Sokanu: The Blog

I was watching the video below last night and was inspired to write a post about it. The video is of Facebook COO and power woman Sheryl Sandberg interviewing Oprah Winfrey. Either take the time to watch the video now, or return to it later, but make sure you watch it. 

While there are a number of gems in the interview, one point really struck a cord. Sheryl was asking about Oprah's mission - which is to help every single person find their "true self". She asked "Oprah, do you really believe that every person can be successful?"

When you think of circumstances around the world, and the abilities that people are born with, the easy answer is "no". But it all depends on how you define success. As Oprah said, "Not everyone can be the COO of Facebook, or a talk show host, but they can be successful as the person they are meant to be.

Obvious? Yes. But I think it's a really important point. Not everyone can be the COO of a massive company or a talk show host, but that's okay. None of us are Oprah or Sheryl either. You are you, so you can only be what you are meant to be, nothing else. What if you think you aren't meant to be anything? You haven't found that something yet, because we here at Sokanu also share the belief that every person is meant to do something amazing.

I have written about this before, but the reality is that almost every single one of us lives our life through someone else's lense. We all "want to be like XYZ" when we grow up, but of course everything about that person makes them unique. Should we look up to people as role models? Absolutely. But we shouldn't dictate our lives through their past actions. Ask any successful people why they are successful, and they will probably say "it's because I've made 1000000 mistakes". I'm betting if they had the chance to redo some of their life, they wouldn't choose the exact same path.

Every person is born with a unique set of genes that define who we are. We are then brought up in a certain type of environment that molds and shapes those genes. Based on that, by the time we reach a certain age, we can begin to understand "what makes us tick". Our only goal should then be to define what we are meant to do, and how to go about accomplishing that. No, you can't plan your life out from day one, but you can have an understanding of what direction you need to go in.

Every single person can be successful, in their own capacity. We have to continue to remember that success is relative. But if you are not waking up every day knowing you are meant to do something great, then you need to set out to discover that feeling within yourself. Oprah talks about meditating and getting in touch with "your inner self", and while you can call it whatever you choose, it's about understanding who you are at a deep level.

So how do we go about "finding ourselves"? Of course this is the ultimate question, and is different for every person. But I'd like to try and offer at least some concrete advice to get started. I'll break it down into two main categories.

1. Self-discovery

This is really, really hard and time consuming. This is where you a) have the time and b) have the resources available to spend the time looking at who you really are. This is in the form of books, seminars, tapes, shows, courses, school, etc... Every action you take gives your brain an indication as to what is wrong/right for it. 

I always suggest reading these two books to get started:

• Think And Grow Rich - http://www.amazon.com/Think-Grow-Rich-Napoleon-Hill/dp/1612930298/ref=sr_1_1?...
• The Magic of Thinking Big - http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Thinking-Big-David-Schwartz/dp/0671646788/ref=sr_...

*Note: both of these books were written quite a while ago and you should be able to find them for free online

2. (Accidental) Activation

The second method is what I think everyone should be aiming for, but it's much more of an art than a science. I believe that we all have "activation genes" that are awakened based on certain experiences that we have in our life. These genes can be "awakened" by reading something in a book or magazine, watching a video, talking to someone over coffee, or any other number of things. 

You don't have full control over this, since we have so many random events that happen to us day to day. Maybe you will become an opera singer after watching a performance on TV, or maybe a physicist after seeing an picture of an equation on a blackboard. But you can try to have as many experiences as you can within the realm of things that you enjoy, in order to try and activate those genes. Some products and experiences are trying to create these experiences for you (Sokanu is one of them)

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Overall, please take the time to watch the video above. No matter where you are from, how you were raised or what you think of yourself, every person is put on this earth to do something amazing. You need to look deep inside yourself in order to discover what that something amazing is. Yes, we all can be successful - it just needs to be in our own way. 

I've recently had a number of conversations with entrepreneurs or young overachievers who are having a "quarter-life crisis". Instead of having the problem that Sokanu is trying to solve (what am I supposed to do with my life?) these individuals have a different problem. They are more concerned with: "I should be further ahead at this point in my life".

