What Guy Kawasaki Learned From Steve Jobs

Many people have explained what one can learn from Steve Jobs. But few, if any, of these people have been inside the tent and experienced first hand what it was like to work with him. I don’t want any lessons to be lost or forgotten, so here is my list of the top twelve lessons that I learned from Steve Jobs.

Experts are clueless.

Experts—journalists, analysts, consultants, bankers, and gurus can’t “do” so they “advise.” They can tell you what is wrong with your product, but they cannot make a great one. They can tell you how to sell something, but they cannot sell it themselves. They can tell you how to create great teams, but they only manage a secretary. For example, the experts told us that the two biggest shortcomings of Macintosh in the mid 1980s was the lack of a daisy-wheel printer driver and Lotus 1-2-3; another advice gem from the experts was to buy Compaq. Hear what experts say, but don’t always listen to them.

Customers cannot tell you what they need.

“Apple market research” is an oxymoron. The Apple focus group was the right hemisphere of Steve’s brain talking to the left one. If you ask customers what they want, they will tell you, “Better, faster, and cheaper”—that is, better sameness, not revolutionary change. They can only describe their desires in terms of what they are already using—around the time of the introduction of Macintosh, all people said they wanted was better, faster, and cheaper MS-DOS machines. The richest vein for tech startups is creating the product that you want to use—that’s what Steve and Woz did.

Jump to the next curve.

Big wins happen when you go beyond better sameness. The best daisy-wheel printer companies were introducing new fonts in more sizes. Apple introduced the next curve: laser printing. Think of ice harvesters, ice factories, and refrigerator companies. Ice 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. Are you still harvesting ice during the winter from a frozen pond?

The biggest challenges beget best work.

I lived in fear that Steve would tell me that I, or my work, was crap. In public. This fear was a big challenge. Competing with IBM and then Microsoft was a big challenge. Changing the world was a big challenge. I, and Apple employees before me and after me, did their best work because we had to do our best work to meet the big challenges.

Design counts.

Steve drove people nuts with his design demands—some shades of black weren’t black enough. Mere mortals think that black is black, and that a trash can is a trash can. Steve was such a perfectionist—a perfectionist Beyond: Thunderdome—and lo and behold he was right: some people care about design and many people at least sense it. Maybe not everyone, but the important ones.

You can’t go wrong with big graphics and big fonts.

Take a look at Steve’s slides. The font is sixty points. There’s usually one big screenshot or graphic. Look at other tech speaker’s slides—even the ones who have seen Steve in action. The font is eight points, and there are no graphics. So many people say that Steve was the world’s greatest product introduction guy..don’t you wonder why more people don’t copy his style?

Changing your mind is a sign of intelligence.

When Apple first shipped the iPhone there was no such thing as apps. Apps, Steve decreed, were a bad thing because you never know what they could be doing to your phone. Safari web apps were the way to go until six months later when Steve decided, or someone convinced Steve, that apps were the way to go—but of course. Duh! Apple came a long way in a short time from Safari web apps to “there’s an app for that.”

“Value” is different from “price.”

Woe unto you if you decide everything based on price. Even more woe unto you if you compete solely on price. Price is not all that matters—what is important, at least to some people, is value. And value takes into account training, support, and the intrinsic joy of using the best tool that’s made. It’s pretty safe to say that no one buys Apple products because of their low price.

A players hire A+ players.

Actually, Steve believed that A players hire A players—that is people who are as good as they are. I refined this slightly—my theory is that A players hire people even better than themselves. It’s clear, though, that B players hire C players so they can feel superior to them, and C players hire D players. If you start hiring B players, expect what Steve called “the bozo explosion” to happen in your organization.

Real CEOs demo.

Steve Jobs could demo a pod, pad, phone, and Mac two to three times a year with millions of people watching, why is it that many CEOs call upon their vice-president of engineering to do a product demo? Maybe it’s to show that there’s a team effort in play. Maybe. It’s more likely that the CEO doesn’t understand what his/her company is making well enough to explain it. How pathetic is that?

