This is a book worth keeping by your bedside for a couple of months and savor a random idea or two before sleeping.
Here’s a peek into some notes I took from the book.
“Clean” Restrooms.
Says “We Care”.
Fix your voice message, now!
“Small stuff” matters. A lot!
Flower Power.
Put them all over the place. Unlimited flower budget!
Master the fine art of Nudgery!
Little things with enormous impact! Make nudgery the centerpiece of your strategy in almost all circumstances.
Excellence, Always.
If not Excellence, What?
If not Excellence Now, When?
Boring is Beautiful.
For would-we entrepreneurs, there’s more to life than biotech and Internet startups and “boutique” financial planning businesses. “Not cool” can be very very very cool. Dog washing. Pressure cleaning. Paving. Pool Care. Fencing. Floors. Painting.
Build Green Now.
No excuses.
Lifetime employment is dead.
Your career is not. The “signature” of our work and the vitality of our network will determine our professional fate.
Failure — Celebrate it!
Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.
Fail. Forward. Fast.
Fail faster. Succeed sooner.
If people tell you they skied all day and never fell down, tell them to try a different mountain.
You are your Product — Develop it.
Smiling begets a warmer environment.
Thanking begets an environment of mutual appreciation.
Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm.
Listening begets engagement.
The last of the human freedoms — the ability to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.
Take charge now! Work on yourself. Relentlessly.
You are your Story! So work on it!
Stories are 100% about emotion — and emotion moves mountains.
“Storytelling excellence” is not something you pick up along the way. It is an art, a craft, a discipline to be mastered — like playing the flute.
“Brand” is a sterile concept. Instead, obsess on “story.” stories that move mountains, stories that grab, stories that shock. “Story” is a far more animated and engaging.
The key to leadership is the effective communication of a story.
Develop your R.POV8 — ASAP!
Talent and outrageous hard work are not enough. If you can’t describe your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position! Is what I’m up to remarkably different — and can be captured in simple, compelling language?
By the way, R.POV8 is “Remarkable Point of View in 8 words or less.”
Appreciating the Great Battle.
A case for consideration. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle. The “other” person is always 98+ percent hidden from your view.
Only Connect …
Is there a better way to sum up a life lived well? It’s always about relationships. Only connect.
Eye-Sparkle-Factor.
Hire (only???) those who “have it.”
Work on your Presentation Skills.
17 minutes can change the world!
On Being a “Professional”
They are
- students of their craft
- Dedicated to a “calling”
- Pursuing constant improvement
- Masters of a defined body of knowledge
Some bedrocks of behaviour:
- Saying “Thank You (Mastering practice of appreciation)
- Apologising (Repairing frayed relationships)
- Listening (Hearing and absorbing and engaging with other’s views)
- Questioning effectively
- MBWA (the art of staying connected)
- Writing and Presenting
We are all in Sales
Everyone lives by selling something.
To Lead.
Is to measurably help others succeed.
What did I do specifically today to be ‘of service’ to members of my group? Was I truly a ‘servant’ to them?
Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?
Leaders exist to serve their people. Period.
A team well served by its leader will be inclined to pursue Excellence.
Serve. That’s what you do.
Service. That’s what you provide.
Servant. That’s what you are.
What do you Think?
How many times you ask this question in a day? Track it. Count it. Graph it. It screams — “you are an invaluable person. I respect you. I respect your knowledge. I respect your judgement. I need your help.” It shouts — “This is a team effort. We rise or fall together.”
Thank You.
How many times you say this in a day? Track it. Count it. Graph it. The deepest human need is the need to be appreciated.
I’m Sorry.
Apologising is the most magical, healing, restorative gesture human beings can make.
“Suck Down” for Success.
Success does not depend on the people you know in high places. It depends on the people you know in low places.
C(I) > C(E).
Internal customers are more important than external customers. Keep them over-informed.
XFX.
Cross-functional Excellence. Make friends in other functions. Go to lunch. Ask them ‘What do you think?”
To-Don’ts.
Are more important that To-Dos!
Nothing Better than a Angry Customer!
Our most loyal customers are ones who had a problem with us .. and then marveled when we went the Extra 10 Miles at the Speed of Light to fix it. So .. are you on the active prowl for customer problems to fix?
Over-communicate.
We can deal quiet well with shit but not with uncertainty.
Zen and the Art of Achieving Change Where it Already Exists
Some people look for things that went wrong and try to fix them. I look for things that went right and try to build on them.
Powerlessness is a state of mind!
Get Down from your Pedestal
Once you become a boss, you will never hear the un-adulterated truth again. Never! Beware the sound of laughter when you tell a joke!
Big Plan? No, Small Steps. On the Ground.
In “The White Man’s Burden — Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good”, William Easterly laments how West spent 2.3 trillion dollars but managed to see few outcomes. Easterly is the archenemy of Big Plan and the fan of practical activities of “Searchers” who learn the ins and outs of the culture, politics, and local conditions “on the ground” in order to use local levers.
