great organizations understand they’re
just cause they caused so just that
people would be willing to sacrifice to
see the advancement of that cause when
the leader creates an environment in
which people feel that someone has my
back they will do extraordinary things
success is a feeling it’s not it’s not a
what’s that believe nation it’s Evan my
one word is believe and I believe in you
I believe you have simon Sinek level
talent adds something and i want you to
find it embrace it and use it to make a
difference now I started the momentum II
series to try to hang around people
who’ve done a lot more than us and then
hopefully by spending a little more time
with them some of their mindsets their
belief systems their way of thinking
seep into us to help us become the best
version of ourselves so today we’re
gonna learn from one of the best simon
Sinek
and how to play the infinite game also
if you want to know what simon and other
entrepreneurs have to say about building
unstoppable confidence check out my 250
for confidence series where every day
for the next 254 days I will send you
for free a 30 second to five-minute
video to help you build your confidence
daily check out the link in the
description below 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 I once had a one-sided quiet
this is a bunch of years ago that said
what guarantee do I have that your stuff
will work which my answer was none like
I’m giving you a tool you can it’s like
a hammer you can use it broadly or
narrowly you can build a table you can
build a house it’s the same tool you can
use it for marketing you can use it
completely revitalize your entire
culture and even though I’m gonna sell
you the most beautiful hammer I’m not
gonna guarantee the instructional
integrity of the house right it’s your
[Music]
the game of business is an infinite game
right it bays all the rules there are
known and unknown players you don’t know
all the competitors necessarily in one
industry to another the rules are
changeable we haven’t all agreed what
the rules are and there is no winning
the game of business right the game just
perpetuates in fact the game of business
has existed longer than every single
company on the planet today and it will
outlast every single coming up company
on the planet today if you look at the
Dow index of 30 something odd companies
that make up the down decks something
like 70 or 80% of those companies are 35
years or younger right so it gets me
thinking if you listen to the language
that companies use they don’t know what
game they’re in they talk about being
number one talk about beating their
competition based on what agreed upon
criteria based on what agreed-upon
timeframe is that market share is it
profits is it revenues square footage
number of employees over what one month
five months six months a year five years
ten years the life of the company I
haven’t agreed to those rules and so
companies can arbitrarily declare
themselves number one and anything they
want if they set the standards in the
time frames and the only reason we do
these things on annualized basis we tend
you we tend to compare ourselves to
other organizations annually there’s
only because we pay taxes annually if we
pay taxes every eighteen months that
would be sort of the standard but again
we still haven’t agreed what the metrics
are to be number one that means the
companies that are playing the infinite
game are playing against most of the
others were playing the finite game
means those finite companies find
themselves and Quagmire almost every
single bankruptcy not almost everything
every single bankruptcy is a company
that’s run out of the will or the
resources to play they drop out of the
game the game will persist another
company will fill their space it’s not
like it’s not like the business stops of
the industry ends and the companies that
are playing the infinite game will
frustrate those finite players which I
absolutely adore
so I spoke at an education summit for
Microsoft I also spoke in an education
summit for Apple now I would say about
70 to 80 percent of the executives at
Microsoft spent about 70 to 80 percent
of their powerpoints talking about how
to beat Apple at the Apple 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 was
obsessed with their journey with their
vision with their cause the other one
was obsessed with their competition
guess who’s stuck in quagmire guess
who’s frustrated by their competition
ok let’s kick it off with rule number
one have a just cause I’ll ask you a
very simple question why does your
organization exist we don’t need you
clearly there’s plenty of competition
clearly people have plenty of choices
even the things that you may specialize
in there are others that do a reasonably
good job they might even be better than
you in some areas so why do you exist
providing education is table stakes
everybody here does that you can’t rely
on that that’s why the industry exists
not why your organization exists that’s
like when I talk to healthcare companies
and say why does your organization exist
and they say to help people be more
healthy like no kidding thank you but I
know that the culture of one
organization is different than the
culture of another organization there
are cultural norms that wrap around the
sense of purpose cause or belief great
organizations understand they’re just
cause they caused so just that people
would be willing to sacrifice to see the
advancement of that cause sacrifice
comes in many forms it meat might mean
working longer hours giving you my best
ideas turning down a better job that
offers me more money to stay here
because I believe in what you’re doing
and I want to see that at versed one of
my favorite examples of a Just Cause is
the Declaration of Independence our
founding fathers
declared literally wrote down they
