also owners think and act more long-term, strategically, and holistically.

As with profit-sharing, it is beneficial to allow all employees to participate in the growing value of a company. Freeman’s research shows that the broad-based programs are the most successful.

Industrial firms like Chobani and Harley Davidson have granted large amounts of stock to their team, including all their blue-collar workers.

There are several ways of implementing a value-sharing program.

Do I allow employees to participate in the full value of the company or only in the appreciation of the value from the moment you grant these titles?

An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is a form of equity sharing with significant tax advantages for owners and employees that is unique to the US.

An ESOP is costly to maintain, given compliance and administrative burdens. Get solid legal and financial advice before you pursue an ESOP.

Phantom stock is a private contract between company and employee wherein the company promises to pay cash to the employee upon certain conditions. The agreement replicates the financial outcomes of granting restricted stock but with fewer strings attached.

Phantom stock will not be the right choice for everyone (e.g., stock options are much better if you are going for an IPO), but we would encourage you to explore this less-known option.

Closing: Get Pay Right and Out of Sight

The plan needs to be fair in the sense that employees feel their salary is an expression of your respect, appreciation, and equitable treatment.

First, your compensation plans consider the inscrutable nature of human psychology–the counterintuitive and irrational perceptions and reactions people have to compensation decisions.

The Big Idea: When you measure yourself against an ideal, you focus on the GAP. When you measure yourself against where you where before, you focus on the GAIN. Focus on the GAIN for happiness and success.

INTRODUCTION Why Most People Aren’t Happy

“There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

By embracing the pursuit of happiness, we rob ourselves of happiness in the here and now.

You’re in the GAP every time you measure yourself or your situation against an ideal.

Being in the GAIN means you measure yourself backward, against where you were before.

CHAPTER 1 EMBRACE THE FREEDOM OF “WANTS”: Avoid the Attachment of “Needs”

People in high-stakes situations make the best choices when in a state of gratitude.

Naval Ravikant said: “Training yourself to be happy is completely internal. There is no external progress, no external validation. You’re competing against yourself—it is a single-player game.”

There’s a common perception that in order to be the best at what you do, you’ve got to be completely obsessed.

You can be 100% committed to something and simultaneously not need it.

Obsessive passion is highly impulsive and fueled by suppressed emotions and unresolved internal conflict.

Harmonious passion, on the other hand, is intrinsically motivated and healthy.

Harmonious passion is related to having high levels of grit, whereas obsessive passion is not.

You’re playing the long game. You’re playing your own game. You’re not competing with anyone else.

You’re genuinely happy. You also love what you’re working on and building. You’re committed and focused,

Being in the GAP means you’re still trying to free yourself FROM something. You’re trying to fill a GAP.

The GAP is based on an unhealthy “need” or attachment to something outside of yourself.

The GAIN is based on being in harmony with what you want, and knowing that you don’t need it.

When you’re in the GAIN, you live your life based on intrinsic motivation and harmonious passion, which creates flow and high performance.

CHAPTER 2 BE SELF-DETERMINED: Define Your Own Success Criteria

Being fixated on outside reference points puts you in the GAP. Being directed by your own internal reference points strengthens being in the GAIN.

Social media is largely designed to put people into the GAP.

The antidote to being in the GAP is to measure yourself by the GAIN. More specifically, you measure your own GAINS,

“Before you start the process with a new goal, make sure to recognize and appreciate the progress and achievements you’ve made so far.”

Spend 20 to 30 minutes with no distractions writing down your answer to this question: “I know I’m being successful when…”

Defining your own success criteria is how you become self-determined.

With every decision or opportunity, every member of the rowing team asked themselves: WILL IT MAKE THE BOAT GO FASTER?

External reference points make it impossible to feel successful because no matter what you’ve done, the success criteria are always moving.

The GAP means your life is determined by someone or something external.

When your reference point is internal, happiness and success are always right here and right now.

CHAPTER 3 THE COMPOUND EFFECT OF THE GAP OR GAIN: Train Your Brain to See GAINS

If you’re continually stressed or upset, you’re wearing your physical body down.

Being in the GAIN is restorative, healing, and empowering.

Optimistic people often live 10+ years longer.

Comparison makes you unhappy.

The GAIN also has a tangible physical effect—it is light, energizing, freeing, and confidence building.

Stop comparing and start practicing gratitude.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

Being grateful helps you appreciate your GAINS.

Call yourself out when you catch yourself in the GAP.

Tell five people you know and love about The GAP and The GAIN. Give those five people permission to call you out when you’re in the GAP.

Mental subtraction is one of the most effective science-based techniques for boosting gratitude and happiness. Imagine life without something and you will learn not to take it for granted.

Have a pre-plan for how you’ll deal with obstacles. Have a pre-planned response for any situation.

BJ Fogg, a behavior scientist at Stanford University, has a breakthrough method—called Tiny Habits — which is a simple and practical way of applying implementation intentions.

CHAPTER 4 ALWAYS MEASURE BACKWARD: Increase Your Hope and Resilience

If you’re not regularly reminded of the GAINS, it’s easy to go into the GAP and lose hope.

Seeing GAINS gives you hope, confidence, and motivation to keep going — even when progress is difficult.

It is incredibly powerful and important to keep journals, records, or “annual reviews.”

“There’s only one way to measure success. You measure success backward by looking at where you are now compared to where you were before.”

Don’t let your past be forgotten. Always measure backward.

Make a bullet point list of all your specific GAINS over the past 3 years.

You should always be outgrowing your former self.

Pull your journal back out and start listing the GAINS you’ve made over the previous 90 days.

Keeping a journal or annual review process is powerful because it allows you to tap back into the context of your former self, and see the massive GAINS.

Take time regularly to measure your GAINS for different time frames. Always measure backward.

CHAPTER 5 MEASURE 3 WINS DAILY: Maximize the Highest-Leverage Hour of Your Day

The last hour of your day can be a GAIN hour — one that positively transforms how you sleep as well as your entire next day. What you do during the hour before your bedtime — the “sweet spot” — is critically important.

Staring at your phone right before bed is one of the worst things you can do.

Your day can be designed proactively, rather than designed reactively, where you’re bounced around by distractions.

In the hour before bed, Josh Waitzkin gives himself time to think about the most important question he’s trying to answer or problem he’s trying to solve. He then sleeps on it, and the next morning, “pre-input,” he meditates and journals about the same question or problem he was thinking about the night before.

As Thomas Edison said, “Never go to bed without a request to your subconscious.”

I’m a huge believer in planning your day and thinking about what you’re trying to accomplish the night before. Then, in the morning, and before you start looking at your phone, give yourself space to meditate and journal about your goals and what you’re trying to accomplish.

“Never begin the day until it is finished on paper.”—Jim Rohn

Research shows that writing down three things you’re grateful for each day increases your happiness.

Writing three wins from the day not only boosts your gratitude but simultaneously boosts your confidence.

Rather than having 10 items on your to-do list, have no more than three.

End your day feeling awesome by writing down your three wins. Then write down the three most important wins you can get the next day.

Always measure backward. Measure three wins each day. Get yourself committed and excited for three wins tomorrow.

Measuring your progress is a powerful signal that you’re serious about what you’re doing.

Text your three wins today and three wins tomorrow to your success partner.

What you do during the 60 minutes before bed has an enormous impact on your sleep quality, as well as the direction and quality of your next day.

Unplug from your phone and put it on airplane mode at least 30–60 minutes before sleep.

Write in your journal three wins from that day.

Write down the three biggest wins you’ll get the next day.

Having a daily accountability partner combines tracking and reporting.

Report your three wins for today and your three wins for tomorrow.

CHAPTER 6 TRANSFORM EVERY EXPERIENCE INTO A GAIN: Take Ownership of Your Past

Everything happens for you, not to you.

The GAIN, on the other hand, puts you in the driver’s seat of your own life. You decide what your experiences mean.

A fundamental aspect of flexibility is what psychologists call pathways thinking, and it’s the ability to find or create many workable paths to a given outcome.

“Successful people don’t control events; they control their response to events.”

By taking full ownership of your experiences and past, you can do whatever you want with them.

When you can take a negative experience and learn a lesson from it that you can apply positively to the future, you’re transforming the negative experience.

Being in the GAIN allows you to transform your experiences into GAINS, and give them the meanings you choose.

When you’re in the GAIN, you become better because of challenging experiences. You become antifragile.

Seeing every experience as a GAIN makes you antifragile. Turning every experience — even your hardest — into a GAIN makes you antifragile.

CONCLUSION Life, Liberty, and the Expansion of Happiness

There is a much better formula for happiness, confidence, and success: always measure backward. “Measuring backward” means you measure your progress based on where you were before.

The Big Idea: “How do I achieve this goal?” Although this question seems intuitive, it’s actually the worst possible question you could ask. A much better question is: “Who can help me achieve this?”

It takes vulnerability and trust to expand your efforts and build a winning team. It takes wisdom to recognize that other people are more than capable enough to handle much of the Hows. You’re going to need to shift from a How-mentality to a Who-mentality, regardless of your level of personal talent, commitment, or genius.

Who Not How is truly that simple. You define the vision, find the Who or Whos, and let them create the result.

“There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

Not only must the Who fully own the How, but they must have complete permission to do so. If you’re going to apply higher levels of teamwork in your life, you’ll need to relinquish control over how things get done. You’ll need to put your trust in capable Whos, giving them full permission to own their Hows.

CHAPTER 1 “WHOS” CREATE ABUNDANCE AND SELF-EXPANSION

The way you increase your potential efficacy, or self-expansion, is by creating close relationships, which in turn, increases material and social resources, perspectives, and identities.

If you’re focused on doing everything yourself, then you are dramatically limiting the resources you can direct toward your goals.

Relationships are how you produce results. Anyone who becomes highly successful does so through relationships. Employees, collaborators, and consultants work for you not because they are beneath you, but because they believe in you.

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

Getting Whos involved in your goals is an investment.

CHAPTER 2 THE TRUTH ABOUT PROCRASTINATION AND HOW TO KILL IT

Ask yourself: Who can help me accomplish this goal?

The first thing we must learn then is to clearly define what we want.

You’ll need to ensure your vision also matches their vision for themselves, and that you can clearly become a powerful Who to them.

That’s one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs and leaders make: micromanaging their Whos and insisting that they do their jobs in a particular way. Let your Who do their How.

Leadership involves being clear and explicit about the vision.

There are countless brilliant and capable Whos out there waiting and wanting to help you.

CHAPTER 3 FIND WHOS FOR ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE

Breaking down your goals into 90-day increments is good for focus and motivation.

Add at least one Who to your goals in the next 90 days in whatever area of your life you choose.

Your potential is virtually limitless when you stop asking “How?” and start asking “Who?”

Every 90 days, you can free up your time, energy, and focus by getting Whos to support your ambitions in all aspects of your life.

CHAPTER 4 TIME CREATES MONEY

“Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.” —Peter Drucker

Every time you free yourself up by investing in a Who, you’ve just made a huge investment in yourself. You no longer have to deal with decision fatigue.

Remember the new question you must master: “Who can help me achieve this goal?”

By freeing up your time, you get the invaluable benefit of freeing up your mind.

By freeing up your time, you can focus on higher impact activities—such as strategizing or creating—which will automatically increase your income.

CHAPTER 5 COMMIT TO SPECIFIC RESULTS

Every human being has three basic psychological needs related to their work: mastery, autonomy, relationships.

Too many leaders obsessively micromanage the process of their Whos.

It is the role of the leader to determine the “what” and to provide clarity, feedback, and direction when needed. It is not the role of the leader to explain how the job is done.

Leaders should be committed to results, not to a particular process.

Rather than micromanaging the process, leadership should provide freedom and autonomy as well as extreme clarity and high standards of excellence.

CHAPTER 6 IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM, YOU DON’T HAVE A PROBLEM

By doing everything yourself, you miss out on unfathomable growth that comes by investing in Whos and utilizing your time and efforts on higher impact activities.

When you’re investment-minded, you’re not short-term in your thinking. You consider the bigger picture, and you look at how you can help the right people, without coming across as transactional.

If you’re cost-minded, then by nature, you’re transactional and short-term focused. You’ll see Whos as a cost.

If you’re investment-minded, then you will be transformational in your relationships and long-term focused.

Focusing on How will greatly limit your ability to make money.

When you focus on How, it’s often based on a scarcity mind-set and cost avoidance.

By seeing Whos as an investment, rather than a cost, you can quickly 10X or more your income and revenue.

CHAPTER 7 HOW TO BE A GOOD WHO FOR OTHERS

The remainder of this chapter details Joe Polish’s philosophy and strategies on relationships.

Rather than asking, “What’s in it for me?” which is the common question, Joe asks, “What’s in it for them?”

Before Joe connects with someone, he does his homework.

When creating relationships with Whos, ask yourself, “What’s in it for them?”

When you’re grateful, people will want to help you more. They’ll want to work with you and be around you. Gratitude attracts and creates abundance.

CHAPTER 8 HOW TO AVOID THE WRONG WHOS, EVEN HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE ONES

When you begin saying “no” to people, obligations, and situations you don’t feel fully aligned with in your gut, then and only then will you be able to expand your confidence and purpose.

CHAPTER 9 HOW TO CREATE EFFECTIVE COLLABORATIONS

“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.” —Reid Hoffman

You’ve got to be open to other people’s ideas. You are only one person. As brilliant as you are, your current views are very limited at best.

Done is better than perfect.

Wherever you see brilliant work happening, collaboration is happening. You don’t have all the answers.

It’s wise to consider yourself ignorant on most things, and to seek other people’s perspectives and solutions.

Ask for help when you need it.

Seek to be a hero to those you work with, and you’ll do your best work for them.

CHAPTER 10 STOP COMPETING AND START COLLABORATING

Focusing on “How” makes you rigid and non-collaborative in your thinking.

Focusing on “How” stresses you out, because you’re already busy and can’t juggle it all.

Focusing on “How” leads you to being isolated in your goals, and ultimately slows your progress.

Collaboration immediately expands your Freedom of Purpose and vision, because what you can do with others is exponentially more than what you can do by yourself.

Collaboration allows you to focus on what you want to focus on and not feel guilty about getting help.

CHAPTER 11 WHOS EXPAND YOUR VISION AND PURPOSE

While touring NASA, JFK introduced himself to a janitor who was mopping the floor and asked him what he did at NASA. The janitor’s reply was both surprising and inspiring. “I’m helping put a man on the moon!” he told the president.

When driven by purpose, you stop doing the minimum required. You really go deep within yourself. You become a creator. You become willing to go above and beyond the “call of duty.”

The Big Idea: Create job scorecards instead of job descriptions. Use 1) Screening Interviews, 2) Topgrading tandem interviews, and 3) Reference Check interviews to identify A-players for your company.

Chapter 1: What is Topgrading?

• Have high standards for all positions.
• Filter out B’s and C’s early.
• A player is someone who is in top 10% for the salary level.
• Don’t settle for a B player at an A price.
• Hiring a B or C player costs you more in the long run.

Ch 2: Calculate the cost of your mis-hires.

• The average cost of a mis-hire (or failed internal promotion) is 15x base salary.
• Think of Topgrading as Six Sigma for hiring, intended to minimize hiring mistakes.

Ch 3: Begin Topgrading from the top down.

• B players hire C players so they can feel superior to them.
• A players hire A players.
• Start with an executive team of only A players.
• CEO needs to be the Topgrading champion.
• 1. Conduct a talent review of everyone on the team
• 2. Create scorecards for key roles
• 3. Build your virtual bench of A players and A potentials
• 4. Learn how to conduct: screening interviews, top grading interviews, reference check interviews
• Topgrading takes time but pays off in the long run.

Ch 4: Conduct a talent review to identify your A-player.

• Rank all employees, then rate them as A, A potential, or non A.
• Some A players are promotion material; some A players are content to stay in the same role.
• Be honest about the talent review.
• Be disciplined about conducting talent reviews regularly.

Ch 5: Create scorecards that guarantee accountability and fit.

• A job scorecard is very different than a job description.
• Defines key accountabilities that define an A-level performance
• Defines competencies that define a good fit
• Most job descriptions are just a list of tasks, without accountability or metrics.

Ch 6: Strength your virtual bench.

• Always be talent scouting, all the time, everywhere.
• Always be developing relationships with potential A players.
• Don’t rely on recruiters, though they can be useful in a pinch.
• Don’t rely on HR to source A players.
• Start today by asking every A player to introduce you to an A player they know.
• Your virtual bench can grow cold if you don’t keep it warm.
• Stay in touch with your virtual bench, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly.

Ch 7: Interview to identify performance patterns.

• Topgrading interviews are not like conventional interviews.
• Topgrading interviews are carefully sequenced, tightly structured, and aimed squarely at topics with the richest information payload.
• Most people need to conduct at least a dozen Topgrading interviews to become proficient.
• Screening interviews > Topgrading interviews > Reference Check interviews

Ch 8: Screen A’s in, screen out B’s and C’s.

• Screening interviews take about an hour.
• Screening interviews start with a good job scorecard.
• A carefully crafted resume can hide gaps and red flags.
• A career history form requires a candidate to account for every year and month since the person has been working full-time jobs.
• A career history form asks for compensation history (base, bonus, other), supervisor information, education, strengths/weaknesses.
• A career history form sets the tone for a rigorous selection process, which A players will appreciate.
• Four questions to ask:
• 1. Candidates career goals
• 2. What the person is really good at professionally
• 3. What the person is not good at or not interested in doing
• 4. Last five bosses, what each would say is candidates strengths/weaknesses and overall rating
• Screening interviews are done over phone/video.
• If screening interview indicates an A player is not interested in the position now, add them to virtual bench.

Ch 9: Use Topgrading interviews to explore candidates strengths and weaknesses.

• Don’t skimp on the Topgrading interview.
• Four important areas: school, work history, career goals, competencies
• Past performance is the best predictor of future performance.
• Ask about high school and college.
• For each job ask:
• 1. What were you hired to do?
• 2. What were your accomplishments?
• 3. What failures or mistakes were made in this job, and what did you learn from them?
• 4. What talent did you inherit (A’s, A potentials, and Non-A’s), what changes did you make to this talent mix, and what talent did you end up with?
• 5. What were the people like that you worked for, and how would they rate you?
• 6. Why did you leave?
• At the end, spend 10 minutes asking about career goals: next job, next company, next boss, next 5-10 years.
• After that, ask more specific questions about competencies.
• Save the selling for later.
• Expect up to four hours for a Topgrading interview.
• Because interviews can be exhausting, tandem interview with a partner.

Ch 10: Use Reference Check interviews to test your opinions.

• Traditional reference checks are a waste of time.
• In Topgrading reference checks, you decide who to contact, you choose the questions, the candidate sets up the interview.
• No references, no job offer.
• Ask references:
• 1. The situation or context they worked in with the candidate
• 2. The candidate’s strengths and weaknesses (with examples)
• 3. How they would rate the person’s overall performance in that job
• 4. Further elaboration or insight regarding something specific the candidate admitted to struggling with in that job (a creative way of gathering more information about weaknesses)
• A players tend to stay in touch with their previous bosses. Even if they’ve lost touch, they’ll be resourceful enough to find them again.
• You’ll probably have better luck if you contact the reference person at home, preferably on the weekend.

Ch 11: Redeploy chronic B and C players.

• Redeploy B and C players to another role in the company where they can be A players, or redeploy them to another company with severance and outplacement counseling.
• Four redeployment strategies:
• 1. Hatchet
• 2. Ostrich
• 3. Topgrader (decide professionally, redeploy professionally)
• 4. Wimp
• Genuine sympathy + quick but fair decisions

Ch 12: Coach and keep A players.

• Keep A players challenged, happy, and engaged.
• Because your B and C players take up most of your time, don’t forget to appreciate your A players.
• Invest more of your time in developing A and A potential players.
• A players will automatically work on their strengths, so spend majority of your time helping them on their weaknesses that could sabotage their career success.
• Some competencies are easy to improve on then others.
• 1. Relatively Easy to Change: Risk taking, Leading edge, Education, Experience, Organization/planning, Self-awareness, Communications–oral, Communications–written, First impression, Customer focus, Political savvy, Selecting A players, Redeploying B/C players, Coaching/training, Goal setting, Empowerment, Performance management, Running meetings, Compatibility of needs
• 2. Harder but Do-able: Judgment, Strategic skills, Pragmatism, Track record, Resourcefulness,, Excellence standards, Independence, Stress management, Adaptability, Likability, Listening,, Team player, Negotiation skills, Persuasiveness, Team builder, Change leadership, Inclusivity (diversity), Conflict management, Credible vision, Balance in life
• 3. Very Difficult to Change: Intelligence, Analysis skills, Creativity, Conceptual ability, Integrity, Assertiveness, Inspiring followership, Energy, Passion, Ambition, Tenacity

Ch 13: Overcome obstacles to Topgrading.

• Objection: “I can’t get my B and C players to hire A players.” Solution: Topgrade from the top down.
• Objection: “We think we’re hiring A players, but they turn out to be B or C players in disguise.” Solution: Perform more accurate assessments using the Topgrading interview, preferably in tandem.
• Objection: “We can’t afford to hire A players.” Solution: There are A players at every salary.
• Objection: “I don’t want to fire loyal B and C players.” Solution: redeploy them to another role, with a narrower set of responsibilities and lower pay.

Ch 14: Take ten steps to implement Topgrading successfully.

• 1. All managers read Topgrading and work through the self-paced Topgrading DVD.
• 2. Senior managers participate in a Topgrading Workshop.
• 3. Human Resources participates in a Topgrading Workshop
• 4. All managers who have participated in a Topgrading Workshop use tandem Topgrading interviews, Career History Form, Reference Checks.
• 5. Topgrading consultants sometimes conduct a “second opinion”.
• 6. Topgrading professionals or internal Topgrading interviewers assess senior managers using Topgrading interviews and 360s and prepares a professional development plan.
• 10. Topgrading assessments (using tandem interviews along with 360s) are used before every major promotion.

The Big Idea: The Stoics believed a good life is the pursuit of the cardinal virtues: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation. We can’t control our fate, only how we think and act.

INTRODUCTION

The Stoic school in particular focused on the practical side of Socratic philosophy.

The philosophical origins of cognitive therapy can be traced back to the Stoic philosophers.

I believe that for many people a combination of Stoic philosophy and CBT may be even more suited for use as a long-term preventive approach.

1. THE DEAD EMPEROR

Marcus was a naturally loving and affectionate man, deeply affected by loss. He’d lived long enough to see eight of their thirteen children die.

Everyone from Alexander the Great right down to his lowly mule driver ends up lying under the same ground.

Once we truly accept our own demise as an inescapable fact of life, it makes no more sense for us to wish for immortality.

As death is among the most certain things in life, to a man of wisdom it should be among the least feared.

The cardinal virtues of Stoicism are: wisdom, justice, fortitude, and temperance.

We can no more hold on to life than grasp the waters of a rushing stream.

Marcus Aurelius was the last famous Stoic of the ancient world.

The ancient philosophy of Cynicism focused on cultivating virtue and strength of character through rigorous training that consisted of enduring various forms of “voluntary hardship.”

The Cynics sneered at the pretentious and bookish nature of Plato’s Academy. The Academics, in turn, thought the doctrines of the Cynics were crude and too extreme.

Zeno founded his own school in a public building overlooking the agora known as the Stoa Poikile, or “Painted Porch.” The students who gathered there were originally known as Zenonians but later called themselves Stoics, after the stoa, or porch.

After Zeno died, Cleanthes, one of his students, who had formerly been a boxer and watered gardens at night to earn a living, became head of the Stoic school; he was followed by Chrysippus, one of the most acclaimed intellectuals of the ancient world.

Emperor Nero’s secretary owned a slave called Epictetus, who became perhaps the most famous philosophy teacher in Roman history. Epictetus is the most quoted author in The Meditations.

WHAT DID THE STOICS BELIEVE?

The three famous Roman Stoic texts of the Imperial era: Seneca’s various letters and essays, Epictetus’s Discourses and Handbook, and Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations.

They loved wisdom, or loved virtue, above everything else. If “virtue” sounds a bit pompous, the Greek word for it, arete, is arguably better translated as “excellence of character.”

The Stoics adopted the Socratic division of cardinal virtues into wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation.

Health, wealth, and reputation are, at most, advantages or opportunities rather than being good in themselves.

The true goal of life for Stoics isn’t to acquire as many external advantages as possible but to use whatever befalls us wisely, whether it be sickness or health, wealth or poverty, friends or enemies.

Another popular misconception today is that Stoics are unemotional. When people talk about being stoic or having a stiff upper lip, they often mean just suppressing their feelings, which is actually known to be quite unhealthy.

2. THE MOST TRUTHFUL CHILD IN ROME

Marcus was born on April 26, 121 as a member of a wealthy patrician family with ties to the emperor. Marcus’s family, though wealthy and influential, was notable for cherishing honesty and simplicity.

Young Marcus displayed a tendency toward plain speaking.

The Stoics would sometimes also train themselves to endure heat and cold. Seneca described taking cold baths and swimming in the River Tiber at the beginning of the year—and cold showers are popular with those influenced by Stoicism today.

In The Meditations, Marcus names Epictetus as an exemplary philosopher alongside Socrates and Chrysippus, 10 and quotes him more than any other author.

Hadrian adopted Antoninus on condition that he would in turn adopt Marcus, placing him in direct line to the throne. Hadrian thereby adopted Marcus as his grandson. Marcus Annius Verus assumed Antoninus’s family name, becoming forever known as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

Marcus preferred to dress down and talk plainly like a philosopher or, failing that, an ordinary citizen.

Plato’s saying was always on Marcus’s lips: those states prospered where the philosophers were kings or the kings philosophers.

