some people see the thing that they want
and some people see the thing that
prevents them from getting the thing
that they want it’s as if an entire
generation is standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see is the mountain people put
harley-davidson logos on their body to
say something about who they are
corporate logo ain’t no Procter &
Gamble’s tattooed on anybody’s on
passion is the feeling you have that you
would probably do this for free you know
and you can’t believe somebody pays you
to do it he’s an author speaker and
consultant who writes on leadership and
management he joined the rand
corporation in 2010 where he advises on
military innovation in planning he is
known for popularizing the concepts of
the golden circle and to start with why
he’s simon Sinek and here’s my take on
his top ten rules for success rule
number six is my personal favorite and
make sure to stick around although to
the end for some special bonus clips and
as always if Simon says something that
really really resonates with you please
leave it down in the comments below and
put quotes around it to other people can
be inspired as well
let me tell you a story so a friend of
mine and I we went for a run in Central
Park the Roadrunners organization on the
weekends they host races and it’s very
common at the end of the race they’ll
have a sponsor who will give away
something apples or bagels or something
and on this particular day when we got
to the end of the run there were some
free bagels and they had picnic tables
set up and on one side was a group of
volunteers on the table were boxes of
bagels and on the other side was a long
line of runners waiting to get their
free bagel so I said to my friend let’s
let’s get a bagel and he looked at me
and said that lines too long and I said
free bagel and he said I don’t want to
wait in line and I was like free bagel
and he says not let’s it’s too long and
that’s when I realized that there’s two
ways to see the world some people see
the thing that they want and some people
see the thing that prevents them from
getting the thing that they want I could
only see the bagels he could only see
the line and so I walked up to the line
I leaned in between two people put my
hand in the box
and pulled out two bagels and no one get
mad at me because the rule is you can go
after whatever you want
you just cannot deny anyone else to go
after whatever they want
now I had to sacrifice choice I didn’t
get to choose which bagel I got I got
whatever I pulled out but I didn’t have
to wait in line so the point is is you
don’t have to wait in line you don’t
have to do it the way everybody else has
done it you can do it your way
you can break the rules you just can’t
get in the way of somebody else getting
what they want that’s rule number one
performing under pressure whether it’s
me or anybody else is the same you know
I have the same pressures as anyone else
there’s time there’s performance there’s
financial I mean there you know there’s
deadlines my pressures are not unique
the situations maybe
different or you know but but everybody
has the same kinds of pressures but what
I found or what I find fascinating is
the interpretation of the stimuli if let
me let me explain so I was watching the
Olympics this last Summer Olympics and I
was amazed at how bad the questions were
that the reporters would ask all the
athletes and almost always they asked
the same question whether they were
about to compete or after they competed
were you nervous right and to a tee all
the athletes went no right and what I
realized is it’s not that they’re not
nervous it’s their interpretation of
what’s happening in their bodies I mean
what it what happens when you’re nervous
right your heart rate starts to go
you’re you know you sort of get a little
tense you get a little sweaty
right you have expectation of what’s
coming and we interpreted that is I’m
nervous now what’s the interpretation of
excited your heart rate starts to go you
become you’re anticipating what’s coming
right you get a little sort of like
tense it’s all the same thing it’s the
same stimuli except these athletes these
these Olympic quality athletes have
learned to interpret the stimuli that
the rest of us would say is nervous as
excited they also the same thing no I’m
not nervous I’m excited and so I’ve
actually practiced it just to tell
myself when I start to get nervous that
this is excitement you know and so where
when you used to feet speak in front of
a large audience and somebody say how do
you feel you say little nervous now when
somebody says how do you feel like
really excited actually and it it came
from just sort of telling myself no no
this is excitement and it becomes a
little bit automatic later on but it’s
kind of a remarkable thing to deal with
pressure by interpreting what your body
is experiencing as excitement rather
than nerves and it’s really kind of
effective it makes you want to rush for
is rather than pull back and yet it’s
the same experience I talked to so many
smart fantastic ambitious idealistic
hard-working kids and they’re right out
of college they’re in their entry-level
jobs and I’ll ask them how is it going
and they’ll say I think I’m gonna quit
and I’m like why they say to me I’m not
making an impact I’m like you know
you’ve been here eight
right they treat the sense of
fulfillment or even love like it’s a
scavenger hunt like it’s something you
look for my millennial friends they’ve
gone through so many jobs they’re either
getting fired I mean it was mutual or
they’re quitting because they’re not
making an impact or they’re not finding
the thing they’re looking for they’re
not feeling fulfilled as if it’s a
scavenger hunt love a job you find joy
from is not something you discover it’s
not like I found love here it is I found
a job I love that’s not how it works
both of those things require hard work
you are in love because you work very
hard every single day of your life to
stay in love you find a job that brings
you ultimate joy because you work hard
every single day to serve those around
you and you maintain that joy it’s not a
discovery but the problem is the sense
of impatience it’s as if an entire
generation is standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see is the mountain this large
emove Abul object that doesn’t mean you
have to do your time that’s not what I’m
talking about take a helicopter climb I
don’t care but there’s still a mountain
life career fulfillment relationships
are journeys the problem is this entire
generation has an institutionalized
sense of impatience and do they have the
patience to go on the journey to
maintain love to feel fulfilled or do
they just quit and on to the next dump
and on to the next ghost and unto the
next in the 18th century there was
something that spread across Europe and
eventually made its way to America where
pole fever also known as the Black Death
of child bed basically what was
happening is women were giving birth and
they would die within 48 hours after
giving birth
this black death of childbirth was the
ravage of Europe and it got worse and
worse and
worse over the course of over a century
in some hospitals it was as high as 70%
of women who gave birth who would die as
a result of giving birth but this was
the Renaissance this was the time of
empirical data and science and we had
thrown away things like tradition and
mysticism these were men of science
these were doctors and these doctors and
men of science wanted to study and try
and find the reason for this black death
of childbed and so they got to work
studying and they would study the
corpses of the of the women who had died
and in the morning they would conduct
autopsies and then in the afternoon they
would go and deliver babies and finish
their rounds and it wasn’t until
somewhere in the mid 1800s that dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes father of Supreme
Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
realized that all of these doctors were
conducting autopsies in the morning
weren’t washing their hands before they
delivered babies in the afternoon and he
pointed it out and said guys you’re the
problem and they ignored him and called
him crazy for 30 years until finally
somebody realized that if they simply
washed their hands it would go away and
that’s exactly what happened when they
started sterilizing their instruments
and washing their hands the black death
of child bed disappeared my point is the
lesson here is sometimes you’re the
problem
we’ve seen this happen all too recently
with our new men of science and
empirical studies and these men of
finance who are smarter than the rest of
us until the thing collapsed and they
blamed everything else except themselves
and my point is is take accountability
for your actions you can take all the
credit in the world for the things that
you do right as long as you also take
responsibility for the things you do
wrong
must be a balanced equation you don’t
get it one way and not the other you get
to take credit when you also take
accountability I spoke at an education
summit for Microsoft I also spoke at an
education summit for Apple at education
from my at the education summit for
Microsoft I would say that 70% of the
executives spent about 70% of their
presentations talking about how to beat
Apple at the Apple education summit a
hundred percent of the executives spent
a hundred percent of their presentations
talking about how to help teachers teach
and how to help students learn one is
playing this way and one is playing that
way one is playing finite and the other
one is playing infinite guess which one
gets frustrated so at the end of my talk
at Microsoft they gave me a gift they
gave me the new Zune when it was a thing
and let me tell you this thing was
spectacular
it was the most elegant piece of
technology I’d ever used the user
interface was incredible the design was
spectacular I absolutely loved it it was
easy to use and it was bright and
gorgeous and it didn’t work on iTunes
which is a different problem
so I couldn’t use it but but it was
amazing
and elegant my god it was elegant so I’m
sitting in the back of a taxi with a
very senior Apple executive sort of
employee number 12 kind of guy and you
know I like to stir pots so I turned him
I said you know Microsoft gave me their
new Zune and it is so much better than
your iPod touch and he turned to me and
he said I have no doubt conversation
over because the infinite player
understands sometimes your head and
sometimes you behind
sometimes your product is better and
sometimes it’s worse the goal isn’t to
be the best every day the goal isn’t out
to outdo your competition every day
that’s a finite construction if I had
said to Microsoft I’ve got the new iPod
touch and it’s so much better than your
Zune they would have said can we see it
what does it do react react react react
finite players play to be bet to beat
the people around them infinite players
play to be better than themselves to
wake up every single day and say how can
we make our company a better version of
itself today than it was yesterday how
can we create a product this week that’s
better than the product we created last
week we also have to play the infinite
game it’s not about being ranked number
one it’s not about having more followers
on Twitter than your friends it’s not
about outdoing anyone it’s about how to
outdo yourself it’s not about selling
more books or getting more Ted views
than somebody else it’s about how to
make sure that the work that you’re
producing is better than you work you
produced before you are your competition
and that is what ensures you stay in the
game the longest and that is what
ensures you find joy because the joy
comes not from comparison but from
advancement when are you at your best I
met my best when I’m around people who
believe what I believe I know it seems
silly but I try very very hard to sort
of stack the deck you know to put myself
in a position of strength so for example
you know somebody asked me just
yesterday have you ever
had sort of a bad you know engagement I
was thinking myself I’m like not really
but it’s not because I’m some sort of
sort of genius a nice ending anything
like that it’s because I stack the deck
it’s because I want to be there I want
to be around people who want me there in
other words if I’m somebody’s tenth
choice and like you know I’ll probably
turn it down whereas if I’m their first
choice they really want me there and so
I’m more likely to have a good
