# 5 Qualities That An Employer Looks For In A Candidate: 1. Competency, 2. General Intelligence, 3. Attitude, 4. Humility, 5. Commitment [Deepika Saxena] # Book: Secrets to winning at office politics (Marie G McIntyre, 2005) Why having each of these traits (Integrity, Intelligence and Energy) is so important? Think about it – if just one of these traits is missing, here’s what happens: Low integrity with high energy and high intelligence gives you someone who is fast, smart... and will cheat you. Low energy and high intelligence and integrity and you have someone who will never take initiative and really add value. Low intelligence and high energy and integrity and you have someone who works hard... but won’t be a great problem solver or visionary. The next question is, how exactly do you figure out if a candidate has these traits by looking at a resume and talking to them for 30 minutes? Well the truth is, you’ll probably have to dig a little deeper. Here’s are some things you can do to discover each trait as mentioned on this page: https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/interview-questions/2017/when-warren-buffett-hires-he-looks-for-these-3-key-traits --- Children, on average, were doing more poorly in these specific ways: • Withdrawal or social problems: preferring to be alone; being secretive; sulking a lot; lacking energy; feeling unhappy; being overly dependent. • Anxious and depressed: being lonely; having many fears and worries; needing to be perfect; feeling unloved; feeling nervous or sad and depressed. • Attention or thinking problems: unable to pay attention or sit still; daydreaming; acting without thinking; being too nervous to concentrate; doing poorly on schoolwork; unable to get mind off thoughts. • Delinquent or aggressive: hanging around kids who get in trouble; lying and cheating; arguing a lot; being mean to other people; demanding attention; destroying other people's things; disobeying at home and at school; being stubborn and moody; talking too much; teasing a lot; having a hot temper. --- "A rising tide lifts all boats," as Tim Shriver put it. "It's not just the kids with problems, but all kids who can benefit from these skills; these are an inoculation for life."Crucial Conversations: I can see the wisdom in the assertion of the great historian Arnold Toynbee, who said that you can pretty well summarize all of history-not only of society, but of institutions and of people in four words: Nothing fails like success. In other words, when a challenge in life is met by a response that is equal to it, you have success. But when the challenge moves to a higher level, the old, once successful response no longer works-it fails; thus, nothing fails like success. If you want to commit political suicide, simply start engaging in any behavior that consumes a disproportionate share of management’s time and attention. Managers have limited tolerance for anyone who becomes an energy drain. Before long, you will be viewed as The Problem. And becoming The Problem is the kiss of death. You must always be mindful of what psychologists call “selftalk,” because what you say to yourself shapes your attitudes and your behavior. As the boxing impresario Don King averred, ‘You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.’ --- Working in a toxic organization can be like living in an abusive home. Targets of abuse often have a warped view of reality, believing that they are the problem, not the abuser. --- Dimwits exhibit behavior that is both self-destructive and harmful to the organization. Their actions seem to be driven by psychological needs over which they have little control. Mark was a chronically angry Dimwit. In meetings, he verbally attacked co-workers who disagreed with him, storming out of the room if he seemed to be losing the argument. He raised vehement objections to any new idea, especially those that might create extra work for him. He felt no hesitation about yelling at his boss (always a dangerous practice). Eventually, he was fired. Don, a lustful Dimwit, was a partner in a small business. Whenever an attractive woman joined the staff, he would flirt with her, put his arm around her, and ask “joking” questions about her sex life. When the company became involved in a sexual harassment lawsuit, Don was personally embarrassed, and the business suffered as well. --- Unwilling or unable to conceive a national vision, Modi finds his India in the position of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, discovering in Wonderland that if you don’t know where you are going any path will get you there. --- If you are not clear about your objectives—both long-term and short-term—then you will be driven by your immediate needs, wants, desires, and feelings. You may ultimately find that the greatest obstacle to achieving your goals is staring back at you in the mirror. To make a wise