This is the equivalent to a "first world problem" when it comes to careers. These people are incredibly brilliant, able to do anything, and yet are stalled. They are constantly questioning what the best path is for them to take in order to get the "furthest ahead". Where does their problem come from? The short answer is the media.

Magazines like Inc, Fast Company, Forbes (check out this month's cover - the world's youngest VC - congrats Ernestine!) are constantly promoting the youngest, fastest moving people. Do you have a degree at 23? Well there are people who got their degree before they were 20. Did you start a company when you were 16? 13 year olds are developing iPhone apps. When did you raise VC money? Anytime after 19 and you aren't that young anymore.

Sound ridiculous? It is. The problem is that many of these young achievers know each other. And when you have a friend who is the same age as you getting way further "ahead" according to your standards, you begin to question your own ability. 

So who do we blame, and how do we fix this problem? While it seems like a very small problem (it only applies to a small subset of people) the thoughts behind it can apply to anyone. Let's start by dissecting the problem.

Make Your Measuring Stick Malleable

 Most people are under the impression that faster is better. I am most certainly in this camp. The faster you build something, the better you must be at it, right? The problem is that the word "fast" is relative, just like anything else in life. Same with "success". So why on earth are you comparing yourself to someone else's life when their "fast" might be different than yours? What success is for one person (graduating from college), might be totally different than success for another person (selling a company for one billion dollars). 

Think about how you were raised. Many of the people that have achieved amazing things at an early age have already been doing their craft for 10 years. Have you? Did your parents push you towards something before you could walk? Were you homeschooled so that you could bypass the traditional educational system? Are your parents succesful entrepreneurs? No? Then you need to adjust your measuring stick a bit. 

Every person on this planet has a different perspective and a set of biases that carries them throughout their life. If we accept that everyone is unique, then you need to stop comparing yourself to someone else's path. Your path is your path. You can use others as inspiration, but not as a "I should be here" measurement.

Stop Sprinting, Start Training

Not everything that is faster is better. This is hard for me to accept, but it's true. A simple example. Who makes more money per year? A hedge fund or Berkshire Hathaway? Obviously hedge funds, seeing as they have nearly unlimited upside potential. However, last time I checked, Warren Buffett is the most successful trader/wealth generator of our time. Why?

Warren has been training his mind for an incredibly long time. Was he a billionaire at age 30? No - but he was doing fine. Was he the richest person in the world at age 40? No. Each and every day he would accumulate more knowledge, get smarter than the guy next to him. Now, banks go to him first when they want investment. Did you notice what happened to Bank of America when he invested last week? His "vote of confidence" made the stock go up more than 10%.

Everyone I know (myself included) is always trying to sprint. We are trying to blow by the people next to us, get further ahead, just to make ourselves feel better. We think if we can grow faster than everyone else, we must be successful. Being in magazines, on TV and written about makes us successful, right?

Go back to the measuring stick. Is this important to you? Do you need the external recognition in your life? Are other people's opinions important to you? Do you want to be perceived as an "expert"?

Start training (whatever it may be; your mind, your sport, your instrument) and focus intently on that. Success will follow.

Marathons Take A Long Time, And Sometimes You Throw Up

I have a friend who just competed in an Iron Man. He has been training intently for a while, is in incredible shape, and knows more about the sport than 99.9% of people. Did he finish the race? Absolutely. Did he throw up? Yep. Was he hurting? Majorly - it was way harder than he thought.

This applies to life. Marathons take a long time to complete, and sometimes we just want to get to the finish line. Imagine if we knew how tough everything was before we started it! We would never start! 

Life is a long term game, start playing like it. It doesn't mean that you can't succeed in the short term, it just means that you can't always compare yourself to people who are the first mile of their life. They still have 25.2 miles to go.

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In conclusion:

• What is success to you? Figure that out (it's not easy, it comes down to the core of who you are)
• Adjust your measuring stick to match that success
• Take into account your biases and perspective on the world
• Stop looking at other people's measuring sticks, it doesn't apply to you.
• Play life like a long term game,
• Put your head down and start training
• Celebrate the short-term successes in life (the sprints) while constantly reminding yourself you have many miles to go

Always remember, this is your life. You need to make yourself happy, not anyone else.