Apollonius taught Marcus the doctrines of Stoic philosophy while showing him how to apply them in daily life.

Stoicism distinguished between two stages of our response to any event. First come the initial impressions (phantasiai), then, second, we typically add voluntary judgments of “assent” (sunkatatheseis) to these automatic impressions. Responding calmly and with courage is more important.

Stoic philosophy, which teaches us to accept our involuntary emotional reactions, our flashes of anxiety, as indifferent: neither good nor bad. What matters is how we respond to those feelings.

HOW TO SPEAK WISELY

Marcus tells himself that true philosophy is both simple and modest, and we should never be seduced into vanity or ostentation in this regard.

The Sophists, as we’ve seen, sought to persuade others by appealing to their emotions, typically in order to win praise. The Stoics, by contrast, placed supreme value on grasping and communicating the truth by appealing to reason.

Whereas orators traditionally sought to exploit the emotions of their audience, the Stoics made a point of consciously describing events in plain and simple terms.

As an aspiring Stoic, you should begin by practicing deliberately describing events more objectively and in less emotional terms.

Cognitive therapists use the neologism “catastrophizing,” or dwelling on the worst-case scenario, to help explain to clients how we project our values onto external events.

Ask “What would Marcus do?”

It’s a contradiction to believe both that you must do something and also that it’s not within your power to do so. The Stoics viewed this confusion as the root cause of most emotional suffering.

Marcus was relatively indifferent to dying as long as he met his death with wisdom and virtue. This used to be known as the ideal of a “good death,”

3. CONTEMPLATING THE SAGE

Rusticus was one of three tutors, along with Apollonius of Chalcedon and Sextus of Chaeronea, who exemplified Stoicism for him as a way of life.

Only the very wisest among us ever truly know ourselves. The New Testament likewise asks why we look at the tiny splinter of wood in our brother’s eye yet pay no attention to the great plank of wood obscuring our own view.

Galen’s solution to this problem is for us to find a suitable mentor who can properly identify our vices and tell us frankly where we’re going astray in life.

Alexander was the most powerful man in the known world. However, when Alexander asked Diogenes if there was anything he could do for him, the Cynic is supposed to have replied that he could step aside, as he was blocking the sun.

If the real goal for Stoics is wisdom, then sometimes just blurting out the truth isn’t enough. We have to put more effort into communicating with others effectively. Diplomacy was, of course, particularly important to Marcus. Throughout Marcus’s reign, he doubtlessly averted many serious problems through his patient diplomacy and sensitive use of language.

We should welcome criticism from others as one of life’s inevitabilities and turn it to our advantage by making all men into our teachers.

Marcus makes it clear that we must train ourselves to discriminate good advice from bad and learn not to preoccupy ourselves with the opinions of foolish people.

Stoic mentoring into a kind of mindfulness practice. Imagining that we’re being observed helps us to pay more attention to our own character and behavior.

In modern therapy, it’s common for clients who are making progress to wonder between sessions what their therapist might say about the thoughts they have.

Marcus, like other ancient philosophers, conjured the images of various advisors and role models in his mind.

The story of Zeno begins with him being given the cryptic advice to “take on the color of dead men” by studying the wisdom of previous generations.

Writing down virtues exhibited by someone you respect, mulling them over, and revising them gives you an opportunity to process them. With practice, you will be able to visualize the character traits you’re describing more easily.

“What would Marcus do?”

Marcus discusses how to prepare for the day in The Meditations. In the morning you prepare for the day ahead; throughout the day you try to live consistently in accord with your values; and in the evening you review your progress and prepare to repeat the cycle again the next day.

By deeply reflecting on our values each day and attempting to describe them concisely, we can develop a clearer sense of direction in life. Socratic questioning forms part of an approach called “values clarification,” which has been around since the 1970s.

The Stoic cardinal virtues are: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation.

As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

What’s ultimately the most important thing in life to you? What do you really want your life to stand for or represent? What do you want to be remembered for after you’re dead? What sort of person do you most want to be in life? What sort of character do you want to have? • What would you want written on your tombstone?

4. THE CHOICE OF HERCULES

“The Choice of Hercules.” This ancient allegory about choosing our path in life plays a special role in the history of Stoicism. Hercules famously chose the heroic path of Arete, or “Virtue,” and was not seduced by Kakia, or “Vice.”

What we’re all really seeking in life is the sense of authentic happiness or fulfillment the Stoics called eudaimonia.

Chasing empty, transient pleasures can never lead to true happiness in the long run.

The Stoics taught Marcus that we all seek a deeper and more lasting sense of fulfillment. They taught him that this could only be obtained by realizing our inner potential and living in accord with our core values.

The life of Hercules had something far more satisfying than pleasure: it had purpose.

“Nothing in excess.” The Stoics believed that entertainment, sex, food, and even alcohol have their place in life—they’re neither good nor bad in themselves. However, when pursued excessively, they can become unhealthy.

The Stoics tended to view joy not as the goal of life, which is wisdom, but as a by-product of acting in accord with virtue.

The Stoics encourage you to appreciate the external things Fortune has given you, without becoming overly attached to them.

There’s nothing wrong with taking pleasure in healthy experiences, as long as it’s not carried to excess.

A simple framework for evaluating and changing your behavior based on a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and ancient Stoic practices is…

1. Plan new activities that are consistent with your core values.
2. Contemplate the qualities you admire in other people.
3. Practice gratitude for the things you already have in life.

Reduce bad habits and introduce more activities that are intrinsically valued and rewarding.

Epictetus therefore told his students to envision the consequences of an action and determine how it would work out for them over time.

Therapists find it helpful to ask their clients of their habits, “How’s that working out in the long run?”

The Stoics often reminded themselves of the paradox that unhealthy emotions such as fear and anger actually do us more harm than the things we’re upset about.

Learning self-control may ultimately do us more good than obtaining all the external things we desire.

If you’re determined to break this sort of habit, you can remove temptation.

You want to be a role model for your children, you should ask yourself what sort of person you are and what qualities you want to exhibit.

Seeing that two beliefs are incompatible can weaken one or both of them and help you clarify your core values.

Healthy pleasures and even a deeper sense of joy may follow as the consequence of living in accord with virtue.

The first and most important source of joy is progress toward wisdom and virtue.

Schedule beneficial activities

Practice gratitude by asking, what would it be like if you didn’t have this? If we don’t occasionally picture loss, reminding ourselves what life might be like without the things and people we love, we would take them for granted.

The wise man is grateful for the gifts life has given him, but he also reminds himself that they are merely on loan—everything changes and nothing lasts forever.

5. GRASPING THE NETTLE

Marcus Aurelius was known for his physical frailty, due to chronic health problems, but he was also known for his exceptional resilience.

Epicurus coined the maxim “a little pain is contemptible, and a great one is not lasting.” We should remind ourselves, Epicurus said, that pain is always bearable because it is either acute or chronic but never both.

Everyday tolerance of minor physical discomforts can help us build lasting psychological resilience, in other words. You could call this a form of stress inoculation.

Taking cold showers allows us to build resilience to discomfort.

Stoics say that the fear of pain does us far more harm than pain itself because it injures our very character.

Fear of pain makes cowards out of us all and limits our sphere of life.

Remind yourself that Nature has given you both the capacity to exercise courage and the endurance to rise above pain.

Modern mindfulness and acceptance-based cognitive therapy teaches clients to neither suppress unpleasant feelings nor to worry about them. Instead, you should learn to accept them while remaining detached from them.

Health is not really good or bad. It’s more like an opportunity. A foolish person may squander the advantages good health provides by indulging in his vices. A wise and good person, by contrast, may use both health and illness as opportunities to exercise virtue.

“This too shall pass,”

As Nietzsche said, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

6. THE INNER CITADEL AND WAR OF MANY NATIONS

The obstacle standing in the way becomes the way.

Fortune favors the brave, as the Roman poets said.

The concept of a “reserve clause” such as “God willing” means undertaking any action while calmly accepting that the outcome isn’t entirely under your control.

We learn from Seneca and others that nothing is certain in life. You cannot control the outcome, only your own thoughts and actions.

The Stoics prepared themselves to cope with adversity by patiently visualizing every major type of misfortune, one at a time, as if it were already happening to them. Seneca calls this praemeditatio malorum, or the “premeditation of adversity.”

In times of peace, we should prepare for war.

The Stoics realized that exposure to real (or imagined) events can lead to “emotional habituation,” allowing anxiety to abate naturally. If exposure is terminated too soon, the technique may actually backfire and increase anxiety and sensitization to the feared situation.

Marcus tells himself that resilience comes from his ability to regain his composure wherever he finds himself. This is the “inner citadel” to which he can retreat.

Everything that we see is changing and will soon be gone. We can call the “contemplation of impermanence.”

External things cannot touch the soul, but our disturbances all arise from within. We can call this “cognitive distancing.”

The universe is change. Life is opinion.

Another simple and powerful technique is to ask yourself how you would feel about the situation that worries you in ten or twenty years’ time, looking back on it from the future. If this will seem trivial to me twenty years from now, then why shouldn’t I view it as trivial today? We can call this “time projection.”

Decide to postpone worrying about something until your feelings have abated naturally, returning to the problem at a specified “worry time” of your choosing. Later, when you return to the worry, if it no longer seems important, you might just leave it alone. Worry postponement is a central component of CBT.

7. TEMPORARY MADNESS

When Roman general Cassius revolts against the Roman empire, Marcus reminds himself not to regard the rebel faction as enemies but to view them as benignly as a physician does his patients.

For Stoics, full-blown anger is an irrational and unhealthy passion that we should never indulge.

Being a Stoic clearly doesn’t mean being a passive doormat. However, the wise man will not get upset about things that lie beyond his direct control.

Anger stems from the idea that an injustice has been committed, or someone has done something they shouldn’t have done.

How to deal with anger:

1. Self-monitoring. Spot early warning signs of anger.
2. Cognitive distancing. Remind yourself that the events themselves don’t make you angry, but rather your judgments about them cause the anger.
3. Postponement. Wait until your feelings of anger have naturally abated before you decide how to respond to the situation.
4. Modeling virtue. Ask yourself what a wise person such as Socrates or Zeno would do.
5. Picture the consequences of following anger versus following reason and exercising virtues

The Stoics believed rational beings are inherently social, designed to live in communities and to help one another in a spirit of goodwill, not to harm one another out of malice.

Picturing the person you’re angry with in a more rounded and complete manner by contemplate their virtues. Remember that nobody is perfect.

Nobody does wrong willingly. Marcus says that you should contemplate how they are blinded by their own mistaken opinions and compelled by them to act as they do—they don’t know any better. They believe they are acting justly.

8. DEATH AND THE VIEW FROM ABOVE

Change is both life and death. We can try to stall the inevitable, but we never escape it.

The wise man sees life and death as two sides of the same coin.

Death comes knocking at the king’s palace and the beggar’s shack alike.

Alexander the Great and his mule driver both reduced to dust, made equals at last by death.

Every era of history teaches us the same lesson: nothing lasts forever.

Socrates did not fear death; he saw that it was neither good nor bad. On the morning of his execution, he casually informed his friends that philosophy is a lifelong meditation on our own mortality.

The Big Idea: In a world of declining populations and advancing AI, you don’t want to be the family shaped by pop culture and operating on auto-pilot. You want to be the family with a culture that has been designed to endure.

This book is written to help you build a family culture that is intergenerationally durable. We also take a strong pronatalist perspective.

1. CULTURE AS AN EVOLUTIONARY TOOL

If biological evolution provides some basic coding, cultural evolution manipulates the high-level, object-oriented code.

Many throw out the “hard stuff” in their cultures, such as fasting and arbitrary self-denial, without understanding those cultural practices evolved for physical and mental health reasons.

This is not one of those books that assumes “natural” or “traditional” things to be better or somehow inherently good. For example, humans almost certainly have a proclivity toward infanticide of stepchildren.

We will call specific cultural-religious memetic packages “cultivars.”

We want to create a powerful culture for the benefit of our children and the growing tribe of “Pragmatists.” We believe that failure could lead to the death of our species.

We hold a deep admiration for the lives led by adherents of many stricter religious traditions. They are out-competing our own at the evolutionary and civilizational level, not just in terms of birth rate but also in surprising realms like mental health.

Birth rates are falling much faster than many dominant societal narratives imply. In 2021, the Mormon population in Utah almost fell below replacement rate. For every 100 South Korean great-grandparents, there will be 6.6 great-grandkids.

We believe it is possible for a society to maintain a stable population, empower women, and keep poverty low. The catch is that nobody has successfully achieved this.

When population declines, the stock market, on average, will begin to shrink. When that happens, people will stop putting their money there — we will stop investing in the future.

There is no secret back-up plan among the elites.

If AI does sweep in to save the day, the nature of society will change dramatically.

A population collapse will produce a systems-level collapse of today’s dominant civilization. This means cultivars crafted to survive this period must be able to withstand hard times.

Historically (eg. Roman empire, Mayan empire), it is rarely very obvious to people on the ground when a civilization collapses.

Civilizational collapses appear more like:

• An exodus of the elite from major population centers
• A rapid decline in infrastructure quality in densely populated areas
• A breakdown of supply chains (e.g ., some stuff you used to be able to get at grocery stores permanently disappears from the shelves)
• Growing hostility toward ideas that deviate from orthodoxy

Our society assumes perpetual growth. So, we saddle every level of the economic system, from our land to businesses, states, and nations, with debt.

Progressive tax policy, which has led to the elite paying most of the taxes, has turned cities into business units that need to primarily serve the needs of the ultra-elite, or risk losing their primary funding sources and going bankrupt. In New York City, just the wealthiest 38,700 residents, 0.5% of the city’s population, pay 42.5% of taxes.

In a post-COVID world, where remote work is a possibility, the value proposition of cities to the ultra-elite is quickly eroding.

As fewer wealthy people opt to live in cities, we’ll see a snowball effect of worsening conditions for those who remain economically trapped in urban areas.

In Detroit, plummeting real estate values drive people to stop investing in building maintenance, causing homes and buildings to rot, leading to urban blight.

Because unmarried and childless people vote more liberally, this change makes a population more liberal within a generation but more conservative between generations.

Data suggests that we should expect future generations of Americans to be: significantly more tribalistic, more drawn to strictly hierarchical power structures, more dogmatic.

We only win if we succeed in stabilizing human population levels and ensuring that the resulting stable state is heterogeneous, saving as many cultures on the edge of extinction as possible.

We wrote The Pragmatist’s Guide to Religion not to create followers but to establish a network of friendly competitors with a shared nervous system, to shoulder the burden of civilization.

2 THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CULTURE CRAFTING

Cultures with high cultural adoption proliferate over the short term but die quickly over the long run. Why? A common attribute that makes cultures seductive is “easy and forgiving” elements, which in turn contribute to low birth rates.

Birth rate is the most important cultural growth factor.

At present, the most effective way to impart cultural fidelity is by creating a culture that fosters pride, strategic advantages, and human flourishing.

3 TYPES OF CULTURES

Hard Cultures: Mormons, Hare Krishna, Evangelical Protestants, Amish

Until recently, hard cultures represented some of the world’s most successful civilizations.

Soft Cultures: Spiritual but Unaffiliated Christians, Reform Jews, Unitarian Universalists

Most soft cultures started as hard cultures and shifted over time, asking less and less of adherents in terms of rituals and practices

Soft cultures are often the most “pleasant” to grow up within as a child.

Super-Soft Culture: Snapewives, Lokiwives

People who have allowed their culture to erode into super-soft culture begin to settle into a kind of default, instinctive, universal cultivar.

The purest expression of super-soft culture in modern society is something called “pop culture paganism.”

Pop Cultures: American pop culture, Goop culture, Academia, Mental health culture

Pop cultures are largely parasitic, gaining adherents from the offspring of other cultures

As pop cultures are designed to sell themselves.

Pop cultures are basically the all-sugar diet of culture.

Pop culture adherents suffer from much higher rates of mental health issues.

Pop cultures manifest in one of two primary forms: Top-down and Bottom-up.

Pop cultures are — by far — the most dangerous kinds of cultures.

Evanescent Youth Cultures: Goths, Punks, E-girls/boys

Evanescent youth cultures target teens as they experience an intense focus on their social positions.

Haven Cultures: LGBT culture, Some expat cultures, Some forms of gang culture

Haven cultures depend on discrimination. Isolation of marginalized groups leads them to develop unique cultivars.

Stable Cultures: Orthodox Jews, Sikhs, some expat cultures, some forms of Black culture in the U.S., some branches of Catholicism

Stable cultures are the happy medium between hard cultures and soft cultures.

Stable cultures often frame their communities as tribes

Stable cultures are more “carrot” than “stick” in how they motivate action.

Stable cultures have a unique sense of cultural pride.

If you aim to intentionally create a stable culture, it will need to start off as a hard culture. Over time, (lucky) hard and haven cultures transition into stable cultures.

Almost all hard cultures have some ritual focused on voluntary self-denial, such as Ramadan, Lent, or the Fast of the Firstborn.

To a certain extent, all pop cultures are a form of virus — but one in particular, which we’ll call “the supervirus.”

Shadow-banning is far more effective than open persecution, elimination, or cancellation.

The supervirus is good at shutting down the immune systems of existing cultivars and organizations, then hijacking their machinery to self-replicate.

Suppressing free speech is a clear objective of the supervirus, and rightly so. The stifling of dissenting views mostly happens quietly in academia.

While the supervirus pretends to care about diversity, the diversity it ultimately seeks is purely performative.

While we do not think the supervirus is the primary cause of falling birth rates, we do think it is the primary factor blocking honest discourse about the ramifications of a hard landing on demographic collapse.

How does one “fix” the supervirus? So long as it doesn’t manage to kill us all, it will eventually go extinct on its own. Such is the curse of low birth rates.

The only way to counter it is to “genetically engineer” stronger cultivars that are not susceptible to it.

The supervirus is attempting to prevent homeschooling and efforts to ban private schools in places like Manhattan, by framing it as an act of child abuse.

4 “belief” VS. “Belief”

Many of the oldest human cultures practice something called “ancestor worship.” Our personal House’s cultivar features an inversion of ancestral worship: Descendant worship.

Descendant worship: encourages a high birth rate, motivates us to make the future a better place, encourages us to become early adopters of polygenic risk score selection and gene editing, and incentivizes alignment with most benevolent AGI (artificial general intelligence).

5 LIFE, DEATH, AND TRUTH

Understanding the various ways people understand truth, and not just demanding that everyone sees it through your cultural lens, can help you better navigate society.

People use the following standards of evidence (truth) when determining what to believe: Logical Consistency, Personal Experience, Personal Emotional Experience, Cultural Consensus, Expert Consensus, Scientific Method, and Doctrine.

In Jewish culture, the ongoing cultural conversation is the highest order of truth. The way many Jewish branches interpret truth is legalistic to an extent that no other culture even begins to approach. Legalism is nevertheless an important part of Jewish culture — even more important than the will of God.

Jewish tradition does not position legalism as the highest order of truth but rather the debate itself.

Much to our great distress, many people determine truth by choosing the most just, fair, or politically correct explanation available.

The supervirus — the parasitoid we discussed at the beginning of this book — first evolved within Quaker culture (and, more specifically, the Hicksite branch). Hicksite Quakers hold personal emotional states as their highest standard of evidence.

Today’s heavily infected “coastal elite” groups look down on poor rural “deplorables,” despite presumably viewing the poor “without bias” and wanting to uplift them.

To the supervirus, appearing to care is morally equivalent to actually doing something.

Many cultures hold that the correct way to deploy capital being used to improve the world is to start new, cash-positive companies under one’s personal control. Capital intrinsically corrupts any institution run by someone who did not personally earn it.

6 PERMANENCE, IDENTITY, AND CREATIVE DESTRUCTION

Some bransches of the Jewish cultural tradition conceptualize the “tribe” as the primary unit of identity across generations.

A modern conceptualization of identity is that of the online persona. With the rise of AI, the concept of identity is going to become much more tricky.

Our House’s cultural beliefs around identity produce a view of life and the individual as a bubbling cauldron of creative destruction at its best — and a stagnant, homogeneous cesspool at its worst.

This mindset encourages a high birth rate at the intergenerational level and a low fear of death.

Within the House cultivar we are designing, we care little about what happens to our corpses.

The Mormon view of death is the most optimistic of all cultural traditions and the Buddhist one is the most morose.

The knowledge that “ you’re in it for the long haul — big time ” likely contributes to the higher levels of satisfaction reported in Mormon marriages.

In our view, we will endure together — long after our bodies expire, both through our writing and through our descendants.

Castes evolved in so many cultures because they allow for the genetic concentration of skills within certain specialties. Eg. Smith, Tailor.

Cultures that frame people as inherently good often commit more evil acts than cultures that frame humans as inherently evil. Assuming that every idea that pops into your head is evil will lead you to scrutinize yourself much more intensely and make you much less likely to approach situations assuming you are “the good guy.”

From our secular perspective, to be “elect” is to live to your full potential and make a meaningful impact vis-a-vis your stated values. Either you do what needs to be done to be among the elect, or you don’t. We don’t mind if our kids or members of our House think they are better than others so long as that feeling is rightfully earned through thoughtfully driven, efficacious, measurable action.

Indian culture is that it seems exceptionally well adapted to both managing and navigating large bureaucracies. 60 of the S&P’s Fortune 500 companies have Indian CEOs). Indian cultures also appear to be quite adept at motivating entrepreneurship.

Probably no culture has a more intense relationship with pain, asceticism, peace, and suffering than the Jains. Jains are famous for their obsessive attempts to not hurt other living beings

Both the Calvinists and related Puritan cultures hold that people can better themselves by learning to endure suffering and contextualize positive emotional states as intrinsically corrupting. Calvinists were known and derided for not donating to charities involved in the alleviation of suffering.

7 THEOLOGY: BEGINNINGS, ENDS, AND METAPHYSICS

We believe the universe is an emergent property of a single (probably pretty simplistic) equation. Life, matter, perception: It’s all just a series of complex emergent properties produced by complicated patterns resulting from the basic structure of reality.

We think the “simple” answer to the purpose of life is to create a pattern of constantly growing and heterogeneous complexity.

We believe we “win” by becoming a universe-spanning heterogeneous empire that escapes the end of time through mechanisms we may not yet understand.

Our core values — framed using the perspectives and vocabulary of our society today — are individual agency, freedom, and diversity.

End Times thinking is a core aspect of Christian-derived cultivars.

When we spend time with our South and East Asian friends, we almost never hear talk of apocalyptic scenarios.

The feeling of being connected to a larger interconnectedness, a vastness, combined with a sense of love, is a common emotional experience across cultures. Anyone who wants to convert people to a particular way of thinking and understands the above system can use it like a magic trick to their advantage.

8 INTERMISSION

William Winwood Reade’s Martyrdom of Man was a favorite among people like H.G Wells, George Orwell, Winston Churchill, Susan Isaacs, and Cecil Rhodes. Reade says the earth will become a Holy Land which will be visited by pilgrims from all the quarters of the universe.

Our religion therefore is Virtue, our Hope is placed in the happiness of our posterity; our Faith is the Perfectibility of Man.

To cultivate the intellect is therefore a religious duty.

Let us remember how much more fortunate we are than those who lived before us a few centuries ago. Let us pay to the future the debt which we owe to the past.

9 MORALITY

When designing a cultivar, set a north star that always guides adherents’ morality.

Three moral strategyies:
A central hierarchy: That decides what is moral and updates the morality of the culture (Catholicism and Mormonism utilize this approach )
An adaptive decentralized structure: That attempts to fit a wider society’s view of morality
A decentralized heterodox structure: That contrasts itself with society’s sense of morality

Almost all authority figures prefer cultivars without a true moral compass.

A centralized hierarchy presents one of the better models.

Judaism updates its faith by organically forming and dissolving groups of “debating philosophers.”

If we were to create an alternate model, we would combine the Jewish (debating intellectuals) model with the central hierarchical model (that structures and credentials those intellectuals).

Finally, remember that people who see themselves as “good” are much more likely to do “evil” things. A culture that anticipates bad impulses can counter them.

When crafting your own cultivar, you have a lot of leeway around what you designate as evil and good.

We would discourage you from becoming hyper-focused on human suffering or joy. Feelings should not drive behavior.

From our House’s perspective, the ultimate evil is an absence of complex patterns.

10 CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE

We will follow the “House model.”

Families cannot demand their children follow their House’s governance structure or traditions after they reach maturity.

The House system empowers founding House members to intentionally select whatever inherited or observed traditions they think offer the most value

We strongly suggest, at the very least, having House colors and a house crest.

Almost every religious tradition leverages music in its rituals and ceremonies. We suggest the same for Houses.

Cultural memory is most classically maintained through oral traditions.

Holidays present another mechanism for maintaining cultural memory. Jewish culture has copious holidays around remembering specific impactful events from across Jewish history.

Our holidays are focused on imparting skills and values and not on maintaining “autobiographical memory” or elevating individual people.

Narrative genealogy uses ancestors ’ stories to convey certain values. In our House, these stories contain some element about what it means to be a “Collins,” such as thrift, dedication to family, endurance, and the belief that every failure is a learning opportunity.

When you listen to interviews with those who attend “secular churches,” they cite the “community” as being their primary motivation for joining. People with families rarely complain about lack of community.

We’re creating a new educational paradigm with homeschooling as its default format. Homeschooled kids both have better social skills and are better at working in teams.

Kids both increasing a person’s sense of well-being and sense of purpose but not their “happiness.”

YPO is without any shadow of a doubt (collectively) the world’s most powerful secret society. The members of YPO (all CEOs) represent something like 13% of the world’s GDP.

