From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I wanted to impart this fundamental philosophy that a person should endeavour to better the world, an aspiration divorced from monetary considerations. While some might contend that financial power is a prerequisite for effecting change, I don't subscribe to this belief.
Had the first astronauts or explorers listened to advice, chances are they would never have embarked on those world-changing adventures. The same is true of entrepreneurs. First and foremost, entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs because their gut had an insight or an idea that's driven them.
Only 8.5% of projects meet or exceed their time and budget expectations. This means that a staggering 91.5% fail to stay within budget or meet deadlines. However, when we consider delivering promised benefits, a mere 0.5% achieve this goal within the allocated budget and timeframe.
There's an old adage that the boxer is the last one to know – it's not true, he's the first one to know, but the last to acknowledge it. You can learn from defeat – it's not the end of the world, but you have to learn from it and realise that there are times when you can come back, and times where you have to say, 'enough… enough…. You're getting too hurt… you're just not the guy you were…'
STS-93, the mission where we launched the Chandra telescope, was conceived 25 years before we launched it. Someone had that vision long before it became a reality. This long-term perspective is essential.
Every failure has lessons it can give us- and knowing failure is possible and monitoring where you expect it to occur, allows you to divert your attention to the necessary observations and actions to carry out the positive.
My learnings came not only from our successes, but a lot of the key learnings came from failures. When you do experience failure rather than to run away from it, you have to sit down and do a good post-mortem and learn from your failures.
I remember taking my daughter to a speech I gave when she was just 5 years old, I wanted her to see mummy on stage as a way of showing her that she could be whatever she wanted to be.
My resilience, I believe, is inherited from my parents. They, ordinary in every sense, achieved the extraordinary for us, their children, striving to offer opportunities they never had. They embodied perseverance, teaching me to distinguish a bad day from a bad life, to persist, and to adapt. My parents' immense influence, coupled with my stubbornness, shaped my journey.
'Brand,' is what journalists and industry-people say… we say culture movement. As artists we say culture! Movement! And analysts say brand. I don't know what a brand is, but I know what a freakin' movement is…. if you want to know what a culture-movement is, remember that Dr. Martin Luther King didn't stand up and say, 'here's our brand!' – he created a movement.
The learnings I had as an athlete about communication and motivation- and even how we worked with companies and brands- really have helped me in this new journey but most important has been the realisation that I have to stay true to myself, and find that same passion and focus in entrepreneurship as I did in athletics.
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of hiring a table of yes-men. This is great for ego, bad for business. You need to hire people who are smarter or more experienced than you in those specific roles. They may often challenge you and re-structure your thoughts, but this is important for good governance.