Real CEOs ship.

For all his perfectionism, Steve could ship. Maybe the product wasn’t perfect every time, but it was almost always great enough to go. The lesson is that Steve wasn’t tinkering for the sake of tinkering—he had a goal: shipping and achieving worldwide domination of existing markets or creation of new markets. Apple is an engineering-centric company, not a research-centric one. Which would you rather be: Apple or Xerox PARC?

Marketing boils down to providing unique value.

Think of a 2 x 2 matrix. The vertical axis measures how your product differs from the competition. The horizontal axis measures the value of your product. Bottom right: valuable but not unique—you’ll have to compete on price. Top left: unique but not valuable—you’ll own a market that doesn’t exist. Bottom left: not unique and not value—you’re a bozo. Top right: unique and valuable—this is where you make margin, money, and history. For example, the iPod was unique and valuable because it was the only way to legally, inexpensively, and easily download music from the six biggest record labels.

Bonus: Some things need to be believed to be seen. 


When you are jumping curves, defying/ignoring the experts, facing off against big challenges, obsessing about design, and focusing on unique value, you will need to convince people to believe in what you are doing in order to see your efforts come to fruition. People needed to believe in Macintosh to see it become real. Ditto for iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Not everyone will believe—that’s okay. But the starting point of changing the world is changing a few minds. This is the greatest lesson of all that I learned from Steve.

"Lost Talent"

I had lunch yesterday with a good friend who is currently looking for a new position. Our discussion went from who we worked for in the past, real funny stories I must say,  to current employment opportunities, to what we plan to do in the future. One topic lead to another and then "lost talent". Yes  "lost talent". He shared with me his concern that the longer he was out of work the less marketable he felt he would be. How true that is in today's world. Articles abound on how companies are reluctant to hire individuals with great talent, skills, and work ethic. 


As we discussed this disturbing issue from a top HR executive level (which we both were) we got more and more concerned that companies are really missing the boat. They are also telling the out-of-workforce you are not valuable.  Knowing people who have been out of work for several years that is as far from the truth as can be. What we concluded was that we could not change current hiring principles. 


I have to say some companies are hiring talented 1+, 2+ out-of-work workers and encourage those companies to continue to hire those talented extended unemployed.  


Companies must think out of the box to stay competitive and this is one way of staying ahead of the competition. While these people were out of work what changed, we thought:

• software may have been upgraded in companies
• companies may have gone virtual or mobile 
• dress codes may have changed
• resized companies have reduced workspace
• some key players in target companies

What hasn't changed:

• company values 
• the skill set of the unemployed worker
• the network the worker had in prior work lives and what has been gained during the unemployed period
• eagerness for these unemployed to add value to the hiring company
• not much else has changed.

So rethink your position on culling out those individuals who have been out-of-work for 1+ years. You are missing great talent and valuable contributors and we can save this "lost talent" from just dropping out of the workforce completely. 

Thanks Matt for this spirited, sobering, mind stimulated, and content laden luncheon discussion.

To Succeed Today, Forget The Old Business Myths

Alexandria Levit found myths that people believe, even though they do not work for 98% of all truly successful people.  She decided it was time to debunk these myths because they are more dangerous and less viable than ever given this post-recessionary climate of ethical scrutiny and intense competition. 

Myth 1: Overnight success is possible

Most people persevere for a long time and experience several setbacks before achieving an objective level of success. You’ll be best served if you are able to move your dream forward a little bit at a time and are able to cope when things temporarily go south.

Myth 2: Controversy will propel your career

Being controversial usually generates attention for a little while, but people will probably not trust you in the long run. Instead, work to incorporate the tried-and-true values of honesty and authenticity into your daily work life.