I just finished watching the CNBC Titans documentary on Ted Turner. Going into the show, I didn't have a really good grasp of what Ted had accomplished both personally and professionally, and had made a biased judgement as such. Another example of why not to judge anyone. An incredible story, Mr. Turner epitomizes the word entrepreneur and risk-taker. Not only the founder of TBS and CNN, but also owner of the Atlanta Braves (and World Series Winner), America's Cup sailing champion, and one of the world's biggest philanthropists. 

Through the entire show, however, one thing struck me as being very important. No matter what endeavor Ted took on, he never made any excuses about why he couldn't do it. Everyone in life goes through ups and downs, and yet the majority of people don't celebrate the ups and complain about the downs. By the age of 24, Ted's sister had passed away from cancer at the age of 17, his parents separated, and then his father committed suicide by shooting himself. Does this sound like a regular upbringing? Probably not, for most of us.

People will use any excuse in the book to not do something. Even though Ted was left with his father's one million dollar billboard business under his control, he was a 24 year old Brown University dropout. He had experience in working for the business, not running it. He had been through personal turmoil having his sister & father die, as well as his parents splitting up. Yet we know how the story ends, Ted is one of the world's greatest billionaires and philanthropists. How can this happen?

An excuse is something we make to convince ourselves that the task is not worth doing. Don't feel like going for a run this morning? It is raining and cold after all. Don't feel like cooking? Take-out is just a couple of minutes away. Most excuses are small and harmless, like the two previous examples. But many excuses limit us from living our lives the way we should, and this is where we run into a problem. In entrepreneurship, there are a million reasons to just give up and become a typical person and get a job. Things take four times longer than they should, you have no money, people don't believe in you, your family thinks you are crazy, etc... There are plenty of reasons to just stop what you are doing.

Going back to Ted Turner, he had every opportunity in the book to just give up ownership of his father's company, take a working role and just have a decent life. He could have wallowed in the sadness of the tragedies that had occurred, and turned to drugs and alcohol to cure his pain. The most common excuse for becoming drug addicts and alcoholics usually trace back to "my parents got divorced when I was young". There are lots of things to write here, but every situation is unique, so I'm not going to go there. 

Ted instead grew his father's company into a much larger version within a few years. This alone is something people take a lifetime to do. He then decided that he wanted to have more of a global impact, and making sales on billboards has very little impact on the world. So he decided to buy a small television station in Atlanta. At that time, the only national TV stations were NBC, CBS and ABC. All the others were just local stations, having to struggle to get any kind of distribution. In Atlanta, the station was boring and losing money. Because things had always been done a certain way, this was yet another opportunity for Ted to just stop what he was doing and go back to the "safe" advertising business. Instead, he thought that putting the Atlanta Braves on his station would increase ratings. Not only did it explode ratings, but when the Braves came up for sale, Mr. Turner thought it would be a good idea to purchase them. (in order to understand the pure business genius behind this deal, read the article: http://www.gladwell.com/2010/2010_01_18_a_surething.html)

The above is a quote from the article I linked to. It shows how Ted was able to shed any excuses the people around him came up with, to just go out and do what he thought was best. This style of entrepreneurship may also remind you of Richard Branson, who follows a similar philosophy.

The fact is that Ted was given multiple reasons to stop doing what he was doing and give up. He made some great decisions and a couple of very poor ones. At one point during the AOL - Time Warner merger, he was losing $10 million in stock value per day. He was once worth $10 billion, and it collapsed down to $1.9 billion. Instead of complaining and going into hiding, Ted opened up 48 restaurants serving premier bison beef. (he is also the second largest land owner in North America, having a huge % of the bison).

Most of us operate on numbers much, much smaller than this. We live out our lives for the most part through other people’s paths, not stopping to think whether what we are doing is right for us. We let other people make excuses for us as to why not to do something. The worst part? We listen. Instead of putting blinders on and doing what our gut tells us to do, we listen to others who speak from their past experiences.  

When it comes to careers, you have the choice of deciding to go into what you know is right for you, or listening to other people as to why it won’t work. You can use past downfalls as excuses for why you won’t succeed, or you can put your head down and create a future. You can blame your parents for not raising you properly and giving you the wealth you “deserve”, or you can thank them for instilling a sense of drive and an appreciation of money. Remember, the world is filled with excuses why you shouldn’t do something. The question is, are you going to let those excuses creep into your mind and keep you from being you?