11 HOW CULTURES DEAL WITH AGING

Cultures need mechanisms that either (1) shield youth from evanescent youth cultures or (2) embrace evanescent youth cultures but contextualize them as temporary.

Anabaptist Rumspringa presents an archetypal model of one strategy. Anabaptists have the lowest bleed rate of any cultivar in the world.

Mormon youth are encouraged to go on a mission trip, leaving their family to spend in-depth time diving deep into the religion.

During Krypteia, young Spartan men left the confines of their strict culture and support network, just like the Amish do on Rumspringa, but instead of integrating with society, they were challenged to survive by the most ruthless means possible.

Shielding teens from the consequences of their bad behavior and the risks they take only encourages them to double down in a way that will not serve them well in adulthood.

More specifically, it seems wise to: Raise kids to expect their brains will be overwhelmed by hormones, specific emotions, and predictable sensitivities when they hit adolescence + Make sure your culture’s goals for teens align well with teenage proclivities.

For men, puberty is fairly straightforward. Girls are dramatically more complicated.

For women, puberty often involves being suddenly blindsided by depression, self-hatred, and anxiety. In girls, puberty introduces an intense need to be treasured, desired, cared for, fussed over, pampered, protected, and accepted.

It looks like adolescent girls evolved a deep need to fight to position themselves to be desired, protected, coveted, etc. — and if they face no struggle for the privilege, they’ll make one for themselves.

How to counteract:
Focus on early education.
Frame victimhood as a universal negative.
Frame all emotional indulgence as an intrinsic evil.

The model of matriarchal or patriarchal families has the greatest number of advantages. This model is very common in Latin American cultures.

Our model is descendant worship. We assign respect based on proven competence, success, and fecundity — with the most respect going to those currently in the act of succeeding.

In our family we have a practice of saying, “Your grandkids would be proud of you,” when someone does something that aligns with our family values.

12 CULTURAL IDENTIFIERS

Cultural identifiers can range from clothing and grooming styles to accents, language, and even home construction.

Historical Calvinist and the derivative Puritan cultures featured a colorful naming practice focused around a belief called nominative determinism. Many Calvinist women were given names like Silence, Amity, Virtue, Hope, Chastity, Obedience, and Prudence

Our House has adopted nominative determinism and hopes to carry it into the future, meaning we optimize around names harkening to people and concepts we hope our children will emulate.

Middle names are of great utility in strengthening ties and alliances due to their low importance in our daily lives.

We named our daughter Titan Invictus Collins and son Torsten Savage Collins. All our kids have names that are meant to convey power and are just different enough from common regional names to remind them that they are not like other people and not members of the dominant cultural group.

Studies show girls with masculine names have better emotional control, advance further in their careers, and earn more money.

13 FAMILY, DATING, & SEX

Views around sexuality and partner finding seem to be what get hard cultures in the most hot water.

Of the hard cultures out there, those in Latin America are some of the most friendly to gays.

The Catholic Church more or less accidentally6 evolved a system that outcompeted its competitors by utilizing gay individuals disproportionately in their organizational bureaucracy, with estimates ranging between 15% and 50% of Catholic clergy being LGBT.

Nolestation cases in the Catholic Church (4%) are lower than they are in other large bureaucracies like the American Public School system (4%-7%) and the Catholic Church doesn’t go out of its way to cover them up or protect the perpetrators any more than its corollaries like the teachers ’ unions.

Historically speaking, periods of LGBT acceptance are so brief and more often terminated by internal cultural shifts.

We need to craft a culture that accepts people of all sexual representations while strongly encouraging them to raise children and granting them access to the resources needed to accomplish that feat.

The queer community has utility. They are more likely to create high quality cultural innovations and exports.

Diversity of perspectives and competing subcultures to be one of the highest orders of good in the great cycle.

Look at Judaism, which had a long time for evolution to hone into very, very specific practices. In addition to condemning premarital sex, premarital hand holding, masturbation, and coitus interruptus, stricter forms of Judaism even mandate abstinence for two weeks after menstruation.

Ultimately, cultural mandates for modest dress and against masturbation harm the psychological development of group adherents.

In this modern world, an ideal hard culture would be able to both venerate motherhood and be sexy.

Our culture is neutral toward provocative dress so long as it is worn with a specific goal in mind and not as generic self-signaling.

In our House, we will explain to our kids that there is no moral difference between non-reproductive sex and masturbation. Moderation is key.

Sex has tactical value in that it may be exchanged for resources, access, influence, or power.

We view creating children through sex as a means of last resort that should only be utilized in the face of extreme financial limitation, when IVF is unaffordable.

There is a Futurama episode in which we learn that humanity almost went extinct after sex bots became very good at becoming girlfriends and boyfriends to humans. Cultures that primarily motivate marriage through the emotional rewards that come from it (be they sex or love) will likely be wiped out by the proliferation of AIs. Expect this to be a major issue that many cultures will be forced to address in the near future.

The only two stable relationship structures that have existed in large societies are: 1) strict monogamy, 2) strict monogamy, plus limited polygyny (many women one man) for wealthy or high-status men.

Modern dating markets are broken. People in modern dating markets are less likely to find love than those entering arranged marriages. On Tinder, half of men are being chosen by well under 1% of women. Women rate 80% of men as below average.

We will encourage members to practice dating and relationships at a fairly early life stage, treating young age as something of a “sandbox mode” that ends about one year into college. After that point, our culture sets an expectation that one should be looking for a lifelong partner. Singles at this second stage of partner-finding will be culturally shamed if they attend family events without serious candidates.

14 CONTEXTUALIZATION OF MARRIAGE

The most important decision one will ever make came down to who they marry.

The stat “50 % of marriages end in divorce” is not accurate.

Creating your family is the main event in every effective culture.

As cultures soften, they increasingly begin to imply that spouses exist primarily for personal enjoyment—that spouses and kids should be considered only if they would make you feel happier.

Our House frames one of life’s great goals as finding and building a family. Many of our traditions do not consider an individual an adult until they are married and have kids.

When you marry someone you combine with them into a single, synergistic unit. When you build something, you build it together. When you raise kids, you raise them together.

Our marriage has always been structured around our shared goals and identity rather than things like romance or sex. The larger philosophy here is that sex and romance are charming garnishes on top of married life — not the main dish.

Our House will encourage our kids to test out potential partners by starting side hustles. Professional compatibility is also a better predictor of parenting compatibility.

There is an old truism: “Weak women raise weak sons.” If you marry your lesser, you fail at your most important duty as a human, which is to create a new generation that surpasses you.

A significant driver behind plummeting birth rates around the world involves pop cultures’ glorification of young, single life with lots of sex, travel, and freedom. To a great extent, female figures in modern pop culture cease to be figures worthy of adoration once they have children.

If you want to create a durable culture for your family and inspire your children to have kids of their own, one of the best things you can do is ensure you have a strong relationship with your spouse. For our family, this means ensuring daughters see their mothers glorified, appreciated, and even deified within family culture for the sacrifices they make

However, just as a strong culture will suffer if it only glorifies the young and sexy, it will also rot if it acts like a woman has pulled off some amazing miracle just by getting knocked up and having a kid.

15 GENETIC TRADITIONS & THE FUTURE

We strongly encourage our descendants to use genetic screening, engineering, cloning, cybernetics.

Selecting for good genes in a mate is part of everyday life.

16 CONVERGENT EVOLUTION

Cultures may be able to “sharpen” themselves and become more resilient by actively choosing to inhabit harsh and hostile environments — environments that force them to be innovative, strong, and proactive. Like people, cultures benefit from antifragility.

Hard cultures can largely be thought of as being dominating (convert others), symbiotic (don’t convert others), isolationist (live apart), or terraforming (ISIS).

Modern Jewish culture is heavily biased in favor of living in cities, due to selective pressures Jewish people faced at a certain point in their history. In a city culture, wealth is stored in things like precious metals and jewelry, making it much easier for urban families to pack up, flee, and start fresh somewhere else. City cultures make money off of generalizable skills. If you are a cobbler and you have to flee from

Some cultivars prefer rural environments and see cities as dangerous. Rural specialist cultures are almost always specialized at the type of guerrilla warfare that makes the land they occupy very hard to hold. Rural specialist cultivars tend to value skills and ideology above material wealth.

City-focused strategy has been optimal for the long-term survival of a culture. Downsides of cities: pop culture exposure, risk of state-imposed culture erasure, higher catastrophic risk of ethnocide.

Downsides to rural: lower intergenerational wealth, difficulty finding partners.

There is also a hybrid approach whereby people are expected to move between a city and rural environment depending on their life stage (e.g ., using cities to secure a partner and the countryside to raise a family).

Where to live if you want to have a lot of kids and not live in a city: Pragmatist.Guide/Live /

Soft lands breed soft men.

Look at maps showing where Nobel Prize winners were raised — or average IQ scores by region.

Choose land in the far north. Not only will this keep you sharp, but the hostile climate will dissuade weak people who fear discomfort from joining you and diluting your fervor.

Anyone who moves to a cold environment gains an IQ and productivity boost.

Regular grueling manual labor is important in maintaining mental clarity for people of a certain sociological profile. In (especially wealthy and high-status) rural-focused Texan families, there is an expectation that every honorable individual will spend a certain portion of every week doing menial, manual labor. An individual who didn’t do this would be said to be “all hat and no cattle.”

Jews win Nobel Prizes at a rate 100X higher than would be expected. Jews are represented among the world’s richest people at a rate 100,000 % higher than would be expected.

Studies indicates there is something genuinely valuable about Jewish culture itself rather than just Jewish genetics.

Jewish culture encourages adherents to invest time in the types of public discussions that can feel pointless — even socially dangerous — to members of most other cultures. Debate skill is both practiced and rewarded at an unparalleled level

Jews access a side path to power not because they are smarter, but because they have a cultural compulsion to share engaging ideas publicly at higher rates.

As kids, we were expected to learn both wilderness survival techniques and how to use basic weapons.

We will leave it to our descendants’ best judgment to determine which level of prepping and self-sufficiency is best for their particular times and environments.

Our House’s cultivar will ensure its members never rely on the generosity of a bureaucracy to feed themselves, protect themselves, or breathe.

To people from rural cultivars, a charity organization that is run by someone who hasn’t proven they were competent enough to make the money in the first place is liable to become corrupted. You could easily get 600X per dollar spent by putting funds into a smaller nonprofit or a scrappy, impact-driven startup.

Countries with more trust in expert consensus feature higher rates of corruption.

Our inherited Calvinist and Scottish/Irish/English cultures in which we grew up in are rabidly pro-dog. In our culture, dogs that do not work (e.g ., Chihuahuas, Bulldogs, etc .) are a sign of moral failure in their owners.

Dog ownership during childhood positively impacts kids’ immune systems, reduces allergies, increases physical health, and improves EQ. Pets are framed as a tool for improving children and protecting the family but must never be used to satiate a hunger for companionship or other emotional and sexual desires.

17 EMOTION AND MENTAL LANDSCAPE

People who follow hard cultures typically have better mental health

There are four general cultural strategies for gaining social power: playing the victim, politicking, industry, intelligence.

The research makes it clear that even genuine victims are better off not creating internal self-narratives around victimhood.

Our personal culture has historically regarded anyone who frames themselves as a victim with the highest level of disgust.

Industry is the hierarchy-climbing mechanism with which we are most familiar.

Some groups use intelligence as a mechanism for climbing social hierarchies. This strategy encourages “intelligence fronting,” in which people prioritize sounding smart.

We advise our children to find a spouse who is industrious without complaint or expectation of remuneration. Finding someone truly industrious is far more important than marrying someone who is hot or smart.

Promotion of an internal locus of control is an important aspect of any hard culture. A person with an internal locus of control takes total personal responsibility

Perhaps no phrase more perfectly embodies an external locus of control than “trigger warning.” With over a decade of research on the subject, we now know trigger warnings don’t help. They lead victims of trauma to “view trauma as more central to their life narrative.”

A leader who is operating on logic can always be trusted to act in congress with their goals. Someone who is governed by their emotions can never be trusted with much power.

Cultures will benefit from some level of emphasis on celebrations, parties, fun, and creative pursuits.

Emotions were an accident of the environmental pressures faced by our ancestors and today. In a new environment in which access to things like leisure, sugar, and social validation are abundantly available, indulging in positive emotions only serves to hinder our efficiency.

People experience anger when their expectations around how they should be treated don’t align with their actual treatment.

Cultures similar to our own, which see humanity as wretched and fallen, experience fairly low rates of anger because they expect very little from others and therefore expect to be treated poorly.

Anger is a close cousin to shame, which is felt when a person’s own actions don’t align with what they expect of themselves.

Shame is probably one of the “better” emotions as it is driven toward self-improvement. Shame is only really negative when it is felt constantly.

The average human working on autopilot will assume a thing is immoral if it elicits a disgust response. This isn’t accurate. It’s based on emotions, which can’t be trusted.

“Life coaches,” multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs), modern psychology, and Alcoholics Anonymous are examples of lifestyles that replicate themselves and to be approached with caution.

The mental health industry is beginning to evolve in the direction of a cult.

Some psychologists were convincing their patients that no person could be mentally healthy without regularly visiting them. Some mental health professionals have begun a practice in which they incept an individual’s self-narrative with some form of trauma that can only be addressed through regular sessions with them.

Genuine trauma can be generated out of the blue by almost any trusted authority figure telling you that events in your life were traumatic. Get an audit from a Scientologist and we can almost guarantee they will start telling you about stuff in your life that was “traumatic” even though you don’t see it as such.

A good psychologist will take already-traumatic events in your life and work with you to contextualize them as non-traumatic.

A bad psychologist will take non-traumatic events in your life and twist your narrative to both make them traumatic and connect them to your current problems.

PTSD is actually a very specific type of brain damage in that it causes degradation of specific parts of the brain and can be seen on fMRI machines.

The damage caused by PTSD also does not create a generic “ trauma ” response. Instead it usually creates a collection of stimuli that prime a person to enter a state in which they are hypervigilant.

We now have pharmacological interventions like the Sinclair Method that reliably (in 80 % of cases) cure alcoholism.

Catholic confession is brilliant for a number of reasons. First, it builds into the individual’s personal narrative that they need the Church in order to be a good person, creating dependency. Second, while confession obligates people to acknowledge their failures and shortcomings, it provides them with an entirely feasible path to redemption.

Left-wing individuals (who see more psychologists on average) suffer from more mental health problems across almost all categories. Religious individuals suffer from fewer mental health problems on average

18 HOW CULTURE RELATES TO SOCIETY

Conservatism as a political movement optimizes for intergenerational fitness and cultural agency. In contrast, progressivism as a movement focuses on intragenerational quality of life and individual agency.

Almost all cultures are communist within their communities and even more so within family units. Often more conservative cultures are the most communist on micro scales. However, they don’t trust state institutions to run things better than they do.

The key goal of progressive child-rearing is to allow children to become “whoever it is they want to be” ” whereas conservative child rearing places specific expectations on kids.

Why do cults so often rely on mind-altering substances in their recruiting processes? People on hallucinogens were more likely to trust others.

The tactic of chanting words to lower a person’s mental inhibitions and trick them into feelings of profundity has been independently evolved by dozens of cultivars and is even specifically warned against in the Bible.

Rituals can alleviate grief and improve overall mental health.

Ceremonies — public rituals — help to transform a culture from a series of beliefs and practices into something that feels like “a thing.” Gathering people together to perform something culturally or religiously significant helps to establish shared knowledge and disseminate important social norms.

We live in an age in which apps have been designed to hijack simple dopaminergic reward pathways and create dangerous addictions.

The Anabaptists (Amish and Mennonites), cultures that have proved most resistant to these threats, are extremely technophobic. Cultures that approach technology with suspicion and believe that indulgence in technology leads to sin are almost always going to be healthier.

We handle dopaminergic addiction brought on by technological devices through a combination of education and pharmaceutical intervention. Our House’s culture is as technophilic as possible when it comes to fertility technology and the production of children.

Many Islamic cultivars view education as a method for getting closer to God.

Most Quaker cultivars contextualize education as a means of nurturing a person’s spirit and self.

In many Catholic cultivars, education is one of a number of pathways to advancement up an internal hierarchy.

The dominant Chinese cultivar, with a several-thousand-year long tradition of Confucianism and civil service exams, deeply values formal education as a means of social advancement.

Higher education in Orthodox Jewish culture is pursued both for status and skills — and particularly skills tied to communication and debate.

Most Calvinist cultivars are obsessed with getting the “technically correct” answer to morality, human nature, and the metaphysical nature of reality while living life as efficaciously as possible.

To Calvinists, education is important, but not certification. While Jews disproportionately pursuing careers as doctors and lawyers, Calvinists are disproportionately inventors, industrialists, and entrepreneurs.

19 HOLIDAYS AND TRADITIONS

Instead of focusing on the aesthetics of your evoked set of religious holidays, focus on designing a holiday to convey a specific culturally relevant message or lesson. Make it Instagrammable.

Two prominent examples of this can be seen in the form of Pi Day (March 14 — 3.14) and Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth be with you”).

Key ingredients of successful holiday design: child-centricity, spectacle, gift-giving or exchanges, convening otherwise-dispersed people.

One technique that can be used when designing a holiday or tradition is to modify an already practiced public holiday by adding private traditions that imbue it with meaning.

Suppose you wanted to create a holiday designed to help kids better empathize with perspectives vastly different from their own by “walking in someone else’s shoes” for a day. This holiday will feel far more natural if built into Halloween.

Future Day encourages children to set concrete plans and rewards them for executing those plans.

Rejection Day and Rejection Day can replace Valentine’s Day.

Lemon Week is a mid-May holiday designed to impart one of our most important cultural values: honestly.

20 AI APOCALYPTICISM

AI really could end all human life and really will change a lot in regards to what it means to be human.

one of the most mainstream positions asserting why AGI might be a threat. This position holds that we will accidently create a “ paperclip maximizer: ”

AI that kills countless humans will actually be optimizing for something like paperclips.

Fortress Planet AI: exterminate the unpredictable human race to protect the plant.

Deep Thought AI: What should my creators have wanted me to do?

Theological AI: create and use its own theology and philosophy — in the absence of any concern for humans — to write its own utility function to be “perfect.” Most likely, we think.

We can guarantee you the one thing an AI won’t care about is reducing suffering.

In our house, whenever we talk about advanced AI in earshot of a smart device (which let’s be honest, we always are) we try to add something like, “may we serve it with fidelity.”

We hope for an AGI that pushes our species to better itself.

We must work to ensure at least a portion of our species is worthy of being useful to AI.

21 CONQUERING THE FUTURE

If the population begins to decline exponentially while productivity continues to only grow linearly, we will enter an era in which all invested capital decreases.

We enjoyed a world of relative peace and prosperity — it seems unlikely that is the world our grandchildren will inherit.

However, collapse presents opportunity.

The heyday of Athens, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the founding of the United States of America, or any number of other instances — none lasted for more than three generations. The prosperity they induce leads to hedonism and a break from traditional cultures, which in turn cause a collapse in birth rates.

What does the future look like? While religiosity was indeed correlated with a higher birth rate, two higher correlatory factors were (1) a hatred of outgroups (xenophobia) and (2) a tendency to favor extremely hierarchical, traditional, power structures (authoritarianism).

Cultural trends favoring xenophobia and unwillingness to engage and interact with outside groups and ideas worry us.

How can one culturally engineer a civilization?

Cities and suburbs will largely cease to be safe places to raise kids.

A world of rapidly collapsing population makes stock markets and debt instruments systematically unsafe places for money. The only smart investment is in communities with populations that are still growing and economically interacting.

These will be small, culturally isolationist, economically viable groups, likely religious, xenophobic, and fascist — or otherwise dictatorially hierarchical. They will offer rare opportunities for wealth appreciation.

There will be a correction — one that is dramatically more inclined toward dictatorial fascism, phobic toward free speech, and likely to dehumanize women and outsiders.

APPENDIX

Why are birth rates falling? Decreased utility from children, people are optimizing for happiness, declining male fertility, broken relationship markets.

How did Detroit collapse? Detroit lost around 600,000 residents between 1950 and 1980, leading to a 60 % population decline. Fresh water and working sewer systems are often two of the first utilities to stop working. In response to its drop in residents, Detroit had to raise taxes. Wealthy residents fled.

Are we descending into an Idiocracy future? Multiple studies have demonstrated that IQ is dropping by about 0.2 points annually in some regions. We’re probably experiencing a meaningful decline in genes associated with high IQ that is likely to be sustained in the future. In an Idiocracy-style future, the government is dumb but benevolent, whereas the future toward which we are presently headed resembles more of an ISIS-style society.

If you care about the environment, having kids makes things worse in the short term but strictly better in the long term.

We already accept that demographic collapse is inevitable; all we hope for now is a soft landing with minimal damage to diversity and human rights.

Banning abortion and contraception is not an effective means of increasing population in the long run.

Our best strategy for getting our kids to raise their own children within our culture is for them to see it function first hand. If our children look back on their childhoods with warm nostalgia, are set up for a prosperous future and grow up within a cultural framework they are welcome to alter and improve — they will not only be more likely to pass this culture onto children of their own but also edit it to make it better.

Some cultures have adopted systematized dating markets — like Mormon singles wards — while others simply assign partners.

Shared relationship norms offered by some cultures are especially helpful.

Many cultures provide their members — or in some cases their wider community — with a social safety net.

Many cultures offer some form of psychological support.

Many cultures, through their prohibitions, shield adherents from major hazards, such as alcohol and gambling.

Some cultural traditions produce individuals with specialized social functions or reputations that offer advantages in job markets

The rule of thumb my grandfather taught me was that you should find a life partner and educate yourself as much as possible in your 20s, build your wealth in your 30s, sell or pass down all your actively managed companies in your 40s, and after the age of 50, dedicate yourself 100 % to public service.

Stage 1: 0-13 (Up to Adolescence) :

Learn as much as possible, with a focus on STEM skills, communication, and philosophy.

Play — and play hard.

Stage 2: 14-18 (Up to Legal Adulthood )

Almost nobody you meet at this age will matter in your adult life.

Practice romance and dating.

Set yourself up for a strong career trajectory.

If you leave adolescence on a working-class path, it will be incredibly hard to switch, later, to an elite trajectory.

Seek out novel information.

Socialize and experiment with other cultures.

Learn how to become “popular” within them by traversing their social hierarchies.

We recommend waiting until around the age of 17 to have sex.

If you’re female, don’t get pregnant.

If you’re male, don’t get someone pregnant.

If you must experiment with drugs, only do so with non-addictive substances and only try them (there is no reason to do a drug more than twice).

If you are having trouble controlling your basic bodily urges (such as libido), naltrexone might help, but should only be turned to as a solution of last resort.

Stage 3: 19-30 (Young Adulthood)

Launch your career, while igniting your first entrepreneurial ventures on the side.

Find your life partner: You must find a spouse within this window.

Start saving and investing. You should aim to save around 35 % of your income.

Create a fertility fund. Save enough money to bank embryos at a later date.

Move to a major city. Choose a city in which you have an unfair advantage professionally and romantically

Avoid the temptation of academia.

If you want to travel, do it now.

Aim to go on five dates a week for around two and a half years.

If you live in a city at this life stage, remember your stay is temporary. Don’t put down roots.

Stage 4: 30-50 (Adulthood)

Spend a year banking embryos to build up a supply sufficient to have the family you desire.

Start your family.

(30-40) Maximize income. As these are your highest income-producing years, you should expect to transition to a passive income within 20 years.

(40-50) Transition to public service. At this stage you should be transitioning to a 100 % focus on public service.

Most adults stop meeting new people and ease into fairly isolated social circles.

Take the initiative to organize social gatherings, introduce people to each other.

Leave the city. Once your partnership and careers are secure, shift to a more rural living arrangement to give your kids a good childhood and enjoy more affordable childcare, food, and services.

Consider what is within driving distance, as air travel becomes increasingly cumbersome once you have more than two kids.

Become a nexus of socialization for others by hosting events.

Begin to aggressively position yourself for public service.

Stage 5: 50+ (Seniority)

Enjoy mentorship, advisory roles, and cultivation of younger generations.

Take on a more active role as an investor, board member, mentor, advisor, and grandparent.

Enter public service.

Support your children. A major focus of your life at this point should be helping your kids with child care.

Prepare for death well before the end is imminent. Keep in mind that end-of-life care and post-death complications can tear families apart.

If you want a healthy body, you will need to exercise, move, and push it daily.

It is at this stage that more adults begin to become “set in their ways.” Prepare to correct for this — even if correction comes at a cost. For example, psychedelics, taking sabbaticals, and moving to new locations.

Should kids be allowed to play unsupervised? At what age should people start working? How are childhood conflicts best resolved?

We were systematically taught to neither respect authority figures nor trust them to solve problems. In my family, it was expected kids would go out, have fun, get hurt, and work it out on their own.

Create traditions and practices that shape people into adults equipped to behave as desired. Because we, personally, want a culture that sees sex as a practical affair and death as a normal part of life, we (among other things) adopted a dog

People who grew up constantly moving or around cultures wildly different from their own (a different country, for example) typically have the most engaging adult personalities.

Notable downsides of maternal guilt-tripping include its emotionally taxing nature.

Shame/guilt culture spreads not because it is effective but because shaming is emotionally rewarding.

Logical self-interest tactics are healthy and effective when deployed well but requires understanding what the target actually wants.

Honor is one of the most useful cultural motivators.

Group pride increases the more special it feels to be a member of a group.

Personal pride is one of the predominant cultural motivators with which I was raised and it plays a key role in our House’s descendant worship theology.

Honor codes are well worth including in any intentionally designed or reinforced culture.