decision about your influence strategy, you have to know what you want. --- So what does it take to be influential? (1) An awareness of what you’re doing and how others are reacting to you; (2) a clear focus on your goals in every situation; (3) the willingness to understand another person’s point of view; (4) the ability to make conscious choices about your behavior and not be blindly driven by your emotions; and (5) a full set of influence skills to keep you from overdoing your natural tendencies. --- # Movie: The Joker (featuring Joaquin Phoenix, Oct 2019) Arthur Fleck : [written in notebook] The worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don't. ... [from trailer] Arthur Fleck : I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realize, it's a comedy. ... Arthur Fleck : For my whole life, I didn't know if I even really existed. But I do, and people are starting to notice. ... Arthur Fleck : You don't listen, do you? You just ask the same questions every week. "How's your job?" "Are you having any negative thoughts?" All I have are negative thoughts. ... [from trailer] Arthur Fleck : Murray, one small thing? Murray Franklin : Yeah? Arthur Fleck : When you bring me out, can you introduce me as Joker? ... Arthur Fleck : Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there? ... Murray Franklin : I'm waiting for the punchline. Arthur Fleck : There is no punchline. ... [from trailer] Arthur Fleck : My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face. She told me I had a purpose: to bring laughter and joy to the world. ... Arthur Fleck : How 'bout another joke, Murray? Murray Franklin : No, I think we've had enough of your jokes. Arthur Fleck : What do you get... Murray Franklin : I don't think so. Arthur Fleck : ...when you cross... Murray Franklin : I think we're done here now, thank you. Arthur Fleck : ...a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash? Murray Franklin : Call the police, Gene, call the police. Arthur Fleck : I'll tell you what you get! You get what you fuckin' deserve! [Joker shoots Murray in the head, killing him instantly] ... Social Worker : Is something funny? Arthur Fleck : I just thought of a funny joke! Social Worker : Do you mind telling it? Arthur Fleck : ...You wouldn't get it. ... Arthur Fleck : What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash? You get what you fuckin' deserve! ... Arthur Fleck : [In Arthur's notebook] I hope my death makes more cents than my life. ... Arthur Fleck : Have you seen what it's like out there, Murray? Do you ever actually leave the studio? Everybody just yells and screams at each other. Nobody's civil anymore. Nobody thinks what it's like to be the other guy. You think men like Thomas Wayne ever think what it's like to be someone like me? To be somebody but themselves? They don't. They think that we'll just sit there and take it, like good little boys! That we won't werewolf and go wild! ... Arthur Fleck : I killed those guys because they were awful. Everybody is awful these days. It's enough to make anyone crazy. ... Sophie Dumond : Were you following me today? Arthur Fleck : Uh, yeah. Sophie Dumond : I thought that was you. I was hoping you'd come in and rob the place. Arthur Fleck : Um, I have a gun... Can I can come by tomorrow? Sophie Dumond : Chuckles... You're so funny, Arthur. ... Arthur Fleck : Comedy is subjective Murray, isn't that what they say? All of you, the system that knows so much: you decide what's right or wrong the same way you decide what's funny or not. ... Arthur Fleck : Everybody's telling me my stand-ups, are ready for the big clubs. ... Arthur Fleck : I know it seems strange, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, I don't know why everyone is so rude, I don't know why you are; I don't want anything from you. Maybe a little warmth, maybe a hug dad, maybe a bit of common decency! ... Arthur Fleck : I had a bad day. ... Arthur Fleck : Ugh, why is everybody so upset about these guys? If it was me dying on the sidewalk you'd walk right over me! ... Arthur Fleck : I pass you everyday and you don't notice me! But these guys? Well because Thomas Wayne would cry about them on TV? ... Arthur Fleck : [from trailer] I don't want you worrying about money mom, or me. ... Arthur Fleck : [from trailer] She always tells me to smile, and put on a happy face. ... Arthur Fleck : You get what you fucking deserve! ... Arthur Fleck : Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement? ... Arthur Fleck : [In Arthur's Jokebook] I just hope my death make more cents than my life. ... Cop : The whole city's on fire 'cause of you. Arthur Fleck : I know. Isn't it beautiful? ... Arthur Fleck : [from trailer] You know I do stand-up comedy, you should come see a show sometime. Sophie Dumond : I could do that. ... Arthur Fleck : [from trailer] I feel like I know you... I've been watching you forever. Murray Franklin : Well there's something special about you Arthur I could tell. Arthur Fleck : But you don't listen. I'm just trying to make my smile. ... # Book: Dreams from my father (Barack Obama) Life is hard for some people, but we have to fight back. Tough times don't last, tough people do! ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. Born: 30 January 1882, Hyde Park, New York, United States Died: 12 April 1945, Roosevelt's Little White House Historic Site, Georgia, United States Cause of death: Cerebral hemorrhage Presidential term: 4 March 1933 – 12 April 1945 ... List of last five US presidents as of 2020 (also, list of US presidents since 1991): 1. January 20, 1989 - January 20, 1993 George H. W. Bush 1924–2018 (Lived: 94 years) (Republican) 2. January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 Bill Clinton (Born 1946) (72 years old) (Democratic) 3. January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009 George W. Bush (Born 1946) (72 years old) (Republican) 4. January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017 Barack Hussein Obama II (Born 1961) (57 years old) (Democratic) 5. January 20, 2017 – Incumbent. Donald Trump (Born 1946) (72 years old) (Republican) ... # "I would suddenly grow quiet, as if I had secrets to keep." -- Barry (Dreams from my father) # Look at yourself before you pass judgement. # Don't make someone else clean up your mess. # It's not about you. # “So long as you kids do well, Bar,” she (Toot) would say more than once, “that’s all that really matters.” (Dreams from my father) # My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn’t, couldn’t, end there. -- Dreams from my father # How could we judge other men until we had stood in their shoes? -- Dreams from my father # “Barack’s my given name. My father’s name. He was Kenyan.” “It means ‘Blessed.’ In Arabic. My grandfather was a Muslim.” -- Barack Obama (Dreams from my father) ### He secured a job with a local accounting firm after graduation; how he had taught himself the discipline of work, always arriving at his job early and completing his tasks no matter how late he was out the night before. “Nothing was ever good enough for him,” he told me as the busboy took our plates away. “He was smart, and he couldn’t ever let you forget. If you came home with the second best grades in the class, he would ask why you weren’t first. ‘You are an Obama,’ he would say. ‘You should be the best.’ He would really believe this. And then I would see him drunk, with no money, living like a beggar. I would ask myself, How can someone so smart fall so badly? It made no sense to me. No sense. "Even after I was living on my own, even after his death, I would try to figure out this puzzle." That was one of the lessons I’d learned these past two and a half years, wasn’t it?-that most black folks weren’t like the father of my dreams, the man in my mother’s stories, full of high-blown ideals and quick to pass judgment. They were more like my stepfather, Lolo, practical people who knew life was too hard to judge each other’s choices, too messy to live according to abstract ideals. ### Frank Marshall Davis was an American journalist, poet, political and labor movement activist, and businessman. Davis began his career writing for African-American newspapers in Chicago. He moved to Atlanta, where he became the editor of the paper he turned into the Atlanta Daily World. He later returned to Chicago. Born: 31 December 1905, Arkansas City, Kansas, United States Died: 26 July 1987, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Spouse: Helen Canfield (m. 1946–1970) Children: Mark Davis, Jill Davis, Jeanne Davis, Lynn Davis, Beth Davis Education: Kansas State University, Arkansas City High School, Friends University --- # ‘There’s a bright side somewhere... don’t rest till you find it....’ # When two locusts fight, it is always the crow who feasts. # Sayid looked at his nephew with something like regret. “I did not mean to speak so freely, Bernard. You must respect your elders. They clear the way for you so that your path is easier. But if you see them falling into a pit, then you must learn to what?” “Step around,” Bernard said. “You are right. Diverge from that path and make your own.” # In pre-colonial Africa: The words of the elders were law and strictly followed-those who disobeyed would have to leave and start anew in another village. # If one is a fish, one does not try to fly - one swims with other fish. # What your grandfather respected was strength. Discipline. This is why, even though he learned many of the white man’s ways, he always remained strict about Luo traditions. Respect for elders. Respect for authority. Order and custom in all his affairs. This is also why he rejected the Christian religion, I think. For a brief time, he converted, and even changed his name to Johnson. But he could not understand such ideas