engagement they’re supportive of me I’m
supportive of them and so yeah I’m at my
best look like when I stack the deck
when I choose to be in an environment
where where my strengths are are there
Nelson Mandela is a particularly special
case study in the leadership world
because he is universally regarded as a
great leader you can take other
personalities and depending on the
nation you go to we have different
opinions about other personalities but
Nelson Mandela across the world is
universally regarded as a great leader
he was actually the son of a tribal
chief and he was asked one day how did
you learn to be a great leader and he
responded that he would go with his
father to tribal meetings and he
remembers two things when his father
would meet with other elders one they
would always sit in a circle and to his
father was always the last to speak
you’ll be told your whole life that you
need to learn to listen I would say that
you need to learn to be the last to
speak I see it in boardrooms every day
of the week even people who consider
themselves good leaders who may actually
be decent leaders will walk into a room
and say here’s the problem here’s what I
think but I’m interested in your opinion
let’s go around the room it’s too late
the skill to hold your opinions to
yourself until everyone has spoken does
two things one it gives everybody else
the feeling that they have been heard it
give me gives everyone else the ability
to feel that they have contributed and
two you get the benefit of hearing what
everybody else has to think before you
render your opinion the skill is really
to keep your opinions to yourself if you
agree with somebody don’t nod yes
if you disagree with somebody don’t not
know simply sit there take it all in and
the only thing you’re allowed to do is
ask questions so that you can understand
what they mean and why they have the
opinion that they have you must
understand from where they are speaking
why they have the opinion they have not
just what they are saying and at the end
you will get your turn
it sounds easy it’s not practice being
the last to speak
that’s what Nelson Mandela did every
decision we make in our lives as
individuals or as organizations is a
piece of communication it’s our way of
saying something about who we are and
what we believe this is why authenticity
matters this is why you have to say and
do the things you actually believe
because the things you say and do are
symbols of who you are and we look for
those symbols so we can find people who
believe what we believe our very
survival depends on it so if you’re
putting out false symbols you will
attract people to those symbols but you
won’t be able to form trust with them
this is what Tiger Woods did to us he
lied he lied he told us what he thought
we wanted to hear and it was great and
we were drawn to it and all of us who
kind of liked that idea of the sort of
the good guy who drawn to it until we
found out it was a lie he could have
been the bad boy of golf he could have
had all the same endorsements and had a
fantastic career and still been hailed
as one of the great athletes of our day
but he didn’t he chose to lie
good luck forming trust again tiger we
don’t believe you we don’t trust you the
goal of putting something out there if
you say what you believe and you do what
you believe you will attract people who
believe what you believe
if you go to one of your friends and you
say to one of your friends how would you
like me to dress so that you’ll like me
better how would you want me to address
you how do you want me to speak so that
you’ll like me more right your friends
are going to look at you be like
what are you talking about come on come
on come on what should I wear so that
you’ll find me more appealing and how
would you like me to speak to you so
that you’ll like me more and your
friends are gonna tell you just be
yourself that’s why I like you I don’t
just be yourself now think about what we
do in industry what do we do we do
market research and we go and we ask the
customers what kind of things the way we
what style should we speak to you how
should we decorate ourselves what kind
of things are you drawn to so that we
can do those things so you’ll like us
more it’s just as ridiculous it’s just
as ridiculous organisations should say
and do the things they actually believe
and they will attract people who believe
what they believe or they can choose to
lie and at the slightest hint that they
might be lying cynicism sets in and
people start saying I’m not sure I can
trust these guys because there’s not a
lot of consistency and all the things
they say and do which means they can’t
have a very strong belief set or they’re
lying to me and we call them it
authentic the entire process of asking
other people who we should be is
inauthentic that’s hilarious to me all
these positioning studies we do are
inherent we’re going to do a study to
find out from people so we can be more
authentic that’s hilarious
say and do what you actually believe and
the symbols you put out there the things
you say and the things you do those red
hats are ways that people can find you
what you have the ability to do as
designers is create those symbols and
allow people to use those things to say
something about who they are work for
companies work for clients work for
people who you believe what they believe
show up and feel a part of something
bigger than yourself and your part is to
put what they believe into pictures and
words and symbols and graphics so that
other people can use those things to say
something about who they are people put
harley-davidson logos on their body to
say something about who they are
corporate logo ain’t no Procter &
Gamble’s tattooed on anybody’s on
because Harley means something they
stand for something people put that
tattoo on their not to tell you that
they own a motorcycle
they put that tattoo there to tell you
something about themselves you ever see
anybody with a with a Mac laptop put a
sticker over that beautiful shining
Apple ain’t never gonna happen then how
will you know who I am you ever see
anybody with a PC break out the Windex
to clean out their computer Mac people
have you ever seen a dirty Mac doesn’t
exist does not exist why because it’s
Who I am
these are symbols we use the companies
that are crystal clear in what they
believe and their discipline and how
they do it they’re consistent what they
do and everything they say and
everything they do serves as a symbol of
the set of values and beliefs we use
those symbols to say something about who
we are we surround ourselves with the
people and the products and the brands
that say something about who we are and
when we can find the people who believe
what we believe
we’re weirdly drawn to them because our
very survival depends on it
we need it and so the more you can give
of yourself the more you can give of
what you believe the more you can
discipline with discipline saying boo
and do the things you actually believe
strange things start to happen what are
your thoughts and what’s your approach
on finding in building upon passions
passion is not an actionable word it’s
correct you know that those who do the
things that they’re passionate about do
better but it’s not helpful advice and
so the question is where does passion
come from passion is a result passion is
an energy passion is the feeling you
have when you’re engaged in something
that you love passion is the feeling you
have that you would probably do this for
free
you know and you can’t believe somebody
pays you to do it you know and I think
we mistake that passion is something we
do in our private lives but it shouldn’t
be done you know in our careers for
example and I’m a firm believer that you
are who you are and anybody who says I’m
different at home than I am at work in
one of those two places you’re lying and
the goal is to make everything you do in
home and it works something that you
have excitement to do
so how do you find the things that
you’re excited to do well it’s actually
easier than you think what are the
things that you love to do what are the
things that you would do for free you
know how can you recreate that feeling
and and be pay for it so what are the
things that I do on the weekend right I
love I’m very involved in the art world
I love to go to museums and galleries
but I love to go see dance and
performances because I want to see how
others are interpreting the world so
that inspires me new ideas new thoughts
new ways of looking at the world are
things that interest me privately and I
seek it out and pay money for it right
so does that mean I have to have a
career in the arts no it means I have to
have a career where new ideas are
explored where people are experimenting
and trying things out and I have to
explore new ideas and try things out and
I’m just as excited to go to work
everyday as I am just you know go do
something on a Saturday night
and so the idea of finding your passion
is ironically simple because you should
be doing stuff that you enjoy sometimes
what is the stuff that you enjoy and
then what is the stuff that you love who
the people you love and what are those
what they all have in common how do you
explain when things don’t go as we
assumed or better how do you explain
when others are able to achieve things
that seem to defy all of the assumptions
for example why is Apple so innovative
year after year after year after year
they’re more innovative than all their
competition
and yet they’re just a computer company
they’re just like everyone else
they have the same access to the same
talent the same agencies the same
consultants the same media then why is
it that they seem to have something
different why is it that Martin Luther
King led the civil rights movement he
wasn’t the only man who suffered in a
pre-civil Rights America and he
certainly wasn’t the only great orator
of the day why him and why is it that
the Wright brothers were able to figure
out control powered man flight when
there were certainly other teams who
were better qualified better funded
and they didn’t achieve powered man
flight the Wright brothers beat them to
it there’s something else at play here
about three and a half years ago I made
a discovery and this discovery
profoundly changed my view on how I
thought the world worked and it even
profoundly changed the way in which I
operate in it as it turns out there’s a
pattern as it turns out all the great
and inspiring leaders and organizations
in the world whether it’s Apple or
Martin Luther King or the Wright
brothers they will think act and
communicate the exact same way and it’s
the complete opposite to everyone else
all I did was codify it and it’s
probably the world’s simplest idea I
call it the Golden Circle
why how what this little idea explains
why some organizations and some leaders
are able to inspire where others aren’t
let me define the terms really quickly
every single person every single
organization on the planet knows what
they do 100 percent some know how they
do it whether you call it your
differentiating value proposition or
your proprietary process or your USP but
very very few people or organizations
know why they do what they do and by why
I don’t mean to make a profit that’s a
result it’s always a result by why I
mean what’s your purpose what’s your
cause what’s your belief why does your
organization exist why do you get out of
bed in the morning and why should anyone
care well as a result the way we think
the way we act the way we communicate is
from the outside in it’s obvious we go
from the clearest thing to the fuzziest
thing but the inspired leaders and the
inspire or inspired organizations
regardless of their size regardless of
their industry all think act and
communicate from the inside out let me
give you an example I use Apple because
they’re easy to understand and everybody
gets it if Apple were like everyone else
a marketing message from them might
sound like this we make great computers
they’re beautifully designed simple to
use and user friendly want to buy one
yeah and that’s how most of us
communicate that’s how most marketing is
done that’s how most sales done and
that’s how most of us communicate
interpersonally we say what we do we say
how we’re different or how we better and
we expect some sort of behavior or
purchase a vote something like that
here’s our new law firm we have the best
lawyers with the biggest clients we have
you know we always perform for our
clients do business with us here’s our
new car it gets great gas mileage it has