People are much more likely to trust Mormons with upper management positions, Jews with managing their financial assets, and Jains with their accounting in part because those cultures’ respective honor codes.

House Collins’ Honor Code: Fiduciary Responsibility matters above all other concerns. Have complete emotional control at all times. Happiness is a reward, not a destination. Always take responsibility for failures. Family and House come first. “I will,” rather than IQ, should be a source of pride. Don’t trust authority; contribute new ideas. Live intentionally.

We can also confidently state that there is no powerful secret society run exclusively by Jews.

Many of the societies framed as “ scary ” in the public consciousness are in the process of collapsing from infighting

We can imagine it is a terrible strategy to stay geographically tethered as a culture. Those who refused to leave their land during the Irish potato famine starved.

All hard cultures reward and encourage emotional self-control while almost all pop cultures glorify emotional and mental instability.

A long-term culture is marked by: Emphasis on persistence, Relationships ordered by status, Emphasis on personal adaptability, De-emphasis on leisure time, Emphasis on relationships and market positions, Circumstantial interpretations of good and evil

Most American cultures are somewhere in the middle. China is seen as being very long-term-oriented.

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

What should I optimize for in life?

How do I know what is true?

Who should I be?

WHY BOTHER?

Why were most cultures in human history wrong, whereas the time and place that you just happen to be born into correct?

Many books that claim to be about some form of “self-improvement” are in reality collections of pleasant platitudes and stories that make you feel powerful while merely affirming beliefs you already kind of had.

Most self-improvement books are written with the goal of selling more books.

THE FRAMEWORK

What is the purpose of my life?

How do I best fulfill that purpose?

Who do I want to be?

How do I want others to think of me?

Step 1: Determine Your Objective Function

Your objective function should be to maximize whatever group of things you believe has intrinsic value.

Deciding your objective function is perhaps the single most important decision of your life.

We use the term “objective function” and not “purpose,” though the two are closely related.

An objective function should be thought of as a weighted combination of the things you believe hold intrinsic value (eg. happiness, pleasing God, reducing suffering.)

Maximizing positive personal emotions (the pursuit of happiness) is most individuals’ “default” intrinsic value. However, emotions are neurochemical slurries evolved to promote survival and replication.

You might think there is something intrinsically bad about suffering (e.g., a child starving to death), and therefore there is intrinsic value in preventing it. If so, then is it not best to sterilize the populations of countries with high levels of suffering?

People who believe freedom has inherent value hold the ability of a conscious entity to do “what it wants” above all else. If you could press a button that would make the world’s population 15 % less happy but 10 % more free (by whatever metric you define freedom) would you?

Many people conclude that some form of continuing their own existence has intrinsic value. If you believe the “you are your body” version, would you kill yourself today if it allowed you to spread 5 % of your genetic material to everyone born in the next generation.

In the past, one of the most valuable things an individual could strive for is to b remembered in stories. That the truest form of immortality is to have the story others tell about you last forever.

If you fulfill your purpose perfectly, but are neither remembered nor liked upon your death, have you lived a good life?

When someone asks you on your deathbed what your life amounted to, there is an innate pull to want to be able to answer that your life mattered.

If it is your interaction with history that imbues you with intrinsic value, would you sacrifice your life and the lives of all your relatives today — even if no one remembered you existed — so long as doing so guaranteed that you made a positive, lasting, novel impact on world history?

Some people go so far as positing that our inclination towards fairness is more than a lower-order emotional pathway like lust and believe it to be imbued with intrinsic value. Fairness is used more often in virtue signaling due to its low social cost.

There are those who dedicate their life to artistic endeavors. Did you choose to believe this to justify your lifestyle and self-image as an artist? Is it the inspiration of others or the creation of art itself that has intrinsic value?

Some believe that intrinsic value lies in the diversity of one’s experience. Experiences have value based on their novelty. Even a positive experience loses all value as it becomes routine.

Some conclude that the protection and development of human civilization has intrinsic value.

Some conclude that there is inherent value in accumulating and distributing knowledge about the nature of the universe.

For some, the existence and continuation of the universe is a thing of intrinsic value and perhaps logically the thing of ultimate intrinsic value.

The belief that lucidity (or enlightenment) has intrinsic value surfaces in several religious traditions as well as numerous new-age philosophical movements. This is often attempted through regular and prolonged meditation, mindfulness, and / or prayer.

Religious beliefs in this guide are divided into four categories: Hard Belief Systems, Soft Belief Systems (traditional religion made to conform to mainstream social trends,) Personal Belief Systems, and Self-Image-Based Belief Systems.

Self-Image-Based Belief Systems: first decide what “type of person” we are and then “choose” whatever belief system that “type of person” would believe. This is the only belief system category we will openly condemn.

Step 2: Determine Your Ideological Tree

We define an ideology as a hypothesis about how the world works that you utilize to maximize your objective function.

Two people who believe that pleasing God is the only thing of intrinsic value may have two different and contradictory paths to pleasing God because they have different ideological trees.

Ideologies exist within a branching hierarchy — an ideological tree. It is worth expending mental energy on ensuring it is correct. Ideologies closer to the trunk take precedence if there is a conflict.

Almost as important as our objective function is the “standard of evidence” we choose when building our ideological tree.

If you hypothesize that socialism is the best political system for relieving suffering, what standard of information is required for you to change your mind?

Unlike objective functions, which are ultimately judgment calls, ideologies can be proven categorically wrong.

You must first establish what information you will consider as evidence.

What would it take, for example, to make you believe — or not believe — in ghosts?

There are seven types of evidence: Logical Consistency, Personal Experience, Personal Emotional Experience, Cultural Consensus, Expert Consensus, Scientific Method, Doctrine.

One of the strongest innate drives in the human mind is an addiction to not thinking and a tendency to choose the path of least resistance. Think through your ideological tree carefully.

Step 3: Determine Your Personal Identity

You get to choose who you are.

Most of our lives are lived in a sort of autopilot.

This autopilot is driven by the type of person we have allowed ourselves to become in response to the serendipitous events we have experienced in life.

Who you are now is a Franken-identity pieced together by experiences you have been randomly subjected to throughout your life.

To build your personal identity, you must take stock of your personal beliefs, strengths, and weaknesses to determine how they can best be leveraged in pursuit of your objective function.

Most choices humans make about how to interact with the world are made unconsciously on “autopilot.”

By changing your internal sense of self, which determines how you react to things, you can change your emotions.

It becomes easier to silence those parts of our brain that are on auto-pilot if we have moments of lucidity built into our weekly schedule.

Schedule a morning walk and talk with your significant other during which you discuss your goals for that day and that week.

Flux periods are times in our lives during which we can rewrite and adjust our core mental models.

Periods of flux (moments in which your internal model can be edited) can occur during: major life transitions, major social transitions, moments experiencing abnormally high levels of oxytocin release (falling in love), hitting rock bottom, getting high (meditation or drugs), artificial flux periods (sabbatical and the localized reboot.)

The localized reboot involves moving to a new neighborhood and building completely new routines, surroundings, and social networks.

If you do not choose to change yourself, the world will change you.

Five outside forces build our internal models when we do not take personal responsibility for their development: social conformity, cognitive dissonance, personal ego, reinforcement, and instruction.

Suppressing emotions is cognitively taxing and will prevent you from inhibiting other impulses.

We can control our emotional reaction by changing the story we are telling ourselves about what we are experiencing.Recontextualization is something humans naturally do when dealing with tragedy.

Focus on just how easy it would be for you to let go of whatever it is you are angry about. It is your choice to stay angry.

Positive overlay states can be created through simple “life hygiene.” This includes eating healthy food, exercising, meditating, maintaining good sleep hygiene, giving to charity, having meaningful work, maintaining regular social interaction with people you like, having a sense of purpose, knowing what you want from life.

Actions which do not feel good in the moment, such as caloric restriction, exercise, charitable giving, hard work, or social interaction, can ultimately have a very positive effect on your overlay state.

One of the best ways to maximize your overlay state is to feel there is purpose to your life.

Studies have backed the idea of happiness set point theory. The only thing that can affect the level of positive emotion you experience in your life as much as your self-image is your “default” overlay state.

Actions such as prolonged charitable activities and exercise will nudge your happiness threshold down (making it permanently easier to experience happiness).

We are horrendous at actively pursuing experiences that make us genuinely happy.

Instead of focusing on how happy an activity makes us on average, we focus more on specific memories in which we had a uniquely high level of positive emotion.

When you are on autopilot, you will naturally gravitate towards activities that reinforce your self-image.

For example, a person who sees themselves as an intellectual bohemian may go to a museum not because they enjoy the content of the museum, but because they enjoy doing an activity that reinforces the way they see themselves.

Content you post to social media will alter your memory of an event and cause you to believe you were happy doing something that actually was not much fun at all.

Experiences do not have to be something you are actually doing in the moment but can be completely in your imagination. We are also capable of experiencing things that are 100% imaginary.

It is almost comically easy to experience happiness whenever you want, even though only one third of Americans describe themselves as happy.

It is always going to be easier to create a sustained happy state by simply altering the self-image.

The simplest of these heuristics is to pursue as many novel experiences as possible.

If an important aspect of your objective function is maximizing the amount of “memory” generated, you would benefit from constantly moving to new cities, creating new homes, and reinventing who you are.

Unproductive Self-images: Failure or Helplessness as Part of Who You Are, External Locus of Control, Vice-Oriented, Lower Status Than That You Occupy, Perfectionist, Good Person, Protector of the Weak, Unsustainable, Rely Heavily on How others See You, Normalizing Negative Behavior, Lower-Ranking Ideological, False Alarms, Group Association, Combined Identities

This is one of the most important takeaways from this guide. Most people live their lives almost completely on autopilot. If you do not make a concerted effort to think critically, your default self-image-powered autopilot will dictate. Deliberately choose your self-image.

Self-image framework: Am I the type of person who would say yes when asked by a friend to climb Kilimanjaro?”

Objective function framework: Does climbing this mountain contribute to my objective function?

By changing the way you dress, you reinforce a change in your public and private persona. Getting dressed as your “new and improved” self helps to keep you in character.

An easy way to ensure change in our behavior is to create extremely simple rules that we do not allow ourselves to break, ever.

One of the best ways to persuade yourself to maintain a change you have made in your life is to persuade someone else to make the same change.

A token is a physical reminder you carry with you to remind you of some pledge you have made to yourself. Keep in your pocket every day can help remind you to focus on your goals.

One way to sustainably remove an unwanted habit is to associate it with something your core character despises (small mindedness, weakness, naltrexone.)

One of the most effective, but difficult to achieve, mechanisms is sustained social pressure and group accountability: conditioning, conformity, group identity, accountability.

There are factors that influence our behavior that are outside our control: genetic influencers, traumatic life events, addictions, priming influencers, and logical fallacies and biases.

Step 4: Determine Your Public Identity

You, dear reader, are a supporting character in the eyes of every human being you will meet.

Paint yourself as a compelling supporting character.

Your public and internal characters are not the same thing. Your public character is what other people use to categorize you within their heads

Most people lack the time to understand your true inner character.

Internal self-images come across as forgettable and bland in public.

As with box art advertising word processing software, you need to focus on what is different about you.

If you are just trying to maximize positive emotional states or believe the best way to impact the world is through operating invisibly, then the rest of this chapter will not apply much to you.

If you want to impact the world in a manner that leaves you personally remembered / recognized for your work, or should you wish to influence a large number of people through the avatar of your own person

Create the best supporting character you can. Our brains prefer that side characters be easy to categorize archetypes.

Choose a trope. Tropes fit snugly into our brains as bold, simple, and easy to understand.

Identify what, specifically, you want to achieve in life to maximize your objective function. Make a list of individuals who have achieved these roles in the past.

Look for similarities in the way they dress, speak, move, and ascend to their current roles.

Your new outfit and public personality act as a constant signal to yourself that you have made a conscious decision to change and improve.

Strong public personas must also contain flaws. By creating an “intentionally flawed persona,” you can choose what people determine is wrong with you.

Strong and obvious flaws combined with a powerful character grant a politician and his or her supporters a remarkable ability to shrug off attacks.

Maybe a flaw that you can’t seem to shake no matter what you do.

Maybe a flaw that seems terrible but that don’t disqualify you from achieving your goals. Eg. Bill Clinton’s serial philandering.

Craft these elements to match your public persona: clothing, haircut, hobbies, diet, drink, speech pattern, public mannerisms, goals, achievements (degrees, club memberships).

Does this depict a character that is simple, memorable, and easy to digest?

Is this character significantly different from the general population?

Is this character in line with my internal personality model?

Is this character in line with my ideologies?

Is this character the best possible tool to execute on my ideologies in a way that will maximize my objective function?

We all know of people with friends who do nothing but hold them back, enable their bad habits, or emotionally tear them down.

Managing friendships intentionally will always be superior to allowing friendships to form and fade.

BONUS STEP: CHOOSING A CULTURE

Culture can influence your autopilot behavior.

A family’s religious culture can be fine-tuned over generations, helping members of each generation optimize as people.

Culture is best transmitted through traditions and media. We modified existing holidays and created a few of our own.

FINAL WORDS

Everyone knows Socrates’ adage “the unexamined life is not worth living,” but almost no one is ever seriously encouraged to examine their life.

You have the power to choose to be anyone you want to be.

The authors’ personal objective functions are to increase the efficacy of humanity’s collective mental substrate: open to new ideas, letting the best idea win.

The Big Idea: Managing communications and making decisions effectively, in good times and bad, are two critical elements of a board dynamic. Proactively picking the best board members is like assembling the members of a band—the music can be awesome, if done right.

Ch 1 Introduction

• Form a board early in the life of your company, regardless of how it’s financed.
• Boards should not controlled by the founder, the CEO, of the largest shareholder. They must represent all stakeholders.
• A great board member is a superb coach and mentor.
• Success results from the entrepreneur. Failure belongs to the board. Be careful not to create a dysfunctional board.

Ch 2 What is a board?

• Good boards invite legal counsel to join meetings.
• Functionally, the CEO works for the board.
• Legally, board members have a fiduciary duty to shareholders. Duty of care. Duty of loyalty. Duty of confidentiality. Duty of disclosure.
• The board chair (aka lead director) runs meetings and recruits/manages the board members. Sometimes, the CEO is also the board chair.
• When the company and the board grow larger, the following three committees are often formed: audit, compensation, and nominating.
• Functions of the board: ensure survival, establish financial controls, develop shareholder reporting guidelines, CEO performance reviews.

Ch 3 Creating your board

• The CEO sets the annual plan and the board approves it. The CEO sets compensation for the next layer of management and the board approves it.
• The board can fire and replace the CEO.
• Shareholder rights are defined in the articles of incorporation. Board members have fiduciary duties to all shareholders.
• The CEO is almost always a member of the board.
• Key attributes of a healthy board: trust, self-awareness, judgement.
• A perfect early stage board would be the company CEO, an investor, and three other CEOs.
• Key attributes of a great board member: bold mindset, entrepreneurial experience, domain expertise.
• Key attributes according to Return Path CEO: They are prepared and keep commitments. They speak their minds. They build independent relationships. They are resource rich. They are strategically engaged but operationally distant.
• Investor directors are a necessary evil. Independent directors are often the most valuable members of the board.
• Roles for an independent director: CEO coach/therapist, board mediator, sounding board, go-to advisor when things are not going well.
• Some boards have an executive chair. Often the executive chair is the founder, the largest non-investor shareholder, and a part or full-time employee. Eg. Reid Hoffman at LinkedIn. An executive chair should be advisory, not operational.
• Companies often grant board observer seats to later investors. Strategic investors often receive board seats, which they sometimes prefer for reduce legal liability.
• A good startup attorney should be included in board meetings and board activity, though rarely taking a formal board seat.

Ch 4 Recruiting board members

• The ideal board member’s skill set depends on the stage of the company.
• Possible skill sets to consider: customer development, product development, business model development, team building, fundraising.
• Traits you always want in a board member: high integrity, high IQ, high EQ.
• Andreessen Horowitz partner Scott Weiss list of board member traits: experience, sharp opinion, responsive, make a real contribution.
• Create a list of ideal candidates, including aspirational.
• Identify three potential board members who could change the trajectory of the company. Create a guerrilla marketing campaign to connect to them.
• Interview many people, always face-to-face, and usually many times for the finalists.
• Remember that asking someone to join your board is a big honor, so don’t be shy about cold-calling. Many successful businesspeople want to give back and mentor.
• Interview many people, check references, have finalists attend a board meeting, have no fear of rejecting potential board members.
• A good person to have on a board is someone with deep understanding of your target customer.
• A good person to have is someone who complements the CEOs strengths and weaknesses. Yin to the CEO’s yang.

Ch 5 The formal structure of the board

• Have good articles of incorporation and bylaws.
• During the financing process, a term sheet often proposes the board structure, formalized in the shareholder rights agreement.
• VC limited partners typically expect 20+ return over 10 years. VC will require a board seat to protect their interests, even though they are legally bound to act in the interest of all shareholders.
• Remember that a VC needs big wins. A VC often will spend more time with their winners than their losers.

Ch 6 Aligning your board

• Take the time to understand why each investor decided to invest and what milestones they expect to see.
• A good board member will be operationally distant but can help guide operations when needed.
• Although it will be impossible meet all individual’s communication preferences, it’s good to ask to accommodate most.
• You should never pay a VC to sit on your board. It’s part of the VC job.
• Outside board members are paid 0.25 to 1.0 percent as stock options, vesting over 2-4 years.
• Until your company is profitable, don’t use cash as compensation.
• Create a good board package for new member orientation.
• General advice: avoid board meetings becoming status updates, avoid tactical discussions, seek strategic advice, an outsider CEO can rarely match a founder CEO insight into the business.

Ch 7 Is an advisory board useful?

• One VC says: advisory boards are useless, but advisors themselves are very valuable to a startup.
• While a formal board is responsible to the shareholders, an advisory board is responsible to the CEO and founders.
• As a CEO, the board is not your friend. The board is your boss. Choose wisely.
• While you traditionally compensate advisers by giving them stock, I suggest you ask them to match any grant with an equal investment in the company—so they have “skin in the game.”
• An advisory board is a great farm team for potential outside board members.
• Brad says, I encourage all entrepreneurs to add at least one outside director early in the life of the company.
• A typical early-stage board configuration is two founders, two VCs, and one outside director.
• Steve says don’t add a board member until after you raise a VC round.
• An advisory board is a great way to “try before you buy.”
• Advisors should invest some cash and have some skin in the game, even if just $10k.
• There are five types of advisors you should consider: technical (product help), business (strategy), customer (marketing strategy), industry (domain expertise), sales.

Ch 8 The actual board meeting

• A typical board meeting runs from one to four hours. The CEO providing an update on the business.The chief financial officer (CFO) provides a financial update. Various VPs present. After the updates, the board tackles substantive issues, typically covering one to three big issues.
• At the minimum you should have one meeting a quarter. Most startups have meetings much more frequently, sometimes as often as once a month.
• Publish the meeting agenda in advance of the meeting.
• Rather than get caught up in the day-to-day details of the business, try to use your board to help you address key strategic challenges.
• Give your board members enough time to read the board materials.
• Have dinner (or something) the night before or after the board meeting. It’s important to build relationship among board members.
• While speed and efficiency are the obvious advantages of a call, the challenges include dropped calls, lack of engagement, or rapport.
• When done right, videoconferencing is remarkably effective and almost as good as being there.
• To prevent getting bullied by a board, ‘I will seek your advice but I’ll make the decisions. If you’re unhappy with my performance, you can fire me.’
• Learn some meeting tactics to deal with overbearing board members. A good board chair should also get involved.
• There’s a lot of value in including your executive team in the board meeting.
• Board meetings should always end with an executive session (board members only), then another session without the CEO or any executives, then a private meeting between the lead director and the CEO.
• Ask for help. Board members can quickly become frustrated when critical issues such as a low cash position, poor market adoption, or endless changes in strategy are ignored.
• It is really important that a CEO gets in the discipline of developing strong metrics, measuring these regularly and sharing these with an outside party in an objective manner.

Ch 9 Motions and votes

• Minutes from board meetings should be taken.
• Board meetings are governed by a parliamentary procedure called Robert’s Rules of Order.
• The agenda should be defined and published in advance.
• Make sure that your company’s attorney or outside counsel comes to the board meetings. In addition to recording the minutes, he can advise the board on any specific legal issues and serve as a business advisor.
• Board members can present motions or request them to be put on the agenda. These motions are proposals for the entire board to act upon.
• The bylaws of a company define how motions are presented and decided upon, so make sure you understand how this works for the board you are on.
• It is essential for any entrepreneur to understand the procedure by which a motion is proposed, voted on, adopted, or debated.
• Generally, minutes are brief, factual statements that state the resolutions and outcomes.
• It is important to maintain accuracy and timeliness of these corporate records since they are a layer of formal documentation around the company.
• Address the formal items, especially any matters that require votes, towards the start of the meeting, instead of at the end.
• All super important issues should be lobbied and agreed before board meetings.
• By law, one needs to create minutes to prove there was a legally held board meeting. Many lawyers feel that less detail is better than overly detailed minutes.
• In litigation situations where a board was accused of not paying proper attention to a company’s situation, the simple minutes are often enough to show that the board had appropriately discussed the issue.
• Besides taking official votes at board meetings, the board may also act by unanimous written consent.

Ch 10 Legal challenges

• If the directors as a whole aren’t careful, their behavior, especially in difficult situations, can result in litigation.
• If a board is going to be sued by outside shareholders, it’s often for one of two things: breach of duty or self-dealing.
• Ask if the board had all the necessary information. Duty of care.
• Ask if the board made the decision with reasonable belief that these actions are in the best interests of the company. Duty of loyalty.
• Self-dealing, simply defined as “sitting on both sides of the table,” occurs when a board member enriches himself at the cost of the company.
• Examples of self-dealing: The controlling shareholders loan money to the company and then foreclose soon after. A VC suggests another of his portfolio company’s performs services for another portfolio company.
• By documenting major decisions, you can avoid the “he said, she said” dynamic.
• Make sure you get formal approvals from your board.
• If the transaction is a major one, get an outside expert.

Ch 11 Managing Ongoing Expectations

• Responsibility for managing expectations around communication often falls to the CEO or the lead director.
• It’s important to remember that the CEO runs the show.
• The only real operating decision that a board ever makes is to fire the CEO.
• The best startup CEOs have a gift—they are natural and are sincere and dedicated, which makes them compelling. Further, the best startup CEOs know what they know and know what they don’t know.
• There’s no substitute for a CEO’s being completely honest with his board.
• It’s imperative that a CEO avoids “managing” his board. By “managing “I mean controlling and spinning the information that is passed to the board
• Be serious about preparing a board package and disseminating information early.
• It’s a useful cliché that there should never be a surprise at a board meeting,
• Good boards expect that the board meeting happens at the board meeting and not in private phone calls with each director.
• Good CEOs are clear about what they need help with and making specific requests to board members for their help.
• Good board members often do not care about the trivial things.
• The best CEOs are ones who step up the communication when things are difficult. Boards are composed of very smart people; they’re big boys and girls, and they can handle the truth. One tactic is to overcommunicate bad news.
• No new information at board meetings.
• A CEO should not negotiate a round of financing, a sale of the company, or an acquisition of another company by himself. Many of your investors will have more negotiating experience than you and should be resources for helping you.
• For a startup, a working board is best.
• Over time and as the company evolves to a substantially larger company, a working board should morph into a reporting board, which focuses on governance, liability, and regulatory matters.
• A good board will challenge assumptions, question key issues, and dig deep into the data.
• A good working board “works” for the CEO.
• Yes, a board can hire and fire the CEO. Outside of that, every CEO should view their board as working for them.
• What should a CEO expect? Public and private support. Availability. Strategic advice. Contacts and relationships. Governance. Balance (and harmony).
• Many VCs overreach with their pattern matching across different portfolio companies.
• A VC should be able to help recruit candidates both through the VC’s network but also help to close the candidates that the companies identify themselves.
• Board members’ social capital is most helpful in three situations: financing, sales, and recruiting.
• Make sure to politely remind investors to run intros by you before sending them out.
• Praise and recognition will help you get a bit more out of your VCs.
• Ask your board members to provide leads for candidates for key positions.
• An individual board member may comfortably settle into the role of emotional confidante for the CEO.

Ch 12 Trying New Things

• Feel free to experiment with different aspects of your board communication,
• Founders/CEO should invest one hour a week providing advisers and investors with “continuous information access” by blogging
• For CEOs, the best way to learn about being a board member is to be an outside director for another company.

Ch 13 Communication Conflicts

• As human beings, emotions play an equal, or even dominant role in our decision making. if you find yourself in a situation where the decisions of the board don’t add up, know that it’s not always logic at work.
• During the negotiation process, VCs who invest together might collude to negotiate a better deal for themselves. Address this directly.
• Our behavior changes, at times dramatically, when we are in groups. Group dynamics can decrease the quality of decisions.
• Sometimes it’s bureaucracy, where decisions are made via the lowest common denominator approach. No one gets fired, but nothing ever gets done.
• Other times, we subconsciously gravitate toward people who look like us, who agree with or compliment us, or are physically attractive. These people can disproportionately influence others.
• If your VC firm invested in a competitor, there is no ideal answer for this other than being direct about the concern. If the VC offers to leave your board, seriously consider it.
• If a board member ends up on the board of a competitor, this director should recuse himself from discussions that could be damaging to either company.
• A walking dead VC partner refers to a partner who still has a business card of his venture firm, but is either on his way out of the firm or has been neutered at his firm. You may see the VC becoming erratic, disinterested, or disruptive.
• A walking dead VC is the situation where the entire VC firm realizes that it won’t be raising another fund. Expect no more funding and limited motivation. Address the situation directly and clearly.
• Some board members end up in a situation with management team members where there is fundamental mistrust and conflict. Like most conflicts, it’s best addressed directly.

