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November 6, 2020 - January 6, 2021
Consumption has taken the place of shared sacrifice during times of war and economic malaise. The nation needs you to keep buying more stuff.
This kind of experimentation and aggression is what the military calls the OODA loop: “observe, orient, decide, and act.”
Type 1—those you can’t walk back from (“This is the future of the company”); and Type 2—those you can (“This isn’t working, we’re out of here”).
History favors the bold. Compensation favors the meek. As a Fortune 500 company CEO, you’re better off taking the path often traveled and staying the course. Big companies may have more assets to innovate with, but they rarely take big risks or innovate at the cost of cannibalizing a current business. Neither would they chance alienating suppliers or investors. They play not to lose, and shareholders reward them for it—until those shareholders walk and buy Amazon stock.
Most boards ask management: “How can we build the greatest advantage for the least amount of capital/investment?” Amazon reverses the question: “What can we do that gives us an advantage that’s hugely expensive, and that no one else can afford?”
“Failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment.”
Ultimately, then, why should Amazon, the king of online retail, get into multichannel retail?88 Because e-commerce doesn’t work, isn’t economically viable, and no pure e-commerce firm will survive long term.
How do you elegantly communicate to friends and strangers that your skills, background, and achievements put you in the 1 percent, no matter where you are? Easy, carry an iPhone.
Nothing builds a self-expressive benefit brand more effectively than the constant personification of the brand in the form of one person, especially the founder. CEOs come and go, but founders are forever.
The study found that the depth and meaningfulness of a person’s relationships is the strongest indicator of level of happiness.
Jeff Bezos highlighted in one of his famous investment letters that what kills mature companies is an unhealthy adherence to process.
From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, all successful businesses appeal to one of three areas of the body—the brain, the heart, or the genitals.
Research from the Johns Hopkins University Center on Aging and Health found that caregivers had an 18 percent lower mortality rate than noncaregivers.6 Love keeps you alive. It’s Darwinian—the species needs caregivers to skirt extinction.
The strategy is serial monogamy. Find a good employer where you can learn new skills, garner senior-level sponsorship (somebody who will fight for you), get equity/forced savings, and fully dedicate yourself to that company for three to five years.
People who tell you to follow your passion are already rich.
Don’t follow your passion, follow your talent. Determine what you are good at (early), and commit to becoming great at it. You don’t have to love it, just don’t hate it. If practice takes you from good to great, the recognition and compensation you will command will make you start to love it. And, ultimately, you will be able to shape your career and your specialty to focus on the aspects you enjoy the most. And if not—make good money and then go follow your passion. No kid dreams of being a tax accountant. However, the best tax accountants on the planet fly first class and marry people better
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If you are seeking justice, you won’t find it in the corporate world. You will be treated unfairly and will be in unworkable situations that are not your fault.
if you believe someone has treated you unethically (such as harassment), don’t be afraid to speak to a lawyer and mentors about what to do (there’s no one size fits all here).
Within your organization, figure out what the company is good at—its core functions—and if you want to excel there, have a bias toward one of those categories.