I discovered Eric Thomas' videos the other day on Youtube and was blown away. Here is a guy that was homeless at the age of 17 for two and a half years on the streets of Detroit. He had dropped out of high school after his mom kicked him out of the house. So what did he do? He woke up one day after being on the street, straightened himself out, and got his GED. From there, he made it his goal to complete college. Nobody in his family had ever done that before. Not only did he complete college, but he is now working on his PhD in educational studies. 

This is no-nonsense personal development advice at its finest. You need to at listen to both videos to see his style of teaching. You will become inspired. We need more people like this in our school systems inspiring our students. Enjoy the videos and let me know what you think in the comments below.

But what if this is too complex? Can't we define success in a career as something simpler? And in a broader context, success in life? Today we are going to talk about people who look natural at what they do. I'm sure you know who we are talking about. Have you ever gone to a live sporting event and stood at the level of the players and watched them warm up? Hockey players skate better than most people walk, football players catch footballs like they have glue on their gloves, golfers on the range look like they are swinging a feather around. How come? Why do these athletes look so effortless?

Apply this to any career you would like. Take painting or drawing. Certain individuals can replicate your face or figure in a matter of minutes (walk down any popular street in a city to see these artists in action). Pianists can listen to something played on the radio and immediately begin to replicate it. Powerful business leaders can articulate their vision in a way that their employees cannot. And it goes on and on.

Take a close look at the three circles above. We mainly talk about the passion circle here at Sokanu, but all three are equally important. After all, if you love to paint, but realistically aren't very good at it, you probably won't end up making much money doing it. Flip that around as well. There are a lot of investment bankers on Wall Street that make a ton of money, are good at what they do, but are not even close to being passionate about it. So we can see that in order to be successful, we need to fulfill all three of these circles.

But take a look at the red point in the middle of the circles. They label that as "the hedgehog concept". That is a bit misleading, as that is what the whole concept is called. The red circle is in fact the "it" factor we are talking about.

When you are passionate about something and are good at it, we describe that combination as being "a natural". This is because we don't look awkward doing it. But you must have both of those elements. If you want an example of why passion won't carry you all the way through, check out this video of American Idol contestants. Some of these auditions may be a joke, but many are not. There are always a high percentage of people who show up and truly believe they are good at what they do. They always explain that "they have been singing since the age of three" and how passionate they are about singing. But they don't have the "it" factor. That takes so much more. Generally, the "it" factor consists of being able to: have a natural singing ability, be unique, have a stage presence, deal with the media maturely, deal with large amount of pressure, etc...

As I continue to read books about innovation, ideas, technology and accomplishment, there are things that I become curious about.  One of these things is 'what type of person creates this innovation?'. Generally, they are relatively well off, well educated (usually Ivy's + Stanford), intelligent and driven. Of course, you will have outliers that create massive change in the world coming from very little, but not very often. The fact of the matter is that truly successful people are hard to come by, and that is why we are so enthralled by them. But the reason that we treat these people like "role models" is because we are measuring them on their career successes.

We can go to LinkedIn and take a look at what a person has done in their life. Oh, so they went to The University Of Western Ontario? That's okay I suppose, wonder if they got rejected from MIT? We look at how much they have accomplished in their lives by a certain age. We have a top 40 under 40 list, a top 20 under 20, and a list of the richest people in the world to analyze. And analyze we do. What makes these people so successful? What makes them tick? Were they successful because they went to Harvard Business School? Was it because their parents were doctors?

Our culture is stuck in a cycle of endless career achievement (the Western world at least). Now, with the Internet and the constant flow of information and access to everyone's accomplishments, this is only going to get worse. This isn't all bad. I am ultra-competitive, and use this information to see who I am competing with on a business level. 

Whereas career success is relatively easily measured and out in the open, personal success is the opposite. LinkedIn is a database of career resumes showing accomplishments for professionals across the world. What is the equivalent for personal success? Facebook? Doubt it, unless you want people to judge you based on the pictures you are tagged in and what you have written on your wall. What about a personal blog? This is getting closer, but there is still no way to truly determine what kind of person is writing that blog.