Myth 3: Employers want you to be yourself

While employers value the unique set of skills and experiences you bring to the table, they expect you to tow the line with respect to company rules and conduct. You won’t get away wearing ripped jeans to a client meeting because that’s your personal style, and you must learn to be politically sensitive and diplomatic even if someone has wronged you.

Myth 4: Being good at your job trumps everything

You can be the most effective employee your company has ever hired, but if your contributions aren’t visible and people don’t value what you do, it simply won’t matter. So instead of slaving over your job, spend a little more time devising ways to promote the great work you’re doing.

Myth 5: It’s best to climb the ladder as fast as possible

Getting promoted year after year requires a near-constant vigilance as well as a laser sharp focus on work—often to the detriment of everything else in your life. Higher titles usually bring longer hours, heavier responsibilities, and more politicking with them.

Myth 6: You’ll get more money because you’ve earned it

The media is full of stories of people who rake up six- and seven-figure salaries because they played their cards right. But what about the unsung millions who came to the table with the same hand? More often than not, compensation is about business realities, HR mandates and office politics—not performance.

Myth 7: The problem isn’t you—it’s the organization

People job jump constantly because of this one, but the truth is, the same situations crop up in Corporate America over and over. Don’t handicap your progress: Learn self-awareness and change your own thinking and behavior instead of waiting for the company to adapt to your needs.

Myth 8: You won’t get laid off—you’re too essential

People should aim to be indispensable at their jobs, but company loyalty to employees is a thing of the past. While consistently trying to add value to your organization is a good move, sometimes it isn’t enough. You need to be able to recognize when you’re on the chopping block and take active steps to prevent a bad outcome.

Myth 9: If only you could break out of Corporate America, everything would be perfect

Running a business is harder than it looks, and entrepreneurship is not for everyone. In fact, most people are better off working for large companies and receive substantial perks, like benefits, discounts and contacts which you might not want to live without.

Myth 10: Do what you love and the money will follow

Just because you have a passion for a particular area doesn’t mean you will automatically make money doing it. Some things are better off left as hobbies, but if you really think an income is possible, keep your day job and test the waters first.

Alexandra Levit, author of Blind Spots: The 10 Business Myths You Can’t Afford to Believe on Your New Path to Success

Red Hat Buys Gluster For Scale-out Storage

Red Hat is buying Gluster and its open-source storage know-how. The acquisition will give Red Hat a strong play in thescale-out file system space as it steps up competition against incumbent IT vendors to host the next generation of enterprise applications.

In a statement, Red Hat CTO and VP of worldwide engineering Brian Stevens said:  "Our customers are looking for software-based storage solutions that manage their file-based data on-premise, in the cloud and bridging between the two. With unstructured data growth (such as log files, virtual machines, email, audio, video and documents), the 90′s paradigm of forcing everything into expensive, single-system DBMS residing on an internal corporate SAN has become unwieldy and impractical."

This $136 million cash deal is just the latest instance of a big vendor buying its way into the hot scale-out storage market. Last year, for example, storage power EMC bought Isilon for its scale-out expertise. Before that, Hewlett-Packard bought Ibrix. IBM’s purchase ofStorwize and Overland Storage’s acquisition Maxiscale were all part of this cloud-inflected, scale-out storage land grab, too.

In the pricier, traditional scale-up model, lots of new nodes are piled up behind a few big, pricey controller servers. In scale-out storage, companies can add more inexpensive commodity server nodes horizontally, and such additions tend to be relatively easy and inexpensive.

Red Hat said it will continue to sell and support Gluster’s existing products, and it will also incorporate Gluster technology into other Red Hat solutions. It will sell Gluster’s services via Red Hat’s usual subscription model. Sunnyvale, Calif.–based Gluster claims 150 customers, including streaming music pioneer Pandora.

By Barb Darrow Oct. 4, 2011, 6:56am PT

Leadership, After All

The noted artist Willem De Kooning, as he aged, commented that, "you have to change to stay the same." Sometimes, as leaders, we find wisdom in rediscovering what we already know.