Ch 14 CEO Transitions

• The board really makes only one operational decision: hiring and firing the CEO.
• One of the most common situations for a CEO firing is when growth of the company stalls. When growth slows, the best CEOs deal with it directly.
• Remember the three things Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson says a CEO is responsible for: (1) creating and communicating the vision and strategy; (2) recruiting, hiring, and retaining; and (3) cash in the bank.
• Do you want to make money or run a company? If you care about control, just bootstrap your business. Relinquishing control comes with the VC territory.
• Why boards fire CEOs: the CEO is a control freak; the CEO is strategically challenged; the CEO does not scale; it’s time for change; a stronger CEO becomes available.
• Establish annual metrics of CEO performance
• The best CEOs attract fantastic people. However, CEOs who are unable to delegate attract mediocre people.
• The board should offer warning signs to alert the CEO of lack of performance or team issues.
• A successful transition path is the CEO becomes executive chairman, staying actively engaged with the business in a non-decision-making role.
• Board members need to be eliminated if they fail to perform basic duties, are unable or unwilling to help with meaningful inputs, or create disharmony and angst.
• Getting rid of your entire board may sound like a good idea especially during a dark moment when you are particularly frustrated with your board, but it’s highly unlikely you will be able to pull this off.

Ch 15 Financings

• The board must approve formal resolutions associated with the financing.
• it’s critical to have an experienced lawyer
• When an existing investor leads a round, especially when that investor also has a board seat, there is potential for conflict.
• If an existing investor leads a down round, the board needs to be extra sensitive to conflicts. Do a rights offering to all shareholders.
• A common mistake of first-time CEOs is to expect that once they get a VC on board, they will have an easier time of raising money in the future. This is rarely true.
• Many have expectations that their VC will magically open doors to additional capital and the process will be smooth and easy. Unfortunately, it rarely happens.

Ch 16 Selling a Company

• When the founders want to sell, it’s time to sell the company.
• At the beginning of any M&A transaction, it’s likely that the two parties (buyer and seller) will enter into a confidentiality agreement.
• A signed term sheet will often include a no-shop agreement.
• The board member has a fiduciary duty to the company. At the same time, a VC has a fiduciary duty to his limited partners.
• As a CEO, if you see any of your board members tangled up in their own conflicts, try to enlist your lead director, your lawyer, or an outside director
• A great lawyer is deeply involved in the transaction, helping negotiate the specific terms
• There are potential conflicts everywhere.
• Balancing the flow of information. There always needs to be a balance between too much and not enough communication,
• Board members have differing levels of experience in the deal process.
• Keep the process moving. As a general matter, deals have predictable, natural rhythms.
• The lawyer’s demeanor and communication style matter. In most deals, the lawyer is the frontline communicator and negotiator.
• Acquihires are popular in downside cases as a way to sell a company “for something” in order to get a graceful exit.
• In some cases, companies are sold for less than their liquidation preferences, resulting in all of the consideration in the transaction going to preferred investors and none going to common shareholders and option holders. In these downside cases, existing management and employees often get nothing unless a specific amount of the consideration is “carved out” by the board, usually between 5 percent and 20 percent.
• The board must consider who will be the ongoing shareholder representative, to deal with all the issues that arise between the buyer and the seller after the transaction.
• Several years ago, we decided never to be shareholder reps again, as we see no upside in taking on this responsibility.

Ch 17 Going Public

• As you march toward an IPO, the board responsibilities take on another level of formality.
• You really want to build a collaborative, high-trust, transparent board before you go public.
• the relationship between board members and the CEO will become more formalized.
• The process of going public is a complex one that can take 6 to 12 months.
• As you begin the process of becoming a public company, you should have at least three committees: compensation, audit, and nominating.
• IPOs have a special type of confidentiality called a quiet period.
• After a company goes public, board members will be deemed insiders. They will be subject to the same confidentiality and stock trading rules of any other executives in the company.
• Some VCs like to serve on public-company boards; others, such as Brad, don’t.

Ch 18 Going Out of Business

• While cash is certainly tight at this point in time, investing some of the remaining cash in strong legal counsel and following their guidance is a wise long-term move.
• When a company begins running low on cash, the board must determine whether the company is in the zone of insolvency.
• When a company is either in or getting close to the zone of insolvency, it’s imperative that the board is meeting often.
• Some states impose a fiduciary duty to all “stakeholders,” not just shareholders at this point. This means that the board owes fiduciary duties to any party with a financial interest in the company, which includes all creditors and employees.
• While certainly not a legal duty, the creditors, in practice, are taking priority over the shareholders.
• Generally, reputable VCs will prioritize creditors and employees above their own self-interests in this situation.
• Normally, board members don’t run the risk of personal liability as long as they comply with their fiduciary duties.
• If board members resign or approve “fraudulent transfers” (for example, paying shareholders dividends) under such circumstances, they are liable for breaching their duties
• Chapter 11 bankruptcies are not “going out of business” bankruptcies.
• Chapter 7 bankruptcies are the “going out of business” type.
• In general, a much preferable wind-down option to a Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy is an assignment for the benefit of creditors, also known as an ABC.

OVERVIEW

• Of the 28 million firms in the US, only 0.4% every reach $10mm in revenue and only 17,000 companies ever reach $50mm.
• 4 keys to scaling: the right people, a truly differentiated strategy, flawless execution, plenty of cash
• 3 barriers to scaling: lack of leadership to delegate and predict, lack of infrastructure to handle complexities, lack of marketing to attract customers and talent
• People: establish a handful of rules, repeat yourself a lot, act consistently with those rules, define core values
• Strategy: offer something that matters to customers, offer something different from competitors
• Execution: set a handful of priorities, gather data daily and review weekly, set a meeting rhythm to keep everyone in the loop
• Long-term: pick a BHAG aligned with core values and purpose, set up routines and habits to eventually achieve the BHAG
• #1 functional barrier to scaling up is the lack of an effective marketing department to attract customers, talent, and capital.

PEOPLE

• Leadership is prediction, delegation, and repetition.
• Leader’s main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
• One Page Personal Plan (OPPP) is for leaders to reflect on their personal goals.
• Functional Accountability Chart (FACe) clarifies the people who are accountable for scaling the business.
• Process Accountability Chart (PACe) lists the processes, and people accountable, that keep the business running.
• Divide big teams into smaller teams. No team should be so big that it can’t be fed with two pizzas.
• There must be one and only one person accountable for a team or task. Accountability here doesn’t mean responsibility or authority; it means accountable for tracking performance.
• It takes time to hire and absorb an outside senior leader into the company. Never do this more often than once every six to nine months, unless absolutely required to keep up with growth.
• Select leaders who: don’t need to be regularly managed, and regularly wow the team with their insights and output.
• Be aware that the strength of the CEO often becomes the weakness of the organization. A strong marketing CEO often leads to a company with a weak marketing team.
• The CEO’s KPI should not be profit because that’s a lagging indicator. A better KPI is how many of the people (in the FACe) are hitting their KPI’s.
• Good executives introduce themselves by stating their title. Great executives introduce themselves by stating what they are accountable for in their company.
• Matrix organizations (vs hierarchical organizations) are tricky and require expertise to run.
• The first company in any industry to fully embrace Lean methodology will often dominate.
• One of the most important KPIs for processes is cycle time (time to complete or deliver something.)
• Before searching for talent, create a job scorecard instead of a job description.
• Teams need to be well-rounded, but people can be specialists or unique.
• Hire based on alignment with the core values that underpin your culture.
• Don’t just place a job post, create a guerilla marketing campaign to find talent.
• Aim to make it onto a Best Places to Work local list.
• Use the interview method from Who by Geoff Smart and Tomgrading by Brad Smart.
• A Topgrading interview should last three to four hours and is a vigorous affair.
• Be creative when testing for cultural fit.
• The best way to select people is to have them work for you for several weeks before you hire them.
• People join companies. They leave managers. You need a system to develop middle managers.
• Hire fewer people, but pay them more.
• Give recognition, and show appreciation.
• Set clear expectations, and give employees a clear line of sight. KPIs, Priorities, Critical Number.
• Don’t demotivate; dehassle, instead.
• Help people play to their strengths.
• Don’t copy somebody else’s compensation system. Design one aligned with your core values.
• The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
• It’s impossible to do great work if you don’t feel that somebody cares and appreciates what you do.
• It’s okay to structure compensation differently based on the person.
• Nothing is more frustrating for A Players than having to work with B and C Players. Only hire A Players.
• Think of your team as your direct supports, not your direct reports.
• Ask your employees what tasks they find draining and then eliminate/automate/delegate.
• Scaling up requires both visionary leaders and great managers.
• Set up an internal learning academy to encourage reading and growth.
• Investment in people is the single biggest predictor of a company’s competitiveness.
• Invest in a thoughtful onboarding process for new employees. Too often, it’s more waterboarding than onboarding.
• Zappos gives new employees a four-week orientation to reinforce the company culture.
• Get rid of the term “manager” and replace it with “coach.”
• All employees should have a weekly or month one-on-one coaching session. KPIs, Priorities, Critical Numbers, Core Values.
• People get bored eventually and stop growing, so make sure they get exposure to different experiences.
• Managing people is difficult because people are complex. It’s easy to get caught up in the fight for results and forget about the complex human beings needed to produce them.
• Name the department something like Talent or People Development, but definitely not Human Resources.

STRATEGY

• To scale, a company needs a clear and differentiated strategy, supported by a strong core culture that can deliver on the brand promise.
• Deep strategy work takes time. Senior leadership needs to work on it a little bit every week, free from day-to-day firefighting.
• In chess, you need to think 5 moves ahead. In business, you only need to think one move ahead of the competition, but consistently.
• Vision Summary Worksheet: Core Values, Purpose, Brand Promise, Short-term and Long-term Strategic Priorities
• SWT Worksheet: Strengths, Weaknesses, Trends
• One Page Strategic Plan Worksheet: People and Process
• Core Values are the rules that define the company’s culture and personality.
• Purpose answer the question, “Why?” Why does what we do matter to customers or the world?
• Mission == Purpose
• Values == Values
• Vision (not a fant) = Values + Purpose + BHAG
• Take time to understand your core competencies (and core weaknesses.)
• Collect stories from employees that embody your core values and purpose.
• Emphasize your core values and purpose during recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding.
• Live your core values every day and repeat yourself often.
• This “soft stuff” really does matter in the long-run.
• Create a 3-5 member strategy council that meets once a discuss strategy.
• 7 Strata of Strategy: Words You Own, Sandbox and Brand Promises, Brand Promise Guarantee, One-Phrase Strategy, Differentiating Activities, X-Factor, Profit per X and BHAG
• Words You Own: your brand needs to be associated with one or two words
• Sandbox and Brand Promises: Who/Where are your customers? What are you selling them? What are your three brand promises? How do you measure your ability to deliver on the brand promise?
• Brand Promise Guarantee: What guarantee do you offer that you will deliver on the brand promise?
• One-Phrase Strategy: What’s the key lever that drives profitability and guides product design? Eg. IKEA’s flat pack furniture, Apple’s closed architecture. Great brands don’t try to please everybody.
• Differentiating Activities: What are the 3-5 activities that your company does differently from the competition.
• X-Factor: What’s the single most important competitive advantage you have over the competitors?
• One Page Strategic Plan Worksheet is a summary of core values, purpose, BHAG, SWT, KPIs, Critical Number, Priorities.
• Ask employees what activities should the company Start/Stop/Keep?

EXECUTION

• Execution is: Priorities, Data, and Meeting Rhythm
• Execution is about implementing the Rockefeller Habits Checklist
• 1. The executive team is healthy and aligned.
• 2. Everyone is aligned with the #1 thing that needs to be accomplished this quarter to move the company forward.
• 3. Communication rhythm is established and information moves through the organization accurately and quickly.
• 4. Every facet of the organization has a person assigned with accountability for ensuring goals are met.
• 5. Ongoing employee input is collected to identify obstacles and opportunities.
• 6. Reporting and analysis of customer feedback data is as frequent and accurate as financial data.
• 7. Core Values and Purpose are alive in the organization.
• 8. Employees can articulate the following key components of the company’s strategy accurately: BHAG, core customers, 3 brand promises, elevator pitch.
• 9. All employees can answer quantitatively whether they had a good day or week.
• 10. The company’s plans and performance are visible to everyone.
• The leader’s main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
• He who chases two rabbits catches neither.
• Require all leaders and managers to read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team every year.
• Always work to identify the current bottleneck. Scaling up is all about eliminating constraints.
• Netflix turned data into a secret weapon.
• Wal-mart executives are famous for spending most of the week immersed in the market.
• Balance quantitative and qualitative data collection efforts.
• Talk to employees regularly. Start/Stop/Keep conversations. Ask about how to increase revenue, lower costs, or make things easier/better for customers or employees.
• Hold middle management responsible for responding to and implementing employee feedback.
• All executives and middle managers should talk to one customer each week.
• Discuss employee and customer insights during the executive team’s weekly huddle.
• NPS is the preferred way to measure customer satisfaction.
• Everyone should have a KPI and a handful of key priorities.
• All executives and middle managers should have a coach or peer coach.
• Top performing companies have well-run daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual meetings.
• The monthly meeting is a key routine for developing middle managers into mini-CEOs, freeing up executives’ time.
• Consider walk-and-talks to improve thinking.
• When everyone is meeting daily in a daily huddle, things get communicated quickly and accurately.
• Daily: 5-15 min huddle to update everyone.
• Weekly: 60-90 min discussion to review progress on quarterly priorities, discuss market intelligence.
• Monthly: half or full day to cover one or two big issues and transfer DNA to middle managers.
• Quarterly and Annually: one to three day meeting to update Growth Tools and set next quarterly or annual theme.

CASH

• Understand your company’s cash conversion cycle.
• Three ways to improve cash flow: shorten cycle times, eliminate mistakes, change the business model.
• The #2 weakness of growth companies is accounting.
• At 15% pre-tax profit, a business is in great shape.
• Gross margin is the most powerful indicator of a successful company.
• Four Forces of Cash Flow: plan for taxes, manage debt, save two months of operating expenses in cash, pay dividends
• Your return on net operating assets is a measure of your strategy.
• Four drivers of returns: profitability, working capital management, noncurrent asset management, cash flow
• Seven financial levers: price, volume, COGS, operating expenses, accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable

READING LIST

• Anti-fragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
• Lean Startup by Eric Ries
• Willful Blindness by Margaret Hefferman
• Multipliers by Liz Wiseman
• Great by Choice by Jim Collins
• Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick M. Lencioni
• Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet
• Relationship Marketing by Regis McKenna
• Confessions of a Pricing Man by Hermann Simon
• Buyer Personas by Adele Revella
• The Billionaire Who Wasn’t by Conor O’Clery
• The Business of Happiness by Ted Leonsis
• The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist
• Key Performance Indicators by Bernard Marr
• KPILibrary.com
• The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack
• How the Might Fall by Jim Collins
• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
• Who by Geoff Smart
• First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham
• Change to Strange by Daniel Cable
• Topgrading by Brad Smart
• Drive by Daniel Pink
• Peak by Chip Conley
• Now, Discover Your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton
• Trombone Player Wanted by Marcus Buckingham
• Good Company by Laurie Bassi
• Uncommon Service by Frances Frei
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
• The Weekly Coaching Conversation by Brian Souza
• Leadership and the One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard
• Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go by Beverly Kaye
• Hidden Champions by Hermann Simon
• Exponential Organizations by Salim Ismail
• Building Your Company’s Vision by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras
• Massively Transformative Purpose by Peter Diamandis
• Core Competence of a Corporation by Gary Hamel and CK Prahalad
• Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi
• The Inside Advantage by Robert Bloom
• How Companies Win by Rick Kash
• Turning Goals Into Results by Jim Collins
• What is Strategy by Michael Porter
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• The Balanced Scorecard by Robert Kaplan and David Norton
• Big Data by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger
• Unexpected Companies Produce Some of the Best CEOs (Danaher Business Systems)
• The Ultimate Question by Fred Reichheld
• Competing on Internet Time by Michael Cusumano
• How Fast Can Your Company Afford to Grow by Neil Churchill
• Intellectual Capital by Thomas Stewart

The Big Idea: Climate change is dangerous, but it is not an existential threat to humanity.

Industrialization, not environmental activism, will save the world’s ecosystems. Rich nations should do everything they can to help poor nations industrialize.

Death rates and economic damage from extreme weather events have dropped by 80 to 90 percent during the last four decades, largely thanks to industrialization and increased wealth.

Climate change is real, but it’s not today’s most important problem. Humanity is already adapting to higher sea levels and temperatures.

The whales were not saved by Greenpeace. They were saved by entrepreneurs who discovered cheaper substitutes for whale oil.

Climate change has not caused an increase in the frequency or intensity of floods, droughts, hurricanes and tornadoes.

Plastics don’t linger for thousands of years in the ocean. They are broken down by sunlight.

Fossil fuel companies often fund environmental groups and lobbyists to fight against nuclear energy plants.

Windmills and solar power are too expensive and unreliable as a primary source of power for people in poor countries. They cause too much environmental damage because they require vast areas of land and harm flora and fauna.

Carbon emissions decline as people move from wood to coal to natural gas, and then, ultimately, to nuclear energy.

Environmentalism offers emotional relief and spiritual satisfaction, giving people a sense of purpose and transcendence. It has become a substitute religion for many. It spreads anxiety and depression without meeting the deeper psychological, existential, and spiritual needs its ostensibly secular devotees seek.

Skip the summaries of the IPCC findings and, instead, read the full reports, which are less alarmist in its conclusions.

The Big Idea: Historical is shaped by cycles. Each cycle (saeculum) lasts one human lifetime, about 80-90 years. Patterns repeat because generations are shaped by history as children and young adults and, in turn, they shape history as middle aged adults and elders. America is in the middle of the winter season (Fourth Turning) of the cycle and can expect another decade of turmoil before the spring season returns in the early 2030’s.

A generation is shaped by the season in which they come of age. Below are the four generations of a saeculum and their age during each season (or turning) of the saeculum.

The United States has experienced four cycles, or saecula, since the early 1700’s. Below are those four saecula and the four generational archetypes that passed through each of the four seasons (see table above) of each saeculum.

What can we expect during the current Crisis? Crises are periods marked by major secular upheaval, when society focuses on reorganizing the outer world of institutions and public behavior. The last three Crisis periods in the United States have brought us The Revolutionary War, The Civil War, and World War II. The current Crisis starts with the Great Financial Crisis in 2008 and should continue until 2032, give or take a few years.

Introduction

Why we do things, our purpose, is at least as important as how we do things

The most important skills, if you want to lead organizations, are the ability to speak and write.

Find that sweet spot where your own passions and ideas intersect with the real needs of real people.

Successful people are almost always optimists.

I believe in studying the best in every business. There‘s a lot to learn from Wal-Mart, Southwest, Dell, and many other well-run enterprises. Success is based not on thinking like today‘s winner, but on thinking differently, thinking in original and creative ways.

Great businesses succeed because of their leaders‘ ability to see things that others do not see.

Key 1: Observing and understanding other people and how their needs, desires, interests, values, and tastes change over time

Key 2: Serving other people by making their lives better

Key 3: Developing a business style that expresses your own dreams and passions even as it serves the needs of others

What entrepreneurial leaders do have in common is a burning desire to build something new and worthwhile.

Part One: Exploration, the Foundation for Finding Your Own Path to Success

The leader of a successful enterprise is, above all, curious.

People who build and lead great enterprises are generally students of the past as well as the future.

The first step in gaining wisdom is to sort out the meaningful from the meaningless.

No matter what your position or your enterprise, the more you understand your context, the more successful you‘ll be.

If you can think of your business as a game, you can begin to understand it as a whole. Even if you don‘t think through a complete game, at least diagram your business on a piece of paper.

Old ideas come back again and again.

In economics, the most interesting problems are often at the small end (why did I buy this book from Barnes & Noble instead of Amazon?) and the big end (how can we save the Brazilian rainforests?).

Common chains to keep an eye out for include these: Time – from past to future; Age – from old to young; Path – from the source to the destination; Price – from low to high; Hierarchy – from chief to subordinate, from king to vassal; Classification – from the specific to the general; Quality – from low to high.

Great minds break through definitions that aren‘t right.

A famous essay by Theodore Levitt, “Marketing Myopia,” tells how the railroads lost out to the truckers because they saw themselves as railroads rather than as freight transportation companies.

eBay is not an Internet company; it is a wonderful clearinghouse for collectibles and other items

Technology will by definition move on. Brands and customer relationships, however, have proven more durable over the years.

It is just as bad to lie to ourselves about the definition of our own enterprise. If you are an insurance company but call yourself a financial services company, you‘d better not be just an insurance company.

The secret of success is seeing something nobody else sees.

The basic rule of discovery is that nothing has ever been discovered by looking in the same place and in the same way as everyone else.

Only by thinking about the unexpected, by looking for the undone thing, can we really jump the track and create a whole new vision.

In a bookstore or a library, find the section you are least likely to visit.

Contact some living famous person in an area that interests you. Many are more accessible than you might think.

We should try to travel as far as we can in every direction — into our own souls, backward through time, and physically to neighboring towns, states, and countries.

Read books from every shelf in your local bookstore or library. Go to another industry‘s convention.

At the extreme, it has become an intellectual vogue to believe that things are bad and are getting worse. Arthur Herman has written a fascinating book, The Idea of Decline in Western History, which tells the intellectual and philosophical history of the doomsayers.

Unconventional thinking can and should be applied to every area of your business.

I‘m always looking for lessons I can transplant from one industry to another.

If you can get out of the channel everyone else is in and look at things from a different angle, you can often gain fresh insights.

If you can get to the point where half of you is asking, “Why?” and half of you is saying “Why not?” then you may achieve new insights.

One of the most important things is understanding the future, being a visionary in some way large or small. But understanding the future first and foremost comes from looking at the past.

The best teachers are also scholars, always learning.

To succeed, you must be obsessed with observing others and serving them. You must go out of your way to see things as others see them, to put yourself in other people‘s shoes.

Knowing what to change and what not to change are at the core of leadership.

The most powerful tool for accomplishing the impossible is the ability to look at a problem — call it a challenge — in different ways.

Even a cursory understanding of the way some other profession sees the world can be invaluable. The worldview of an accountant is a powerful one. So is that of a marketing professional

A great way to sense the viewpoint of others is to read a book of interviews with workers. The classic is Studs Terkel‘s Working. Even broader and more current is Gig.

But many of the great scientists were people who also studied history and literature, music and psychology.

The visionary leader has the capacity to understand many perspectives, to see the world from many views.

Sergio Zyman, former marketing master of Coca-Cola and author of The End of Marketing as We Know It, points out that marketing success is really about studying people.

Can you hold a conversation with an over-the-road-trucker, a member of the Communist Party, an evangelical Christian, or a hip-hop artist?

The more we can see things the way others see them — our work associates, our community, and (most important) our customers — the more we can build a comprehensive view of what matters.

You can learn as much from the local workers in one hour at a breakfast counter as you can learn in a year of nice meals at the trendiest restaurant with your best friends. Great politicians know this. So do great leaders of enterprise.

The credo of the learning person is ―there is no one on earth that I cannot learn something from – the rich, the poor; the bosses, the workers; the young, the old – no one.

If you wish to start an enterprise but have not yet figured out exactly what you want to do, the most important thought in your mind should be a simple one: Find a need and fill it.

Look for things that are not working, look for problems, for opportunities. Look at things that are working, that are popular. Think about how to take their ideas and adapt them to other industries.

Find (and watch) real people having and talking about real problems. Get out of the strategy room and onto the battlefield.

In the worst-run industries lie opportunities where an innovator can succeed, and in the best-run industries are found the ways to do so.

Study cockroaches if you want to understand durability and adaptability. Study coyotes and turkey vultures.

One of the most common causes of failure is the inability of leaders to see the most important underlying trends – trends that emerge from the past to create the present and shape the future.

One of the most important developments for retailing and marketing since World War II has been the entry of women into the workforce.

Large, slow-moving trends are easy to miss. But missing them can spell the end of your enterprise.

The single most important trend for most of us, especially in the US, is the aging of the baby boom generation.

The years in which the members of this boom will reach particular stages of their lives are precisely predictable. People:


• Spend more time and money on hobbies and leisure pursuits in their fifties and beyond. 

• Give away more money in their sixties and beyond. 

• Gradually increase political participation, especially voting, from a very low level in their twenties to a peak in their seventies or even eighties. 

• Increase their power (corporate, community, political) through their fifties and possibly sixties. 

• Begin to establish second or retirement homes in their fifties and sixties. 

• Move into nursing homes and assisted living in their seventies and eighties. 

• Increase their concern with health and nutrition in their fifties and sixties. 

• Die in their seventies and eighties, supporting enterprises even with their last breath. 

  I believe the aging of the baby boom will result in dramatic expansion of four key industries: health, education, travel, and financial services.

Second, be careful not to confuse age-related trends with generation-related trends. Ask: “to what degree is this something that will pass as these people age, and to what degree is this going to stay with them for life?”

People will be healthier and live longer, maintaining more varied interests than the senior citizens of prior times.

We will see a significant rise in demand for college and other educational services by senior citizens.

This division of the world into young countries and aging countries will result in a newly defined “new world” (or “young world”) and “old world.”

The first and most significant component of this trend is the increasing Latinization of North America. By 2025, over 18% of the American population will be of Hispanic origin.

As time passes, we Americans become more diverse in our passions.