as mercy towards your enemies, or that this man Jesus could wash away a man’s sins. To your grandfather, this was foolish sentiment, something to comfort women. And so he converted to Islam-he thought its practices conformed more closely to his beliefs. # When Barack (the father of the author) was only a baby, Onyango would teach him the alphabet and numbers, and it was not long before the son could outdo the father in these things. This pleased Onyango, for to him knowledge was the source of all the white man’s power, and he wanted to make sure that his son was as educated as any white man. --- # Movie: The Joker (starring Heath Ledger) “Smile, because it confuses people. Smile, because it's easier than explaining what is killing you inside.” “As you know, madness is like gravity...all it takes is a little push.” “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” “Nobody panics when things go “according to plan”. Even if the plan is horrifying!” "Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos...” “Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just... *do* things.” “What doesn't kill you, simply makes you stranger!” “Why so serious?” “They Laugh At me Because I'm Different. I laugh At Then Because The're all the same” “Their morals, their code; it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. You'll see - I'll show you. When the chips are down these, uh, civilized people? They'll eat each other. See I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve.” “I believe that whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger.” “The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.” “And...here...we...go...” “Tell your men they work for me now, this is my city!” Ref: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7013773.The_Joker_Heath_Ledger --- # Book: Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX - Ashlee Vance # Valley denizens took very literally the cliché of working as hard as you play. # Asked how he survives this schedule, Musk said, “I had a tough childhood, so maybe that was helpful.”As his ex-wife, Justine, put it, “He does what he wants, and he is relentless about it. It’s Elon’s world, and the rest of us live in it.”Elon, in fact, churned through two sets of encyclopedias—a feat that did little to help him make friends. A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open. - Frank ZappaAs Musk saw it, “I just look at it as ‘What grades do I need to get where I want to go?’ There were compulsory subjects like Afrikaans, and I just didn’t see the point of learning that. It seemed ridiculous. I’d get a passing grade and that was fine. Things like physics and computers—I got the highest grade you can get in those. There needs to be a reason for a grade. I’d rather play video games, write software, and read books than try and get an A if there’s no point in getting an A. I can remember failing subjects in like fourth and fifth grade. Then, my mother’s boyfriend told me I’d be held back if I didn’t pass. I didn’t actually know you had to pass the subjects to move to the next grade. I got the best grades in class after that.” # As Kimbal put it, “South Africa was like a prison for someone like Elon.” # “When Elon gets into something, he develops just this different level of interest in it than other people. That is what differentiates Elon from the rest of humanity.” # As Ressi put it, “Elon was the most straight-laced dude you have ever met. He never drank. He never did anything. Zero. Literally nothing.” # Musk’s clear, concise writing is the work of a logician, moving from one point to the next with precision. What truly stood out, though, was Musk’s ability to master difficult physics concepts in the midst of actual business plans. Even then, he showed an unusual knack for being able to perceive a path from a scientific advance to a for-profit enterprise. # All told, Musk invested about $12 million into X.com, leaving him, after taxes, with $4 million or so for personal use. “That’s part of what separates Elon from mere mortals,” said Ed Ho, the former Zip2 executive, who went on to cofound X.com. “He’s willing to take an insane amount of personal risk. When you do a deal like that, it either pays off or you end up in a bus shelter somewhere.” # It had taken Musk less than a decade to go from being a Canadian backpacker to becoming a multimillionaire at the age of twenty-seven. With his $22 million, he moved from sharing an apartment with three roommates to buying an 1,800-square-foot condo and renovating it. He also bought a $1 million McLaren F1 sports car and a small prop plane and learned to fly. # All the bankers did was copy what everyone else did. If everyone else ran off a bloody cliff, they’d run right off a cliff with them. If there was a giant pile of gold sitting in the middle of the room and nobody was picking it up, they wouldn’t pick it up, either. # There was one guy who wrote a quantum mechanics equation, a quantum probability on the board, and he got it wrong. I’m like, ‘How can you write that?’ Then I corrected it for him. He hated me after that. Eventually, I realized, Okay, I might have fixed that thing but now I’ve made the person unproductive. It just wasn’t a good way to go about things.” # "Did Musk hype things up and rub people the wrong way? Absolutely—and with spectacular results." # “In Silicon Valley, you say you’re backed by a venture capitalist, and that’s the end of the negotiation,” Tarpenning said. “But everything was unlike that in Detroit. We’d get FedEx boxes, and they couldn’t even decide who should sign for the package.” # “He would say that everything we did was a function of our burn rate and that we were burning through a hundred thousand dollars per day. It was this very entrepreneurial, Silicon Valley way of thinking that none of the aerospace engineers in Los Angeles were dialed into. Sometimes he wouldn’t let you buy a part for two thousand dollars because he expected you to find it cheaper or invent something cheaper. Other times, he wouldn’t flinch at renting a plane for ninety thousand dollars to get something to Kwaj because it saved an entire workday, so it was worth it. He would place this urgency that he expected the revenue in ten years to be ten million dollars a day and that every day we were slower to achieve our goals was a day of missing out on that money.” # The failed launch left many SpaceX employees shattered. “It was so profound seeing the energy shift over the room in the course of thirty seconds,” said Dolly Singh, a recruiter at SpaceX. “It was like the worst fucking day ever. You don’t usually see grown-ups weeping, but there they were. We were tired and broken emotionally.” Musk addressed the workers right away and encouraged them to get back to work. “He said, ‘Look. We are going to do this. It’s going to be okay. Don’t freak out,’” Singh recalled. “It was like magic. Everyone chilled out immediately and started to focus on figuring out what just happened and how to fix it. It went from despair to hope and focus.” Musk put up a positive front to the public as well. In a statement, he said that SpaceX had another rocket waiting to attempt a fourth launch and a fifth launch planned shortly after that. # “There’s no such thing as a well-adjusted public figure. If they were well adjusted they wouldn’t try to be a public figure.” # The SpaceX hiring model places some emphasis on getting top marks at top schools. But most of the attention goes toward spotting engineers who have exhibited type A personality traits over the course of their lives. The company’s recruiters look for people who might excel at robot-building competitions or who are car-racing hobbyists who have built unusual vehicles. The object is to find individuals who ooze passion, can work well as part of a team, and have real-world experience bending metal. “Even if you’re someone who writes code for your job, you need to understand how mechanical things work,” said Dolly Singh, who spent five years as the head of talent acquisition at SpaceX. “We were looking for people that had been building things since they were little.” # Reinventing the wheel for every computer and machine on a rocket could introduce more chances for error and, in general, be a waste of time. But for SpaceX, the strategy works. In addition to building its own engines, rocket bodies, and capsules, SpaceX designs its own motherboards and circuits, sensors to detect vibrations, flight computers, and solar panels. Just by streamlining a radio, for instance, SpaceX’s engineers have found that they can reduce the weight of the device by about 20 percent. And the cost savings for a homemade radio are dramatic, dropping from between $50,000 to $100,000 for the industrial-grade equipment used by aerospace companies to $5,000 for SpaceX’s unit. # The relationship between Musk and Bezos has soured, and they no longer chat about their shared ambition of getting to Mars. “I do think Bezos has an insatiable desire to be King Bezos,” Musk said. “He has a relentless work ethic and wants to kill everything in e-commerce. But he’s not the most fun guy, honestly.”