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Words. Wisdom. Winners.
Honesty is not a choice you make
It doesn’t matter whether you are being honest or not in the conversation.
To be honest is not a choice you make
It’s the choice of the recipient.
Whether he wishes to listen
Whether he wishes to be honest.
With himself
What’s the promise you have made?
Nescafé has a beautiful new ad featuring a stand up comedian with a stutter (no – it’s not real, it’s acted out).
While there can be a post on how brands are becoming bold with their approach, the ad struck a different chord
Here is a comedian who is selling his stutter as a hook. His promise is “I am a comedian. But a lot others are. I am a comedian with a stutter. That’s me”
Tomorrow if he works on his stutter and overcomes it – will he be breaking his promise?
Adnan Sami didn’t promise to be the fattest guy playing a piano. He promised to be the fastest guy.
And that worked out just fine when he overcame his obesity.
Everyday we make promises.
To be the nicest manager.
To be the most aggressive salesperson.
To work long hours.
To always be there no matter what.
To work out from now on.
To eat right.
Will we always be able to deliver on the promise. Are we promising on our strengths or our weaknesses?
If you spend enough time
Watched The Dark Knight again. For the 7th time. Or maybe 8th. I don’t remember.
The trailer, when it first came out, blew me away. The movie matched every possible hype around. However, with more views I noticed flaws. In the story, the characters, the sequences.
Despite that, it remains one of my all time favorites. Because the experience delivered, even with the flaws, is way better than most other movies I see.
Movies are such. Only some of them are really good. Those awe you with their trailers. Make you fall in love with them when you see them. They are designed as an experience.
But over time you realize they are not all that perfect. They have their flaws. The story breaks down at places. The characters are weak at some instances.
And yet you chose to ignore these issues. Because they are better than most others.
There is something else that works like movies
People!
If you spend enough time – everything will have flaws.
But that may not be the best use of your time.
Nothing great
Nothing great was achieved without getting into the details
Nothing great was achieved by playing safe
Nothing great was achieved by postponing decisions
Nothing great was achieved by saying no just because that’s how it’s done
Nothing great was achieved by not willing to have a conversation
Nothing great was achieved without the courage to apologize
Nothing great was achieved by looking into the past
Nothing great was achieved without an irrational urge to win
The above are not options.
They are “if and only if” statements towards success.
Should we do this?
This isn’t an exciting question when you are starting up.
Instead,
How can we do this along with what we are doing?
Why shouldn’t we do this?
When starting new, it’s foolish to assume that the path you are on is the path to success. The DNA should be to
pick up multiple paths,
measure performance,
eliminate (or select) and
improve.
Repeat and never stop
Analysis
People spend a fair amount of time analyzing before they start something. Because of two reasons
1. They are preparing themselves for the execution.
2. They are procrastinating the execution
It’s amazing how many times people think they are doing the first when they are actually doing the second.
It’s even more amazing how many times it happens consciously!
No – cant be done
No – the product can’t be launched now
No – the process doesnt allow it
No – you cannot get to do this
No – it cant be done
As you scale, you get to hear this a lot more – from within the company.
Whenever you make this statement, complete the following – “No, it cant be done, because the customer _________”
If you cant complete the statement, change your statement to a yes.
Even if it pains you and the company.
You have inspired me!
I am grateful to hear these words a lot of times.
But I think – what if I wasn’t there.
At that moment.
For that cause.
Would inspiration have missed the other person?
Or would he have sought it from someone or something else – nonetheless?
Meet new people
Attend talks
Watch TED
Read
Surround yourself with smart hardworking people
Build your mafia
Don’t leave inspiration to chance.
Silence is the best negotiation strategy
Months back I read a fascinating article on sales strategies. The most intriguing insight from the author, a seasoned sales guy and now a trainer, was
“Make your pitch and then remain silent. Do not speak. It’s a game – where the one who speaks first loses”
I have tried this in multiple interactions and it’s surprisingly works really well.
The urge to speak is almost always the urge to explain
And the urge to explain is almost always an excuse or justification.
Structure
Someone asked me last evening – is there a market for vertical classified websites.
There is a framework that can help, I answered.
A matrix of scale of industry versus frequency of need.
The deals industry has a framework too – merchant discount versus price customer has to pay to avail discount
As an ex-consultant, the operating word for us was structure. Whatever is it that you are trying to solve – put a structure on it. As simple as it may be.
Quadrants create that structure. Force you to visualize the problem into 4 distinct buckets – each with its own characteristic.
And that works because the world isn’t one size fits all anymore.
It never was!
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