declared why we needed our own country
all men are created equal endowed with
these unalienable rights amongst which
include life liberty and the pursuit of
happiness
they were never against Britain the
whole point is not to be against
something but to stand for something
Britain was simply standing in the way
of them advancing their cause and though
they won independence there are always
finite games within the infinite game
though they won independence that didn’t
mean that they had now provided all men
are equal now the real heavy lifting
began now let’s be crystal clear when
they said all men are equal what they
meant was white Protestant men let’s be
crystal clear but even early on during
the Revolutionary War George Washington
understood how limiting that was and he
realized that they had to have a broader
definition so he included Catholics he
banned any organizing against Catholics
and his armies and he would regularly
attend Mass to send the right message
sometime later we abolish slavery and
the 14th amendment sometime later we had
women’s suffrage sometime later we had
Civil Rights Act sometime later we
implement gay rights and you can see
that we are striving to provide this
thing called all men are equal people
are equal and though we will never
actually get there we will die trying
and the obstacles may always be
different and what a Just Cause is it is
a vision of the future that does not yet
exist and you will commit all of your
energies to advance that vision of the
world that you have and the people you
want to attract both those who work
there those who teach there and both
those who come to learn there believe in
your vision of the future so much so
that they may turn down a better offer
of cents from someone else because they
want to be around people who are
committed to building this world that
does not yet exist and every single
single one of these organizations that
you run and represent can have different
visions or overlapping visions of the
world but you must be clear what your
just cause is what you stand for
otherwise
the only thing I have to judge you on is
superficial things it’s like dating
right it’s like dating if if somebody
tells me what they stand for who they
are they talking about their character
and those are the people we want to
spend the rest of our lives with if we
do not have any sense of who they are
what they stand for with their purpose
what their cause what their beliefs are
what their values are the only thing we
have to judge them on is how much money
they make and how good-looking they are
rule number two empower individuals so
with Steve Jobs playing the fine art
game because he was crushing the
competition or was he playing the
infinite game because he just did his
own thing so Jobs had a very clear
vision and it was to give the individual
the power to stand up to big brother he
was at his heart a rebel he grew up in
Northern California during the Vietnam
War which is the where the beginning of
the anti-establishment Revolution sort
of start at him yeah and that was his
childhood and so he really he really
stood for the individual standing up to
to the man he had a big spiritual side
who’s a yeah yeah and if you look at the
decisions he made he made decisions like
this here and decisions through his
vision before him got to the interests
right so there’s a very famous story of
when he went to Xerox PARC do you know
this one so jobs they just come off the
success of the Apple one and the Apple
two it’s already a big company he’s
already well known it’s a it’s he’s
already the darling of business and
their next big push is gonna be into a
technology they called the Lisa that was
their next computer that they were gonna
launch and just as executives do they
visit each other’s companies and jobs in
a few of his colleagues went to visit
Xerox PARC and Xerox showed them a new
technology that they had invented called
the graphic user interface right now
remember Jobs believed in the individual
standing up to Big Brother
so the reason they made their computers
beautiful was not arbitrary it’s because
if you had them if they were pretty
looking you’d put them in the living
room if they’re ugly you put them in the
basement
and you’re more likely to use something
that’s in the living room than if it’s
in the basement right the reason you
make them simple is because more people
can then use them and so when he saw
this thing called the graphic user
interface he thought this is a better
technology
it’s a leapfrog to make it easier for
more individuals to access the power of
the personal computer then what we have
in the Lisa so that’s an infinite game
because he’s thinking about what’s right
for the long term rather than was
comfort and as they left direct part job
says we have to invest in this and his
colleague said we’re crazy we’ve
invested millions of dollars millions of
man-hours already in Lisa if we do this
if we invest in this we’re gonna blow up
our own company to which jobs replied
better we should blow it up than someone
else that decision became the Mac the
Macintosh that decision was the
Macintosh of which remember Windows is
an interface designed to copy the
Macintosh in other words he completely
changed the way computers work to the
point where now any individual can
easily use the computer and he always
made decisions that way he made
decisions always empowering the
individual so he was asked a question
about the movie industry cinemas and the
decline of cinemas and he replied that
the the cinemas were making the same
mistake the movie industry was making
the same mistake that the music industry
made which is the munich music industry
falsely believed that their customer was
Tower Records and Virgin Megastore and
not the person who actually spent money
on buying the album he says you’ve