Having met with numerous Board members and corporate leaders recently, many seem to be off put off by the loss of control over many of the circumstances that previously could be “managed”. Many are questioning whether the old standards still apply.

We were struck by the following insight.

Recently, we asked several CEOs about future commitments, i.e. just how far forward they feel comfortable in predicting outcomes. The answer from most was one quarter... three months... astoundingly short given that when we asked this same question a few years ago, the answer was, on average, four quarters.

This suggests that in a time of uncertainty, in spite of the strength of current quarterly results, whether the light at the end of the tunnel is recovery or an out of control train speeding in our direction?

And, that it is very easy for CEOs and their boards to resist the falderal of the moment and be more easily influenced by the herd.

Our experience suggests that the most successful leaders actually embrace uncertainty. They see it as an opportunity for a re-commitment to the building blocks of excellence. As one notable CEO said to us, “the basics always win out.”

We know that ethical corporate cultures win out. We know that deep dive rigor and commitment to operational excellence, wins out. And we know that well disciplined and effective corporate governance is a huge plus in dealing with the unknown. All of this takes work and extraordinary discipline, especially today with daily fluxes and contrary information that impact how businesses do business.

The best leaders, we have observed, don’t become unbalanced by conditions that they can’t shape.  They know their troops are observing whether they are being led with calm and confidence.

However, “back to basics” doesn’t mean that leaders should stick their heads in the sand. Rather, it means stressing the “known” while being flexible to address matters beyond a leader’s control.

Today, though, there is a tendency to try and outsmart current conditions hoping to gain advantage. Many CEO’s have a fear of being left behind, and being criticized by their boards for not being more proactive. It is impossible to “map” uncertainty.

So, here's our prescription for CEOs and Directors.

Because you can't control the unpredictable, rely on what you know... that means drill deep in your business…then dig deeper.

Don’t outsmart yourself or believe that you can outsmart the markets.

For Directors, demand transparency of your CEO and be prepared to invest extraordinary time to fully comprehend the various levers of your company's value… know the how and when.

For CEOs, demand deep dive information and dig in yourself. Set the pace of expectations. Demand excellence.  Redouble your effort to communicate to all “stakeholders.” Be clear about issues, challenges and opportunities with your board and your senior team.

Be consistent, focused and relentless. Isn’t that what leadership is all about?

By Joel Koblentz on October 11, 2011, Managing Partner of the Koblenz Group

The Top Ten Lessons Steve Jobs Taught Us

a reprint from Forbes.com 

Here are the Top Ten Lessons Steve Jobs taught us:

1. The most enduring innovations marry art and science – Steve has always pointed out that the biggest difference between Apple and all the other computer (and post-PC) companies through history is that Apple always tried to marry art and science.  Jobs pointed out the original team working on the Mac had backgrounds in anthropology, art, history, and poetry.  That’s always been important in making Apple’s products stand out.  It’s the difference between the iPad and every other tablet computer that came before it or since.  It is the look and feel of a product.  It is its soul.  But it is such a difficult thing for computer scientists or engineers to see that importance, so any company must have a leader that sees that importance.

2. To create the future, you can’t do it through focus groups – There is a school of thought in management theory that — if you’re in the consumer-facing space building products and services — you’ve got to listen to your customer.  Steve Jobs was one of the first businessmen to say that was a waste of time.  The customers today don’t always know what they want, especially if it’s something they’ve never seen, heard, or touched before.  When it became clear that Apple would come out with a tablet, many were skeptical.  When people heard the name (iPad), it was a joke in the Twitter-sphere for a day.  But when people held one, and used it, it became a ‘must have.’  They didn’t know how they’d previously lived without one.  It became the fastest growing Apple product in its history.  Jobs (and the Apple team) trusted himself more than others.  Picasso and great artists have done that for centuries.  Jobs was the first in business.