* # Musk’s growth as a CEO and rocket expert occurred alongside SpaceX’s maturation as a company. At the start of the Falcon 1 journey, Musk was a forceful software executive trying to learn some basic things about a very different world. At Zip2 and PayPal, he felt comfortable standing up for his positions and directing teams of coders. At SpaceX, he had to pick things up on the job. Musk initially relied on textbooks to form the bulk of his rocketry knowledge. But as SpaceX hired one brilliant person after another, Musk realized he could tap into their stores of knowledge. He would trap an engineer in the SpaceX factory and set to work grilling him about a type of valve or specialized material. “I thought at first that he was challenging me to see if I knew my stuff,” said Kevin Brogan, one of the early engineers. “Then I realized he was trying to learn things. He would quiz you until he learned ninety percent of what you know.” People who have spent significant time with Musk will attest to his abilities to absorb incredible quantities of information with near-flawless recall. It’s one of his most impressive and intimidating skills and seems to work just as well in the present day as it did when he was a child vacuuming books into his brain. After a couple of years running SpaceX, Musk had turned into an aerospace expert on a level that few technology CEOs ever approach in their respective fields. “He was teaching us about the value of time, and we were teaching him about rocketry,” Brogan said. # “Musk pees fast. It’s like a fire hose — three seconds and out. He’s authentically in a hurry.” # To find Davis, Musk called a teaching assistant* in Stanford’s aeronautics department and asked him if there were any hardworking, bright master’s and doctoral candidates who didn’t have families. # “One of my favorite things about Elon is his ability to make enormous decisions very quickly. That is still how it works today.” # Watson continued: Elon is brilliant. He’s involved in just about everything. He understands everything. If he asks you a question, you learn very quickly not to go give him a gut reaction. He wants answers that get down to the fundamental laws of physics. One thing he understands really well is the physics of the rockets. He understands that like nobody else. The stuff I have seen him do in his head is crazy. He can get in discussions about flying a satellite and whether we can make the right orbit and deliver Dragon at the same time and solve all these equations in real time. It’s amazing to watch the amount of knowledge he has accumulated over the years. I don’t want to be the person who ever has to compete with Elon. You might as well leave the business and find something else fun to do. He will outmaneuver you, outthink you, and out-execute you. # From time to time, Musk will send out an e-mail to the entire company to enforce a new policy or let them know about something that’s bothering him. One of the more famous e-mails arrived in May 2010 with the subject line: Acronyms Seriously Suck: There is a creeping tendency to use made up acronyms at SpaceX. Excessive use of made up acronyms is a significant impediment to communication and keeping communication good as we grow is incredibly important. Individually, a few acronyms here and there may not seem so bad, but if a thousand people are making these up, over time the result will be a huge glossary that we have to issue to new employees. No one can actually remember all these acronyms and people don’t want to seem dumb in a meeting, so they just sit there in ignorance. This is particularly tough on new employees. That needs to stop immediately or I will take drastic action—I have given enough warnings over the years. Unless an acronym is approved by me, it should not enter the SpaceX glossary. If there is an existing acronym that cannot reasonably be justified, it should be eliminated, as I have requested in the past. For example, there should be no “HTS” [horizontal test stand] or “VTS” [vertical test stand] designations for test stands. Those are particularly dumb, as they contain unnecessary words. A “stand” at our test site is obviously a *test* stand. VTS-3 is four syllables compared with “Tripod,” which is two, so the bloody acronym version actually takes longer to say than the name! The key test for an acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication. An acronym that most engineers outside of SpaceX already know, such as GUI, is fine to use. It is also ok to make up a few acronyms/contractions every now and again, assuming I have approved them, eg MVac and M9 instead of Merlin 1C-Vacuum or Merlin 1C-Sea Level, but those need to be kept to a minimum. # The guiding principle at SpaceX is to embrace your work and get stuff done. People who await guidance or detailed instructions languish. The same goes for workers who crave feedback. And the absolute worst thing that someone can do is inform Musk that what he’s asking is impossible. An employee could be telling Musk that there’s no way to get the cost on something like that actuator down to where he wants it or that there is simply not enough time to build a part by Musk’s deadline. “Elon will say, ‘Fine. You’re off the project, and I am now the CEO of the project. I will do your job and be CEO of two companies at the same time. I will deliver it,’” Brogan said. “What’s crazy is that Elon actually does it. Every time he’s fired someone and taken their job, he’s delivered on whatever the project was.” # If the rules