confused your customer with just with
your distribution channel rule number
three be a courageous leader in military
we’re willing to sacrifice ourselves for
the gain of others right but in business
we’re willing to sacrifice others for
our own gain yes
how do you build that military mindset
in companies like here or other
companies leadership I mean it’s it’s
leadership creates an environment and
it’s I mean this is what I learned the
the the the whole concept of leaders
need last and those lessons that I
learned from spending time with folks in
uniform it was born out of my own
experience where I was going through a
point in my career as my career was
growing all of a sudden you have new
friends that I didn’t have before and
and that’s wonderful
then I learned the hard way that they
weren’t my friends they were playing me
they wanted access or a deal or
something right and I and I I learned it
the hard way
and so I retreated I was like I wanted
to be friends with nobody else but the
people I knew way back when which is
also not a good way to live and yet
simultaneously I’m spending time with
tons of folks in the military who you
know in business we have colleagues and
co-workers in the military of brothers
and sisters and that’s a different kind
of relationship and as you know I have
hugged more people in uniform than have
ever hugged in suits I’ve cried with
more people in uniform than I’ve ever
cried with in suits
I’ve stood in the audience and listened
to officers give talks and I’ve sat in
the audience and cried I’ve never cried
it with any CEO game yet gave a speech
ever right so there’s a different nature
of relationship and my original
conclusion was they’re better people
that the reason you get a
disproportionate amount of these kinds
of behaviors is because they’re better
people and better people are drawn to a
life of service in the military which is
why and we find a disproportionately
high number of them there and the more I
started to learn the more I realized I
was completely wrong it’s the
environment it’s the environment and
when the leader creates an environment
in which people feel that someone has my
back they will do extraordinary things
and what I learned is that courage is
not this deep down internal fortitude
right it comes externally it’s like a
trapeze artist would never try a brand
new death-defying act unless they had a
net the courage didn’t come from the
trapeze artists the courage came from
the net and it’s the same in the
military which is especially when you’re
in life-and-death situations when you’re
when you’re when you’re in theater
people who you don’t like you still rely
on to save your life and the reason it
works is because you don’t have to look
behind your shoulder and that mentality
and you know better than anybody which
is when you when you are deployed into
dangerous places nobody sort of loves
deployment but people have warm feelings
towards deployment which is really
strange and suicides rarely happen in in
combat situations they usually happen
back home and it’s the intensity of the
relationships that create that warmth
and the sort of weird enjoyment of
really bad uncomfortable and dangerous
circumstances it’s because there’s where
human beings and human beings as social
animals feel our safest when we trust
each other and good leaders are capable
of producing that so great businesses
look very much like well-run military
organizations you know there’s poorly
run military organizations as well but
great businesses look exactly the same
where the leaders give the glory they
distribute Authority they push it down
the ranks let people make decisions if
they screw up there’s no risk of getting
fired if the company misses it’s
arbitrary projections on its arbitrary
date we do not use the people to balance
the books we figure out other ways or we
even invite the people to help solve the
problems these are the things that
produce that circle of safety that
produces the exact same outcome where
people will love each other cry for each
other sacrifice for each other you see
it in business plenty but it always
boils down to leadership rule number
four have a trusting team a trusting
team is an environment in which people
feel safe to raise their hand and say I
made a mistake I don’t feel qualified to
do the job you’ve asked me to do and I
need more training I need help I’m
struggling at home and it’s affecting my
work
I’m scared without any fear of
humiliation or retribution or punishment
whatsoever if you do not have trusting
teams inside your organization what you
do have is a group of people who show up
to work every single day lying hiding
and faking you’re forcing them to it’s
not their fault you’re creating an
environment in which people will not
share mistakes for fear that it puts
them on some sort of short list or just
getting in trouble they will not admit
that they don’t feel qualified for the
jobs that they have for fear of being
outcasts or again put on some sort of
short list of getting in trouble which
means eventually these things will
compound and eventually something will
break we’ve seen the results look what
happened with United Airlines we all saw
the film of this poor paying passenger
being dragged off the plane with a
broken nose broken teeth and a
concussion right and I feel for that
crew I do not blame the crew because
they work in a culture in which they
feel
making the right decision they actually
fear that they will get in to believe
they will get in trouble before for
making the right decision
they actually fear getting in trouble
more than doing the right thing
this was not an anomaly this has been
compounding over years I had a personal
experience on that airline years prior
that was a red flag I was attempting to
board a plane and one of the passengers