Do you ever have an encounter with someone, business-wise or other, where you are shocked at how genuinely nice they are? It's as if our standards have dropped so low for first-time encounters that being 'nice' has become a competitive advantage. In hiring, I know a lot of CEO's that would rather hire a nice person with 8/10 skills then a not-so-nice person with 10/10 skills. Culture fit is extremely important.

If we somehow had a method to measure personal success, the world would be totally different. Instead of focusing on how much money someone has made, how many academic prizes they have or how many gold medals they've won, we would judge them on their personal relationships with others, their attitude towards the world and the knowledge they have about their own makeup and biology. But we don't have a method for this (yet). All of the things I just mentioned are intangible, impossible to measure, subjective. They are many of the traits that we describe in multiple intelligence theory.

So if we can't measure personal success, why even bother with it? This is the analytical point of view. The answer is because it is much more important than career success. There are two certain items that we have in life. One is money and the other is time. We can control the amount of money we have, how we get it, yet we can never control time. It's an obvious but interesting statement. There is a wonderful article in the Harvard Business Review written by Clayton Christensen about measuring your life. In the article he talks about the importance of personal success rather than career success. This is amazing coming from a Harvard professor that has generated millions of dollars in revenue for huge corporations. Anyone in the business world knows the massive success that Clayton has had via his books and teachings. But like he mentions in that article, the true value he gets out of life, the most important thing, is the value of his personal success.

People very often have a tough time understanding things they can't see or measure. That's why we don't talk about it. We can't really tell if parents are okay or great, because what is the measuring stick? Personal success is something that you will never be externally rewarded for, but always intrinsically. People rarely come up to you and say "wow, you are an awesome parent/friend/husband/wife because of XYZ". But they will often come up and say "you are a great businessperson, because of XYZ".

This is okay, because as long as you know what is truly important in your life, you don't mind being measured on your career success. And even if you don't have that many tangible career successes, you can have great personal successes. The latter is what makes you feel content and complete at the end of the day.

When we are young and new to the world, we often try to gain as much knowledge as possible in the shortest amount of time.  No matter what profession or career that you are involved in, you are always trying to learn.  And people will have always done what you want to achieve, which creates the mentor effect.  In fact, mentorship and role models are so important that we decided to create a special section for them in Sokanu.

In something like a trade, mentors gather "apprentices" and show them the exact ropes to deliver that trade with the utmost quality.  It is a proven formula that can be repeated and shared through mentorship.  This is the way that mentors should act in that specific profession.  The same goes for the culinary arts.  Food should be prepared a specific way in order to meet standards.  Only after you master the basics are you allows to experiment and create "fusion" or artwork with your dish.  But what about for professions that aren't as easy to teach, such as entrepreneurship?

The issue that I have with most role models and mentors is the way that they go about giving advice to younger versions of themselves.  This is especially relevant when it comes to small businesses.  In entrepreneurship, while there may be a destination (sale, IPO or sustainable profits) the journey to get there is never the same.  Success is garnered by attaining profitability, selling or changing the world.  Whatever the metric is, there is no one single path to get there.  And this is the problem.

Go to any conference, read any book and watch any show, and the first thing that you hear is: find a mentor.  This is good advice.  The tough thing is, because you are so new at the beginning of any process, you don't know whether that mentor is good or not. There are many people that have run a business, competed in sports or played an instrument, but very few that have done it well.  And those people that do those activities well are often very difficult to get to.  Because of this lack of access, we purchase their books and read their biographies, pinpointing the exact steps those people took. "Oh, Michael Phelps started swimming at 5?  I better get going!", "Michael Dell started Dell Computers in his dorm room? Well I should do the same thing!", etc...

The issue with this methodology is that you are unique.  I used to always say that you should try to find role models to mold yourself after. Finding these positive influences would be good for you.  I now take a different stance. Role models and mentors are good, just not in the way that we think.

First of all, the only person you should look up to is yourself.  As corny as this may sound, it is true.  You are not Bill Gates, Roger Federer (my issue when playing tennis) or Gene Simmons.  There is no way to replicate the exact steps that Oprah took to get to where she is now. No, instead of studying the specifics of these successful people, study their philosophies.

