Great leaders, in contrast, are able to inspire people to act. Those who are able to inspire give people a sense of purpose or belonging that has little to do with any external incentive or benefit to be gained. (Location 137)
Tags: leadership
Note: .leadership
We make decisions based on what we think we know. It wasn’t too long ago that the majority of people believed the world was flat. This perceived truth impacted behavior. During this period, there was very little exploration. People feared that if they traveled too far they might fall off the edge of the earth. (Location 173)
Note: Perceived truth changes behaviour. People were afraid to explore the world when they thought it was flat
There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it. (Location 240)
Note: You can manipulate or inspire human behaviour
Once buyers get used to paying a lower-than-average price for a product or service, it is very hard to get them to pay more. (Location 255)
Tags: pricing
Note: If you drop your price customers get used to paying less
In the business-to-business world, promotions are called “value added.” (Location 285)
Tags: pricing
Note: .pricing
“No one ever got fired for hiring IBM,” goes the old adage, describing a behavior completely borne out of fear. An employee in a procurement department, tasked with finding the best suppliers for a company, turns down a better product at a better price simply because it is from a smaller company or lesser-known brand. Fear, real or perceived, that his job would be on the line if something went wrong was enough to make him ignore the express purpose of his job, even do something that was not in the company’s best interest. (Location 304)
Note: People hire expensive vendors to remove fear
When fear is employed, facts are incidental. Deeply seated in our biological drive to survive, that emotion cannot be quickly wiped away with facts and figures. This is how terrorism works. It’s not the statistical probability that one could get hurt by a terrorist, but it’s the fear that it might happen that cripples a population. (Location 307)
Tags: terrorism
Note: .terrorism terrorism relies on fear
“Quitting smoking is the easiest thing I’ve ever done,” said Mark Twain. “I’ve done it hundreds of times.” (Location 325)
Tags: quotes
Note: .quote
“they never have the time or money to do it right the first time,” she said of her client, “but they always have the time and money to do it again.” (Location 347)
Tags: quotes
Note: .quote
Given that most people were not going to become repeat customers, there weren’t going to be any head-to-head comparisons made to the other services. All they needed to do was drive a purchase decision and offer a pleasant enough experience that people would recommend it to a friend. Any more was unnecessary. Once the owners of mygoldenvelope.com realized they didn’t need to invest in the things that build loyalty if all they wanted to do was drive transactions, their business became vastly more efficient and more profitable. For transactions that occur an average of once, carrots and sticks are the best way to elicit the desired behavior. (Location 460)
Note: Carrot an stick methods work when you are driving a one off purchase
Knowing you have a loyal customer and employee base not only reduces costs, it provides massive peace of mind. Like loyal friends, you know your customers and employees will be there for you when you need them most. It is the feeling of “we’re in this together,” shared between customer and company, voter and candidate, boss and employee, that defines great leaders. (Location 487)
Note: Loyal customers reduce costs
WHY: Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. When I say WHY, I don’t mean to make money—that’s a result. By WHY I mean what is your purpose, cause or belief? WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care? (Location 554)
It’s worth repeating: people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it. (Location 589)
No matter where we go, we trust those with whom we are able to perceive common values or beliefs. (Location 760)
Note: We like those like us
We are drawn to leaders and organizations that are good at communicating what they believe. Their ability to make us feel like we belong, to make us feel special, safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us. (Location 784)
Tags: leaders
Note: .leaders
The newest area of the brain, our Homo sapien brain, is the neocortex, which corresponds with the WHAT level. The neocortex is responsible for rational and analytical thought and language. The middle two sections comprise the limbic brain. The limbic brain is responsible for all of our feelings, such as trust and loyalty. It is also responsible for all human behavior and all our decision-making, but it has no capacity for language. (Location 794)
Note: Our neocortex deals with the what
For values or guiding principles to be truly effective they have to be verbs. It’s not “integrity,” it’s “always do the right thing.” It’s not “innovation,” it’s “look at the problem from a different angle.” Articulating our values as verbs gives us a clear idea … we have a clear idea of how to act in any situation. (Location 953)
Tags: values
Note: Articulate your values as verbs
What authenticity means is that your Golden Circle is in balance. It means that everything you say and everything you do you actually believe. (Location 976)
Note: Authenticity is doing and saying what you believe
In the 1970s, air travel was expensive, and if Southwest was going to be the champion for the common man, they had to be cheap. It was an imperative. And in a day and age when air travel was elitist—back then people wore ties on planes—as (Location 1021)
Note: Air travel was elitist and peole wore ties on planes
In business, like a bad date, many companies work so hard to prove their value without saying WHY they exist in the first place. (Location 1113)
The goal of business should not be to do business with anyone who simply wants what you have. It should be to focus on the people who believe what you believe. When we are selective about doing business only with those who believe in our WHY, trust emerges. (Location 1154)
Note: We should aim to do business only with those who believe in your cause
Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain. (Location 1182)
Tags: trust
Note: .trust trust emerges when we believe the other person is not just looking out for their own good
from a very young age the very human desire to win. No one likes to lose, and most healthy people live their life to win. The only variation is the score we use. For some it’s money, for others it’s fame or awards. For some it’s power, love, a family or spiritual fulfillment. The metric is relative, but the desire is the same. A billionaire doesn’t need to work. Money becomes a way to keep score—a relative account of how things are going. Even a billionaire who loses millions due to poor decisions can get depressed. Although the money may have zero impact on his lifestyle, no one likes to lose. (Location 1209)
Note: We live to win, the score we use to measure varies
