From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Early on, being told no helped me figure out what I wanted my yes's to be. I learned who I wanted to be from people telling me who I could not be.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Establishing a culture of truth and trust is absolutely critical to being a great leader, and that takes effort and energy every day. You have to ceaselessly reach for truth and trust every day, and you have to be relentless in your pursuit of trust, and show your people that you have their back.
Opportunities come, sometimes very subtly, gently floating by. The typical response is, 'Yeah, cheers mate,' and back to Middlesbrough you go. But if your antenna is up — if you're someone who listens, runs with things, and grabs hold of opportunities — they can lead somewhere.
Most great sellers and leaders figure out the things they love about their job – what they would do for free – and set up the infrastructure to intentionally avoid the parts that force them to show up inauthentically.
As founder(s) you cannot be scared of making tough decisions for the good of your business; the longer you let things lie, the tougher (and more expensive) it can be to resolve them.
Todays' politicians can't lead public opinion, because they're frightened of it – and we're so consumed by constitutional crises, that there's just no real chance that politicians can give these issues sufficient thought.
My mindset changed from thinking that tomorrow I may be freed, to realising that unless I did something myself, nobody would come and rescue me. One of the ways I gathered strength was by constantly plotting my escape.
I haven't remained still since I started in business, I am always moving forward, always looking ahead. I have always said 'the sky is the limit' and have lived by that motto every day.
I learned zooming from Steve Jobs, it was something he practices all the time. Steve zoomed out to look beyond how industries are defined presently to see what the possibilities might be... You need to go beyond the defined description of an industry today, and look at it from all angles, and all contexts. Don't forget... entrepreneurship is about finding a better way.
The inconvenient-truth of this situation is that however many observers and commentators espouse rhetoric about solutions for this crisis, without buy-in from the individuals who are responsible for our economy? those words are in vain.
Self-awareness—the ability to emotionally self-regulate, which is the number one skill of the world's best negotiators. It's about tapping into your red centre and asking, 'What's really showing up for me right now?' It's about recognizing your biases, unhelpful thinking, or negative intentions.