When you say “That’s all I can do”, do you really mean “That’s all I’m required to do”? Don’t aspire to the minimum necessary.
Not aspiring to the minimum necessary is how great businesses like Zappos build unbeatable reputations for customer service. But it’s pretty applicable in everyday life as well.
It’s not about what you “can” do, or what you “must” do – the answer is going to be in what you actually do.
Photo by Sudiono Muji.
“You want to cultivate internal capability, not just hire it” – Michael Schrage in HBR on data fluency in a team.
You don’t want the “analytics person” to be the only one on the team who speaks the language.
Two underrated actions/abilities that will take you very far in business, just as in life: responsiveness and caring.
Did you let someone know you heard them?
And does it matter to you that there’s a problem to be solved?
Say yes to both.
When you start something, the goal you’ve set in your mind will inevitably define and color what you create. Building something from the inception with the goal to sell it is distinctly different from building something you see as beneficial to the world, or something that follows a personal passion.
This amazing piece by Vinod Khosla in the NYT says it far better than I can. “You want missionaries, not mercenaries.”
“The creativity, productivity and pace of innovation in Silicon Valley relies on brilliant and foolish entrepreneurs being unreasonable enough to believe they can be the exception to the ‘rule.’ As George Bernard Shaw said, ‘all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’ If everyone played it safe, we wouldn’t get anywhere.”