3. Never fear failure – Jobs was fired by the successor he picked.  It was one of the most public embarrassments of the last 30 years in business.  Yet, he didn’t become a venture capitalist never to be heard from again.  He didn’t start a production company and do a lot of lunches.  He picked himself up and got back to work following his passion.  Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told he only had a few weeks to live.  As Samuel Johnson said, there’s nothing like your impending death to focus the mind.  From Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

4. You can’t connect the dots forward – only backward – This is another gem from the 2005 Stanford speech.  The idea behind the concept is that, as much as we try to plan our lives ahead in advance, there’s always something that’s completely unpredictable about life.  What seems like bitter anguish and defeat in the moment — getting dumped by a girlfriend, not getting that job at McKinsey, “wasting” 4 years of your life on a start-up that didn’t pan out as you wanted — can turn out to sow the seeds of your unimaginable success years from now.  You can’t be too attached to how you think your life is supposed to work out and instead trust that all the dots will be connected in the future.  This is all part of the plan.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

5. Listen to that voice in the back of your head that tells you if you’re on the right track or not – Most of us don’t hear a voice inside our heads.  We’ve simply decided that we’re going to work in finance or be a doctor because that’s what our parents told us we should do or because we wanted to make a lot of money.  When we consciously or unconsciously make that decision, we snuff out that little voice in our head.  From then on, most of us put it on automatic pilot.  We mail it in.  You have met these people.  They’re nice people.  But they’re not changing the world.  Jobs has always been a restless soul.  A man in a hurry.  A man with a plan.  His plan isn’t for everyone.  It was his plan. He wanted to build computers.  Some people have a voice that tells them to fight for democracy.  Some have one that tells them to become an expert in miniature spoons.  When Jobs first saw an example of a Graphical User Interface — a GUI — he knew this was the future of computing and that he had to create it.  That became the Macintosh.  Whatever your voice is telling you, you would be smart to listen to it.  Even if it tells you to quit your job, or move to China, or leave your partner.

6. Expect a lot from yourself and others – We have heard stories of Steve Jobs yelling or dressing down staff.  He’s a control freak, we’ve heard – a perfectionist.  The bottom line is that he is in touch with his passion and that little voice in the back of his head.  He gives a damn.  He wants the best from himself and everyone who works for him.  If they don’t give a damn, he doesn’t want them around.  And yet — he keeps attracting amazing talent around him.  Why?  Because talent gives a damn too.  There’s a saying: if you’re a “B” player, you’ll hire “C” players below you because you don’t want them to look smarter than you.  If you’re an “A” player, you’ll hire “A+” players below you, because you want the best result.

7. Don’t care about being right.  Care about succeeding – Jobs used this line in an interview after he was fired by Apple.  If you have to steal others’ great ideas to make yours better, do it.  You can’t be married to your vision of how a product is going to work out, such that you forget about current reality.  When the Apple III came out, it was hot and warped its motherboard even though Jobs had insisted it would be quiet and sleek.  If Jobs had stuck with Lisa, Apple would have never developed the Mac.

8. Find the most talented people to surround yourself with – There is a misconception that Apple is Steve Jobs.  Everyone else in the company is a faceless minion working to please the all-seeing and all-knowing Jobs.  In reality, Jobs has surrounded himself with talent: Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, Peter Oppenheimer, Tim Cook, the former head of stores Ron Johnson.  These are all super-talented people who don’t get the credit they deserve.  The fact that Apple’s stock price has been so strong since Jobs left as CEO is a credit to the strength of the team.  Jobs has hired bad managerial talent before.  John Sculley ended up firing Jobs and — according to Jobs — almost killing the company.  Give credit to Jobs for learning from this mistake and realizing that he can’t do anything without great talent around him.

9. Stay hungry, stay foolish - Again from the end of Jobs’ memorable Stanford speech:

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

10. Anything is possible through hard work, determination, and a sense of vision – Although he’s the greatest CEO ever and the father of the modern computer, at the end of the day, Steve Jobs is just a guy.  He’s a husband, a father, a friend — like you and me.  We can be just as special as he is — if we learn his lessons and start applying them in our lives.  When Jobs returned to Apple in the 1990s, it was was weeks away from bankruptcy.  It’s now the biggest company in the world.  Anything’s possible in life if you continue to follow the simple lessons laid out above.