you know leather seats by our car but
it’s uninspiring here’s how Apple
actually communicates everything we do
we believe in challenging the status quo
we believe in thinking differently the
way we challenge the status quo is by
making our products beautifully designed
simple to use and user friendly we just
happen to make
Computers want to buy one totally
different right you ready to buy a
computer for me all I did was reverse
the order of the information what it
proves to us is that people don’t buy
what you do people buy why you do it
people don’t buy what you do they buy
why you do it
this explains why every single person in
this room is perfectly comfortable
buying a computer from Apple but we’re
also perfectly comfortable buying an mp3
player from Apple or a phone from Apple
or a DVR from Apple but as I said before
Apple is just a computer company there’s
nothing that distinguishes them
structurally from any of their
competitors their competitors are all
equally qualified to make all of these
products in fact they tried a few years
ago gateway came out with flat-screen
TVs they’re eminently qualified to make
flat-screen tvs they’ve been making
flat-screen monitors for years nobody
bought one and Dell came out with mp3
players and PDAs and they make great
quality products and they can make
perfectly well design products and
nobody bought one in fact talking about
it now we can’t even imagine buying an
mp3 player from Dell why would you buy
an mp3 player from a computer company
but we do it every day people don’t buy
what you do they buy why you do it the
goal is not to do business with anybody
with everybody who needs what you have
the goal is to do business with people
who believe what you believe
here’s the best part none of what I’m
telling you is my opinion it’s all
grounded in the tenets of biology not
psychology biology if you look at a
cross-section of the human brain looking
from the top down what you see is the
human brain is actually broken into
three major components that correlate
perfectly with the golden circle our our
newest brain our Homo Sapien brain our
neocortex corresponds with the what
level the neocortex is responsible for
all of our rational and analytical
thought and language the middle two
sections make up our limbic brains and
our limbic brains are responsible for
all of our feelings like trust and
loyalty it’s also responsible for all
human behavior all decision-making and
it has no
capacity for language in other words
when we communicate from the outside in
yes people can understand vast amounts
of complicated information like features
and benefits and facts and figures just
doesn’t drive behavior when we
communicate from the inside out we’re
talking directly to the part of the
brain that controls behavior and then we
allow people to rationalize it with the
tangible things we say and do this is
where gut decisions come from you know
sometimes you can give somebody all the
facts and your figures in this I know
what all the facts and details say but
it just doesn’t feel right
why would we use that verb it doesn’t
feel right because the part of the brain
that controls decision-making doesn’t
control language and the best we can
muster up is I don’t know it just
doesn’t feel right where sometimes you
say you’re leading with your heart or
you’re leading with your soul well I
hate to break it to you those on other
body parts controlling your behavior
it’s all happening here in your limbic
brain the part of the brain that
controls decision-making and not
language but if you don’t know why you
do what you do and people respond to why
you do what you do then how will anybody
how will you ever get people to to vote
for you or buy something from you or
more importantly be loyal and want to be
a part of what it is what you bet you do
again the goal is not just as to sell
people who need what you have the goal
is to sell to people who believe what
you believe the goal is not just to hire
people who need a job it’s to hire
people who believe what you believe I
always say that you know this if you if
you if you hire people just because they
can do a job they’ll work for your money
but if you hire people who believe what
you believe they work for you with blood
and sweat and tears and nowhere nowhere
else is there a better example of this
than with the Wright brothers most
people don’t know about Samuel Pierpont
Langley and back in the early 20th
century the pursuit of powered man
flight was like the dot-com of the day
everybody was trying it and Samuel
Pierpont Langley had what we assume to
be the recipe for success I mean even
now we you ask people why did your
product or why did your company fail and
people always give you the permeate same
permutation of the same three things
undercapitalized the wrong people bad
market conditions it was the same three
things so let’s explore that
Samuel Pierpont Langley was given
$50,000 by the War Department to figure
out this flying machine money was no
problem
he held a seat at Harvard and worked at
the Smithsonian and was extremely
well-connected he knew all the big minds
of the day he hired the best minds money
could find and the market conditions
were fantastic
the New York Times followed him around
everywhere and everyone was rooting for
Langley and how come we’ve never heard
of Samuel Pierpont Langley a few hundred
miles away in Dayton Ohio Orville and
Wilbur Wright they had none of what we
consider to be the recipe for success
they had no money they paid for their
dream with the proceeds from their
bicycle shop not a single person on the
Wright brothers team had a college
education
not even Orville or Wilbur and the New
York Times followed them around nowhere
the difference was Orville and Wilbur
were driven by a caused by a purpose by
a belief they believed that if they
could figure out this flying machine
it’ll change the course of the world
Samuel Pierpont Langley was different he
wanted to be rich and he want to be
famous he was in pursuit of the result
he was in pursuit of the riches and lo
and behold look what happened the people
who believed in the Wright brothers
dream worked with them with blood and
sweat and tears the others just worked
for the paycheck and they tell stories
of how every time the Wright brothers
went out they would have to take five
sets of parts because that’s how many
times they would crash before they came
in for supper
and eventually on December 17th 1903 the
Wright brothers took flight and no one
was there to even experience it we found
out about it a few days later and
further proof that Langley was motivated
by the wrong thing the day the Wright
brothers took flight he quit he could
have said that’s an amazing discovery
guys and I will improve upon your
technology but he didn’t he wasn’t first
he didn’t get rich he didn’t get famous
so he quit people don’t buy what you do
they buy why you do it and if you talk
about what you believe you will attract
those who
believe what you believe but why is it
important to attract those who believe
what you believe something called the
law of diffusion of innovation and if
you don’t know the law you definitely
know the terminology the first two and a
half percent of our population are our
innovators the next thirteen and a half
percent of our population are our early
adopters the next thirty four percent
are your early majority your late
majority and your laggards the only
reason these people by touch-tone phones
is because you can’t buy rotary phones
anymore we all sit at various places at
various times on the scale but the law
of diffusion of innovation tells us is
that if you want mass-market success or
mass-market acceptance of an idea you
cannot have it until you achieve this
tipping point between 15 and 18 percent
market penetration and then the system
tips and I love asking businesses what’s
your conversion on new business and they
love to sell you oh it’s about 10%
proudly well you can trip over 10% of
the customers we all have about 10% who
just get it that’s how we describe them
right that’s like that gut feeling oh
they just get it the problem is how do
you find the ones that just get it
before you’re doing business with them
versus the ones who don’t get it
so it’s this here this little gap that
you have to close as Jeffrey Moore calls
it crossing the chasm because you see
the early majority will not try
something until someone else has tried
it first
and these guys the innovators in the
early adopters they’re comfortable
making those gut decisions they’re more
comfortable making those intuitive
decisions that are driven by what they
believe about the world and not just
what product is available these are the
people who stood on line for six hours
to buy an iPhone when they first came
out when you could have just walked into
the store the next week and bought one
off the shelf these are the people who
spent $40,000 on flat-screen TVs when
they first came out even though the
technology was substandard and by the
way they didn’t do it because the
technology was so great they did it for
themselves it’s because they wanted to
be first people don’t buy what you do
they buy why you do it
and what you do simply
rooves what you believe in fact people
will do the things that prove what they
believe the reason that person bought
the iPhone on the first in the first six
hours of stood in line for six hours was
because what they believed about the
world and how they wanted everybody at
see them they were first people don’t
buy what you do they buy why you do it
so let me give you a famous example a
famous failure and a famous success of
the law of diffusion of innovation first
the famous failure it’s a commercial
example as we said before a second ago
the recipe for success is money and the
right people in the right marketing
conditions right you should have success
then look at TiVo from the time TiVo
came out about eight or nine years ago
to this current day they are the single
highest quality product on the market
hands down there is no dispute they were
extremely well-funded market conditions
were fantastic I mean we use TiVo as a
verb I TiVo stuff on my piece of junk
Time Warner DVR all the time but TiVo is
a commercial failure they’ve never made
money and when they went IPO their stock
was at about 30 or 40 dollars then
plummeted and it’s never traded above
ten in fact I don’t thinks it’s even
traded above six except for a couple of
little spikes because you see when TiVo
launched their product they told us all
what they had they said we have a
product that pauses live TV skips
commercials rewinds live TV and
memorizes your viewing habits without
you even asking and the cynical majority
said we don’t believe you we don’t need
it we don’t like it you’re scaring us
what if they had said if you’re the kind
of person who likes to have total
control over every aspect of your life
boy do we have a product for you it
pauses live TV skips commercials
memorizes your viewing habits etc etc
people don’t buy what you do they buy
why you do it and what you do simply
serves as the proof of what you believe
now let me give you a successful example
of the law of diffusion of innovation in
the summer of 1963
250,000 people showed up on the mall in
Washington to hear dr. King speak they
sent out no invitations and there was no
website to check the date how do you do
that well dr. King wasn’t the only man
in America who was the who’s a great
orator he wasn’t the only man in America
who suffered in a pre-civil Rights
America in fact some of his ideas were
bad but he had a gift he didn’t go
around telling people what needed to
change in America you know he went
around and told people what he believed
I believe I believe I believe he told
people and people who believed what he
believed took his cause and they made it
their own and they told people and some
of those people created structures to
get the word out to even more people and
lo and behold 250,000 people showed up
on the right day on the right time to
hear him speak how many of them showed
up for him zero they showed up for
themselves
it’s what they believed about America
that got them to travel on a bus for
eight hours to stand in the Sun in
Washington for in the middle of August
it’s what they believed and it wasn’t
about black versus white 25 percent of
the audience was white dr. King believed
that there were two types of laws in
this world those that are made by a
higher authority Authority and those
that are made by man and not until all
the laws that are made by man are