this played out in front of me one of
the passengers attempted to board the
plane before their group number was
called which is all of you know here is
a felony and that is exactly how the
gate agent treated him step aside sir I
haven’t called your group yet please
step aside and wait till I call your
group is how she talked to a paying
customer so I spoke up I said why do you
have to talk to us that way why can’t
you talk to us like we’re human beings
and she looked me in the eye and said
sir
if I don’t follow the rules I could get
in trouble or lose my job what she
revealed to me is that she does not feel
safe in her own organization and her
leaders do not trust her to use her own
judgment and they do not trust her to do
the job for which she’s been trained to
do and guess who suffers customer and
company and rule number five the last
one report a very special bonus clip is
serve others so how do you define
success
I think successes is is seeing those
around you work to their natural best
and creating a momentum for a vision
towards a vision that will last beyond
yourself so a guy is driving a bus for
20 years got to retire he’s on Madison
Avenue in New York packed every day as
people getting on that bus and getting
off mm-hmm yes two kids wife lives in
Queens hmm he might call himself
successful another guy might be vice
president of that company who call self
unsuccessful so his success what you
make of it so it’s so this success is
defined its successes of feeling it’s
not it’s not a series of checkmarks and
goals
I think people define success as as
finish lines you know they well I ran a
marathon
well the question is a why did you run
the marathon and what happens after
you’ve completed the marathon do you
just keep running marathons what happens
if you break your leg and you can no
longer run marathons you know we said a
lot of people set financial goals I’m
successful when I make my first million
okay now I have to make my second
million its success as a feeling and and
it’s the feeling of contribution so your
bus driver in Queens if he has decided
that his job as a bus driver is to
ensure that everyone who gets on his bus
feels better about themselves because
they got on his bus and not another bus
and so he greets them with a smile he
says good morning he says goodbye that
people will remember that that that that
ride that they took with him versus the
this vice president of the company who’s
made it about himself and his financial
goals
he’s the one who’s unhappy as opposed to
seeing those around him succeed and
those around him go home with a love of
their their day you know because they
come to work in his company every day so
I still believe success and and good
leadership are about service to others
I’ve got a really special bonus clip on
the importance of having a worthy rival
that I think you’re really gonna enjoy
by Simon but before that the three point
landing the three questions to help you
move from watching another video to
actually taking action in your business
and in your life each of these questions
by yourself in a notebook talk about
them with a friend or leave the answers
down in the comments below here we go
question number one what can you do to
empower someone this week question
number two what action do you need to
take to be a more courageous leader and
question number three how do you
ultimately want to serve people thank
you guys so much for watching I believe
in you I hope it continue to believe in
yourself and whatever your one where it
is much love I’ll see you soon and enjoy
the next part is a worthy rival now I
said before that the only true
competitor in an infinite game is
yourself this is true what your
competition does is it helps reveal to
you your weaknesses admire the others in
your organization not to beat them
there’s no such thing not to be number
one there’s no such thing but if
somebody else is better than you at
something that means you have to go work
harder yourself it’s like running in a
race if you’re driven to be number one
if you’re driven to make the most money
if you’re driven to show up in some
arbitrary ranking that you didn’t even
have a say in that’s like tripping the
the next runner you will win the race
but you’re still a slow runner rather
fall behind this year and then you work
and work and work because ultimately the
goal is not to be number one this year
the goal is to create an organization
that will outlast every single one of
you this is about building strong
foundations this is about looking long
term and the short term money is simply
fuel to to to make the car go we don’t
own cars to buy more fuel we own cars to
go somewhere it’s the same thing in an
organization your organization exists to
advance something the money is simply
there to make it go and I fear that what
has happened in the university system is
similar to what I’m seeing in business
it’s similar to what I’m seeing in
politics it’s similar to what I’m seeing
in hospitals which is an over the sense
of excessive pressure to bring money in
at the expense of something else there’s
an excessive amount of short-termism
and massive amounts of rationalizing
this is just the game we just have to do
it if we don’t somebody else will the
obsession with getting grants meaning
you’re hiring people who are more likely
to help you get a grant even though
they’re teaching things that we don’t
necessarily even need or what that’s
called short termism altruistic world
domination
honey Empire right
for I understand why I’m here I think
because I am so open I wanted to think
I’m saying it’s a bloody brief life all
of you have the potential for enormous
success if you want to know what Gary
v-d-j Khalid Oprah and others know about
empire building that most people miss
check out the link in the description for a free bonus video