Mentors & Philosophies

Philosophies?  What does that mean exactly?  Well first, let me point you to one of the best business books I have read in the past year or so. It's called Four Seasons: The Story Of A Business Philosophy.  I'm sure you have heard of the hotel chain the Four Seasons. You may have stayed (or wished) in one of their hotels in the past.  Now let me ask you a question.  Say you haven't clicked on the link above yet.  Who is the founder of the Four Seasons?  Not sure?  Most people (even business) have no clue, and that's an amazing thing.

In a world obsessed by personal branding and marketing ourselves, it is so refreshing to see a company so successful, yet so underrated. The founder's name is Isadore Sharp, a Jewish man from Toronto.  He is also one of the inventors of the Terry Fox run and one of the wealthiest men in Canada, as well as one of the best philanthropists.  He has managed to build one of the greatest luxury brands on earth by implementing business philosophies and executing upon those.

No matter what field you are in, try to find mentors and role models that talk about their philosophies rather than themselves. Don't get somebody to tell you to do x,y,z unless it is a repeatable formula like we mentioned above.  Just like Dan Pink mentions in this talk about motivation, humans that are in careers that demand creativity need different motivations behind what they do. Not only do they need the specifics to get to the goal in mind, but they also need the correct philosophies behind those specifics.  I put up a talk from John Wooden a while back, and in it he talks about his idea of success. If you listen (or watch college basketball), you know that play calls and training are huge components of winning.  But in order to reach success, Wooden implemented a winning philosophy that enabled his team to be embedded in history.

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So what can we learn from this idea? How can we implement these philosophies?  I mean, isn't the point of philosophy that it is subject to the readers interpretations.  Yes, exactly.  Normally we have mentors that give us specific directions, telling us what not do along the way.  Very rarely do we get a mentor that outlines a philosophy, a core purpose, behind their method. Only once they have this philosophy do they then guide you along the path.  

To end with an example, a role model that I use in business is someone that is quite popular nowadays.  I've already mentioned Isadore Sharp as a role model, and this is true.  But more on the tech side, I follow closely the workings of Tony Hsieh.  In his new book, Delivering Happiness, I feel that Tony's most valuable pieces of information are not in the first two sections, but rather the last section.  In this section, Tony talks about the science of happiness, or the guiding philosophy behind why his company makes decisions. 

Look at Zappos from an analytical perspective for a second:

• Were they the most successful company in the last decade in terms of exit size?  No, although $1 billion is nothing to sneeze at.
• Were they the most profitable company in the last decade?  I doubt it.
• Was the way that Tony ran the company (nearly bankrupt many times) the right way to do it?  No, especially according to this article: http://www.gladwell.com/2010/2010_01_18_a_surething.html
• Did they run the "right" business at the "right" time? No, nobody would give Zappos money (even after a $265 million exit) because "why would shoes sell online?"

From this perspective, Tony and Zappos does not seem like a model that you may want to follow.  Sure, they sold for a substantial sum of money, but would you want to copy their path?  I would guess not.  But of course, this is not what makes Zappos so popular.  It is their culture, their dedication to employee happiness and their odd recruiting service that makes them stand out. Isn't Zappos the company that writes their culture manual every year?  They do this because they want to mandate the philosophy behind the company, plain and simple. Because of their focus on the science of happiness and delivering the best experience on every level, the decisions along the way are easier to make.

I try and remember this along the path with Sokanu.  Rather than follow exact instructions from people (which sometimes I need), I try to learn about the business philosophies that I agree with, and let those principles guide the decisions that I am presented with.  Some people use data (better economically), but some use philosophy.  Try and find a mentor(s) that can help you by sharing their philosophies, not just their lessons.

This post was inspired from a post I read from Jesse Pujji on his fantastic blog Shootin' From The Don't.  I watch a lot of sports, and love competition.  I can relate to what Mark Cuban talks about in his post The Sport Of Business.  Business is the ultimate sport, and the competition is high. If you are reading this blog right now (thank you) then that is one person that is not looking at Facebook, Google, Yahoo, or any other site on the Internet.  That means that I have competed for your time and have won the right for you to read this.  I appreciate that.

Looking at strategies, both in startups and in life, we can also use sports as an analogy.  Here is a portion of the blog post written by Jesse.