consistent with the laws that are made
by the higher authority well we live in
a just world it just so happens that the
civil rights movement was the perfect
thing to help him bring his cause to
life
we followed not him not for him but for
ourselves and by the way he gave the I
have a dream speech not the I have a
planned speech
listen to politicians now with the
comprehensive 12-point plans are not
inspiring anybody because there were
leaders and there are those who lead
leaders hold a position of power or
authority but those who lead inspire us
with other individuals or organizations
we follow those who lead not because we
have to but because we want to we follow
those who lead not for them but for
ourselves and it’s those who start with
Y that have the ability to inspire those
around them or find others who inspire
them thank you very much
thank you guys so much for watching I
made this video because Lex bent the
Heric asked me to so there’s a famous
entrepreneur that you would like me to
profile next please leave it down the
comments below and I’ll see what I can
do I also love to know which clip
resonated the most with you today what
did Simon say that had the biggest
impact what change you’re going to make
to your life your business after
watching this video please leave it down
the comments below and I’m going to join
in the discussion thank you so much for
watching I believe in you I hope you
continue to believe in yourself
and whatever your one word is much love
I’ll see you soon
decision-making is a process right the
question is what filters are you using
to make decisions are you making
decisions based on the financial rewards
are you making decisions based on how
easy the work will be I mean I remember
in college you know they would give you
this book where they all the students
would rate the classes and they would
rate things like how easy the class was
and how you know how much you they like
the professor and you know the first
year I picked all my classes based on it
workload and I picked everything a low
workload you know and pretty bored
didn’t work very hard which is fine but
nothing was dynamic and nothing really
excited me and I thank goodness learned
that and so the second year I picked all
my classes by professor rating
regardless of the workload so every
class I had I had these dynamic amazing
incredible human beings passing on their
knowledge and you were excited to work
hard for them you know and so again what
the question is what are the filters
were using and so if you’re only chasing
the mighty dollar then you will have
jobs that’ll pay you a little more than
the last but are you enjoying yourself
and I talked to a guy recently who
wasn’t he’s in bad shape
like he really hates his life and he’s
really depressed he doesn’t know what to
do and so we were going through all his
old jobs you know and I said give me a
job that you’ve loved and he hadn’t
every single job he’s chosen out of
college he picked because of the the
money and if something offered him more
somewhere else he took it you know
regardless and and and and the amazing
thing is he plateaued because if you’re
only chasing the result if you’re only
chasing the thing that makes it easy
right then eventually you will get bored
or they’ll get bored of you right and
you plateau in other words chasing the
whole mighty dollar if that’s your only
thing it eventually flattens out whereas
if you’re chasing the thing that excites
you the human beings to be around the
work that excites you the stuff that you
know you know you you can get passionate
about you know the the irony is is
you’ll actually make way way more right
because you’re excited and they
appreciate your excitement and they
reward your excitement and you’re better
at your work because you want to work
harder and all of that stuff you don’t
have to strain to work harder so
decision making is simply a matter of
filters you know and so I’ve made
decisions in my life that I would rather
be happy than right I’d rather do good
then then get rich and and so the
decisions I make put me in positions
where when I leave any engagement when I
leave any meeting I feel that I’ve
contributed right rare are the times
anymore where you walk arguing just
think of the money just think of the
money think of the money you know I
because that doesn’t feel nice and and
experience I have
I don’t enjoy traveling to them and I
don’t enjoy traveling home we’re having
amazing experience I am looking forward
to getting there and I’m excited when I
leave you know so it’s just decision
make decision-making is just a matter of
what filters you use and if you’re if
you’re good about keeping those filters
up and clear then then make your
decision I don’t judge anybody by how if
they choose to use different filters
these are just the filters I choose to
live my life you know not right or wrong
just those are my decisions
you know that’s my filter how can you
help the human race how can you help the
human race the human species progress
I’m not joking either this is something
I think we all have to be aware of at
the end of the day the human animal is a
social animal and our very survival
depends on our ability to form
communities to form cultures what’s a
community what’s a culture it’s a group
of people with a common set of values
and beliefs right what’s a country it’s
a group of people with a common set of
values and beliefs
what’s a company it should be a group of
people with a common set of values and
beliefs when we’re surrounded by people
who believe what we believe something
remarkable happens Trust emerges and
make no mistake of it trust as a feeling
a distinctly human feeling you know we
all have friends we’re total screw-ups
and yet we still trust them right Trust
is not a checklist simply doing
everything you say you’re going to do
doesn’t that much does not mean people
will inherently trust you it just means
you’re reliable
we need trust right we need trust when
we’re surrounded by people who believe
what we believe and trust starts to
emerge and we trust them and they trust
us we’re more willing to take risks
we’re more willing to experiment which
requires failure we’re more willing to
explore and go somewhere with that no
one has ever gone before
with the confidence
that if we fail if we trip over if we
turn our backs that those within our
community those who we trust and who
trust us will look after us while we’re
gone will pick us up when we fall over
will help us when we’re hurt our very
survival depends on it we’re not good at
everything we’re not good by ourselves
you know if I send you out to go fight a
saber-toothed tiger by yourself odds are
Tiger one you zero it’s not going to go
very well but if you go out as a group
we’re pretty damn amazing and the reason
is is because we all have our strengths
and we all of our certain weaknesses and
the goal is not to fix your weaknesses
the goal is to amplify your strengths
and surround yourself with the people
who can do what you can’t do but it’s
not just based on skills and an
application and experience it’s based on
what you believe it’s based on what you
believe you see simply being good at
something and having somebody else being
good but you’re no good it does not mean
you will trust each other trust the
sense of trust comes from the sense of
common values and common beliefs I can
prove it how many of you from New York
okay bunch of you
are you friends with everybody in New
York why not why not but when you go to
Los Angeles and you meet someone from
New York you’re like hey I’m from New
York and you’re best friends right and
when you go to France you there you are
in the Paris Metro minding your own
business and you hear an American actor
behind you and you turn around
you say hey where you from they say Los
Angeles you’re like hey I’m from New
York and you’re best friends because
when you’re surrounded by people who
don’t believe what you believe when
you’re in a strange environment where
you don’t feel comfortable you look for
anyone who may share some of the same
values and beliefs that you have and you
start to form a very real and very
intense bond with them simply because
you know that they have a basic
understanding of how you grew up of the
things that you care about of the life
that you live back home well the same is
true when we go to work do we want to go
to work with people who understand us
who believe what we believe who have a
similar view of the world that has
nothing to do with their opinions and
the differences that we share
that’s good that’s called diversity
that’s called advantages to
problem-solving which is we can all look
at the same thing from a different angle
and come up with solutions
what I’m talking about is why should you
help each other in the first place what
are you in pursuit of now the question
is is what creates that sense of values
and beliefs what creates that sense of
trust right our very human instinct we
know how to find people who believe what
we believe our survival depends on it
we’re biologically gifted with this idea
if I ask you to go out in the street and
find all the people who believe what you
believe you know exactly what to do
you’re going to strike up conversations
you’re going to start talking to people
and you either you’ll have a good
feeling about them or you won’t either
you’ll have chemistry whatever that
means or you don’t
sometimes it’s quick sometimes it’s slow
but we know how to do it it’s called
making friends it’s called dating it’s
called networking we have the innate
ability to do it true story
there was a former Undersecretary of
Defense who was invited to give a speech
at a large conference about a thousand
people and he was standing on the stage
with his cup of coffee in a Styrofoam
cup giving his prepared to March with
his PowerPoint behind him and he took a
sip of his coffee and he smiled and he
looked down at the coffee and then he
went off-script and he said you know
last year I spoke at this exact same
conference last year I was still the
undersecretary and when I spoke here
last year they flew me here business
class and when I arrived at the airport
there was somebody waiting for me to
take me to my hotel and they took me to
my hotel and they had already checked me
in and they just took me up to my room
and the next morning I came downstairs
and there was someone waiting in the
lobby to greet me and they drove me to
this here same venue they took me
through the back entrance and took me
into the green room and handed me a
coffee cup of coffee in a beautiful
ceramic cup he says I’m no longer the
undersecretary I flew here coach I took
a taxi to my hotel and I checked myself
in when I came down the lobby this
morning I took another taxi to this
venue I came in the front door and found
my way backstage and when I asked
someone do you have any coffee he
pointed to the coffee machine
in the corner and I poured myself a cup
of coffee into this here Styrofoam cup
he says the lesson is the ceramic cup
was never meant for me it was meant for
the position I held I deserve a
Styrofoam cup remember this as you gain
Fame as you gain fortune as you gain
position and seniority people will treat
you better they will hold doors open for
you they will get you a cup of tea and
coffee without you even asking they will
call you sir and ma’am and they will
give you stuff none of that stuff is
meant for you that stuff is meant for
the position you hold it is meant for
the level that you have achieved of
leader or success or whatever you want
to call it but you will always deserve a
Styrofoam cup remember that remember
that lesson of humility and gratitude
you can accept all the free stuff you
can accept all the perks absolutely you
can enjoy them but just be grateful for
them and know that they’re not for you I
remember getting off the Acela I took
the Acela from New York to Washington DC
and I got off the train like everybody
else and I was walking down the platform
like everyone else and I walked past
general norty Schwartz who used to be
the chief of staff of the United States
Air Force the head of the Air Force and
here I did you see a guy in a suit
slapping his own suitcase down the
platform just like me and just a couple
months ago he was flying on private jets
and an entourage and other people
carried his luggage but he no longer
held the position and so now he got to
drag his own suitcase and never did it
sort of remind me more that none of us
deserve the perks that we get we all
deserve a Styrofoam cup