just cause they caused so just that
people would be willing to sacrifice to
see the advancement of that cause when
the leader creates an environment in
which people feel that someone has my
back they will do extraordinary things
success is a feeling it’s not it’s not a
what’s that believe nation it’s Evan my
one word is believe and I believe in you
I believe you have simon Sinek level
talent adds something and i want you to
find it embrace it and use it to make a
difference now I started the momentum II
series to try to hang around people
who’ve done a lot more than us and then
hopefully by spending a little more time
with them some of their mindsets their
belief systems their way of thinking
seep into us to help us become the best
version of ourselves so today we’re
gonna learn from one of the best simon
Sinek
and how to play the infinite game also
if you want to know what simon and other
entrepreneurs have to say about building
unstoppable confidence check out my 250
for confidence series where every day
for the next 254 days I will send you
for free a 30 second to five-minute
video to help you build your confidence
daily check out the link in the
description below 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 I once had a one-sided quiet
this is a bunch of years ago that said
what guarantee do I have that your stuff
will work which my answer was none like
I’m giving you a tool you can it’s like
a hammer you can use it broadly or
narrowly you can build a table you can
build a house it’s the same tool you can
use it for marketing you can use it
completely revitalize your entire
culture and even though I’m gonna sell
you the most beautiful hammer I’m not
gonna guarantee the instructional
integrity of the house right it’s your
[Music]
the game of business is an infinite game
right it bays all the rules there are
known and unknown players you don’t know
all the competitors necessarily in one
industry to another the rules are
changeable we haven’t all agreed what
the rules are and there is no winning
the game of business right the game just
perpetuates in fact the game of business
has existed longer than every single
company on the planet today and it will
outlast every single coming up company
on the planet today if you look at the
Dow index of 30 something odd companies
that make up the down decks something
like 70 or 80% of those companies are 35
years or younger right so it gets me
thinking if you listen to the language
that companies use they don’t know what
game they’re in they talk about being
number one talk about beating their
competition based on what agreed upon
criteria based on what agreed-upon
timeframe is that market share is it
profits is it revenues square footage
number of employees over what one month
five months six months a year five years
ten years the life of the company I
haven’t agreed to those rules and so
companies can arbitrarily declare
themselves number one and anything they
want if they set the standards in the
time frames and the only reason we do
these things on annualized basis we tend
you we tend to compare ourselves to
other organizations annually there’s
only because we pay taxes annually if we
pay taxes every eighteen months that
would be sort of the standard but again
we still haven’t agreed what the metrics
are to be number one that means the
companies that are playing the infinite
game are playing against most of the
others were playing the finite game
means those finite companies find
themselves and Quagmire almost every
single bankruptcy not almost everything
every single bankruptcy is a company
that’s run out of the will or the
resources to play they drop out of the
game the game will persist another
company will fill their space it’s not
like it’s not like the business stops of
the industry ends and the companies that
are playing the infinite game will
frustrate those finite players which I
absolutely adore
so I spoke at an education summit for
Microsoft I also spoke in an education
summit for Apple now I would say about
70 to 80 percent of the executives at
Microsoft spent about 70 to 80 percent
of their powerpoints talking about how
to beat Apple at the Apple 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 was
obsessed with their journey with their
vision with their cause the other one
was obsessed with their competition
guess who’s stuck in quagmire guess
who’s frustrated by their competition
ok let’s kick it off with rule number
one have a just cause I’ll ask you a
very simple question why does your
organization exist we don’t need you
clearly there’s plenty of competition
clearly people have plenty of choices
even the things that you may specialize
in there are others that do a reasonably
good job they might even be better than
you in some areas so why do you exist
providing education is table stakes
everybody here does that you can’t rely
on that that’s why the industry exists
not why your organization exists that’s
like when I talk to healthcare companies
and say why does your organization exist
and they say to help people be more
healthy like no kidding thank you but I
know that the culture of one
organization is different than the
culture of another organization there
are cultural norms that wrap around the
sense of purpose cause or belief great
organizations understand they’re just
cause they caused so just that people
would be willing to sacrifice to see the
advancement of that cause sacrifice
comes in many forms it meat might mean
working longer hours giving you my best
ideas turning down a better job that
offers me more money to stay here
because I believe in what you’re doing
and I want to see that at versed one of
my favorite examples of a Just Cause is
the Declaration of Independence our
founding fathers
declared literally wrote down they
declared why we needed our own country
