Venture-backed companies with females as founders or executives are more likely to go public, turn a profit or be sold at a steep price (source: DowJones)
Globally, companies with diverse executive boards enjoy significantly higher earnings and return on equity. (source: DowJones)
I do. Not because of the technology or breakthroughs, but because so many people are trying so hard to live someone else’s life or spending incredible amounts of energy trying to force others to live their way.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t; it’s their choice and doesn’t require my approval or opinion — unless they are trying to cram something down my throat that chokes me.
I neither need nor want the safe, curated world described yesterday.
I’ve screwed up many times in the course of my life; three had disastrous, long-range consequences, yet without them I wouldn’t be me — and I like me.
I realize that there are probably many versions of me that I would like; each a result of choosing a different fork in my path.
What I wouldn’t like would be to live with the desire to be someone else.
We look at public personas with no knowledge or understanding of what went into creating each one or even if they are real.
The dichotomy between the inauthenticity of craving or controlling someone else’s life and the talk of living an authentic life is often hard to swallow.
Geno Auriemma, Coach of the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Team summed it up very well in an interview.
“I’ve always been fascinated by people who care so much about what other people are and what they do in their personal lives,” he told a news conference. “Like, how small-minded do you have to be to care that much about what other people are doing? Life is hard enough as it is, trying to live your own life.”
No matter how wealthy there is someone with more money; no matter how beautiful or handsome there is someone who is better looking; no matter how brilliant there is someone who is smarter or just better uses what they have.
So, whether at work or personally, be proud to be you. No matter who you are or what you do you have a spark that no one else has.
If you’re an outsider, or even an insider prone to objectivity, Silicon Valley’s culture is a mess.
When I said as much to “Rick” his response caught me off guard — although it shouldn’t have.
“I wish they would just give it a rest. I am sick and tired of all the crap about wealth inequality, lack of diversity and privacy rights. That stuff is not my responsibility. I’ve worked hard and deserve my success; nobody went out of their way to help me. I’m sure not privileged and I figure if I can do it so can they.”
I’ve heard this before, but it still leaves me speechless.
Rick is white, nice looking, middle class family, raised around Palo Alto, graduated from UC Berkeley; his dad worked for Intel.
Yet he doesn’t see himself as privileged.
Over the years I’ve known thousands of Ricks.
And therein lies the true problem.
Because it’s hard to change that which doesn’t exist.
Do you like hearing “you did good” or the appropriate equivalent when you accomplish something, whether large or small?
It’s safe to say that 99.9% of us do.
It’s called validation and it’s what takes our accomplishments out of our heads and gives them objective, real-world presence.
We measure our success based on our accomplishments, so outside validation has always been important.
Validation used to come came from our family, friends, bosses, colleagues — people we knew and who knew us.
Now people crave and seek validation from strangers they have never met and probably never will.
Society seems to have decided that recognition and approval from thousands via virtual communities and soulless apps have more value than the same from flesh and blood people.
Personally, I find it very weird, but I guess it’s just one more thing that makes me a digital dinosaur.
Early last year I wrote, “Wealth addiction isn’t a case of wanting to get rich; it is a case of nothing is enough.”
From the outside, Mark Cuban is a good example. He considers the slightly-over-$30K gets per episode for Shark Tank too low, which makes one wonder what he gets to act like a fool in that (IMHO) stupid AT&T commercial.
He certainly doesn’t need the money, so why do it? Is it simply wealth addiction or something else?
The paradox of success is this: The mental wiring that enables a person to claw to the tippy-top of Corporate America or sports or entertainment or any other field that offers vast wealth is the same mental wiring that most of the time leads people not to retire before they have to — no matter what the diminishing marginal utility of money would suggest.
But there are those similarly wired for success who manage to miss the addiction and sidestep the paradox.
Four recent, high-profile examples are Patrick Pichette, the 52-year-old chief financial officer of Google, Patrick Willis, 30, a San Francisco 49ers linebacker, Jason Worilds, a 27-year-old linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers and 26-year-old Jake Locker, a Tennessee Titans quarterback.
These four are great proof that neither mental wiring nor predisposition eliminate choice.
Because it’s your mind, which means it’s under your control.
I have a great appreciation for those in the 1% that give back, especially those like Richard Branson, who became an entrepreneur specifically to finance his desire to give back or, as he says, “do good by doing well.”
But even the most philanthropic like their toys — especially the kind with four wheels.
AeroMobil was designed in a way to fit into existing road infrastructure – its size is comparable to a limousine or a large luxury sedan. It has low maintenance costs and can be parked in regular parking slots in cities. It uses standard gasoline instead of kerosene, and it can therefore be fuelled at a regular gas stations.
You’ll need flying lessons, but it sure beats those fancy, earthbound cars — they’re so common.
I’ve been in sales in one form or another my entire career.
One of the most common questions successful salespeople hear is along the lines of, “What is the secret to successful selling?”
Most answers are some variation of ‘hard work’, ‘persistence’, ‘it’s a numbers game’, etc.
My response is a little different — ‘you have to ask the tough questions’.
Of course, people then ask ‘what are the tough questions’?
The answer to that is simple. A tough question is any question to which you don’t want to hear the answer.
In sales the hardest question any salesperson asks is the one to which the potential client will say “no.”
It’s what’s called a “closing question” and it can take place anytime after the first hello.
Salespeople often avoid closing questions to keep the discussion going, kidding themselves and their boss into thinking it’s a live one.
A no means having to make more cold calls to refill the pipeline whereas it’s more comfortable to avoid the no and believe they can rejuvenate a deal with additional contacts.
More subtly, salespeople (like the rest of us mortals) want to be liked.
By asking the question that will either take the deal to the next level or end it, the salesperson is risking not being liked any more, i.e., rejected, AKA, no.
Tough questions permeate not just sales, but hiring, product/software development and all parts of life.
The trick is realizing that the faster you ask them the faster you will hear ‘no’ and the faster you can move on to something more positive.
Two years ago Qualtrics had bootstrapped its way to $50 million in revenue, 200 employees, 3,800 customers and a $500 million acquisition offer.
CEO Ryan Smith is all of 33, which means he was just 23 when the company started just after the dot com crash (dad created the product and his older brother powers the tech.)
He turned the buyout down and took investment instead.
Two years later they have over $100 million in sales, 550 employees, 6,000 customers, a billion dollar valuation and $150 million in a series B round.
It’s said the best time to start a company is during tough times when money is tight.
Qualtrics may not have been built fast, but it was certainly built to last.
Erin Meyer is the author of The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business and teach cross-cultural management at the international business school Insead, in Paris.
His article explaining how he learned to identify seminar participants with questions by looking for “bright eyes” is something every manager should read—whether or not they are managing an international team.
Why? Because different cultures are more than a function of Japanese vs. Russian vs. British.
Just as culture differs from country to country it differs by areas within each country.
In the US it’s beyond the difference between Massachusetts and Texas or Nevada and Colorado.
The cultural differences between Northern and Southern California are considerable, as are the differences between New York City and Rochester.
Cultural differences can be even finer; think of the differences between the various Burroughs in NYC starting with attitude all the way to language and almost everything in-between.
Beyond that different cultures can exist next door to each other, passed on through families, friends and social media.
Some cultural differences are obvious, while others are extremely subtle.
But they all have one thing in common.
To succeed, a boss needs to recognize the obvious, tease out the subtle and address them all.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
This post is for all the male founders out there who don’t understand the fuss about diversity, especially gender diversity.