Boil the HR Ocean - Internally

I am sure you have heard that term before and if not, it was derived from group process thinking at IBM.


I had a conversation with a good friend who is working in Houston who said he is changing everything the company is doing from an HR prospective. He is boiling the ocean and has the support of the CEO. But not so fast, does he have a strategic plan on changing how HR operates. Certainly there is a strategic plan for how HR integrates with the company strategy but the day -to-day stuff, is there a plan or is he going about it as he looks at each element of what the HR team does?


My thought is he does. So I will ask each of you do you have a plan when you go into a new organization on how you change the day-to-day operations? I hope so. I would think that the process or outline on the strategy would first be based on the following in descending order after you get buy-in from the executive team:

1. What does the company need or want 
2. What non-technical programs/systems can stay as is
3. Do you have a budget
4. what software programs/systems will support the change and subsequent changes
5. Do you have the right people in the right jobs
6. Are you prepared to hire the right people
7. Will the changes dramatically change the face of the department and value to the employees/company
8. Can you implement this in a timely and effective manner
9. Do you have measurements in place to determine the net effect?

I am sure you have all looked at this, but how many of you have truly implemented an internal change plan in a gross and effective manner? 

Please let me know your thoughts at wgstevens2@gmail.com 

Are You Up, Down, or Sideways?

There are no guarantees in life. We can be proactive, but there are some things that are completely outside of our control. So if we can’t be proactive on everything, we can, Mark Sanborn suggests, be interactive. We must learn how to interact with the forces in our life that are bigger than we are to create the outcomes we desire. No matter where we are—up, down, or sideways—there are things we can do to mitigate the downs, take advantage of the ups and maximize the sideways times in our life.

Up, Down, or Sideways by Mark Sanborn is a thoughtful book born of experience and based on sound principles. It would be a mistake to think of this as another business book. It is, in fact, a lifebook that will deeply impact your business.

To be interactive, you first need to define your scorecard for success. Most people don’t live the life they imagined because “they are stuck using a scoring system that doesn’t fit the game they want to play.” Sanborn guides you in developing a scoring system that is meaningful, long-term, and personal.

Besides a clear scoring system, your success also depends on your attitude. You must develop an optimistic attitude. “The way you look at yourself and the world around you affects your success regardless of the circumstances.” We can choose what we focus on.

Another important mindset is that of the lifelong learner. “The more you learn, the more prepared you are for whatever comes your way. And the more you learn, the more you develop behavioral flexibility that provides a distinct advantage over your competition.”

Sanborn offer six methods to succeed when times are Up, Down, or Sideways.

1. Produce Value. Value keeps you in the game. But value is a moving target, so “if you want to mitigate the downsides and increase the upsides, you need to recognize that value is the currency that gets you a seat at the table....keep your pipeline full of the things people value and the people who value them.” Continue to create value in an ever-changing environment.
2. Create and Keep Connections. “When we create value and deliver it with service and love, we develop connections that increase our value to others and we multiply their impact on our value.” While creating connections is easier than maintaining them, take special care of the relationships that matter.
3. Continuously Innovate. Best practices are not enough. Better to work on “better practices and next practices.” Sanborn asserts that the “purpose of innovation is distinction.” But, and this is important, “it’s not enough to be different. Being different without being valued is being weird. Distinction is being different and valued.”
4. Build Reserves. “You protect what you value by building reserves.” We need to build financial, physical, psychological, and spiritual reserves.
5. Practice Gratitude. Gratitude is the antidote to negative thinking. In Sanborn’s insightful way, he writes that gratitude is a gift. It is the gift of perspective, energy, guidance, and resilience. Make gratitude something you do and not just feel.
6. Embrace Discipline. “Success isn’t based on what we know, believe, or intend; it’s a result of what we consistently do.” Consistently act on your intentions until they become habits. Make time for the most important things.