are such that you can’t make progress, then you have to fight the rules. # “There is a fundamental problem with regulators. If a regulator agrees to change a rule and something bad happens, they could easily lose their career. Whereas if they change a rule and something good happens, they don’t even get a reward. So, it’s very asymmetric. It’s then very easy to understand why regulators resist changing the rules. It’s because there’s a big punishment on one side and no reward on the other. How would any rational person behave in such a scenario?” # “The mantra was that one great engineer will replace three medium ones,” Lloyd said. # Tesla: “where we are doing things, not talking about things.” # Like Steve Jobs before him, Musk is able to think up things that consumers did not even know they wanted—the door handles, the giant touch-screen—and to envision a shared point of view for all of Tesla’s products and services. “Elon holds Tesla up as a product company,” von Holzhausen said. “He’s passionate that you have to get the product right. I have to deliver for him and make sure it’s beautiful and attractive.” # Just four weeks earlier, SpaceX had flown cargo to the International Space Station and had its capsule returned to Earth—firsts all around for a private company. That feat coupled with the launch of the Model S led to a rapid transformation in the way the world outside of Silicon Valley perceived Musk. The guy who was always promising, promising, promising was doing—and doing spectacular things. “I may have been optimistic with respect to the timing on some of these things, but I didn’t over-promise on the outcome,” Musk told me during an interview after the Model S launch. “I have done everything I said I was going to do.” # By the middle of February 2013, Tesla had fallen into a crisis state. If it could not convert its reservations to purchases quickly, its factory would sit idle, costing the company vast amounts of money. And if anyone caught wind of the factory slowdown, Tesla’s shares would likely plummet, prospective owners would become even more cautious, and the short sellers would win. The severity of this problem had been hidden from Musk, but once he learned about it, he acted in his signature all-or-nothing fashion. Musk pulled people from recruiting, the design studio, engineering, finance, and wherever else he could find them and ordered them to get on the phone, call people with reservations, and close deals. “If we don’t deliver these cars, we are fucked,” Musk told the employees. “So, I don’t care what job you were doing. Your new job is delivering cars.” He placed Jerome Guillen, a former Daimler executive, in charge of fixing the service issues. Musk fired senior leaders whom he deemed subpar performers and promoted a flood of junior people who had been doing above-average work. He also made an announcement personally guaranteeing the resale price of the Model S. Customers would be able to resell their cars for the average going rate of similar luxury sedans with Musk putting his billions behind this pledge. And then Musk tried to orchestrate the ultimate fail-safe for Tesla just in case his maneuvers did not work. # What Musk had done that the rival automakers missed or didn’t have the means to combat was turn Tesla into a lifestyle. It did not just sell someone a car. It sold them an image, a feeling they were tapping into the future, a relationship. Apple did the same thing decades ago with the Mac and then again with the iPod and iPhone. Even those who were not religious about their affiliation to Apple were sucked into its universe once they bought the hardware and downloaded software like iTunes. *** This sort of relationship is hard to pull off if you don’t control as much of the lifestyle as possible. PC makers that farmed their software out to Microsoft, their chips to Intel, and their design to Asia could never make machines as beautiful and as complete as Apple’s. They also could not respond in time as Apple took this expertise to new areas and hooked people on its applications. # For most of their histories, SolarCity, Tesla, and SpaceX have been the clear underdogs in their respective markets and gone to war against deep-pocketed, entrenched competitors. The solar, automotive, and aerospace industries remain larded down by regulation and bureaucracy, which favors incumbents. To people in these industries Musk came off as a wide-eyed technologist who could be easily dismissed and ridiculed and who, as a competitor, fell somewhere on the spectrum between annoying and full of shit. The incumbents did their usual thing using their connections in Washington to make life as miserable as possible on all three of Musk’s companies, and they were pretty good at it. # Even in social settings, Musk might get up from the dinner table without a word of explanation to head outside and look at the