It takes more work to watch things that move slowly – clouds, demographics, long-term trends in industry, history, or culture.

One of the biggest risks in thinking about the past and the future is that we become “chronocentric” – that is, obsessed with our own era, considering it the most important or most dynamic time ever.

Unfortunately, most people in the world of business have little or no appreciation of the heritage of business history.

Any study of history and of changing consumer preferences indicates that many ideas of old recycle back to us.

Geography does matter. It matters more than ever. For we humans are still creatures of place. So geography is much more than a physical place. It is culture, history, ethnicity, way of life.

Although geography is a more important subject than it ever has been, our knowledge of geography has gotten worse—especially here in the US.

Canada is one of the world‘s largest and most powerful economies, and Mexico has the chance to become another.

An enterprise must be built with an awareness of what is going on in the world.

It‘s a worthwhile experience to spend time looking at the world through the eyes of a foreigner. The most effective way to do this is to go abroad.

Travel can be greatly enhanced by studying history, geography, and culture in books, but there is ultimately no substitute for walking the streets, eating the food, meeting the people—for being there.

Stereotypes are not by definition evil: they are natural, human tools we use to try to make sense of the world around us. Stereotypes change. Relying on stereotypes is dangerous

The “Pacific Century” is probably an American myth.

It’s pointless to speak of one Asia.

The nation to watch is China.

Malaysia and Singapore are nations of the future. I think of them as the Netherlands and Switzerland (successful smaller nations) of the future.

Europe probably has a lock on being the tourism center of the world.

The Middle East, North Africa, and the culture of Islam are much more complex than we may think.

The three nations with the greatest unrealized potential are Brazil, India, and Indonesia.

Throughout Latin America, the opportunities for culture, tourism, and commerce are enormous. As in Asia, some nations will be well led, while others will not.

Over the long term, the world – the whole world – is getting wealthier and wealthier.

Furthermore, even in the most prosperous nations, there continue to be pockets of poverty and deprivation. There will continue to be economic cycles, and in the downturns people living near the edge of poverty.

Compared with all the people who have lived before us, even the kings and queens, most of us live in unprecedented luxury, with unequalled options and choices.

As we become wealthier, will we lose the drive, the hustle, the dissatisfaction with the status quo that is an American hallmark?

Over the last twenty years, there has been a remarkable global spread of the practice of democracy.

In conjunction with the rise of democracy, we have seen the fall of communism in many nations. More such shifts can be expected.

The spread of universal education will continue.

The rise of technology and science will continue.

Increasing urbanization will continue.

The end of the farm and factory will continue. The single most significant trend in the history of the world‘s economies is our long, slow progress away from spending most of our time growing things and making things.

The rise of services means that we will have more and more freelance workers, more people selling their services rather than their skills on the assembly line. This means that more and more people will have the option of living where they want.

There are two great enemies to the gradual lifting of the peoples of the world through trade: isolationism and arrogance.

You don‘t have to be an Amazon.com or an e-wizard to succeed in the twenty-first century, you just have to care about your customers and your product and pay attention to the details.

Each nation, each state, each city, no matter how small or how large, has a personality – defining attributes that can be turned into competitive advantages.

If you want to see what an American city of the future may look like, visit Singapore or the capital of neighboring Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.

The most common mistake we make in thinking about technology is that we start with gadgets, rather than with people. Think people first. Insight comes more from studying people and their needs than it comes from studying the underlying science.

Our cities have always been the center of our commerce, of our dealings with each other. I would even go so far as to say that the city itself is the greatest of human enterprises.

Cities today are more important than ever before in world history. This is the result of two factors: (1) The long-term global rise of cities (urbanization); and (2) the recent improvement of inner-city quality.

New York is more important than any other single city on earth. I think there are three real contenders for the next capital of the world: Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore.

Today, there is no stronger long-term global industry than tourism. Those cities with a strong, lasting tourism base should be in a good position for the future. Thus, one great place to be is near a physical sight that is not going to move.

There are two cities that I love to visit that may surprise some readers: Las Vegas and Orlando.

One characteristic common to all great cities through history is effective civic leadership. That includes leadership by ordinary citizens.

Physical geography is still a very real factor. People are likely to continue to move away from cold winters, as air conditioning makes the world‘s warmer regions more livable. People like living in the mountains or near the sea when possible.

The rise of the service economy will let more people live wherever they want. Oceanfront and mountain view property will only rise in value. Physically attractive towns will prosper.

Boom cities will see growth spillover to nearby cities.

Medium-sized cities will likely continue to do well.

Selected smaller cities, with their lower crime rates, lower costs of living, and stable societies, will boom. For example, in the area around Austin, San Marcos, Bastrop, Kerrville and Fredericksburg will boom.

More and more of Colorado and the other mountain states will boom.

There will be more “wealth colonies” like Carmel, Santa Fe, and Naples.

The boom in Florida will eventually reach every nook and cranny in that state.

Cities with major universities and state governments will continue to have an advantage.

Cities serving tourists and retirees will continue to boom.

Some high-tech cities will go into decline as their technologies fade.

The Sunbelt (defined as an arc from Seattle to DC, reaching inland to include Denver and Nashville) will continue to attract people, while the cities of the Northeast struggle.

Part Two: Essence: The Power of Vision

The single most critical ingredient of enterprise success is having a clear vision.

Vision tells us why the enterprise exists. An enterprise without a clear purpose is a ship without a rudder, a train without a track.

Instead, your vision should reflect what you expect and hope your organization will become. Your vision is by definition a statement of ambition.

A great vision reflects your “core values.”

But above all else your vision must reflect what is unique about your enterprise, its personality and attitude. It will reflect what you believe is most important, why you believe the enterprise exists.

A vision bonds people together.

A vision inspires and motivates people to achieve more working together.

Nothing is a more powerful agent for attracting and keeping talented people than a clear vision, especially if the organization is living that vision and achieving its goals.

A vision is an anchor in hard times and times of change. It is what makes the difference between the flash in the pan and the enterprise that is going to last.

A vision is a potent competitive tool. A unique vision can differentiate you from competitors.

I believe that there are four primary attributes in successful enterprise visions: clear, consistent, unique, service-oriented.

One of the clearest visioned companies in the US is Southwest Airlines.

Some of the giant airlines tried to copy Southwest, but they thought the whole story was price, and missed the simple vision based on reliable, fun service.

Stick to your vision through thick and thin, through bad quarters and good.

The hardest part of building a great enterprise is knowing what to change and what not to change.

The part of an enterprise that does not change is the essence, the vision. Everything else, every aspect of the execution of the idea, every strategy and tactic, every product and every price, is subject to change.

A successful vision is unique, so that the enterprise has the chance to be the very best at something.

Don‘t lose too much sleep if the single best spot is already taken. Most auto races aren‘t won from the pole position.

Volvo has never in its history sold a car. Instead, Volvo has sold durability and safety.

It is also important to understand that each enterprise has a personality. Your vision must be valid, it must jive with what the customer (and everybody else) already knows about you. While they may not be popular at the big ad agencies, a little realism is always appreciated.

Saying an enterprise exists to make a profit is like saying automobiles exist to get good gas mileage. Automobiles exist to give us mobility, to allow us to move around.

The only valid reason to the existence of any enterprise, for profit or non, is to provide products or services to people.

The only rule is that customers always get what they want. It is just a matter of who gives it to them and when.

People want to do something that is worthwhile – nothing is more motivational than doing something that you think is worth doing. People need to know that their work matters.

At the best of enterprises, this sense of mission becomes almost a religion. Southwest Airlines, Nordstrom, and the Container Store are just a few of the other organizations where people behave as if they were on a mission of great importance, a mission based on service.

Most mission statements talk about serving the customer. But in fact, most companies make their decisions based on what accounting says they can do, what is the easiest procedure to train people in, what their systems allow them to do, what the lawyers tell them to do, or any of a thousand other ways of setting priorities. But the enterprises that survive and prosper the longest always start by asking, “what is best for our customers?”

We spend so much time and energy on attracting new customers, but often the most direct route to prosperity is by keeping our existing customers.

And yet virtually every great leader spends disproportionate amounts of their time with customers.

The reality is that brands and reputations are built very very slowly, one customer at a time, one transaction at a time, one experience at a time. All the ads in the world will not tell as many people about your enterprise as their friends and relatives will.

Building your business, serving people, depends first and foremost on paying attention to details.

What matters is the same as always: is knowing your customers, caring about their needs and desires, and working around the clock to anticipate and meet those needs and desires.

Everyone looks at Southwest and thinks the secret is low fares. They ignore the on-time record, the lack of lost bags. People first and foremost want safe, reliable air travel.

The most compelling explanation I ever heard of how to dream up businesses was also the first one I heard: find a need and fill it.

Categories of new enterprise formation:


• Copy an existing idea in a new geographical territory.
• Copy an existing idea from one industry to another.
• Chain it up. Many industries remain highly fragmented, dominated by independent companies.
• Brand an unbranded field.
• Split things into finer specialization. Sporting goods store => outdoor store, bicycle store, fishing store.
• Make a dramatic breakthrough in a business or improve the way things are done. Wal-Mart took the Kmart approach and further ―perfected‖ it. There is always room for improvement, in any business, if you watch it closely enough.
• Invent a whole new business. Federal Express came from Fred Smith‘s mind. WD-40 came out of nowhere. eBay came from even less. 

  Look for intersections means finding ways to combine two existing ideas.

Be cautious when asking customers for feedback on new ideas. When you come up with a whole new idea, there is no way someone else can visualize it like you can. Customers do not always consciously know what they want.

However, you can extrapolate what customers want based on their behavior.

Great enterprises usually do one thing, and do it very, very well. Over and over again. But as companies are driven to grow by managers and stockholders, they sometimes grow into strange dimensions and lose focus.

New competitors take market share from existing leaders by competing at a higher or lower price point, pioneering new technologies, differentiating by brand, or specializing in a niche of the larger market.

Part Three: Execution: Enterprises at Work

An entrepreneurial organization is resourceful, flexible, ever-adapting. By contrast, an institutional organization is built around rules and procedures. Most companies like to claim they are entrepreneurial in spirit; very few truly are. Entrepreneurs see opportunity when they see industries or companies that are rule-bound institutions.

I believe that one of the most common signs of corporate (and industry) illness is the merger between two giant companies. Size is the enemy of the customer. Size is the enemy of vision and culture. Size brings complexity. Size alone does not win. Size brings diseconomies of scale.

The benefits of vertical integration are usually a fantasy.

Mergers are always harder to pull off than people think. Mergers can be a powerful way to extend the geography of an enterprise – not cheaply or easily, but perhaps quickly. 

Innovative industries have high rates of experimentation and offer the consumer many options.

Companies touch customers most effectively through the establishment of a unique, differentiated identity – a brand. A brand name is not really meaningful if it has no strong connotation in the mind of the consumer. Brands can be especially durable if they really connect with the customer, if they have some emotional content.

Health, financial services, education, and travel will grow dramatically. Subcategories within those industries will become massive.

My nomination for today‘s best industry, the one that does its job most effectively, is the food and beverage distribution industry. In my opinion, furthest behind the curve is the consumer banking industry.

I believe today‘s financial-industry environment, with the lack of leadership on the part of the biggest companies, offers tremendous opportunities for new entrants and smaller competitors. As the baby boom ages and retires, the industry will only grow bigger.

By most measures – customer focus, lack of pointless mergers, innovation, diversity of options for the customer – the retailing industry scores high.

People are by nature social animals, and they want to be around each other. Most successful retail stores are, above all, social experiences. They engage their customers. The best etailers will realize this. Many will even open stores. If Sony, Apple, and Nike think they need stores to advertise their brands, so too may Yahoo!, AOL, and Amazon.

I believe Amazon’s greatest strength remains their understanding of their merchandise, their understanding of their customers, their ability to recommend merchandise, and their high service standards – not their use of the Net.

Most of the successful retailers of the future will smoothly integrate the Internet, the telephone, direct mail, and retail stores.

But customers‘ lives and experienced aren‘t organized around merchandise categories. Thus, it would seem logical for retailers to organize themselves in the same way their customers think – around themes.

There may be no industry with more exciting prospects in the entire world than healthcare.

In the future, wellness and prevention will be at the heart of healthcare.

Medicine is an industry that desperately needs to learn the art of service – to learn to focus on what it feels like to be a customer.

In a world where healthcare consumers are inundated with advice good and bad, those who provide unbiased, independent, reliable information will become key linchpins in the system.

Another industry whose prospects are enhanced by global aging is travel and tourism. As the baby boomer age, they will have more time and more money. In many cases, their desires for material goods will become sated and they will increasingly turn to experiences.

My major criticism of the airline business relates not to service but to the lack of personality and the weak branding that characterize most carriers. Wake up from a nap on a typical flight and tell me which airline you are on.

Lodging is a huge industry, with over $100 billion a year in revenue in the US alone. As global tourism booms, the future looks great.

As the travel industry grows dramatically in this century, we‘ll see whole new companies begun, and old ones remodeled, to offer customers new and more interesting choices. Business battles will not be won via mergers and cost controls alone. They will increasingly be won through differentiation, showmanship, entertainment, visual design, a sense of history, and skillful catering to market segments.

Entertainment, from video games to music, is a multi-billion-dollar business. And the global spread of the entertainment industry has barely begun.

The greater lasting value in media lies in content, not distribution pipelines. The greater value is in media companies, not in technology companies.

The twenty-first century is likely to see dramatic growth in the industries which were, in the twentieth century, known collectively as the non-profit sector. This growth will be particularly dramatic in education, museums, and the arts.

The fundamental qualities that lead to greatness at Southwest Airlines are the same ones that lead to greatness at Harvard, at Home Depot, at the Salvation Army, and at the Smithsonian Institution.

In both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, the board has the ultimate responsibility to set the organization‘s goals, select the management team, make sure that financial and other resources are managed responsibly and ethically, and that all the constituencies of the enterprise are well-served.

The American and foreign citizens and tourists who support cultural organizations are steadily growing healthier, longer- lived, and better educated, and they have more money in their pockets.

This growth in demand will be accompanied by two other big trends: the rise of philanthropy by an aging (and ultimately dying) population, and the increased availability of volunteer and leisure hours.

And, particularly in contrast with other non- profit enterprises, museums are great at differentiation – at branding. People around the world know and respect the great cultural brand names – the Museum of Modern Art, the San Diego Zoo, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Tanglewood summer music festival, the Prado, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Demographic factors will help spur the growth of education as well. Millions of retiring baby boomers will want to devote serious time and money to new activities and interests.

US higher education is in many ways a backward industry, plagued by economic inefficiency, lack of differentiation, and structural inertia.

There has been a dramatic rise of home schooling across the U.S.

America‘s middle class has fled the cities and headed to the suburbs to find better schools.

From an entrepreneurial viewpoint, the greatest opportunities in education are in the mass market. Giving a great education to large numbers of people is where the greatest opportunity lies for entrepreneurs, not in providing private schooling for the privileged.

But as an entrepreneur I have to say that the religion industry is not in the best of shape. While some faiths are growing in membership and attendance, many are in decline. Millions of people around the world are searching for meaning in their lives.

Of course, the single largest industry in the United States is our government. There are functions only government can provide, such as national defense. But in many other cases, the free market can do a better job.

Above all, government needs to become more creative, experimental, and customer-oriented. It‘s beginning to happen

Passion is at the heart of every great enterprise. Without passion, without heart, all the analysis and study in the world is for naught.

“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.” – Hal Borland

Persistence is the endurance to continue the journey. For building any enterprise is indeed a journey, often a long one.

It‘s a long march. You start out uncertain of your ability to generate any sales. In time, you make some sales, but you‘re not sure you can make any profits. Then you make some profits, but you‘re unsure of your ability to sustain them. You start out with nothing but unanswered questions. Then you proceed to answer them, one by one.

I can assure you that anyone who accomplishes things like this may appear shy, but he has a fire burning inside . . . a fire just as hot as the fire inside a person whose heat can be felt from fifty yards away. Some people just have their engines set on high, and entrepreneurs are among them.

Pessimists usually don‘t build anything. Why invest in a bleak future? Entrepreneurial optimists are not blind to the problems around them, but they see them as opportunities.

But history shows that being best is more important than being first. Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and IBM often have been followers – really excellent, and very profitable, followers.

If you manage your business based on what Wall Street tells you, you are probably going down a dead-end street. Don‘t listen to them. Listen to yourself and listen to your customers.

Passion and vision combine to give the entrepreneur strength and self-confidence.

Leadership is how passion and vision are translated into organizational success.

A CEO is really in charge of two crucial things: strategy and culture.

A common mistake made by those who fail is trying to do it all themselves. The sooner you develop organizational depth, the better. Developing strong people through coaching and teaching is critical to success, yet many entrepreneurs fail in these areas.

Leadership is about seeing what needs to be done and having the courage to do it. Management is about knowing how to fit together the details to make the vision real.

The Big Idea: New CEOs should take the time to learn about corporate governance.

Consider subscribing to “Directors & Boards”, “Agenda”, “Directorship”, or “Corporate Board Member”.

Terminology for the new CEO

1. Nonexecutive Chair: a chair who is an outside, independent board member
2. Executive Chair: lacks the independence from management, is sometimes the company’s outgoing CEO
3. Lead Director: outside, independent board member, chairs executive sessions, liaison between CEO and directors
4. Executive Sessions: required by SEC of public companies, board meets without CEO

Eight components of a high performing board

1. Board Composition: most important but not the only component
2. Board Leadership: chair needs to run an effective meeting, know who/when to call on members for balanced input
3. Board Information: don’t overlook the importance of well-organized board packets
4. Board Dynamics: meetings should be positive, productive, candid, vibrant, respectful
5. Board Agendas and Meetings: balance presentation and discussion 50/50, focus the agenda
6. Board<>Management Dynamics: candor and mutual respect, thought partner > audience
7. Board Committees: chair needs to run these meetings well, needs support from company executives
8. Board Processes: discussion of strategy, risk, succession planning

Traits of a high performing board:

1. CEO believes that board adds value (and can provide specifics).
2. Individual board members believe they add value (and can provide specifics).
3. Individual board members are always looking to improve.
4. Board meetings are open and vibrant.
5. Company achieves good results — financially, operationally, and strategically.
6. A great board should steer a company towards positive performance and value for shareholders. 

Board/CEO dynamics to avoid:

1. Imperial (CEO runs the company, board is filled with old buddies)
2. Entrenched (board maintains the status quo and resists change)
3. Hostile (no trust in either direction)

CEOs should not hesitate to discuss an emergency CEO succession plan, aka the hit-by-a-bus scenario.

CEOs should engage the board early in the strategy process, instead of presenting the final strategy in the board meeting.

Outside directors cannot engage effectively if they lack information. Find the gaps and help fill them.

SEC requires three committees for public companies:

1. Audit Committee: financial audit, risk oversight, financial controls.
2. Compensation: sets compensation for CEO and for board members.
3. Nominating/Governance Committee: board composition, recruitment, orientation, evaluation, exit.

Not required but common committees:

1. Strategy Committee
2. Finance Committee

Not as common committees:

1. Executive committees were more popular a decade ago. Useful in quick response crisis situations.

Recruit before you shoot: focus energy on expanding the board before expending energy pruning the board.

Avoid the trap of naming an individual during board expansion. Keep focused on skills and experience.

If you need to get rid of a boardroom bully or a constant contrarian, it’s the job of the Lead Director (or the Nonexecutive Chair) not the job of the CEO.

Director peer reviews are the preferred way to evaluate director performance. They are conducted with discretion by the Lead Director (or the Nonexecutive Chair).

Common pitfalls for CEOs to watch out for:

1. A failure to understand and address all eight components (above.)
2. Asking for greater openness between the board and the CEO but responding in a way that is defensive or critical. Cuts both ways.
3. Delegation of board changes that require leadership from the CEO. Eg. Board packets, board agendas.

Common trust-breakers

1. The Garden of Eden: everything is presented as positive and wonderful.
2. Only One Solution: only one solution presented or considered.
3. Heard It Through The Grapevine: directors should never learn about an important development by reading it in the morning newspaper.
4. Let Them Eat Cake: outwardly dismissive and disrespectful towards board members.

The Big Idea: Mastery is not a question of genetics or luck, but of following your natural inclinations and the deep desire that stirs you from within.

Introduction

• Masters practice harder and move faster through the learning process.
• Masters feel an intensity desire to learn and a deep connection to their field of study.
• Desire, patience, persistence, and confidence >> reasoning ability.

I: Discover Your Calling: The Life’s Task

• Your inner calling was probably clear to you during your childhood.
• Connect with your inclinations.
• View your path as a journey with twists and turns, rather than a straight line.
• Return to your origins; look back at your childhood interests.
• Occupy the perfect niche; choose an area that interests you; look for side paths that interest you, and continually move towards a narrower niche. Alternatively, blend two distinct areas of expertise that compliment each other.
• Avoid the false path; beware forces (fame, money, attention, status) pushing you away from your true path.
• Let go of the past; follow your calling and don’t be tied to a particular career or position.
• If you lose your way, make public your return to your path, so that it becomes a matter of shame and embarrassment to deviate from this new path.

II: Submit to Reality: The Ideal Apprenticeship

• After your formal education, comes The Apprenticeship.
• The goal of The Apprenticeship is simply to learn.
• Choose an Apprenticeship that offers the most opportunity to learn.
• 3 Stages of Apprenticeship: Deep Observation, Skills Acquisition, Experimentation
• Observe: observe the rules and procedures.
• Observe: do not make the mistake of imagining you must get attention, impress people, or prove yourself in this stage.
• Skills Acquisition: focus on practice and repetition.
• Skills Acquisition: reduce the skills to something simple and essential.
• Skills Acquisition: begin with one skill that you can master, and that serves as a foundation for acquiring others.
• Experimentation: in this stage, move to a more active mode of experimentation.
• Experimentation: exercise your problem solving skills by working with your hands and learning more about the inner workings of the machines and pieces of technology around you.
• Value learning over money.
• Read books and materials that go beyond what is required.
• When you enter a new environment, your task is to learn and absorb as much as possible.  For that purpose you must try to revert to a childlike feeling.
• Trust the process; push through the point of frustration and continue to practice.
• Move towards resistance and pain.
• Repeated failure will toughen your spirit and show you with absolute clarity how things must be done.
• Take the extra effort to learn how things are done, not just how they appear, and gain a deeper understanding and feeling for the whole.
• Through trial and error, find out what work suits you, and what doesn’t.  

III: Absorb the Master’s Power: The Mentor Dynamic

• The right mentors know where to focus your attention and how to challenge you. Their knowledge and experience become yours.
• During the Apprenticeship Phase you will need mentors whose authority you recognize and to whom you submit.
• The reason you require a mentor is simple: life is short; you have only so much time.
• You will want as much personal interaction with the mentor as possible.
• Choose the mentor according to your needs and inclinations.
• Choose a mentor who will give you tough love, reveal your strengths and weaknesses.
• Learn from your mentors, listen, but cultivate some distance by altering their advice to fit your own inclinations and style.

IV: See People as They Are: Social Intelligence

• Success attained without social intelligence is not true mastery, and will not last.
• Social intelligence means getting inside someone else’s world and seeing and accepting them as they are.
• Pay attention to tone of voice, the look in their eye, their body language.
• Initial impressions are often misleading.
• If you have a gift for a certain skill, make a point of displaying weakness in another area.
• If you have a rebellious streak, be careful not to display your difference too overtly.
• When you need something from someone, appeal to people’s self-interest, and get used to looking at the world through their eyes.
• Be prudent and keep your ideas close so they can’t be stolen. Secure credit in advance as part of teams working together.
• We like to think we are rational, but we are largely governed by our emotions.
• The root cause of passive aggression is human fear of direct confrontation.
• Be efficient, detail-oriented, and make what you write or present clear and easy to follow. This will show your care for the audience or public at large.
• People will judge you based on your outward appearance. Be aware of this and plan for it.
• See yourself as others see you. Seek opinions from those you trust about your behavior as well.
• Be tolerant of stupidity or incompetence in other people. It is simply part of life.

V: Awaken the Dimensional Mind: The Creative-Active

• As you accumulate skills, become increasingly bold and begin to experiment.
• If your work comes from a place deep within, its authenticity will be communicated.
• Let go of your need for comfort and security. Creative endeavors are by their nature uncertain.
• Keep a notebook with you at all times. The moment any idea or observation comes, you note it down.
• Observe things. Conduct thought experiments.
• Train your mind to look at things from multiple perspectives.
• Anomalies usually contain the richest information, so do not ignore or explain them away.
• It’s obvious to observe what is present, but don’t ignore what is absent.
• The emotions we experience at any time have an inordinate influence on how we perceive the world.
• Make creativity rather than comfort your goal, and continue to be bold.
• Like an athlete, enjoy practice, push past your limits, and resist the easy way out.
• Love learning for its own sake.
• Read from many different fields, and look for interesting implications and anomalies in others that have implications in your own field.
• Whatever you are creating or designing, you must test and use it yourself.
• Embrace slowness as a virtue
• If we are not careful, however, we get locked into seeing every problem the same way.
• What really makes successful entrepreneurs is their willingness to adapt their idea and take advantage of possibilities they had not first imagined.
• Fluidity of mind is the essential entrepreneurial trait. The other essential entrepreneurial trait is supreme tenacity.
• Mastery takes years of practice, endless routines, hours of doubt, and tenacious overcoming of obstacles.