- Planners announce good intentions but don’t motivate anyone to carry them out. Searchers find things that work and build on them.
- Planners raise expectations but take no responsibility for meeting them. Searchers accept responsibility for their actions.
- Planners determine what to supply. Searchers find out what is in demand.
- Planners apply global foot-print. Searchers adapt to local conditions.
- Planners at the top lack knowledge of the bottom. Searchers find out what reality is at the bottom.
- Planners never hear whether the planned recipients got what they needed; Searchers find out if the customer is satisfied.
- A Planner thinks he already knows the answers. A searcher admits he doesn’t know the answer. A searcher hopes to find answers to individual problems only by trial and error experimentation.
- A Planner believes outsiders know enough to impose solutions. A Searcher believes only insiders have enough knowledge to find solutions, and that most solutions must be home grown.
Hiring: Do You Approach It With Unabashed Fanaticism?
Hiring is the most important aspect of business — and yet remains woefully misunderstood. Development can help great people become even better — but if I had a dollar to spend, I’d spend … 70 cents .. getting the right person in the door.
We are concerned about hiring, no doubt of it. But … do we treat it … strategically .. as the “most important aspect of business”?
Quality of the Workforce!
Committed? Engaged? Growing? Learning? Fearless? Respected? Trusted? Appreciated? Independent-minded? Team-focused? Informed? Open? Caring? Committed to Excellence?
Strategy is important. Systems are important. Financing is important. But .. totally committed people surging toward unimaginable Personal Enterprise Growth Opportunities Win!
Adhocracy
Innovation = Adhocracy. An effective culture of innovation is largely ad hoc — which drives many senior managers crazy. But if they can’t get it, they don’t belong. Hint — if your Org chart makes perfect sense, then you probably don’t have a particularly innovative enterprise.
What Have You Prototyped Lately?
Do you have the quick prototype attitude? Innovation is … per see… the reaction to a prototype! To move forward, you must have some eighth-baked thing to talk about and shoot at and tinker with … ASAP.
Serious Play beats Serious Planning!
Effective prototyping may be the most valuable core competence an innovative organization can hope to have.
Listening is the Ultimate Core Competence!
Listening is the ultimate mark of respect. The heart and soul of engagement. Of kindness. Of thoughtfulness. The basis for true collaboration. Of true partnership. Listening is a team sport. Listening is a developable individual skill. Listening is the basis for community. Listening is the core of effective cross functional communication. Listening is the engine of superior execution.
Listening is the key to making a sale. To keeping the customer’s business.
Listening is learning.
Are you an 18-Second Manager?
Docs interrupt their patients, on average, 18 seconds after the patients start speaking. Quit bloody interrupting. That means YOU.
All Human Beings are Entrepreneurs.
When we were in the caves we were all self-employed. As civilization came, we suppressed it. We became labor. We forgot we are entrepreneurs!
Two most powerful things in existence.
A kind word and a thoughtful gesture.
Ask
Until you understand. Swallow your pride.
Lifelong Learning Is a Mission
The only thing you cannot afford not to do is learn.
People’s MBA
My curriculum! Managing People. Servant Leadership. Execution. Creating a TRY IT NOW environment. Celebrating failure. XFX. Converting Departments into Professional Service Firms/CoEs. Sales. Service Excellence. Creating incredible CX. Accounting. Accountability. Time Management. MBWA. Nurturing and Harvesting Curiosity. Design As Strategy. Giving great Presentations. Active Strategic Listening. Knowing Oneself. Excellence all the time.
Elective Menu — Recruiting Top Talent. Recruiting for Smiles, Enthusiasm, Energy. Nurturing Talent. Building Beautiful Systems. Attacking Systems Overcomplexity. Art of Finding and Nurturing Weirdos. Art and Science of Influencing Others. Preeminent role of Emotion/Perception/Irrationality in Positively Everything. Creating or Changing “Culture”. Bringing Spirit to the Workplace. Marketing. Developing Products for Women. Rapid Prototyping. Art of Serious Play. Increasing a Unit’s Metabolic Rate. Power of Universal Transparency. Finance. Business Strategy.
Time Out for DayDreaming
Avoid busyness. Free up your time. Stay focused on what really matters.
Design is Everywhere!
Everything is design. Design should be you … in everything you do.
Every project should have a formal design advocate. Everyone is encouraged to be “design minded.” Design is always considered on five dimensions — usability, simplicity, aesthetics, cool/wow/gaspworthy, and excellence. Design excellence applies to every business process as much as to every product. Design per se is explicitly addressed in every written work plan. Design reviews are part of all project reviews. Have a Chief Design Officer! Design-mindfulness is a core value statement.
Is it “Lickable”?
Lickability and Radically Thrilling are the standards worth shooting for.
An Organization is “People Serving People.” Period!
An emotional, vital, innovative, joyful, creative, entrepreneurial endeavor that maximizes individual’s growth and elicits maximum concerted human potential in the wholehearted service of others.
altLearners 
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