The Sports Analogy

You are the head coach of an NBA basketball team. As the game goes on, your team starts losing…badly. By the third quarter, they are down 30 points. So, you chalk the game up to bad travel and you put in your second string. You figure it’s a good learning experience and makes sense to rest the starters. As the fourth quarter progresses, all of a sudden, your team is coming back! With two minutes left in the game, your team has pulled within 6 points!!

Now the question is: What do you do? Do you keep the second string in? After all, they’ve been playing tremendously well and have momentum. Or, do you put your starters in? The best players you have, who are well rested and ready to close the game?

(Please write down your answer.)

Of course, this is a trick question. His answer was simple: It doesn’t matter what you do. People will judge your “decision” based on the OUTCOME of the game. In other words, whether you bring in the starters or keep the benchwarmers in, people will only care what the outcome is. If you win, you’re a genius. If you lose, you’re an idiot. Can’t you just hear the announcers?

Win with Starters: “Well that is GREAT coaching, even though the second string was hot, he took the time and prudence to put in the better players…and that is why they won the game.”

Win with Bench: “Well that is GREAT coaching, he played with the momentum and kept the right guys in…and that is why they won the game.”

And on the other hand…

Lost with Starters: “Well of course he lost! He put in the cold starters who had allowed the other team to outscore them 2-1. What an idiot!”

Lost with Bench: “Well of course he lost! He made a simple rookie mistake, when the game is on the line, you MUST have your best players on the floor.”

One recent example of this has been Bill Belicheck and the 2009-2010 New England Patriots. Now I love to see them struggle, don’t get me wrong. But this year, everyone ridiculed Belicheck for “taking chances,” “going for it on fourth down” and “gambling.” No less than 2 years ago, he coached exactly the same, and was considered a “BOLD GENIUS.”

Sports isn’t the only place we see this phenomenon. It’s present in entertainment, politics, our personal lives and of course… in business and entrepreneurship.  The press has an obvious bias in this, especially for entrepreneurs.

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The idea point behind this idea is that in life, no matter what you do, people are going to judge you. In any profession, people are going to have opinions on the way you talk, the way you dress, how you work, etc...  Life is filled with questions that we sometimes don't know the best way to answer.  The journey that we take doesn't matter once we reach success.  Each failure that we had in the past is something that is used as a positive once we succeed.  People will tell you that you are either brilliant or stupid depending on the outcome of the result, not the journey.

What it comes down to, whether starting a new career, opening up a new business, etc... is that execution is the most important thing.  And like the saying goes, "there is more than one way to skin a cat", this definately holds true in business and in life.  There are so many seperate journeys that sometimes we just need to put our heads down and do what we think will result in the best outcome.

I sometimes struggle with this, being in the startup world.  I read a ton of content every day telling me the best way to run my business. I have multiple phone calls a week with people that either love what we are doing or don't quite get the vision.  And that's okay. Everyone has an opinion as to what the "correct" journey is for a company.  I sometimes forget to just ignore the "noise" and just focus on building the best product possible.

Jesse provides these great points as examples of why to focus on the outcome and stick to it:

• It gets rid of “Paralysis by Analysis” – this is where I find it most useful.  I will say, well doesn’t matter which direction we go… if we’re successful, we’ll be geniuses.  This makes us focus on execution as opposed to getting caught up in overanalyzing (we still do, but it helps).
• Allows you to be your biggest critic and make your own path -when you realize the world will almost always judge you based on outcome, it forces you to clear your own path (and realize if you’re successful, everyone will craft a story about ‘YOUR way’ of doing things.)
• You can take advice in the proper context – every succesful person will have tons of advice.  But this helps you realize that their path is one way to success and your could be different.
• It makes failure more palatable -again, you don’t get caught up in your methods… because you realize outcome is paramount.  If you fail, you know that if you pick back up and make it work… people will later call you a ‘genius’ and look at your failure as a stepping stone.
• Keeps you focused on the goal.  If that’s all you’ll be judged on, maybe its all you need to worry about.

So no matter what path you take in life, and no matter where you come from, just focus on your goals.  It doesn't matter what your path is to get there, as long as you win.  You will be remembered for your successes, and anything along the way will just be a stepping stone. If they can do it, Sokanu!