and some people see the thing that
prevents them from getting the thing
that they want it’s as if an entire
generation is standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see is the mountain people put
harley-davidson logos on their body to
say something about who they are
corporate logo ain’t no Procter &
Gamble’s tattooed on anybody’s on
passion is the feeling you have that you
would probably do this for free you know
and you can’t believe somebody pays you
to do it he’s an author speaker and
consultant who writes on leadership and
management he joined the rand
corporation in 2010 where he advises on
military innovation in planning he is
known for popularizing the concepts of
the golden circle and to start with why
he’s simon Sinek and here’s my take on
his top ten rules for success rule
number six is my personal favorite and
make sure to stick around although to
the end for some special bonus clips and
as always if Simon says something that
really really resonates with you please
leave it down in the comments below and
put quotes around it to other people can
be inspired as well
let me tell you a story so a friend of
mine and I we went for a run in Central
Park the Roadrunners organization on the
weekends they host races and it’s very
common at the end of the race they’ll
have a sponsor who will give away
something apples or bagels or something
and on this particular day when we got
to the end of the run there were some
free bagels and they had picnic tables
set up and on one side was a group of
volunteers on the table were boxes of
bagels and on the other side was a long
line of runners waiting to get their
free bagel so I said to my friend let’s
let’s get a bagel and he looked at me
and said that lines too long and I said
free bagel and he said I don’t want to
wait in line and I was like free bagel
and he says not let’s it’s too long and
that’s when I realized that there’s two
ways to see the world some people see
the thing that they want and some people
see the thing that prevents them from
getting the thing that they want I could
only see the bagels he could only see
the line and so I walked up to the line
I leaned in between two people put my
hand in the box
and pulled out two bagels and no one get
mad at me because the rule is you can go
after whatever you want
you just cannot deny anyone else to go
after whatever they want
now I had to sacrifice choice I didn’t
get to choose which bagel I got I got
whatever I pulled out but I didn’t have
to wait in line so the point is is you
don’t have to wait in line you don’t
have to do it the way everybody else has
done it you can do it your way
you can break the rules you just can’t
get in the way of somebody else getting
what they want that’s rule number one
performing under pressure whether it’s
me or anybody else is the same you know
I have the same pressures as anyone else
there’s time there’s performance there’s
financial I mean there you know there’s
deadlines my pressures are not unique
the situations maybe
different or you know but but everybody
has the same kinds of pressures but what
I found or what I find fascinating is
the interpretation of the stimuli if let
me let me explain so I was watching the
Olympics this last Summer Olympics and I
was amazed at how bad the questions were
that the reporters would ask all the
athletes and almost always they asked
the same question whether they were
about to compete or after they competed
were you nervous right and to a tee all
the athletes went no right and what I
realized is it’s not that they’re not
nervous it’s their interpretation of
what’s happening in their bodies I mean
what it what happens when you’re nervous
right your heart rate starts to go
you’re you know you sort of get a little
tense you get a little sweaty
right you have expectation of what’s
coming and we interpreted that is I’m
nervous now what’s the interpretation of
excited your heart rate starts to go you
become you’re anticipating what’s coming
right you get a little sort of like
tense it’s all the same thing it’s the
same stimuli except these athletes these
these Olympic quality athletes have
learned to interpret the stimuli that
the rest of us would say is nervous as
excited they also the same thing no I’m
not nervous I’m excited and so I’ve
actually practiced it just to tell
myself when I start to get nervous that
this is excitement you know and so where
when you used to feet speak in front of
a large audience and somebody say how do
you feel you say little nervous now when
somebody says how do you feel like
really excited actually and it it came
from just sort of telling myself no no
this is excitement and it becomes a
little bit automatic later on but it’s
kind of a remarkable thing to deal with
pressure by interpreting what your body
is experiencing as excitement rather
than nerves and it’s really kind of
effective it makes you want to rush for
is rather than pull back and yet it’s
the same experience I talked to so many
smart fantastic ambitious idealistic
hard-working kids and they’re right out
of college they’re in their entry-level
jobs and I’ll ask them how is it going
and they’ll say I think I’m gonna quit
and I’m like why they say to me I’m not
making an impact I’m like you know
you’ve been here eight
right they treat the sense of
fulfillment or even love like it’s a
scavenger hunt like it’s something you
look for my millennial friends they’ve
gone through so many jobs they’re either
getting fired I mean it was mutual or
they’re quitting because they’re not
making an impact or they’re not finding
the thing they’re looking for they’re
not feeling fulfilled as if it’s a
scavenger hunt love a job you find joy
from is not something you discover it’s
not like I found love here it is I found
a job I love that’s not how it works
both of those things require hard work
you are in love because you work very
hard every single day of your life to
stay in love you find a job that brings
you ultimate joy because you work hard
every single day to serve those around
you and you maintain that joy it’s not a
discovery but the problem is the sense
of impatience it’s as if an entire
generation is standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see is the mountain this large
emove Abul object that doesn’t mean you
have to do your time that’s not what I’m
talking about take a helicopter climb I
don’t care but there’s still a mountain
life career fulfillment relationships
are journeys the problem is this entire
generation has an institutionalized
sense of impatience and do they have the
patience to go on the journey to
maintain love to feel fulfilled or do
they just quit and on to the next dump
and on to the next ghost and unto the
next in the 18th century there was
something that spread across Europe and
eventually made its way to America where
pole fever also known as the Black Death
of child bed basically what was
happening is women were giving birth and
they would die within 48 hours after
giving birth
this black death of childbirth was the
ravage of Europe and it got worse and
worse and
worse over the course of over a century
in some hospitals it was as high as 70%
of women who gave birth who would die as
a result of giving birth but this was
the Renaissance this was the time of
empirical data and science and we had
thrown away things like tradition and
mysticism these were men of science
these were doctors and these doctors and
men of science wanted to study and try
and find the reason for this black death
of childbed and so they got to work
studying and they would study the
corpses of the of the women who had died
and in the morning they would conduct
autopsies and then in the afternoon they
would go and deliver babies and finish
their rounds and it wasn’t until
somewhere in the mid 1800s that dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes father of Supreme
Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
realized that all of these doctors were
conducting autopsies in the morning
weren’t washing their hands before they
delivered babies in the afternoon and he
pointed it out and said guys you’re the
problem and they ignored him and called
him crazy for 30 years until finally
somebody realized that if they simply
washed their hands it would go away and
that’s exactly what happened when they
started sterilizing their instruments
and washing their hands the black death
of child bed disappeared my point is the
lesson here is sometimes you’re the
problem
we’ve seen this happen all too recently
with our new men of science and
empirical studies and these men of
finance who are smarter than the rest of
us until the thing collapsed and they
blamed everything else except themselves
and my point is is take accountability
for your actions you can take all the
credit in the world for the things that
you do right as long as you also take
responsibility for the things you do
wrong
must be a balanced equation you don’t
get it one way and not the other you get
to take credit when you also take
accountability I spoke at an education
summit for Microsoft I also spoke at an
education summit for Apple at education
from my at the education summit for
Microsoft I would say that 70% of the
executives spent about 70% of their
presentations talking about how to beat
Apple at the Apple education summit a
hundred percent of the executives spent
a hundred percent of their presentations
talking about how to help teachers teach
and how to help students learn one is
playing this way and one is playing that
way one is playing finite and the other
one is playing infinite guess which one
gets frustrated so at the end of my talk
at Microsoft they gave me a gift they
gave me the new Zune when it was a thing
and let me tell you this thing was
spectacular
it was the most elegant piece of
technology I’d ever used the user
interface was incredible the design was
spectacular I absolutely loved it it was
easy to use and it was bright and
gorgeous and it didn’t work on iTunes
which is a different problem
so I couldn’t use it but but it was
amazing
and elegant my god it was elegant so I’m
sitting in the back of a taxi with a
very senior Apple executive sort of
employee number 12 kind of guy and you
know I like to stir pots so I turned him
I said you know Microsoft gave me their
new Zune and it is so much better than
your iPod touch and he turned to me and
he said I have no doubt conversation
over because the infinite player
understands sometimes your head and
sometimes you behind
sometimes your product is better and
sometimes it’s worse the goal isn’t to
be the best every day the goal isn’t out
to outdo your competition every day
that’s a finite construction if I had
said to Microsoft I’ve got the new iPod
touch and it’s so much better than your
Zune they would have said can we see it
what does it do react react react react
finite players play to be bet to beat
the people around them infinite players
play to be better than themselves to
wake up every single day and say how can
we make our company a better version of
itself today than it was yesterday how
can we create a product this week that’s
better than the product we created last
week we also have to play the infinite
game it’s not about being ranked number
one it’s not about having more followers
on Twitter than your friends it’s not
about outdoing anyone it’s about how to
outdo yourself it’s not about selling
more books or getting more Ted views
than somebody else it’s about how to
make sure that the work that you’re
producing is better than you work you
produced before you are your competition
and that is what ensures you stay in the
game the longest and that is what
ensures you find joy because the joy
comes not from comparison but from
advancement when are you at your best I
met my best when I’m around people who
believe what I believe I know it seems
silly but I try very very hard to sort
of stack the deck you know to put myself
in a position of strength so for example
you know somebody asked me just
yesterday have you ever
had sort of a bad you know engagement I
was thinking myself I’m like not really
but it’s not because I’m some sort of
sort of genius a nice ending anything
like that it’s because I stack the deck
it’s because I want to be there I want
to be around people who want me there in
other words if I’m somebody’s tenth
choice and like you know I’ll probably
turn it down whereas if I’m their first
choice they really want me there and so
I’m more likely to have a good
engagement they’re supportive of me I’m
supportive of them and so yeah I’m at my
