From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
The truth is nobody needs a diamond. You don't need a diamond to heat your home, run your car or power your cell-phone. As a business, it's clear to us that there is only one source of value for diamonds- and that is the consumer's desire for the product.
Think of 'branding' as burning in a name on an animal such as a cow so that the cow's owner would be known. This protects the owner in the event that the animal is stolen. But we can use the name 'branding' whenever anyone affixes their name to something that is available for sale.
What we're seeing is a global shift towards meaning and WeWork is helping achieve that on a global scale.
When you look at a business in trouble, the important thing is to understand where the trouble is coming from. Critically you need to know whether it's a restructuring or transformation. A restructuring is where you adjust structures to a reduced volume or revenue level, but in this case the business model is not broken. In transformations, you still restructure, but you are dealing with a potentially broken business model.
People don't gravitate towards perfection. People like people like themselves. And that's another definition of 'selling,' when someone can see themselves in you.
From day one, we said that we wanted to create value, create impact, and create inspiration. We're not going to build a business that just creates impact—we're not a nonprofit. We have to create value. As long as we're doing all three, we're never going to lose.
You can't stay in your lane anymore – you need to be good at multiple things, and understand interactions.
As an entrepreneur you have to know your market. You shouldn't take too much advice, and you need to believe in your own ability and be ready to tackle problems. You also have to be prepared for the fact that it may not work!
We've ended up with organizations that are less capable than the people inside them- which is a little ironic when you think about it. Research shows that 89% of people are happy with the actual tasks of their work yet are frustrated with the work-environment- they are bothered by how they're managed not what they do.
Here I am the fool looking to fail frequently. I want to either hit a homerun or walk or even strike out. This means I fail far more often than I succeed. But the important point is that what I lose when I fail is trivial, epsilon compared to what I make when I succeed.
They took a relative view of risk… They had an understanding of the risks of something going wrong, but balanced that against missing an opportunity. When that opportunity exceeded the risk of going wrong? That's when they jumped…
We're choosing brands like we choose friends. And that is a huge responsibility because they've got to be a real friend, not a false friend.