all men are created equal endowed with
these unalienable rights amongst which
include life liberty and the pursuit of
happiness
they were never against Britain the
whole point is not to be against
something but to stand for something
Britain was simply standing in the way
of them advancing their cause and though
they won independence there are always
finite games within the infinite game
though they won independence that didn’t
mean that they had now provided all men
are equal now the real heavy lifting
began now let’s be crystal clear when
they said all men are equal what they
meant was white Protestant men let’s be
crystal clear but even early on during
the Revolutionary War George Washington
understood how limiting that was and he
realized that they had to have a broader
definition so he included Catholics he
banned any organizing against Catholics
and his armies and he would regularly
attend Mass to send the right message
sometime later we abolish slavery and
the 14th amendment sometime later we had
women’s suffrage sometime later we had
Civil Rights Act sometime later we
implement gay rights and you can see
that we are striving to provide this
thing called all men are equal people
are equal and though we will never
actually get there we will die trying
and the obstacles may always be
different and what a Just Cause is it is
a vision of the future that does not yet
exist and you will commit all of your
energies to advance that vision of the
world that you have and the people you
want to attract both those who work
there those who teach there and both
those who come to learn there believe in
your vision of the future so much so
that they may turn down a better offer
of cents from someone else because they
want to be around people who are
committed to building this world that
does not yet exist and every single
single one of these organizations that
you run and represent can have different
visions or overlapping visions of the
world but you must be clear what your
just cause is what you stand for
otherwise
the only thing I have to judge you on is
superficial things it’s like dating
right it’s like dating if if somebody
tells me what they stand for who they
are they talking about their character
and those are the people we want to
spend the rest of our lives with if we
do not have any sense of who they are
what they stand for with their purpose
what their cause what their beliefs are
what their values are the only thing we
have to judge them on is how much money
they make and how good-looking they are
rule number two empower individuals so
with Steve Jobs playing the fine art
game because he was crushing the
competition or was he playing the
infinite game because he just did his
own thing so Jobs had a very clear
vision and it was to give the individual
the power to stand up to big brother he
was at his heart a rebel he grew up in
Northern California during the Vietnam
War which is the where the beginning of
the anti-establishment Revolution sort
of start at him yeah and that was his
childhood and so he really he really
stood for the individual standing up to
to the man he had a big spiritual side
who’s a yeah yeah and if you look at the
decisions he made he made decisions like
this here and decisions through his
vision before him got to the interests
right so there’s a very famous story of
when he went to Xerox PARC do you know
this one so jobs they just come off the
success of the Apple one and the Apple
two it’s already a big company he’s
already well known it’s a it’s he’s
already the darling of business and
their next big push is gonna be into a
technology they called the Lisa that was
their next computer that they were gonna
launch and just as executives do they
visit each other’s companies and jobs in
a few of his colleagues went to visit
Xerox PARC and Xerox showed them a new
technology that they had invented called
the graphic user interface right now
remember Jobs believed in the individual
standing up to Big Brother
so the reason they made their computers
beautiful was not arbitrary it’s because
if you had them if they were pretty
looking you’d put them in the living
room if they’re ugly you put them in the
basement
and you’re more likely to use something
that’s in the living room than if it’s
in the basement right the reason you
make them simple is because more people
can then use them and so when he saw
this thing called the graphic user
interface he thought this is a better
technology
it’s a leapfrog to make it easier for
more individuals to access the power of
the personal computer then what we have
in the Lisa so that’s an infinite game
because he’s thinking about what’s right
for the long term rather than was
comfort and as they left direct part job
says we have to invest in this and his
colleague said we’re crazy we’ve
invested millions of dollars millions of
man-hours already in Lisa if we do this
if we invest in this we’re gonna blow up
our own company to which jobs replied
better we should blow it up than someone
else that decision became the Mac the
Macintosh that decision was the
Macintosh of which remember Windows is
an interface designed to copy the
Macintosh in other words he completely
changed the way computers work to the
point where now any individual can
easily use the computer and he always
made decisions that way he made
decisions always empowering the
individual so he was asked a question
about the movie industry cinemas and the
decline of cinemas and he replied that
the the cinemas were making the same
mistake the movie industry was making
the same mistake that the music industry
made which is the munich music industry
falsely believed that their customer was
Tower Records and Virgin Megastore and
not the person who actually spent money
on buying the album he says you’ve
confused your customer with just with