best look like when I stack the deck
when I choose to be in an environment
where where my strengths are are there
Nelson Mandela is a particularly special
case study in the leadership world
because he is universally regarded as a
great leader you can take other
personalities and depending on the
nation you go to we have different
opinions about other personalities but
Nelson Mandela across the world is
universally regarded as a great leader
he was actually the son of a tribal
chief and he was asked one day how did
you learn to be a great leader and he
responded that he would go with his
father to tribal meetings and he
remembers two things when his father
would meet with other elders one they
would always sit in a circle and to his
father was always the last to speak
you’ll be told your whole life that you
need to learn to listen I would say that
you need to learn to be the last to
speak I see it in boardrooms every day
of the week even people who consider
themselves good leaders who may actually
be decent leaders will walk into a room
and say here’s the problem here’s what I
think but I’m interested in your opinion
let’s go around the room it’s too late
the skill to hold your opinions to
yourself until everyone has spoken does
two things one it gives everybody else
the feeling that they have been heard it
give me gives everyone else the ability
to feel that they have contributed and
two you get the benefit of hearing what
everybody else has to think before you
render your opinion the skill is really
to keep your opinions to yourself if you
agree with somebody don’t nod yes
if you disagree with somebody don’t not
know simply sit there take it all in and
the only thing you’re allowed to do is
ask questions so that you can understand
what they mean and why they have the
opinion that they have you must
understand from where they are speaking
why they have the opinion they have not
just what they are saying and at the end
you will get your turn
it sounds easy it’s not practice being
the last to speak
that’s what Nelson Mandela did every
decision we make in our lives as
individuals or as organizations is a
piece of communication it’s our way of
saying something about who we are and
what we believe this is why authenticity
matters this is why you have to say and
do the things you actually believe
because the things you say and do are
symbols of who you are and we look for
those symbols so we can find people who
believe what we believe our very
survival depends on it so if you’re
putting out false symbols you will
attract people to those symbols but you
won’t be able to form trust with them
this is what Tiger Woods did to us he
lied he lied he told us what he thought
we wanted to hear and it was great and
we were drawn to it and all of us who
kind of liked that idea of the sort of
the good guy who drawn to it until we
found out it was a lie he could have
been the bad boy of golf he could have
had all the same endorsements and had a
fantastic career and still been hailed
as one of the great athletes of our day
but he didn’t he chose to lie
good luck forming trust again tiger we
don’t believe you we don’t trust you the
goal of putting something out there if
you say what you believe and you do what
you believe you will attract people who
believe what you believe
if you go to one of your friends and you
say to one of your friends how would you
like me to dress so that you’ll like me
better how would you want me to address
you how do you want me to speak so that
you’ll like me more right your friends
are going to look at you be like
what are you talking about come on come
on come on what should I wear so that
you’ll find me more appealing and how
would you like me to speak to you so
that you’ll like me more and your
friends are gonna tell you just be
yourself that’s why I like you I don’t
just be yourself now think about what we
do in industry what do we do we do
market research and we go and we ask the
customers what kind of things the way we
what style should we speak to you how
should we decorate ourselves what kind
of things are you drawn to so that we
can do those things so you’ll like us
more it’s just as ridiculous it’s just
as ridiculous organisations should say
and do the things they actually believe
and they will attract people who believe
what they believe or they can choose to
lie and at the slightest hint that they
might be lying cynicism sets in and
people start saying I’m not sure I can
trust these guys because there’s not a
lot of consistency and all the things
they say and do which means they can’t
have a very strong belief set or they’re
lying to me and we call them it
authentic the entire process of asking
other people who we should be is
inauthentic that’s hilarious to me all
these positioning studies we do are
inherent we’re going to do a study to
find out from people so we can be more
authentic that’s hilarious
say and do what you actually believe and
the symbols you put out there the things
you say and the things you do those red
hats are ways that people can find you
what you have the ability to do as
designers is create those symbols and
allow people to use those things to say
something about who they are work for
companies work for clients work for
people who you believe what they believe
show up and feel a part of something
bigger than yourself and your part is to
put what they believe into pictures and
words and symbols and graphics so that
other people can use those things to say
something about who they are people put
harley-davidson logos on their body to
say something about who they are
corporate logo ain’t no Procter &
Gamble’s tattooed on anybody’s on
because Harley means something they
stand for something people put that
tattoo on their not to tell you that
they own a motorcycle
they put that tattoo there to tell you
something about themselves you ever see
anybody with a with a Mac laptop put a
sticker over that beautiful shining
Apple ain’t never gonna happen then how
will you know who I am you ever see
anybody with a PC break out the Windex
to clean out their computer Mac people
have you ever seen a dirty Mac doesn’t
exist does not exist why because it’s
Who I am
these are symbols we use the companies
that are crystal clear in what they
believe and their discipline and how
they do it they’re consistent what they
do and everything they say and
everything they do serves as a symbol of
the set of values and beliefs we use
those symbols to say something about who
we are we surround ourselves with the
people and the products and the brands
that say something about who we are and
when we can find the people who believe
what we believe
we’re weirdly drawn to them because our
very survival depends on it
we need it and so the more you can give
of yourself the more you can give of
what you believe the more you can
discipline with discipline saying boo
and do the things you actually believe
strange things start to happen what are
your thoughts and what’s your approach
on finding in building upon passions
passion is not an actionable word it’s
correct you know that those who do the
things that they’re passionate about do
better but it’s not helpful advice and
so the question is where does passion
come from passion is a result passion is
an energy passion is the feeling you
have when you’re engaged in something
that you love passion is the feeling you
have that you would probably do this for
free
you know and you can’t believe somebody
pays you to do it you know and I think
we mistake that passion is something we
do in our private lives but it shouldn’t
be done you know in our careers for
example and I’m a firm believer that you
are who you are and anybody who says I’m
different at home than I am at work in
one of those two places you’re lying and
the goal is to make everything you do in
home and it works something that you
have excitement to do
so how do you find the things that
you’re excited to do well it’s actually
easier than you think what are the
things that you love to do what are the
things that you would do for free you
know how can you recreate that feeling
and and be pay for it so what are the
things that I do on the weekend right I
love I’m very involved in the art world
I love to go to museums and galleries
but I love to go see dance and
performances because I want to see how
others are interpreting the world so
that inspires me new ideas new thoughts
new ways of looking at the world are
things that interest me privately and I
seek it out and pay money for it right
so does that mean I have to have a
career in the arts no it means I have to
have a career where new ideas are
explored where people are experimenting
and trying things out and I have to
explore new ideas and try things out and
I’m just as excited to go to work
everyday as I am just you know go do
something on a Saturday night
and so the idea of finding your passion
is ironically simple because you should
be doing stuff that you enjoy sometimes
what is the stuff that you enjoy and
then what is the stuff that you love who
the people you love and what are those
what they all have in common how do you
explain when things don’t go as we
assumed or better how do you explain
when others are able to achieve things
that seem to defy all of the assumptions
for example why is Apple so innovative
year after year after year after year
they’re more innovative than all their
competition
and yet they’re just a computer company
they’re just like everyone else
they have the same access to the same
talent the same agencies the same
consultants the same media then why is
it that they seem to have something
different why is it that Martin Luther
King led the civil rights movement he
wasn’t the only man who suffered in a
pre-civil Rights America and he
certainly wasn’t the only great orator
of the day why him and why is it that
the Wright brothers were able to figure
out control powered man flight when
there were certainly other teams who
were better qualified better funded
and they didn’t achieve powered man
flight the Wright brothers beat them to
it there’s something else at play here
about three and a half years ago I made
a discovery and this discovery
profoundly changed my view on how I
thought the world worked and it even
profoundly changed the way in which I
operate in it as it turns out there’s a
pattern as it turns out all the great
and inspiring leaders and organizations
in the world whether it’s Apple or
Martin Luther King or the Wright
brothers they will think act and
communicate the exact same way and it’s
the complete opposite to everyone else
all I did was codify it and it’s
probably the world’s simplest idea I
call it the Golden Circle
why how what this little idea explains
why some organizations and some leaders
are able to inspire where others aren’t
let me define the terms really quickly
every single person every single
organization on the planet knows what
they do 100 percent some know how they
do it whether you call it your
differentiating value proposition or
your proprietary process or your USP but
very very few people or organizations
know why they do what they do and by why
I don’t mean to make a profit that’s a
result it’s always a result by why I
mean what’s your purpose what’s your
cause what’s your belief why does your
organization exist why do you get out of
bed in the morning and why should anyone
care well as a result the way we think
the way we act the way we communicate is
from the outside in it’s obvious we go
from the clearest thing to the fuzziest
thing but the inspired leaders and the
inspire or inspired organizations
regardless of their size regardless of
their industry all think act and
communicate from the inside out let me
give you an example I use Apple because
they’re easy to understand and everybody
gets it if Apple were like everyone else
a marketing message from them might
sound like this we make great computers
they’re beautifully designed simple to
use and user friendly want to buy one
yeah and that’s how most of us
communicate that’s how most marketing is
done that’s how most sales done and
that’s how most of us communicate
interpersonally we say what we do we say
how we’re different or how we better and
we expect some sort of behavior or
purchase a vote something like that
here’s our new law firm we have the best
lawyers with the biggest clients we have
you know we always perform for our
clients do business with us here’s our
new car it gets great gas mileage it has
you know leather seats by our car but
