09.08.2004
"Don't worry, be crappy." Don't worry about the first permutation of a product or service. Ship it, see what happens, and then fix it. If you wait for the perfect product or service, the market will pass you by. Or you won't create a market when you could have. Also an anti-example would be good too. That is, a case where a company listened too much to its customers.
"Move first and move often." The best way to get ahead is to jump to the next curve, not duke it out on the curve. For example the ice harvestors were put out of business by the ice factories and the ice factories by the refrigerator companies. Got an example of a company that leaped ahead by jumping the curve? Or one that died because it didn't?
"Seize segments not share." A company must provide people with distinctively valuable goods or services. This occurs in segments, niches, and cubbyholes, not in the unholy grail of "market share". If you seize enough segments, you will get share. But if you seize share, you might just go broke.
"Change the rules of the game." If you keep playing by the established rules of a game, you'll probably lose to companies that are bigger or earlier. However, if you can change the rules of sales, marketing, development, or distribution, you can change the game to your advantage.
"Plant meadows, not window boxes." Time and again, what saves companies are the things that were never planned. In a case I know first hand, for example, desktop publishing was never planned by Apple. The lesson is that you should sow entire meadows of ideas because you never know which one will save your butt.
"Just show up (in person)." After all the strategies, plans, and high falutin efforts are put in place, sometimes the key is just showing up in person and doing business. Most of business is a one-on-one relationship.
"Don't ask customers to do what you wouldn't." A crucial customer-oriented perspective. Don't ask customers to wait on hold, fill out extra forms, pay up front, or whatever if you wouldn't do it either.
"Avoid death magnets." Death magnets are stupid managerial habits that bloat a company's overhead, demoralize employees, and knock products out of distribution. The irony is that despite the insanity of death magnets, management can't seem to stop embracing them. Have you ever seen management be unable to stop hurting itself?
"Leave the important stuff to amateurs." Most Japanese executives don't use market researchers to research the market. They think it's too important to leave this function to professionals, so they do it themselves. (They may be professional managers but are amateur researchers.)
"Eat like an elephant, shit like a bird." Take a guess. This refers to competitive intelligence. One should suck up information in great quantities but give out information in very small ones. You can break this down into separate examples: companies that eat like elephants and companies that shit like birds. It may be difficult to find examples of companies that do both!
"Judge your results and other people's intentions." Many people judge their own intentions--and slide themselves a break. However, they judge other people's results--and slide them no breaks. If everyone judged what others intended and what they themselves accomplished, everyone would be nicer and more effective.
"Learn how to suck down." Many people think the key to success is to suck up to people higher than themselves. I disagree--I think the key is to befriend people in roles like secretaries, administrative aides, and receptionists. So, I need examples of how "sucking down" worked. And I'll take examples of how sucking up didn't.
"Don't let the bastards grind you down." What Macintosh believer wouldn't understand this? When you really believe in something, go for it. Don't let anyone grind you down.
"Real men (and women) don't do backups, they just cry.
Tell me and I will forget, teach me and I will remember, involve me and I will learn.- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
How to work better:
  1. Do one thing at a time
  2. Know the problem
  3. Learn to listen
  4. Learn to ask questions
  5. Distinguish sense from nonsense
  6. Admit changes as inevitable
  7. Admit mistakes
  8. Say it simple
  9. Be calm
  10. Smile