"I never let education get in the way of my learning". - Mark Twain

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Western society as a whole has reached a point where we have developed a very specific formula for achievement in life.  This path has been drilled into the heads of young individuals since their earliest days of school.  Life, according to our world, follows an extremely linear path. Through this linear path our lives are set out for us from the get go.  Any deterrence from this path results in people assuming that we are "weird" or abnormal.  So what is this "normal" linear path?

Traditionally, it goes something like this:

• Go To School
• Go To University
• Get A Job
• Get Married
• Buy A House
• Have Kids
• Retire
• See The World In Your Golden Years
• Etc...

This was a great system in another age, where we needed to pump out individuals to create industry and advance economies at a rapid pace.  That's why we referred to that time as the industrial revolution.  The problem is, last time I checked, we are not in the industrial revolution anymore. We are currently in something known as the information age, due to the internet and the instant access to trillions of pieces of data.

So what's the problem with the linear model?  Shouldn't it still work with today's society?  I mean, come on, university is still the most important thing that a young person can do today, right?  The answer is neither yes nor no.  The real answer is: it depends.

With the information age comes a unique perspective into the world of learning.  No longer are we confined to classrooms with teachers and old furniture to learn. With the Internet, iPads, laptops, smartphones and Kindle's, we can learn from anywhere, anytime. This was not possible even 5 years ago to the same degree.  The amount of change happening is staggering.  But what does this mean for this generation and their ability to learn?

The reason that the linear model depends is because each individual is unique.  Some of us need that structure and tradition in order to get through formal education.  Some of us need more of a challenge in the system, and so we take AP courses and more classwork in order to push ourselves.  Some of us are self-learners and will buck the system and thus will not "succeed" with the linear model.  This is where the uniqueness lies.

But what is the difference between education and learning?  Aren't they supposed to be the same thing?  That's the reason we go to school, right?  With the information age, there is an ever-increasing gap between the need for learning vs education.  Let's look at the differences in detail:

Learning

Learning can mean a plethora of things.  With books, magazines and the internet we can literally teach ourselves anything in the world at an extremely rapid pace.  Want to learn how to knit?  Simply type it into your search engine and boom!  Millions of pages are waiting for you to visit in order to teach you about knitting, one step at a time.  The price?  Absolutely nothing.  Still not convinced?  Want to have something more tangible?  There are thousands of published books available helping you learn to knit as well.

Learning is self-guided.  We learn because we want to.  In education, typically, we learn because we have to. This is a gigantic difference.  This is the differentiator in the information age.  We have the ability to learn things of our choosing, simply by owning a laptop and having an internet connection.  The linear path typically does not allow for learning to dominate.  Learning about something unique is something you do after you come home from school or work.  Usually this is called a hobby.

The reason that the linear path does not work with learning?  Because as humans, we are not linear by nature.  We are an organic, natural species. We grow at our own paces, taking steps in different directions each day.  Each individual person wants to learn different things at different times in their lives.  Sometimes this is through the use of education, sometimes not.  The point is that with the learning method, we cannot paint a line over how we are supposed to learn. 

But how does this differ from getting an education?  What is the difference between our open, organic method in learning and the linear version in education?

Education

Let me start by saying that education is a good thing for the right people.  This is not an education-bashing post at all.  The fact of the matter however, is this: that education offers a certain path for a certain type of person.  If you want to become a lawyer, doctor, accountant, researcher, manager, etc... you need to go to school.  The way that the world works is that you must have that educationary requirement in order to progress to the first level of a career.  Most professionals need traditional education to progress to their first level and then continue onwards.

Then again, most professionals will follow the linear path.  And there is nothing wrong with this.  The problem comes when a lot of creative, organic individuals go through education, hating it, because they were forced to.  Instead of taking the opportunity to learn about things that they love, education forces them into a straight line. They learn because they have to, not because they want to. 

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In the information age, there are no rules.  We can learn instantly and abundantly, without the aid of a classroom or teachers.  There are both positives and negatives to learning by yourself rather than in a structured environment.  But what it comes down to is the person that you are.  Uniqueness is the most important thing when it comes to learning.  By determining what career path you will follow and the way you best learn, you can then decide what path you will go down.  Just remember, that path is not linear, it is organic.