it’s uninspiring here’s how Apple
actually communicates everything we do
we believe in challenging the status quo
we believe in thinking differently the
way we challenge the status quo is by
making our products beautifully designed
simple to use and user friendly we just
happen to make
Computers want to buy one totally
different right you ready to buy a
computer for me all I did was reverse
the order of the information what it
proves to us is that people don’t buy
what you do people buy why you do it
people don’t buy what you do they buy
why you do it
this explains why every single person in
this room is perfectly comfortable
buying a computer from Apple but we’re
also perfectly comfortable buying an mp3
player from Apple or a phone from Apple
or a DVR from Apple but as I said before
Apple is just a computer company there’s
nothing that distinguishes them
structurally from any of their
competitors their competitors are all
equally qualified to make all of these
products in fact they tried a few years
ago gateway came out with flat-screen
TVs they’re eminently qualified to make
flat-screen tvs they’ve been making
flat-screen monitors for years nobody
bought one and Dell came out with mp3
players and PDAs and they make great
quality products and they can make
perfectly well design products and
nobody bought one in fact talking about
it now we can’t even imagine buying an
mp3 player from Dell why would you buy
an mp3 player from a computer company
but we do it every day people don’t buy
what you do they buy why you do it the
goal is not to do business with anybody
with everybody who needs what you have
the goal is to do business with people
who believe what you believe
here’s the best part none of what I’m
telling you is my opinion it’s all
grounded in the tenets of biology not
psychology biology if you look at a
cross-section of the human brain looking
from the top down what you see is the
human brain is actually broken into
three major components that correlate
perfectly with the golden circle our our
newest brain our Homo Sapien brain our
neocortex corresponds with the what
level the neocortex is responsible for
all of our rational and analytical
thought and language the middle two
sections make up our limbic brains and
our limbic brains are responsible for
all of our feelings like trust and
loyalty it’s also responsible for all
human behavior all decision-making and
it has no
capacity for language in other words
when we communicate from the outside in
yes people can understand vast amounts
of complicated information like features
and benefits and facts and figures just
doesn’t drive behavior when we
communicate from the inside out we’re
talking directly to the part of the
brain that controls behavior and then we
allow people to rationalize it with the
tangible things we say and do this is
where gut decisions come from you know
sometimes you can give somebody all the
facts and your figures in this I know
what all the facts and details say but
it just doesn’t feel right
why would we use that verb it doesn’t
feel right because the part of the brain
that controls decision-making doesn’t
control language and the best we can
muster up is I don’t know it just
doesn’t feel right where sometimes you
say you’re leading with your heart or
you’re leading with your soul well I
hate to break it to you those on other
body parts controlling your behavior
it’s all happening here in your limbic
brain the part of the brain that
controls decision-making and not
language but if you don’t know why you
do what you do and people respond to why
you do what you do then how will anybody
how will you ever get people to to vote
for you or buy something from you or
more importantly be loyal and want to be
a part of what it is what you bet you do
again the goal is not just as to sell
people who need what you have the goal
is to sell to people who believe what
you believe the goal is not just to hire
people who need a job it’s to hire
people who believe what you believe I
always say that you know this if you if
you if you hire people just because they
can do a job they’ll work for your money
but if you hire people who believe what
you believe they work for you with blood
and sweat and tears and nowhere nowhere
else is there a better example of this
than with the Wright brothers most
people don’t know about Samuel Pierpont
Langley and back in the early 20th
century the pursuit of powered man
flight was like the dot-com of the day
everybody was trying it and Samuel
Pierpont Langley had what we assume to
be the recipe for success I mean even
now we you ask people why did your
product or why did your company fail and
people always give you the permeate same
permutation of the same three things
undercapitalized the wrong people bad
market conditions it was the same three
things so let’s explore that
Samuel Pierpont Langley was given
$50,000 by the War Department to figure
out this flying machine money was no
problem
he held a seat at Harvard and worked at
the Smithsonian and was extremely
well-connected he knew all the big minds
of the day he hired the best minds money
could find and the market conditions
were fantastic
the New York Times followed him around
everywhere and everyone was rooting for
Langley and how come we’ve never heard
of Samuel Pierpont Langley a few hundred
miles away in Dayton Ohio Orville and
Wilbur Wright they had none of what we
consider to be the recipe for success
they had no money they paid for their
dream with the proceeds from their
bicycle shop not a single person on the
Wright brothers team had a college
education
not even Orville or Wilbur and the New
York Times followed them around nowhere
the difference was Orville and Wilbur
were driven by a caused by a purpose by
a belief they believed that if they
could figure out this flying machine
it’ll change the course of the world
Samuel Pierpont Langley was different he
wanted to be rich and he want to be
famous he was in pursuit of the result
he was in pursuit of the riches and lo
and behold look what happened the people
who believed in the Wright brothers
dream worked with them with blood and
sweat and tears the others just worked
for the paycheck and they tell stories
of how every time the Wright brothers
went out they would have to take five
sets of parts because that’s how many
times they would crash before they came
in for supper
and eventually on December 17th 1903 the
Wright brothers took flight and no one
was there to even experience it we found
out about it a few days later and
further proof that Langley was motivated
by the wrong thing the day the Wright
brothers took flight he quit he could
have said that’s an amazing discovery
guys and I will improve upon your
technology but he didn’t he wasn’t first
he didn’t get rich he didn’t get famous
so he quit people don’t buy what you do
they buy why you do it and if you talk
about what you believe you will attract
those who
believe what you believe but why is it
important to attract those who believe
what you believe something called the
law of diffusion of innovation and if
you don’t know the law you definitely
know the terminology the first two and a
half percent of our population are our
innovators the next thirteen and a half
percent of our population are our early
adopters the next thirty four percent
are your early majority your late
majority and your laggards the only
reason these people by touch-tone phones
is because you can’t buy rotary phones
anymore we all sit at various places at
various times on the scale but the law
of diffusion of innovation tells us is
that if you want mass-market success or
mass-market acceptance of an idea you
cannot have it until you achieve this
tipping point between 15 and 18 percent
market penetration and then the system
tips and I love asking businesses what’s
your conversion on new business and they
love to sell you oh it’s about 10%
proudly well you can trip over 10% of
the customers we all have about 10% who
just get it that’s how we describe them
right that’s like that gut feeling oh
they just get it the problem is how do
you find the ones that just get it
before you’re doing business with them
versus the ones who don’t get it
so it’s this here this little gap that
you have to close as Jeffrey Moore calls
it crossing the chasm because you see
the early majority will not try
something until someone else has tried
it first
and these guys the innovators in the
early adopters they’re comfortable
making those gut decisions they’re more
comfortable making those intuitive
decisions that are driven by what they
believe about the world and not just
what product is available these are the
people who stood on line for six hours
to buy an iPhone when they first came
out when you could have just walked into
the store the next week and bought one
off the shelf these are the people who
spent $40,000 on flat-screen TVs when
they first came out even though the
technology was substandard and by the
way they didn’t do it because the
technology was so great they did it for
themselves it’s because they wanted to
be first people don’t buy what you do
they buy why you do it
and what you do simply
rooves what you believe in fact people
will do the things that prove what they
believe the reason that person bought
the iPhone on the first in the first six
hours of stood in line for six hours was
because what they believed about the
world and how they wanted everybody at
see them they were first people don’t
buy what you do they buy why you do it
so let me give you a famous example a
famous failure and a famous success of
the law of diffusion of innovation first
the famous failure it’s a commercial
example as we said before a second ago
the recipe for success is money and the
right people in the right marketing
conditions right you should have success
then look at TiVo from the time TiVo
came out about eight or nine years ago
to this current day they are the single
highest quality product on the market
hands down there is no dispute they were
extremely well-funded market conditions
were fantastic I mean we use TiVo as a
verb I TiVo stuff on my piece of junk
Time Warner DVR all the time but TiVo is
a commercial failure they’ve never made
money and when they went IPO their stock
was at about 30 or 40 dollars then
plummeted and it’s never traded above
ten in fact I don’t thinks it’s even
traded above six except for a couple of
little spikes because you see when TiVo
launched their product they told us all
what they had they said we have a
product that pauses live TV skips
commercials rewinds live TV and
memorizes your viewing habits without
you even asking and the cynical majority
said we don’t believe you we don’t need
it we don’t like it you’re scaring us
what if they had said if you’re the kind
of person who likes to have total
control over every aspect of your life
boy do we have a product for you it
pauses live TV skips commercials
memorizes your viewing habits etc etc
people don’t buy what you do they buy
why you do it and what you do simply
serves as the proof of what you believe
now let me give you a successful example
of the law of diffusion of innovation in
the summer of 1963
250,000 people showed up on the mall in
Washington to hear dr. King speak they
sent out no invitations and there was no
website to check the date how do you do
that well dr. King wasn’t the only man
in America who was the who’s a great
orator he wasn’t the only man in America
who suffered in a pre-civil Rights
America in fact some of his ideas were
bad but he had a gift he didn’t go
around telling people what needed to
change in America you know he went
around and told people what he believed
I believe I believe I believe he told
people and people who believed what he
believed took his cause and they made it
their own and they told people and some
of those people created structures to
get the word out to even more people and
lo and behold 250,000 people showed up
on the right day on the right time to
hear him speak how many of them showed
up for him zero they showed up for
themselves
it’s what they believed about America
that got them to travel on a bus for
eight hours to stand in the Sun in
Washington for in the middle of August
it’s what they believed and it wasn’t
about black versus white 25 percent of
the audience was white dr. King believed
that there were two types of laws in
this world those that are made by a
higher authority Authority and those
that are made by man and not until all
the laws that are made by man are
consistent with the laws that are made