your distribution channel rule number
three be a courageous leader in military
we’re willing to sacrifice ourselves for
the gain of others right but in business
we’re willing to sacrifice others for
our own gain yes
how do you build that military mindset
in companies like here or other
companies leadership I mean it’s it’s
leadership creates an environment and
it’s I mean this is what I learned the
the the the whole concept of leaders
need last and those lessons that I
learned from spending time with folks in
uniform it was born out of my own
experience where I was going through a
point in my career as my career was
growing all of a sudden you have new
friends that I didn’t have before and
and that’s wonderful
then I learned the hard way that they
weren’t my friends they were playing me
they wanted access or a deal or
something right and I and I I learned it
the hard way
and so I retreated I was like I wanted
to be friends with nobody else but the
people I knew way back when which is
also not a good way to live and yet
simultaneously I’m spending time with
tons of folks in the military who you
know in business we have colleagues and
co-workers in the military of brothers
and sisters and that’s a different kind
of relationship and as you know I have
hugged more people in uniform than have
ever hugged in suits I’ve cried with
more people in uniform than I’ve ever
cried with in suits
I’ve stood in the audience and listened
to officers give talks and I’ve sat in
the audience and cried I’ve never cried
it with any CEO game yet gave a speech
ever right so there’s a different nature
of relationship and my original
conclusion was they’re better people
that the reason you get a
disproportionate amount of these kinds
of behaviors is because they’re better
people and better people are drawn to a
life of service in the military which is
why and we find a disproportionately
high number of them there and the more I
started to learn the more I realized I
was completely wrong it’s the
environment it’s the environment and
when the leader creates an environment
in which people feel that someone has my
back they will do extraordinary things
and what I learned is that courage is
not this deep down internal fortitude
right it comes externally it’s like a
trapeze artist would never try a brand
new death-defying act unless they had a
net the courage didn’t come from the
trapeze artists the courage came from
the net and it’s the same in the
military which is especially when you’re
in life-and-death situations when you’re
when you’re when you’re in theater
people who you don’t like you still rely
on to save your life and the reason it
works is because you don’t have to look
behind your shoulder and that mentality
and you know better than anybody which
is when you when you are deployed into
dangerous places nobody sort of loves
deployment but people have warm feelings
towards deployment which is really
strange and suicides rarely happen in in
combat situations they usually happen
back home and it’s the intensity of the
relationships that create that warmth
and the sort of weird enjoyment of
really bad uncomfortable and dangerous
circumstances it’s because there’s where
human beings and human beings as social
animals feel our safest when we trust
each other and good leaders are capable
of producing that so great businesses
look very much like well-run military
organizations you know there’s poorly
run military organizations as well but
great businesses look exactly the same
where the leaders give the glory they
distribute Authority they push it down
the ranks let people make decisions if
they screw up there’s no risk of getting
fired if the company misses it’s
arbitrary projections on its arbitrary
date we do not use the people to balance
the books we figure out other ways or we
even invite the people to help solve the
problems these are the things that
produce that circle of safety that
produces the exact same outcome where
people will love each other cry for each
other sacrifice for each other you see
it in business plenty but it always
boils down to leadership rule number
four have a trusting team a trusting
team is an environment in which people
feel safe to raise their hand and say I
made a mistake I don’t feel qualified to
do the job you’ve asked me to do and I
need more training I need help I’m
struggling at home and it’s affecting my
work
I’m scared without any fear of
humiliation or retribution or punishment
whatsoever if you do not have trusting
teams inside your organization what you
do have is a group of people who show up
to work every single day lying hiding
and faking you’re forcing them to it’s
not their fault you’re creating an
environment in which people will not
share mistakes for fear that it puts
them on some sort of short list or just
getting in trouble they will not admit
that they don’t feel qualified for the
jobs that they have for fear of being
outcasts or again put on some sort of
short list of getting in trouble which
means eventually these things will
compound and eventually something will
break we’ve seen the results look what
happened with United Airlines we all saw
the film of this poor paying passenger
being dragged off the plane with a
broken nose broken teeth and a
concussion right and I feel for that
crew I do not blame the crew because
they work in a culture in which they
feel
making the right decision they actually
fear that they will get in to believe
they will get in trouble before for
making the right decision
they actually fear getting in trouble
more than doing the right thing
this was not an anomaly this has been
compounding over years I had a personal
experience on that airline years prior
that was a red flag I was attempting to
board a plane and one of the passengers
this played out in front of me one of
the passengers attempted to board the