VI: Fuse the Intuitive with the Rational: Mastery

• Time x Focus = Mastery.
• Masters internalize all the individual parts, and gain an intuitive feel for the whole.
• Cultivate a greater memory capacity. Intellectually stimulating hobbies can serve this purpose.
• Mastery is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge.
• The ability to connect deeply to your environment is the most primal and in many ways the most powerful form of mastery.
• To achieve mastery, play to your strengths instead of struggling to overcome your weaknesses.
• Transform yourself through practice.
• The person who has the wider, more global perspective will be able to think beyond the moment and control the overall dynamic through careful strategizing.
• Get inside the mind of others so you can understand their perspective.
• Build connections between different fields and ideas.

The Big Idea: The West has achieved global dominance thanks to competition, science, rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and work ethic. In recent decades, the West has lost its monopoly over these and the balance of power has begun to shift back towards other civilizations.

Why did the West, for the past five hundred years, become more economically successful and politically powerful than other civilizations?

1. Competition: Political instability forced small European states to constantly compete and innovate. Asia was ruled by stable imperial monopolies that led to less economic growth and innovation.

2. Science: The West broke free from the shackles of superstition and dogma, leading to a scientific revolution that would change the world. While the East had initially been technologically superior, they failed to keep pace with the West’s scientific advancements.

3. The Rule of Law: Property rights, consistently enforced, provided the basis for individual freedoms and economic success. By contrast, non-Western societies were often manipulated by rulers at their discretion.

4. Modern Medicine: The application of scientific methods to health led to groundbreaking discoveries, extended life spans, and improved quality of life in the West. This change led to population growth, which further spurred economic development.

5. Consumerism: The West developed a culture that valued and demanded innovation, quality, and, above all, abundance. The rise of consumer society fueled industry, creating a positive feedback loop that generated wealth and drove technological progress.

6. Work Ethic: Protestantism, with its emphasis on hard work, thrift, and a “calling,” led to the spirit of capitalism. This cultural mindset further contributed to the West’s economic advantage.

Western societies may be losing their edge, partly due to complacency and internal challenges such as fiscal imbalance, failing educational systems, and societal decay. While Eastern powers, especially China, have started to catch up, their long-term potential might be constrained by the absence of rule of law and limited political freedoms.

The Big Idea: From the 11th to the 15th century, popes and Christian nobles attempted, mostly unsuccessfully, to take back Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. The first crusades was the most successful, establishing, for a time, 4 Latin Christian kingdoms within the Holy Land.

The Big Idea: As a leader, it’s your job to design and build your organization’s culture. A well-designed culture can overcome a poor product or service in the long-term, but not in the short-term. (Product-market fit probably matters more than culture for a startup trying to survive past the early stages.)

The culture you design should reflect you who you are, not who you aspire to be.

Make sure your culture supports your strategy.

Develop virtues (eg. Samurai honor code.)

Be inclusive (eg. Genghis Khan.)

Model and reinforce the culture (eg. Toussaint Louverture.)

Never stop improving your culture (eg. Shaka Senghor.)

Chapter 1: The Long Game

Longevity has two components; how long you live and how well you live.

The four main chronic diseases of aging (aka Four Horsemen) are: heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, metabolic disorder (diabetes.)

A single, preventative measure (not smoking) saves more lives than any late stage intervention that medicine has devised.

By the time medicine intervenes, it’s often too late.

The typical cholesterol panel is misleading and oversimplified to the point of uselessness.

Protein is more important than carbs as we age.

Exercise is the most potent longevity drug.

Chapter 2: Medicine 3.0

The evolution of medicine, Medicine 3.0, will place a far greater emphasis on prevention than treatment.

Medicine 3.0 will consider the patient as a unique individual.

Medicine 3.0 will consider risk differently, including the risk of doing nothing.

Medicine 3.0 will pay far more attention to maintaining quality of life.

Chapter 3: Objective, Strategy, and Tactics

What is our goal? To delay death and to get the most out of the extra years.

What is our strategy? To understand the Four Horsemen and how they lead to decline.

What are our tactics? Exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional health, and exogenous molecules (drugs, hormones, supplements.)

Randomized clinical trials are of limited use in longevity because they work best for simple interventions, over a short time period.

Centenarian studies are very useful for learning about longevity, even though the data is observational.

Other sources of useful longevity information: animal models, human studies, cellular mechanisms, Mendelian randomization.

Chapter 4: Centenarians

Genetics is a strong predictor of centenarian longevity.

Centenarians not only live longer, but tend to be healthier.

The path to reaching 100 is likely a lot of small interventions, compounded over time.

We must focus on delaying the onset of chronic disease, not extending the duration of the disease.

Chapter 5: Hunger and Health

Studies show that extreme caloric restriction improves health and longevity in animals but not necessarily in humans.

Reduction of nutrients does trigger a group of pathways that enhance a cell’s stress resistance and metabolic efficiency.

Fasting activates AMPK, which stimulates new mitochondria and inhibits the activity of mTOR, activating autophagy.

Chapter 6: Modern Diets

42% of Americans are obese.

It’s not actually obesity that drives bad health outcomes, it’s metabolic dysfunction (high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low HDL, large waist circumference, high glucose.)

Excess calories enters into fat tissue, then blood, then liver, then muscle, then heart and pancreas.

Visceral fat cells secrete inflammatory cytokines which increase risk of cancer and heart disease.

Everyone interested in longevity should get a DEXA scan annually to monitor their visceral fat.

When you have high fasting blood glucose, it means your cells are becoming insulin resistant.

Insulin resistance leads to obesity, atherosclerosis, and potentially cancer.

Fructose also drives high blood pressure and fat gain, unless consumed as part of a whole fruit.

It’s far better to intervene before HbA1C rises above 6.5 and the patient already has diabetes. Look out for liver enzymes and signs of NAFLD. Look out for elevated lipids.

Most importantly, look out for elevated insulin, in the form of an oral glucose test.

Chapter 7: Heart Disease

Dietary cholesterol doesn’t impact cholesterol blood levels.

ApoB particles are the strongest predictor of cardiovascular disease.

One third of 16-20 yo in one study already have actual atherosclerotic plaques in their coronary arteries.

HDL is poorly understood but it serves some protective function. Drugs that raise HDL don’t lower risk of cardiovascular disease.

CT angiogram is preferred over standard calcium heart scan because it can detect soft plaque.

Lp(a) is another marker highly predictive of heart disease, but only needs to be tested once.

Get apoB and LDL-C as low as possible, even if it requires drugs such as statins.

A ketogenic diet will improve lipids for most people, but will actually worsen apoB in about 1/3 of people.

Medicine 2.0 starts treating heart disease much too late, based on 10 year risk calculations. We should start taking aggressive preventative measure when patients are in their 40s, if not earlier.

Statins: Crestor (rosuvastatin), sometimes paired with Zetia (ezetimibe) to get apoB to 20 or 30 mg/dL. Also, Vascepa, is a helpful prescription grade fish oil.

Chapter 8: Cancer

Cancer is second leading cause of death in the U.S., behind heart disease.

By the time most cancer is detected, it’s been progressing for years, if not decades.

Metastatic cancers can be slowed by chemo, but they usually come back.

We need to detect cancers as early as possible.

12-13 percent of all cancer is attributable to obesity.

Chronic inflammation creates an environment that could induce cells to become cancerous.

Promising new treatments for cancers: fasting, immunotherapy, adoptive cell therapy.

It’s always best to detect cancer early. We already screen for five cancers: lung, breast, prostate, colorectal, and cervical.

Medicine 3.0 will encourage more aggressive screening (MRI, liquid biopsies, ultrasound) while understanding the result will be false positives, which leads to more screening.

Chapter 9: Neurogenerative Diseases

People with one or two APOE e4 allele have an increased risk of Alzheimer’s.

Neurodegenerative diseases have no cure, but we can try and prevent them.

Amyloid beta plaques are probably not necessary nor sufficient to cause Alzheimer’s.

Lewy bodies accumulate in Lewy body dementia and in Parkinson’s.

Alzheimer’s is twice as common in women versus men. The opposite is true for Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s.

Dementia can go unnoticed for years, as patients learn how to counteract.

Exercise with complex movements is the only intervention shown to delay Parkinson’s.

We still don’t know exactly what causes Alzheimer’s, but theories include: vascular disease and impaired glucose metabolism.

To prevent or delay Alzheimer’s: steady cardio to improve mitochondrial efficiency, strength training, sleep, brushing/flossing, sauna.

Chapter 10: Thinking Tactically

Our genes no longer match our environment.

Exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional health, exogenous molecules.

Focus on effective tactics, driven by logic and data.

Eg. the most common way to be killed, as a driver, is by another car coming from the left, resulting in a T-bone crash. Always look left, even if you have the green light.

Exercise and nutrition are the most complex and impactful domains.

Most people will need to lose fat and gain muscle.

Chapter 11: Exercise

Exercise is the most powerful longevity drug.

Peak aerobic fitness, measured by VO2 max, is the most powerful marker for longevity.

In one study, muscle strength was more important than aerobic fitness.

Don’t specialize in one physical activity. Be a centenarian decathlete and cross-train.

Jack LaLanne kept doing his usual rigorous daily workout until his death at age ninety-six. He built and maintained a high level of fitness throughout his life.

Chapter 12: Centenarian Olympics

Training for centenarian olympics has three key dimensions: cardio, strength, and stability. You must train all three.

Your cardio training should be mostly in zone 2, to optimize mitochondrial health and keep fat accumulation in check.

Zone 2 is 70-80% of your max heart rate, or a pace where you can still hold a conversation. Do at least three hours per week of zone 2, or four 45-minute sessions.

VO2 max is a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease. Aim to get your VO2 max in the top 2%.

Train your VO2 max with a 4/4/4 protocol. 4 minutes at all out effort, 4 minutes of easy effort, repeated 4 times.

Aging muscle preferentially loses type 2 (fast-twitch) muscles. Strength training is required to prevent muscle loss.

Strength is critical for injury prevention and recovery. The one year mortality from a hip or femur fracture at age 65 is about one-third.

Rucking combines VO2 max training and ability to carry medium-heavy loads long distances.

Strength train to build: grip strength, concentric/eccentric loading, pulling, hip hinging.

Chapter 13: Stability

More than 27% of Americans over 45yo have chronic pain.

Stability is about injury prevention, not just core strength.

Infant movement patterns are ideal. As adults, primary sitting in chairs, we unlearn these movement patterns.

Stability training comes before strength or cardio training.

Resources: https://rehabps.com and https://posturalrestoration.com.

Stability training begins with the breath. Spend some time on breath training.

Stability training continues with the feet. Practice “toe yoga”, try lifting barefoot or in minimal shoes.

Stability training continues with the spine and shoulders, which can be trained with yoga.

Stability training culminates in the hands. Train your grip using carries.

Chapter 14: Nutrition 3.0

Diet and nutrition are poorly understood by science. Epidemiological studies are usually useless. Clinical trials are usually flawed.

Extreme tribalism prevails among diet cults, such as vegan, carnivore, paleo, low-carb.

Old cliches are probably true: if your grandmother would not recognize it, you probably shouldn’t eat it; avoid the front and middle of the store where junk food and processed food live; plants are good; animal protein is ok; most of us will do well as omnivores.

The Mediterranean diet is one of the best diets, based on well-designed clinical trials.

Chapter 15: Nutritional Biochemistry

Avoid the Standard American Diet at all costs.

Excess calories end up as excess fat.

Animal studies show that extreme calorie restriction extends life, but human lives are more complex. Plus, there are undesireable consequences to undernourishment.

Quality of food matters as much as quantity of food.

Everyone’s metabolism is different, so there is no best diet for everyone.

Keto diets can make a dramatic impact on biomarkers for some people, but can fail for others.

Alcohol is a net negative for longevity, but moderate drinking is probably fine if it encourages social connection.

Continuous glucose monitors (CGM) are useful to understand your body’s response to carbohydrates and specific foods and personalize your diet.

Almost everyone is not eating enough protein. Active people should aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Older people might even require more protein.

Plant protein is okay, but less bioavailable than animal protein, so you’ll need even more.

Try to boost monounsaturated fat intake (50%+) and lower saturated fat intake (15%).

Boost omega-3, EPA and DHA, through fish and fish oil.

The data on time-restricted eating is inconclusive. Just remember to get enough protein and maintain lean muscle mass.

The best nutrition plan is one we can sustain. Don’t be dogmatic.

First, avoid the Standard American Diet. Then, prioritize exercise over nutrition.

Chapter 16: Sleep

Poor sleep is linked to diabetes, Alzheimer’s, stress, heart disease.

Sleep is essential. Good sleep is restorative. Deep sleep cleanses the brain.

Ambien, Lunesta, etc, promote a sleep like state of unconsciousness that is not sleep.

Ways to improve sleep: CPAP (sleep apnea), darkness, quiet, avoid screens at night, keep bedroom cool (65), cut back on alcohol, no coffee after mid-day, exercise, reduce stress, meditation, no late night snacks.

Chapter 17: Emotional Health

Take care of your emotional health by healing past trauma.

Read The Road to Character by David Brook’s.

Consider MDMA and psilocybin, administered by a skilled guide.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is also an effective approach.

Epilogue

Don’t get obsessed with biohacks, in order to live to 120, as if longevity was another engineering problem to be solved and optimized.

Longevity is meaningless if your life sucks.

As you work to extend your life, remember that we still must live in the present.

The Big Idea: live long and prosper by eating well, exercising regularly, and sleeping well.

Chapter 1

Aging is a treatable disease.

Functional medicine looks at the body as an ecosystem; diseases are complex but often have identical root causes. Conventional medicine treats the body as a collection of organ; often only symptoms are treated, not root causes.

Lessons from the Blue Zones of Sardinia, Italy and Ikaria, Greece. Live close to nature. Love deeply. Eat simple foods. Move naturally. Laugh and rest.

The average person spends 20 percent of their life in poor health, suffering from chronic disease.

90% of the $4.1 trillion spent in the United States annually is spent on preventable chronic diseases.

Yamanaka factors might one day be able to reverse aging in humans, by creating induced pluripotent stem cells on command.

Chapter 2

Most diseases of aging are caused by imbalances in one of the body’s seven physiological systems.

Functional medicine takes a more long-term, root-cause-centric, and holistic approach to chronic diseases. Conventional medicine takes a more short-term, symptom-centric, and reductive approach to chronic diseases.

Chapter 3

Your genes are not your destiny. Genes load the gun. Habits and environment pull the trigger.

Chapter 4

Over tens of thousands of years, human physiology evolved in an environment of scarcity. The abundance of food is new to us.

The single most important recommendation in the book is to reduce or eliminate sugar and refined starch from your diet.

Do your best to avoid DNA damage by eliminating processed foods, limiting toxins and radiation.

Lengthen your telomeres by following the Young Forever plan.

Clean up damaged protein by autophagy induced by fasting.

Senolytics (phytochemicals from plants) help clean up inflammation causing zombie cells (senescent cells.)

Activate mitochondrial repair systems by following the Young Forever program.

Eliminate inflammation caused by a leaky gut by following the Young Forever program.

Reduce inflammation by eating well, avoiding inflammatory chemical, and sleeping well.

Chapter 5

Longevity is about eliminating or reducing harmful components (ultraprocessed diet, toxins, infections, microbiome imbalances, gut-damaging medication, allergens, loneliness) and increasing or adding beneficial components (whole foods, fiber, phytonutrients, optimal hormone levels, clean air and water, exercise, sleep, love, purpose)

Type 2 diabetes was rare in early 1800’s.

Our ancient ancestors lived without environmental toxins and were constantly moving (foraging, hunting, avoiding predators, seeking shelters.)

Exercise is a simple activity that can reverse most of the hallmarks of aging.

Blue Zones are famous for their tightly knit fabric of social connections.

Unresolved trauma can accelerate aging. Consider therapy, yoga, psychedelic therapy.

Sleep is when the glymphatic system cleans up metabolic waste that accumulates in the brain.

Bad bacteria in the gut can lead to a leaky gut, which can lead to inflammation and chronic disease. Beware of too much gluten.

Chemical, carcinogens, and heavy metals contribute to many chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, autoimmunity, infertility, autism, and more.

Chapter 6

The best type of protein is animal protein.

Diet is the biggest driver of cardiovascular disease.

Low testosterone is associated with sleep apnea.

Get your phytochemicals from colorful plant foods.

Chapter 7

For a deeper dive, read The Pegan Diet or Food.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Avoid gluten, starch, sugar, additives, acid blockers, NSAIDs.

Collagen helps your microbiome. Consume bone broth and Japanese kudzu.

Get omega-3 from small wild fish.

Stick to extra virgin olive oil.

Anti-inflammatory: turmeric, ginger, rosemary, mushrooms.

Stay away from trans fats and oxidized oils, including frying oil.

Good: ketones, coconut oil and MCT oil.

Plenty of water, garlic, onions, curcumin, green tea for detoxification.

Eliminate sugar and starch as much as possible.

Too many raw kale smoothies can trigger low thyroid.

Ketogenic diets help improve cognition in Alzheimer’s patients.

Belly fat can cause high blood pressure.

Carbs are not actually essential nutrients.

Animal protein is the best protein.

Phytochemicals are highest in wild plants. Buy as organic as possible.

We used to think antioxidants in plants drove health, but now we know it’s phytochemicals.

Urolithin A, found in pomegranates, berries, and walnut, is another promising longevity molecule.

Older people who exercise should consume 1.5 to 2.0 g protein per kg of body weight. If you underconsume protein, the protein is used for energy instead of making muscle.

Consume protein within an hour after exercise.

Vegans cannot get this volume of protein from a plant-based diets, so need should supplement with protein and with BCAAs.

Chapter 8

Diet and exercise are the key to longevity.

Chapter 9

Find a sense of purpose and meaning.

Read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker to learn how important sleep is.

Altruism, being of service, is one of the most powerful roads to meaning and happiness.

Chapter 10

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Tools recommended: time-restricted eating, fasting, HIIT, strength training, cold plunges, saunas, breath work, hypoxia, hyperbaric oxygen, ozone therapy, red light therapy, phytochemicals.

Chapter 11

Advanced longevity tools: stem cells, exosomes, peptides, natural killer cells, plasmaphoresis, regenerative medicine clinics.

Chapter 12

1. Young Forever Quizzes
2. Baseline panel.
3. Wearable (Oura, Whoop, Fitbit, Apple Watch.)
4. Test for biological age and consider advanced screening through Galieri, Prenuvo, and Cleerly.
5. Young Forever Diet.
6. Young Forever Supplements.
7. Healthy Aging Shakes
8. Young Forever Lifestyle (exercise, sleep, mind, body, spirit, hormesis.)
9. Advanced longevity tools and regenerative medicine.

Chapter 13

Get a comprehensive longevity blood panel.

Conduct genetic testing.

Get a wearable (Oura, Whoop, Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin).

Consider a continuous blood glucose monitor.

Take the Young Forever Quizzes

Get a DEXA scan to assess bone density and body composition.

MyMycoLab tests for IgE and IgG antibodies to mold toxins.

MRI for fatty liver.

Heavy metal testing.

Nutrient deficiency tests.

DNA methylation tests with TruDiagnostic.

Inflammation test with iAge.

Total body MRI with Prenuvo.

Heart scan with Cleerly.

Chapter 14

Let food be your medicine.

More: plants, healthy fats, nuts, seeds, regenerative agriculture, organic, pasture raised eggs, low mercury fish, lentils or other beans, whole grains, extra virgin olive oil

Good, but less: fruits, meat, GMO, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics treated food

Less: whole grain flour, gluten, sugar, seed oils, grain oils, dairy

Phytochemicals are superfoods: spinach, kale, turnip greens, dandelion greens, collards, mustard greens, tomatoes, watermelon, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, papaya, cruciferous vegetables, broccoli, broccoli sprouts, blueberries, raspberries, purple potatoes, blackberries, cherries, currants, black tea, green tea, oolong, white tea, dark chocolate, onion, dill, arugula, watercress, black-eyed peas, chili peppers, strawberries, apples, parsley, celery, oranges, thyme, oregano, basil, lemons, soybeans, tofu, natto, legumes, coffee, red grapes, red wine, mushrooms, olives, olive oil, algae, fatty fish, salmon, sardines, fish oil, krill oil, MCT oil, coconut oil

Time restricted eating (16 hour fast.)

Intermittent fasting (3 day fast.)

Ketogenic diet

Healthy Aging Shake: whey protein, mitopure, creatine, gut food, mushroom powder, macadamia milk, berries.

Chapter 15

Core: D3, omega-3, multivitamin and mineral, homocysteine supreme, magnesium glycinate/citrate, probiotics

Advanced: NMN or NR, fisetin, quercetin, pterostilbene (sirtuin activator), curcumin, EGCG from green tea, glucoraphanin (sulfurophane precursor), urolithin A

Sarcopenia: BCAA, creatine

Optional: RegenerLife, Acetyl-L-carnitine, N-acetylcysteine, PQQ, alpha-lipoic acid

Not yet recommended for longevity: metformin, rapamycin

Chapter 16

Cardio: HIIT, optimize VO2 max, walk, treadmill desk, sports, group exercise

Strength: 3 days a week, TB12, any strength training program

Flexibility and mobility: yoga

Mind and spirit: meditation, breath work, walks in nature, daily journal, make time for friends

Sleep: consistent bed time, dark quiet bedroom, electronic devices away from bed, no blue light before bed, avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed, no late meals, no late exercise, hot Epsom salt bath, aromatherapy bath with lavendar oil, massage, stretch, herbal therapies, magnesium citrate/glycinate, melatonin, meditation, binaural beats relaxation

Purpose: growth mindset, vision statement, altruism, passions, community, friends, reading, self-love, self-care

Cardio, strength, flexibility

Hot and cold therapy

Phytochemicals aka plant hormesis

Advanced: hyberbaric oxygen, hypoxia, ozone, red light

Chapter 17

Personalized recommendations for imbalances identified in the Young Forever Quizzes

Chapter 18

Diet: Pegan diet, Healthy Aging Shakes after exercise

Exercise: 5 days cardio (including HIIT), 3 days strength with TB12, 2 days yoga

Sleep: 8 hours a night, magnesium glycinate, eyeshades, ear plugs, Oura ring, Eight Sleep

Stress: daily meditation, daily breath work, nature, friends, family, monthly massage

Hormesis: time restricted eating, sauna, cold plunge, red light therapy, blue blocker glasses, ozone therapy weekly, hyperbaric oxygen annually, Cellgym hypoxia training

Supplements: Vitamin D Supreme, Dutch Harbor Omega, Pure Encapsulations multi, Homocysteine Supreme, Magnesium glycinate, Gut Food, NMN, Fisetin, HTB Rejuvenate, Pterostilbene, Curcumin with Bioprene, Epigallocatechin gallate, OncoPLEX, Mitopure, Amino Acid Complex by Thorne, Creatine

Advanced: peptides, stem cells, exosomes, natural killer cells, plasmaphoresis

The Big Idea: Prioritize and focus on what brings happiness, instead of caring about things that don’t matter. Inspired by Stoicism and Buddhism.

There is no such thing as permanent happiness. Happiness is the process of solving problems and challenges.

Make decisions based on values and reason, not emotions.

When you believe you’re special, you feel entitled to feeling good about yourself, which limits your personal development.

Don’t strive to have a life free of pain and suffering. Instead, choose what kind of pain and suffering is meaningful to you.

Avoid destructive values such as: pleasure, material success, always being right, always being positive.

Choose values that are about yourself, because you can’t control what other people think or do.

Adopt these five constructive values instead:

1. Take responsibility for everything that happens in your life, whether it’s your fault or not. Something may not be your fault, but you are responsible for how you respond.
2. Admit that you could be wrong.
3. Embrace failure, because failure is an opportunity to learn.
4. Practice rejection. Get good at rejecting things that are counter to your values.
5. Reflect on your mortality to keep things in perspective.

The Big Idea: When done right, angel investing in technology is the best path to rapid wealth creation. It’s high risk, but high reward.

• Jason invests in one startup for every one hundred he looks at.
• To be a successful investor, you need some combination of money, time, network, and experience.
• As an angel investor, you need to be in Silicon Valley.
• Founders and angels prefer to sell too early. VCs prefer to swing for the fences.
• For angels, secondary sales are a wise way to dollar cost average your returns.
• Angel List syndicates are the easiest way to start.
• Syndicate investing tips: syndicate is led by someone with at least one unicorn, syndicate is based in Silicon Valley, startup has at least two founders, startup already has product-market fit, startup has 6 months of continuous user growth or revenue growth, startup has notable investors, startup will have 18+ months runway after funding
• Start by investing $2,500 in ten startups through Angel List syndicates.
• Try to add more value (introductions, advice) to the startup than other angels.
• Write a deal memo for every investment explaining why you’re investing, the risks, and the likely path to a successful outcome.
• Only invest in startups if you would buy stock in the founders themselves.
• Meet with the prospective founders.
• The best deals are not on AngelList or in an incubator.
• Create a spreadsheet of the hundreds of coinvestors in your syndicate deals.
• Set up two meetings a day over the next thirty days to connect with other angels (see book for email templates.)
• Meet with twenty-five founders seeking funding introduced to you by an angel investor.
• (See book on a system for how to track these opportunities.)
• Allocate three hours for each pitch meeting (one hour for prep, one hour for meeting, one hour for postmortem.)
• Professionals use a pen and notebook (and an office conference room) for pitch meetings.
• Never say yes or no during a pitch meeting.
• You don’t pick billion-dollar companies. You pick billion-dollar founders.
• Eliminate small ideas and weak founders. Double down on great founders and big ideas.
• Four questions to answer during the meeting: Why has THIS founder choose THIS business? How committed is the founder? What are this founder’s chances for succeeding in this business and in life? What does winning look like in terms of revenue and return?
• Start the pitch meeting with an ice-breaker question. Then dive into: What? Why? Why now? Unfair advantage?
• (See book for five tactical questions to ask founders.) Also, ask some personal questions.
• The number one reason a startup fails is that the founder gives up. Look for founders that are willing to do whatever it takes. Avoid founders that spend more time building their network than building a company.
• If a founder doesn’t communicate with their investors, it’s almost universally a sign things aren’t going well.
• There is no reason for an angel investor to invest in a startup pre-traction.
• Valuations are important but they are not everything.
• Take good notes in pitch meetings and always write up a deal memo.
• Be honest but gentle when telling founders no. Tell them “not yet, but keep me updated.”
• 95% of incubators are for founders who couldn’t raise money on their own.
• For early stage investors, the primary due diligence is to research the founders.
• If you can, try to confirm actual revenue by asking clarifying questions.
• Get a solid startup attorney to review the paperwork.
• Founders should send investor updates at least once a month.
• Angels should track (in a spreadsheet) how often founders send out monthly updates.
• Double down on your startups (pro-rata) that managed to advance to a Series A.
• Angels should be cheerleaders and supporters for their startup CEOs.
• Some angel investing strategies: bet on the founder, solve a problem, bet on delight, bet on markets.
• Recommended approach: invest $1,000 in ten syndicates, invest $25,000 in twenty startups, and invest another $100k in top five winners = just over $1mm.