The reason the human race has been so successful is not because we’re the strongest animals—far from it. Size and might alone do not guarantee success. We’ve succeeded as a species because of our ability to form cultures. Cultures are groups of people who come together around a common set of values and beliefs. When we share values and beliefs with others, we form trust. Trust of others allows us to rely on others to help protect our children and ensure our personal survival. (Location 1241)
Tags: culture
Note: Our ability to form cultures and trust each other has enabled humans to grow so powerful
it beneficial to live and work in a place where you will naturally thrive because your values and beliefs align with the values and beliefs of that culture. (Location 1272)
Tags: culture
Note: It is best to live in a city which has a culture which matches your values and beliefs
Shackleton was looking for those with something more. He was looking for a crew that belonged on such an expedition. His actual ad ran like this: “Men wanted for Hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” The only people who applied for the job were those who read the ad and thought it sounded great. (Location 1308)
Tags: why, favorite, newsletter
Note: Shackleton only wanted those who believed in the why
As Herb Kelleher famously said, “You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.” (Location 1317)
Tags: hiring
Note: hire for attitude as you can always teach skill
Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you’ll be stuck with whoever’s left. (Location 1339)
Tags: hiring
Note: hire motivated people and inspire them
The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen. (Location 1417)
Tags: leadership
Note: the role of a leader is to create an environment for others to thrive
Thomas Edison, a man definitely driven by a higher cause, said, “I didn’t find a way to make a lightbulb, I found a thousand ways how not to make one.” (Location 1440)
Tags: quotes
Note: you must go through the struggle nd mny failures before making it
only when individuals can trust the culture or organization will they take personal risks in order to advance that culture or organization as a whole. (Location 1489)
Working hard to clear a path for others so that they can confidently go on to do bigger and better things (Location 1571)
Tags: canvas strategy
The farther right you go on the curve, the more you will encounter the clients and customers who may need what you have, but don’t necessarily believe what you believe. As clients, they are the ones for whom, no matter how hard you work, it’s never enough. Everything usually boils down to price with them. They are rarely loyal. They rarely give referrals and sometimes you may even wonder out loud why you still do business with them. (Location 1695)
Note: The late majority an laggards are tougher to do business with
Each of us assigns different values to different things and our behaviors follow accordingly. This is one of the major reasons why it is nearly impossible to “convince” someone of the value of your products or ideas based on rational arguments and tangible benefits. (Location 1710)
Note: Everyone assigns different values to different things
There is an irony to mass-market success, as it turns out. It’s near impossible to achieve if you point your marketing and resources to the middle of the bell, if you attempt to woo those who represent the middle of the curve without first appealing to the early adopters. It can be done, but at massive expense. This is because the early majority, according to Rogers, will not try something until someone else has tried it first. The early majority, indeed the entire majority, need the recommendation of someone else who has already sampled the product or service. They need to know someone else has tested it. They need that trusted, personal recommendation. (Location 1727)
Note: You must aim a product at early adoptors before the mass market
Charisma has nothing to do with energy; it comes from a clarity of WHY. It comes from absolute conviction in an ideal bigger than oneself. Energy, in contrast, comes from a good night’s sleep or lots of caffeine. Energy can excite. But only charisma can inspire. (Location 1913)
Tags: charisma
Note: charisma comes from a clarity of why
Don’t forget that a WHY is just a belief, HOWs are the actions we take to realize that belief and WHATs are the results of those actions. (Location 1959)
The leader sits at the top of the cone—at the start, the point of WHY—while the HOW-types sit below and are responsible for actually making things happen. The leader imagines the destination and the HOW-types find the route to get there. (Location 1976)
Note: The leader imagines the destination
HOW-types don’t need WHY-types to do well. But WHY-guys, for all their vision and imagination, often get the short end of the stick. Without someone inspired by their vision and the knowledge to make it a reality, most WHY-types end up as starving visionaries, people with all the answers but never accomplishing much themselves. (Location 2018)
Note: Why types need how types to deliver their vision
WHY never changes. WHAT you do can change with the times, but WHY you do it never does. (Location 2218)
Note: Why never changes
Great societies understand the importance of symbols as a way of reinforcing their values, of capturing their beliefs. Dictators understand the importance of symbols all too well. But in their case, the symbols are usually of them and not of a larger belief. Symbols help us make tangible that which is intangible. And the only reason symbols have meaning is because we infuse them with meaning. (Location 2274)
Note: Symbols help us make tangible that which is intangible
With a WHY clearly stated in an organization, anyone within the organization can make a decision as clearly and as accurately as the founder. A WHY provides the clear filter for decision-making. Any decisions—hiring, partnerships, strategies and tactics—should all pass the Celery Test. (Location 2406)
Note: A clear why enables everyone in the organisation to make good decisions
Toyota and Honda knew this better than Volkswagen. When they decided to add luxury models to their lineups, they created new brands, Lexus and Acura respectively, to do it. Toyota had become a symbol of efficiency and affordability to the general population. They had built their business on a suite of low-cost cars. They knew that the market would not pay a premium for a luxury car with the same name or with the same logo on the hood. (Location 2442)
Note: Toyota introduced the lexus brand to target a new market segment
But as the leader of the company, being the smartest was not her job. Her job was to lead the cause. To personify the values and remind everyone WHY they are there. (Location 2871)
Note: The leader doesnt have to be the smartest
The Law of Diffusion says that only 2.5 percent of the population has an innovator mentality—they are a group of people willing to trust their intuition and take greater risks than others. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Microsoft Windows sits on 96 percent of the world’s computers whereas Apple maintains about 2.5 percent. Most people don’t want to challenge the status quo. (Location 3010)
Note: Most people dont challenge the statu quo
Henry Ford said, “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” (Location 3104)
Tags: quotes
Note: .quotes
When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you. (Location 3160)
Note: Compete with yourself