plane before their group number was
called which is all of you know here is
a felony and that is exactly how the
gate agent treated him step aside sir I
haven’t called your group yet please
step aside and wait till I call your
group is how she talked to a paying
customer so I spoke up I said why do you
have to talk to us that way why can’t
you talk to us like we’re human beings
and she looked me in the eye and said
sir
if I don’t follow the rules I could get
in trouble or lose my job what she
revealed to me is that she does not feel
safe in her own organization and her
leaders do not trust her to use her own
judgment and they do not trust her to do
the job for which she’s been trained to
do and guess who suffers customer and
company and rule number five the last
one report a very special bonus clip is
serve others so how do you define
success
I think successes is is seeing those
around you work to their natural best
and creating a momentum for a vision
towards a vision that will last beyond
yourself so a guy is driving a bus for
20 years got to retire he’s on Madison
Avenue in New York packed every day as
people getting on that bus and getting
off mm-hmm yes two kids wife lives in
Queens hmm he might call himself
successful another guy might be vice
president of that company who call self
unsuccessful so his success what you
make of it so it’s so this success is
defined its successes of feeling it’s
not it’s not a series of checkmarks and
goals
I think people define success as as
finish lines you know they well I ran a
marathon
well the question is a why did you run
the marathon and what happens after
you’ve completed the marathon do you
just keep running marathons what happens
if you break your leg and you can no
longer run marathons you know we said a
lot of people set financial goals I’m
successful when I make my first million
okay now I have to make my second
million its success as a feeling and and
it’s the feeling of contribution so your
bus driver in Queens if he has decided
that his job as a bus driver is to
ensure that everyone who gets on his bus
feels better about themselves because
they got on his bus and not another bus
and so he greets them with a smile he
says good morning he says goodbye that
people will remember that that that that
ride that they took with him versus the
this vice president of the company who’s
made it about himself and his financial
goals
he’s the one who’s unhappy as opposed to
seeing those around him succeed and
those around him go home with a love of
their their day you know because they
come to work in his company every day so
I still believe success and and good
leadership are about service to others
I’ve got a really special bonus clip on
the importance of having a worthy rival
that I think you’re really gonna enjoy
by Simon but before that the three point
landing the three questions to help you
move from watching another video to
actually taking action in your business
and in your life each of these questions
by yourself in a notebook talk about
them with a friend or leave the answers
down in the comments below here we go
question number one what can you do to
empower someone this week question
number two what action do you need to
take to be a more courageous leader and
question number three how do you
ultimately want to serve people thank
you guys so much for watching I believe
in you I hope it continue to believe in
yourself and whatever your one where it
is much love I’ll see you soon and enjoy
the next part is a worthy rival now I
said before that the only true
competitor in an infinite game is
yourself this is true what your
competition does is it helps reveal to
you your weaknesses admire the others in
your organization not to beat them
there’s no such thing not to be number
one there’s no such thing but if
somebody else is better than you at
something that means you have to go work
harder yourself it’s like running in a
race if you’re driven to be number one
if you’re driven to make the most money
if you’re driven to show up in some
arbitrary ranking that you didn’t even
have a say in that’s like tripping the
the next runner you will win the race
but you’re still a slow runner rather
fall behind this year and then you work
and work and work because ultimately the
goal is not to be number one this year
the goal is to create an organization
that will outlast every single one of
you this is about building strong
foundations this is about looking long
term and the short term money is simply
fuel to to to make the car go we don’t
own cars to buy more fuel we own cars to
go somewhere it’s the same thing in an
organization your organization exists to
advance something the money is simply
there to make it go and I fear that what
has happened in the university system is
similar to what I’m seeing in business
it’s similar to what I’m seeing in
politics it’s similar to what I’m seeing
in hospitals which is an over the sense
of excessive pressure to bring money in
at the expense of something else there’s
an excessive amount of short-termism
and massive amounts of rationalizing
this is just the game we just have to do
it if we don’t somebody else will the
obsession with getting grants meaning
you’re hiring people who are more likely
to help you get a grant even though
they’re teaching things that we don’t
necessarily even need or what that’s
called short termism altruistic world
domination
honey Empire right
for I understand why I’m here I think
because I am so open I wanted to think
I’m saying it’s a bloody brief life all
of you have the potential for enormous
success if you want to know what Gary
v-d-j Khalid Oprah and others know about
empire building that most people miss
check out the link in the description for a free bonus video
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