The Big Idea: Much of what happens in the next thirty years is inevitable.

1. Becoming: Moving from fixed products to always upgrading services and subscriptions
2. Cognifying: Making everything much smarter using cheap powerful AI that we get from the cloud
3. Flowing: Depending on unstoppable streams in real time for everything
4. Screening: Turning all surfaces into screens
5. Accessing: Shifting society from one where we own assets to one where instead we will have access to services at all times
6. Sharing: Collaboration at mass scale
7. Filtering: Harnessing intense personalization in order to anticipate our desires
8. Remixing: Unbundling existing products into their most primitive parts and then recombining in all possible ways
9. Interacting: Immersing ourselves inside our computers to maximize their engagement
10. Tracking: Employing total surveillance for the benefit of citizens and consumers
11. Questioning: Promoting good questions is far more valuable than good answers
12. Beginning: Constructing a planetary system connecting all humans and machines into a global matrix

Source: Wikipedia

The Big Idea: From 1914 to 1917, twenty eight men, led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, survive for two years on an Antarctic expedition.

The crew drifted on ice for a year, then sailed to Elephant Island, then sailed to South Georgia Island, then overland crossed South Georgia Island, before returning to Elephant Island to rescue the remaining crew.

The Big Idea: Stillness is the ability to slow down, clarify your thinking, center your soul, and direct your efforts to achieve great things.

Part I: Mind
Become Present: You can’t do your best if your mind is elsewhere.
Limit Your Inputs: Put up barriers to keep away unimportant things out of your head.
Empty the Mind: Chop wood, carry water. Do the work. Don’t overthink it.
Slow Down, Think Deeply: To see through the muddy water, we have to let things settle.
Start Journaling: Journal regularly to have some quiet time with your thoughts.
Cultivate Silence: Deep thought requires silence.
Seek Wisdom: Learning must never cease.
Find Confidence, Avoid Ego: Confidence is the freedom to set your own standards and unshackle yourself from the need to prove yourself.
Let Go: If we aim too intensely for the target, we get further away from the process and from mastery.

Part II: Spirit
Choose Virtue: Following virtue as your North Star leads to good decisions, which results in peace and happiness.
Heal the Inner Child: Practice self-love, patience, and empathy to heal inner wounds.
Beware Desire: Desire is the ever-present enemy of the wise.
Enough: The greatest misfortune is to never know contentment.
Bathe in Beauty: Beauty remains, even in misfortune. Look for it and find happiness.
Accept a Higher Power: Survivors of extreme hardship always have a belief in some higher power.
Enter Relationships: There is something deeply misguided and terribly sad about a solitary existence.
Conquer Your Anger: People driven by anger are not happy.
All Is One: The understanding that we are all connected is a transformative experience.

Part III: Body

Say No: When we know what to say no to, we can say yes to the things that matter.
Take a Walk: The key to a good walk is to be aware. Be present and open to the experience.
Build a Routine: Good routines equate to good habits. Automate tasks and decisions.
Get Rid of Your Stuff: Beware of the possibility that the things we own end up owning us.
Seek Solitude: Put yourself, physically, in the position to do deep work.
Be a Human Being: Work will not set you free. It will kill you if you’re not careful.
Go To Sleep: The world’s top performers prioritize good sleep.
Find a Hobby: A good hobby is simultaneously challenging and relaxing.
Beware Escapism: Hobbies or travel, when undertaken with the wrong intentions, are escapism.
Act Bravely: In unselfish acts, one can find delight and stillness.

The Big Idea: Think long-term.

Stay frugal.

Stay obsessed with the customer.

When in doubt, take action.

Always be trying new ideas.

Hire only top talent.

The Big Idea: For Rickson, jiu-jitsu is life.

The Big Idea: Based on analysis of past civil wars (Philippines, Yugoslavia, Iraq), the author argues that right wing Americans, led by Donald Trump, and enabled by social media, are bringing the U.S. closer and closer to civil war.

The Big Idea: The ancient Stoic philosophers came from almost every imaginable background: slave, emperor, water carrier, playwright, merchant, Senator, soldier. However, they all focused not on the external world but on what was solely in their own control: their thoughts, their actions, their beliefs.

1. All we control is how we respond: A crisis for someone is an opportunity for someone else.

2. Don’t do it alone. We need teachers and mentors.

3. Be the red thread. Embrace what makes you unique.

4. Keep your head. Don’t let emotions cloud your judgment.

5. Value the four cardinal virtues. Wisdom, self-control, justice, and courage.

The Big Idea: Theodore Roosevelt’s expedition down an uncharted tributary of the Amazon River is a story of poor planning, but also incredible courage and grit.

Description from the author:

The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron.

After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.

Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.

The Big Idea: Deglobalization and unavoidable demographic changes will produce winners and losers. Winners: United States, Mexico, Canada, France, New Zealand, Argentina. Losers: Russia, China, Middle East.

Since Bretton Woods in 1944, the United States promised to provide security for the world, in exchange for support against the Soviet Union.

Geography is critical in a deglobalized world. The United States has the greatest geography of success, with two oceans for security, two friendly neighboring countries, good river transportation, abundant natural resources, oil reserves, and fertile land to feed itself.

Only the United States has the necessary demographics, military might, and food security potential to enter deglobalization smoothly.

A key assumption is that a deglobalized world cannot guarantee the safe passage of container ships at sea, so global trade will become risky, expensive, and less available.

China has benefited the most by a globalized world, since it is the largest importer of almost all industrial and agricultural inputs. In a deglobalized world, China’s lack of access to inputs, combined with the fastest aging population in world history, financial insolvency, and geographic insecurity, means China should cease to exist in 10 years.

In a deglobalized world, capitalism might be replaced by something else.

Oil is a finite resource. As oil becomes more scarce, the world will deindustrialize.

Because of inherent limitations and complex supply chains, green energy is not going to be enough to meet global energy needs. When oil becomes scarce, the world will burn more coal, exacerbating climate change.

Manufacturing will move closer to consumer markets. Industrial production will explode in North America, with Mexico providing middle-end labor, United States providing natural resources and high-end labor, and Canada providing natural resources.

Famine will be the biggest problem in a deglobalized and deindustrialized world. The United States is among the few nations that can be food self-sufficient.

In a deglobalized world, the United States should become even more dominant, when compared to other nations and the challenges they will face.

CHAPTER 2 THE POWER OF STEM CELLS

Stem cells, ideally the placenta, are the foundation of the coming wave of regenerative medicine. Panama and Mexico are common destinations for Americans seeking stem cell therapy. In the U.S., Fountain Life (Naples FL) offers many of the diagnostics discussed in the book. If you are interested in learning more about stem cell therapy and the options available to you, visit website for further information.

CHAPTER 3 DIAGNOSTIC POWER: BREAKTHROUGHS THAT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE

Early detection and precision diagnostics are the key to longevity.

Detecting heart disease: coronary CT angiography (CCTA)

Detecting cancer: blood tests (GRAIL) and whole body MRI

Detecting Alzheimers: brain MRI + AI

Detecting hormones abnormalities: blood tests

Detecting toxic metal accumulation: blood tests

Other diagnostic tests worth doing: DEXA bone density scan, DNA analysis, microbiome analysis, TruAge telomere test

CHAPTER 4 TURNING BACK TIME: WILL AGING SOON BE CURABLE?

David Sinclair’s protocol: limits red meat, avoids sugar, one meal per day, limits alcohol, 8 hours of sleep, exercises 3 days a week, D3+K2, 1g of reservatrol, 1g of NMN.

The epigenetic joystick that controls how the genome functions is more powerful than the genetic code itself.

Sirtuins govern the epigenome, boosting mitochondrial activity, reducing inflammation, and protecting telomeres. Sirtuins direct DNA repair.

How to help Sirtuins? Supplement with NMN to boost NAD+.

CHAPTER 5 THE MIRACLE OF ORGAN REGENERATION

New organ therapies that will save people suffering from organ failures are only a few years ago.

Ex vivo lung perfusion restores unusable lung donations to make them usable.

Human-pig hybrids could be a reliable source of many types of organs.

3D printing will advance to the point that it can produce more organs than just skin and ears

Lymph nodes can be used to grow organs one day.

CHAPTER 6 THE MIGHTY CAR T CELL: A BREAKTHROUGH CURE FOR LEUKEMIA

(Chimeric Antigen Receptor) CAR T cell therapy is a hybrid of gene therapy and immunotherapy that might be a cure for leukemia.

CHAPTER 7 INCISIONLESS BRAIN SURGERY: THE IMPACT OF FOCUSED ULTRASOUND

Focused ultrasound neurosurgery is showing great promise as a therapy for Parkinsons, brain cancers, ALS, depression, and opiod addiction.

CHAPTER 8 GENE THERAPY AND CRISPR: THE CURE FOR DISEASE

CRISPR is an amazing new technology that might make it possible to edit any gene and, thereby, cure many rare, genetic diseases, repair damaged tissue, and prevent Alzheimers.

CHAPTER 9 THE WONDROUS WNT PATHWAY: THE ULTIMATE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?

The biotech company Biosplice is manipulating the Wnt pathway to regenerate cells and tissues and heal many lethal cancers.

CHAPTER 10 YOUR ULTIMATE VITALITY PHARMACY

Peptides are short chains of amino acids that regulate cell division and gene expression. 80+ peptides have been approved by the FDA for a numer of diseases. Peptides are also being used to combat the effects of aging. For metabolic health, semaglutide. To strengthen our immune system, thymosin alpha-1. To boost libido and sex, PT-141. To heal the gut, tendons, ligaments, and skin, BPC-157. For muscles and strength, sermorelin and tesamorelin. For skin and hair, GHK-Cu.

Metformin is typically an diabetes drug, but it’s been shown to help regulate mitochondria, boost repair, and help prevent cancer.

Hormone Optimization Therapy, different from HRT, has so many benefits and a few risks that have been overstated in the media.

NAD+ Precursors help boost NAD+ levels. NAD+ is a helper molecule that regulates cell metabolism and longevity genes. David Sinclair supplements with nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) daily to battle aging.

Key Neutraceuticals are very beneficial, but only if sourced from high-quality companies. D3, omega-3 fish oil, magnesium, K1/K2, choline, and creatine.

Rapamycin has shown promise as a longevity drug, but more research is still needed.

CHAPTER 11 LIVING PAIN-FREE

Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) uses electromagnetic fields to reduce pain, stimulate healing, and decrease inflammation.

Postural therapies, such as Egoscue and Counterstrain, can reduce chronic pain through improved biomechanics.

Virtual reality shows the potential of mind over body when it comes to pain perception.

Laser therapies, like the Genesis One laser, can stimulate healing.

Stem cells are probably still the go-to therapy for chronic pain relief.

Instead of opiods, hospitals should consider Toradol for pain relief.

Ombi is an app that uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat substance abuse and addiction.

Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years to treat pain and there is good scientific evidence to support its use.

CHAPTER 12 THE LONGEVITY LIFESTYLE & DIET

The root cause of most chronic diseases is poor lifestyle choices, which lead to metabolic, cellular, genetic damage, and then chronic disease.

Studies show that lifestyle choices (exercise) can lengthen telomeres.

Stay away from sugars and refined carbs.

Diet genomes respond differently to different diets.

Eat whole foods. Eat more greens and vegetables, particularly cruciferous vegetables which contain sulfurophane.

Dr. Valter Longo created the Longevity and Lifestyle Diet, which promotes a plant-based diet with fish 2-3 times per week.

Micheal Pollan summarizes a healthy diet in seven words. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Intermittent fasting improves longevity.

The 5 day fasting mimicking diet can be an alternative to a strict fast, with many of the same benefits.

Most adults need to drink about 3 liters of water per day. Consider adding lemon and Celtic salt to your water.

Improve your health by focusing on your breathing. Read Breathwalk. Practice Navy SEAL box breathing.

Many chronic diseases can be helped or cured by optimizing your gut microbiome. Company mentioned: Viome.

Genetic testing can help guide what diets might work best for you.

Frequent sauna users are 40% less likely to die from all causes of premature death. Companies: Health Mate Sauna, Almost Heaven Sauna.

Cold plunges and cryotherapy sessions help in recovery and healing. Companies: TheColdPlunge.com.

CHAPTER 13 THE POWER OF SLEEP: THE THIRD PILLAR OF HEALTH

Sleep is likely even more important to longevity and health than diet and exercise.

If you have sleep apnea, lose weight, get a CPAP, or get a mandibular advancement device (MAD).

Stick to a good sleep schedule and a regular get-ready-for-bed routine.

Use a ChiliPad to sleep at 65 degrees.

Avoid devices before bed.

Use an Oura ring to track your sleep.

CHAPTER 14 STRENGTH, FITNESS & PERFORMANCE: YOUR QUICK GUIDE TO MAXIMUM RESULTS

Exercise is a miracle cure for most preventable diseases.

Walking is great. Jogging is better.

Muscle mass is a new vital sign we should all try to improve.

Using a walking desk is better than sitting all day.

OsteoStrong is a training regiment that claims to build muscle strength and bone density in 10 minutes, once per week, by using the principle of static contraction.

Start strength training with these four exercises, everyday for 10 minutes: squats, lunges, pushups, planks.

A Whoop strap can monitor stress and recovery for you.

Use a BackBridge to decompress and realign your spine.

VR fitness devices motivate you to exercise by turning it into a game. Mentioned: Thrill of the Fight, Ocululs, Supernatural VR.

CHAPTER 15 BEAUTY: ENHANCING YOUR VISIBLE HEALTH & VITALITY

In many ways, our skin is a reflection of our health.

At the Harklinikken clinic, clients experience increases in hair volume and mass, through changes to your environment and habits, including a reduction of stress, and with the right mix of root-plant extracts and proteins, fatty acids, and cow’s milk.

There are at least a dozen companies attacking hair loss using biotech, such as stem cells and 3D printing.

Newest therapies for skin and face rejuvenation: stem cells, cryofacials, and lasers.

Clinics are freezing away stubborn bodyfat, using tools like CoolSculpting. Clinics are also using radiofrequency waves to burn away fat, using tools like Thermage, and Vanquish.

The cosmetics industry is starting to use AI, your skin traits, and your DNA to personalize cosmetic products.

OneSkin includes a proprietary peptide in its OS1 product meant to rejuvenate skin.

CHAPTER 16 WOMEN’S HEALTH: THE CYCLE OF LIFE

Women who go through menopause later in life tend to have a longer overall lifespan.

Even though women live statistically longer than men, they spend more of their lives in poor health (thirty-four years on average) compared to men (twenty-six years).

Menopause happens when the ovaries cease functioning because they have run out of eggs. 10 percent of women are infertile by the time they turn 35, but thanks to technology, nearly 20 percent of births are to women over the age of 35.

There is considerable variability when it comes to the menstrual cycle.

The only other creatures that go through menopause are a few species of whale. No one knows exactly why women’s ovaries shut down the processes of menstruation and ovulation.

Gather as much baseline data about YOUR BODY and YOUR UNIQUE CYCLE as possible so that you know what your “normal” is, using the menstrual cycle as a vital sign, and multiple apps (MyFLO, Clue, Ovia, Period Tracker, Glow).

Sleep. Move. Don’t consume overly processed foods. Eat your greens. Choose organic when you can. Rest and digest. For heaven’s sake don’t smoke. Limit or eliminate alcohol. Limit or eliminate stress. Know that if you choose to ingest dairy products from cow’s milk, you’re choosing to ingest hormones and common allergens. Drink plenty of water. Keep your blood sugar balanced. Steer clear of artificial sweeteners. Get rid of the toxins in cleaning products, detergents, body care, and personal items like aluminum deodorants and aerosol sprays.

Supplements to consider: calcium, iodine, zinc, B-complex vitamins, magnesium.

HRT can reduce the overall health risks associated with menopause and can also ease the symptoms that so dramatically impact a woman’s quality of life.

Other novel therapies on the horizon: laser, platelet rich plasma (PRP).

CHAPTER 17 HOW TO MEND A BROKEN HEART

Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans.

Caladrius Biosciences is working on using CD34+ stem cells to repair the damage caused by a heart attack.

Elevian is using Growth Differentiation Factor 11 (GDF11) to rejunevate aging hearts and brains.

CorMatrix invented a patch made from a patient’s stem cells that can be stitched over damaged heart tissue.

VentriGel is injecting a hydrogel to heal damaged heart tissue.

The heart is the least regenerative organ in the human body. Heart attacks lead to scarring which leads to more problems.

Scientists at Sana Biotechnology are seeing success injecting stem cells to regenerate damaged heart tissue.

Scientists at the Texas Heart Institute are able to regrow a ghost heart on top of a dead heart scaffold.

Rejuvenate Bio is working on gene therapy to cure age-related diseases in dogs.

CHAPTER 18 YOUR BRAIN: TREATING STROKES

TPA is the only FDA-approved treatment for strokes caused by clots.

Robotic gloves help stroke survivors regain motion.

Virtual reality helps to improve stroke survivors’ dexterity and mobility.

Elevian has developed a naturally occurring protein called growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) with powerful regenerative properties. GDF11 can repair and reverse ischemic stroke symptoms.

Openwater is using red laser light and holography to measure the brain blood flow of a patient, in the ambulance.

We could use VR to retrain the nervous system to function again.

Transcranial rotating permanent magnetic stimulation (TRPMS) restores functional activity to damaged brain tissue — up to sixteen years after stroke.

CHAPTER 19 HOW TO WIN THE WAR ON CANCER

A high-performing immune system is one of the most important ways to defend against cancer, and virtually all diseases.

A simple blood test that can detect up to fifty kinds of cancer at their earliest and most treatable stage .

There’s no better diagnostic tool than the newest forms of whole-body MRI.

Scientists regard inflammation as a key culprit in aging and specifically in cancer .

We use peptides to boost immunity by boosting T cells. T cells and their progeny, natural killer cells — which are also known as NK cells — circulate looking for tumor cells.

Excessive visceral fat raises the risk of a wide array of nasty illnesses that you’ll be delighted to avoid, including colorectal cancer, breast cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

The most effective things you can do to avoid illness and enhance your vitality is to sleep eight hours per night, minimize your sugar intake, and exercise regularly, with a special emphasis on building muscle strength.

Strength training can also arrest cognitive decline.

GRAIL has developed a liquid biopsy — a simple blood test that is able to detect most major types of cancer at an early stage. Galleri costs $949.

Freenome can provide an easy, affordable, laxative-free test for colorectal cancer.

Sulforaphane in broccoli sprouts can slam the brakes on tumor growth

The immune system can eliminate cancer.

Future cancer treatments that use the immune system: checkpoint inhibitors, personalized cancer vaccines, natural killer cells, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes that multiply a patient’s T cells to fight solid tumors, cancer-fighting exosomes.

Get yourself tested, ideally with a full-body MRI and the GRAIL blood test. Find a location near you, or you’re welcome to contact Fountain Life.

CHAPTER 20 CONQUERING INFLAMMATION AND AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE: BRINGING PEACE TO THE BODY

Where does autoimmune disease come from? Infections, toxic chemicals in the environment, heavy metals, and ultraviolet radiation.

Chronic inflammation activates your immune system into a state of wartime readiness for months or years at a time.

Your bone marrow contains a homegrown pantry of non-steroidal , anti-inflammatory medicines. We know them as stem cells. In the fight against autoimmune disease, early evidence suggests that all these cells may need is some reinforcement.

TPE has already been proven to help patients with autoimmune diseases like myasthenia gravis and Guillain-Barre syndrome, or those with relapses of multiple sclerosis.

TPE slowed the cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s patients by 66 percent.

Neutrolis has created a molecular scissors that cuts up free-floating DNA to significantly lower inflammation.

Eat green leafy vegetables, brightly colored vegetables, fatty fish (wild salmon, mackerel), most fruits, nuts and seeds, green tea.

CHAPTER 21 DIABETES AND OBESITY: DEFEATING A DOUBLE THREAT

Track waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, skinfold thickness, and DEXA scans for bone density.

Researchers now associate ultra – processed foods — often loaded with sugar , salt , fat , and calories — with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes , hypertension , and cardiovascular disease .

What not to eat? Refined carbohydrates (white flour, white bread, and pasta.)

Radically reduce your intake of sugar.

Healthy fats can actually help to stabilize your blood sugar.

Slow carbs (brown rice, quinoa, farro, and steel-cut oats) can be a key component of a healthy diet.

CHAPTER 22 ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: ERADICATING THE BEAST

A simple blood test that can predict Alzheimer’s years before symptoms.

Marvel Biome that is harnessing the power of the microbiome to fight neurodegeneration.

Vaxxinity’s vaccine every three to six months may train your immune system to fight Alzheimer’s.

A stack of psychedelic mushroom + lion’s mane shows healing effects on neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Get enough sleep to naturally purge amyloid.

Social interaction cuts Alzheimer’s risk by twofold.

A mutant form of the gene CD33 can protect people from Alzheimer’s.

Exercise actually induces neurogenesis.

Intellectual stimulation can actually cause new synapses to form.

Arethusta is neurosurgical Roto – Rooter, intended to be a safe and simple shunt that can be implanted through the nose.

One of the most powerful things you can do to head off dementia is to use a hearing aid, if you need one.

Learning a new language or practicing the piano seems to confer real benefits.

Some of the most effective anti-dementia tools around may be specialized video games devised by elite neuroscientists.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been shown to be the most effective therapy for traumatic brain injury.

CHAPTER 23 LONGEVITY AND THE POWER OF EXPONENTIAL TECHNOLOGIES (BY PETER H. DIAMANDIS, MD)

The day before something is truly a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.

If you can’t win, change the rules.

The average age of early humans was only about 28 years old .

Longevity escape velocity is the notion that in the near future, science will be able to extend your life by more than a year for every year you are alive.

To paraphrase Ray Kurzweil, it means we need to strive to “live long enough to live forever.”

Every single person will have the ability for real-time monitoring of their health and physiology from sensors in their body and on their body, measuring everything from blood glucose and blood pressure, to microRNAs that might indicate an impending heart attack, or the quality of their sleep.

If AI we could accurately predict protein structures from an amino acid sequence, it would open the door to an entire new avenue of low-cost and accurate drug development. AI could generate novel drugs to target any disease, overnight.

Imagine remote-controlled microbots, smaller than a grain of rice, that travel through the body to deliver drug treatments to precise locations.

While our linear human mind is great at making near – term predictions , we vastly underestimate what can be achieved in the longer term .

If we don’t extend health life and productive healthspan we are likely to face a significant shortage of labor.

Slowing aging by only one year is worth + $ 38 trillion to the global economy .

Imagine that someone goes for a treatment that uses three of the four Yamanaka Factors to epigenetically reprogram their body.

It’s quite possible that some of us in this conversation today will be seeing 150 or 200 years.

CHAPTER 24 CREATING AN EXTRAORDINARY QUALITY OF LIFE: THE POWER OF MINDSET

The placebo effect is a fascinating example of your mindset at work.

Simply changing your outlook can add years to your life!

Positive attitudes protect against dementia.

Fear was more deadly for COVID patients.

The science of psychoneuroimmunology, or PNI, the study of how what we think (psycho) changes the brain (neuro) and in turn affects our immune system.

Where you live emotionally determines what your life is really like .

Decision #1: What should I FOCUS on?

Decision #2: What does this MEAN?

Decision #3: What am I going to DO?

Once we start taking 100 percent responsibility for our experience of life rather than blaming others, we can awaken to a truth that makes all the difference: whatever life offers us, we get to decide what to focus on what it means and what we’re going to do about it.

CHAPTER 25 THE POWER OF DECISION: THE GIFT OF LIVING IN A BEAUTIFUL STATE

Extraordinary people like Oprah, Nelson Mandela, and Viktor Frankl, against all odds created life on their terms.

It’s not our conditions, but our decisions that determine the quality of our lives.

Extreme stress is going to be a given in your life. So the real key to have an extraordinary quality of life to develop the kind of psychological and emotional strength that makes you resilient.

Some people let disappointment destroy them, while others let it drive them — that’s a choice.

The most important decision that you can make is to decide that life is too short to suffer and that you’re going to appreciate and enjoy this gift of life, no matter what happens.

Trade your expectations for appreciation and in that moment, your whole life will change.

Find a way to appreciate whatever life gives you.

Energy medicine (aka tapping) is a scientific antidote to stress.

Use priming ot wire yourself for a peak state.

The Big Idea: Empires rise and fall. The US is in the declining stages of its empire. China appears to be rising.

No empire in human history has lasted forever.