Sanborn gives some final reminders: When you’re Up, you need humility and perspective. So surround yourself with people who keep you grounded. When you’re Sideways, you need a boost. So surround yourself with people who challenge you to keep moving in the right direction. And finally, when you’reDown, you need hope. So surround yourself with people who life your spirits.

Certainly this is an important book for these times, but this book is meant to help your thrive no matter what life throws your way. You need this book—young people need this book—to prepare for the rest of your life, whether you are Up, Down, or Sideways. Read, reread, and refer. 



a reprint from Leadershipnow.com 

Decision Outliers- Their Impact on Team and Organizational Effectiveness

 guest post from Beth Armknecht Miller


In the book Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, many of the stories focus on those outliers who were successful, often due to circumstances and luck. What if you have an outlying preference that holds you back? A behavior that if modified, moves you closer to the norm and makes you more effective?

Let’s take a look at Decision Outliers. We’ve all experienced someone who either makes decisions too quickly or too slowly and for some of us we actually may have one of these tendencies ourselves.

Some of us are quick to decide while others take a much longer time to decide. In either case, our personality preferences and past experiences have a strong influence on how we make decisions. If we tend to be an outlier on either side of the bell curve, decision making can be holding us back from being successful and getting to the next level of leadership. Do you know if you’re a Decision Outlier? And if you are one, how is your decision making style impacting your relationships and job performance?

Slow Decision Outliers

Those who are slow decision makers often need a lot more data and information than others, before making a decision. Making a decision without all the data creates too much risk for the slow decision outlier. The data needed can come in the form of hard and soft data. Hard data being metrics, facts, and measurements and soft data being feelings and the impact a decision will have on others. Slow decision makers who are driven by how others will feel about the decision, look for and desire a consensus decision making process. They want all in agreement before making a decision.

And in the extreme, Slow Decision Outliers can become No Decision

Outliers, stuck and unwilling to make a decision based often in fear of change and letting go of what is known and fully understood.

How does slow decision making impact you and your performance?

In this rapidly changing world, slow decision makers can be at a huge disadvantage. New information is coming at them faster than ever before and without self imposed time limits, opportunities will pass them by-both personally and professionally. If they are working in a team environment, they are probably frustrating their team members who want to move forward with the project.

If you consistently meet the description above then here are some tips to move out of the outlier range of decision making. Thoroughly explore all the benefits of making the decision which would create change. And realize that not making a decision brings its own set of risks. Identify these risks of maintaining the status quo.

Fast Decision Outliers

Fast Decision Outliers can find themselves making decisions with not enough data. These decision makers don’t like lots of detail; they are often driven by the end result. And if the decision is about something that doesn’t have a big impact on them, details get in the way.

Change is not stressful for them, yet they often are oblivious of the impact that change has to others around them. They can be creating stress with other tema members

These decision outliers can be viewed as autocratic if they aren’t willing to listen to others ideas and information that would be helpful to the decision making process.

Outliers’ Impact on Team and Organizational Effectiveness

Slow Decision Outliers can slow down progress and create frustration with other team members. If a leader is a Slow Decision Outlier, miss market opportunities, slow to change, will often want to decide using consensus-can’t please everyone

Are you a Decision Outlier? And if so what changes can you make to be a more effective leader?



Beth Armknecht Miller, of Atlanta, Georgia, is Founder and President of Executive Velocity, a leadership development advisory firm accelerating the leadership success of CEOs and business leaders. She is also a Vistage Chair and Executive Coach. She is certified in Myers Briggs and Hogan leadership assessment tools and is a Certified Managerial Coach by Kennesaw State University. Visithttp://www.executive-velocity.com  or  http://executivevelocityblog.com or follow her on twitter at SrExecAdvisor.