by the higher authority well we live in
a just world it just so happens that the
civil rights movement was the perfect
thing to help him bring his cause to
life
we followed not him not for him but for
ourselves and by the way he gave the I
have a dream speech not the I have a
planned speech
listen to politicians now with the
comprehensive 12-point plans are not
inspiring anybody because there were
leaders and there are those who lead
leaders hold a position of power or
authority but those who lead inspire us
with other individuals or organizations
we follow those who lead not because we
have to but because we want to we follow
those who lead not for them but for
ourselves and it’s those who start with
Y that have the ability to inspire those
around them or find others who inspire
them thank you very much
thank you guys so much for watching I
made this video because Lex bent the
Heric asked me to so there’s a famous
entrepreneur that you would like me to
profile next please leave it down the
comments below and I’ll see what I can
do I also love to know which clip
resonated the most with you today what
did Simon say that had the biggest
impact what change you’re going to make
to your life your business after
watching this video please leave it down
the comments below and I’m going to join
in the discussion thank you so much for
watching I believe in you I hope you
continue to believe in yourself
and whatever your one word is much love
I’ll see you soon
decision-making is a process right the
question is what filters are you using
to make decisions are you making
decisions based on the financial rewards
are you making decisions based on how
easy the work will be I mean I remember
in college you know they would give you
this book where they all the students
would rate the classes and they would
rate things like how easy the class was
and how you know how much you they like
the professor and you know the first
year I picked all my classes based on it
workload and I picked everything a low
workload you know and pretty bored
didn’t work very hard which is fine but
nothing was dynamic and nothing really
excited me and I thank goodness learned
that and so the second year I picked all
my classes by professor rating
regardless of the workload so every
class I had I had these dynamic amazing
incredible human beings passing on their
knowledge and you were excited to work
hard for them you know and so again what
the question is what are the filters
were using and so if you’re only chasing
the mighty dollar then you will have
jobs that’ll pay you a little more than
the last but are you enjoying yourself
and I talked to a guy recently who
wasn’t he’s in bad shape
like he really hates his life and he’s
really depressed he doesn’t know what to
do and so we were going through all his
old jobs you know and I said give me a
job that you’ve loved and he hadn’t
every single job he’s chosen out of
college he picked because of the the
money and if something offered him more
somewhere else he took it you know
regardless and and and and the amazing
thing is he plateaued because if you’re
only chasing the result if you’re only
chasing the thing that makes it easy
right then eventually you will get bored
or they’ll get bored of you right and
you plateau in other words chasing the
whole mighty dollar if that’s your only
thing it eventually flattens out whereas
if you’re chasing the thing that excites
you the human beings to be around the
work that excites you the stuff that you
know you know you you can get passionate
about you know the the irony is is
you’ll actually make way way more right
because you’re excited and they
appreciate your excitement and they
reward your excitement and you’re better
at your work because you want to work
harder and all of that stuff you don’t
have to strain to work harder so
decision making is simply a matter of
filters you know and so I’ve made
decisions in my life that I would rather
be happy than right I’d rather do good
then then get rich and and so the
decisions I make put me in positions
where when I leave any engagement when I
leave any meeting I feel that I’ve
contributed right rare are the times
anymore where you walk arguing just
think of the money just think of the
money think of the money you know I
because that doesn’t feel nice and and
experience I have
I don’t enjoy traveling to them and I
don’t enjoy traveling home we’re having
amazing experience I am looking forward
to getting there and I’m excited when I
leave you know so it’s just decision
make decision-making is just a matter of
what filters you use and if you’re if
you’re good about keeping those filters
up and clear then then make your
decision I don’t judge anybody by how if
they choose to use different filters
these are just the filters I choose to
live my life you know not right or wrong
just those are my decisions
you know that’s my filter how can you
help the human race how can you help the
human race the human species progress
I’m not joking either this is something
I think we all have to be aware of at
the end of the day the human animal is a
social animal and our very survival
depends on our ability to form
communities to form cultures what’s a
community what’s a culture it’s a group
of people with a common set of values
and beliefs right what’s a country it’s
a group of people with a common set of
values and beliefs
what’s a company it should be a group of
people with a common set of values and
beliefs when we’re surrounded by people
who believe what we believe something
remarkable happens Trust emerges and
make no mistake of it trust as a feeling
a distinctly human feeling you know we
all have friends we’re total screw-ups
and yet we still trust them right Trust
is not a checklist simply doing
everything you say you’re going to do
doesn’t that much does not mean people
will inherently trust you it just means
you’re reliable
we need trust right we need trust when
we’re surrounded by people who believe
what we believe and trust starts to
emerge and we trust them and they trust
us we’re more willing to take risks
we’re more willing to experiment which
requires failure we’re more willing to
explore and go somewhere with that no
one has ever gone before
with the confidence
that if we fail if we trip over if we
turn our backs that those within our
community those who we trust and who
trust us will look after us while we’re
gone will pick us up when we fall over
will help us when we’re hurt our very
survival depends on it we’re not good at
everything we’re not good by ourselves
you know if I send you out to go fight a
saber-toothed tiger by yourself odds are
Tiger one you zero it’s not going to go
very well but if you go out as a group
we’re pretty damn amazing and the reason
is is because we all have our strengths
and we all of our certain weaknesses and
the goal is not to fix your weaknesses
the goal is to amplify your strengths
and surround yourself with the people
who can do what you can’t do but it’s
not just based on skills and an
application and experience it’s based on
what you believe it’s based on what you
believe you see simply being good at
something and having somebody else being
good but you’re no good it does not mean
you will trust each other trust the
sense of trust comes from the sense of
common values and common beliefs I can
prove it how many of you from New York
okay bunch of you
are you friends with everybody in New
York why not why not but when you go to
Los Angeles and you meet someone from
New York you’re like hey I’m from New
York and you’re best friends right and
when you go to France you there you are
in the Paris Metro minding your own
business and you hear an American actor
behind you and you turn around
you say hey where you from they say Los
Angeles you’re like hey I’m from New
York and you’re best friends because
when you’re surrounded by people who
don’t believe what you believe when
you’re in a strange environment where
you don’t feel comfortable you look for
anyone who may share some of the same
values and beliefs that you have and you
start to form a very real and very
intense bond with them simply because
you know that they have a basic
understanding of how you grew up of the
things that you care about of the life
that you live back home well the same is
true when we go to work do we want to go
to work with people who understand us
who believe what we believe who have a
similar view of the world that has
nothing to do with their opinions and
the differences that we share
that’s good that’s called diversity
that’s called advantages to
problem-solving which is we can all look
at the same thing from a different angle
and come up with solutions
what I’m talking about is why should you
help each other in the first place what
are you in pursuit of now the question
is is what creates that sense of values
and beliefs what creates that sense of
trust right our very human instinct we
know how to find people who believe what
we believe our survival depends on it
we’re biologically gifted with this idea
if I ask you to go out in the street and
find all the people who believe what you
believe you know exactly what to do
you’re going to strike up conversations
you’re going to start talking to people
and you either you’ll have a good
feeling about them or you won’t either
you’ll have chemistry whatever that
means or you don’t
sometimes it’s quick sometimes it’s slow
but we know how to do it it’s called
making friends it’s called dating it’s
called networking we have the innate
ability to do it true story
there was a former Undersecretary of
Defense who was invited to give a speech
at a large conference about a thousand
people and he was standing on the stage
with his cup of coffee in a Styrofoam
cup giving his prepared to March with
his PowerPoint behind him and he took a
sip of his coffee and he smiled and he
looked down at the coffee and then he
went off-script and he said you know
last year I spoke at this exact same
conference last year I was still the
undersecretary and when I spoke here
last year they flew me here business
class and when I arrived at the airport
there was somebody waiting for me to
take me to my hotel and they took me to
my hotel and they had already checked me
in and they just took me up to my room
and the next morning I came downstairs
and there was someone waiting in the
lobby to greet me and they drove me to
this here same venue they took me
through the back entrance and took me
into the green room and handed me a
coffee cup of coffee in a beautiful
ceramic cup he says I’m no longer the
undersecretary I flew here coach I took
a taxi to my hotel and I checked myself
in when I came down the lobby this
morning I took another taxi to this
venue I came in the front door and found
my way backstage and when I asked
someone do you have any coffee he
pointed to the coffee machine
in the corner and I poured myself a cup
of coffee into this here Styrofoam cup
he says the lesson is the ceramic cup
was never meant for me it was meant for
the position I held I deserve a
Styrofoam cup remember this as you gain
Fame as you gain fortune as you gain
position and seniority people will treat
you better they will hold doors open for
you they will get you a cup of tea and
coffee without you even asking they will
call you sir and ma’am and they will
give you stuff none of that stuff is
meant for you that stuff is meant for
the position you hold it is meant for
the level that you have achieved of
leader or success or whatever you want
to call it but you will always deserve a
Styrofoam cup remember that remember
that lesson of humility and gratitude
you can accept all the free stuff you
can accept all the perks absolutely you
can enjoy them but just be grateful for
them and know that they’re not for you I
remember getting off the Acela I took
the Acela from New York to Washington DC
and I got off the train like everybody
else and I was walking down the platform
like everyone else and I walked past
general norty Schwartz who used to be
the chief of staff of the United States
Air Force the head of the Air Force and
here I did you see a guy in a suit
slapping his own suitcase down the
platform just like me and just a couple
months ago he was flying on private jets
and an entourage and other people
carried his luggage but he no longer
held the position and so now he got to
drag his own suitcase and never did it
sort of remind me more that none of us
deserve the perks that we get we all
deserve a Styrofoam cup
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