stars, simply because he’s not willing to suffer fools or small talk. # Musk, however, has been programmed to behave this way and tends to be sincere when explaining his thinking—almost to a fault. # People in the technology industry have tended to liken Musk’s drive and the scope of his ambition to that of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. “Elon has that deep appreciation for technology, the no-holds-barred attitude of a visionary, and that determination to go after long-term things that they both had,” said Edward Jung, a child prodigy who worked for Jobs and Gates and ended up as Microsoft’s chief software architect. “And he has that consumer sensibility of Steve along with the ability to hire good people outside of his own comfort areas that’s more like Bill. You almost wish that Bill and Steve had a genetically engineered love child and, who knows, maybe we should genotype Elon to see if that’s what happened.” Steve Jurvetson, the venture capitalist who has invested in SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, worked for Jobs, and knows Gates well, also described Musk as an upgraded mix of the two. “Like Jobs, Elon does not tolerate C or D players,” said Jurvetson. “But I’d say he’s nicer than Jobs and a bit more refined than Bill Gates.” # “The way Elon talks about this is that you always need to start with the first principles of a problem. What are the physics of it? How much time will it take? How much will it cost? How much cheaper can I make it? There’s this level of engineering and physics that you need to make judgments about what’s possible and interesting. Elon is unusual in that he knows that, and he also knows business and organization and leadership and governmental issues.” # Book: The Negotiation Book (by Steve Gates) # Silence: Silence offers you the time to think and contemplate before responding. It allows you to listen to the other party to really understand. It requires discipline and concentration. The unnerving consequence of silence is that the other party continues to talk and ultimately make unplanned concessions. At the very least they often provide you with more information than they intended. # The abilities of the Complete Skilled Negotiator, however, remain the same. They are balanced in their thinking, have their ego in check and are focused on understanding the interests and priorities of the other party. They are chameleon like in their approach, in that they know how to be what they need to be depending on their circumstances, and are not burdened by personal values that wear away at their consciousness. Th eir ability to read situations, take the time to prepare, and have the capacity to think around the issues, as well as deal with the relationship dynamics at the same time, helps them perform in a confi dent manner. Most of all, they focus on the potential of the deal rather than trying to win, understanding that being competitive will only serve to attract friction, which is generally counterproductive (unless used for a specific purpose). # “It is what we know already that often prevents us from learning.” - Claude Bernard # Ever heard the saying “you get what you pay for”? # Try to see the deal as they see it. # There is absolutely no place for your ego in your negotiations. The single thing that matters is the total value over the life time of the agreement. # If you are to perform well, you will need to accept responsibility for your actions and recognize the significant difference your performance can make to every agreement you are involved in. # Negotiation is often likened to a game of chess – the difference being that in most negotiations you are not necessarily trying to beat an opponent, and are not restricted to alternate moves. Although there may be no absolute rules in negotiation, there are parameters within which we can operate. Most negotiators are empowered by their boss to negotiate but only to a certain level, beyond which discussions are usually escalated. Total empowerment results in exposure and risk which for obvious reasons is usually inappropriate. # No good, bad, right, or wrong - In negotiation there is no good or bad, right or wrong. Th e economies we work in are dynamic, as are our suppliers, customers, and competitors. # What was a great deal last week may be less well celebrated this week, because our circumstances are continually changing. Negotiation is about doing things that are appropriate to each situation you face with the information as you see it at that moment in time. ### Appropriateness Knowing how a car was built and how it works does not make you a good driver. When driving with so many obstacles on the road, the challenge is to be able to maintain confidence, navigate, interpret, and, where necessary, respond to situations in the most appropriate way when there is no absolute answer that suits all situations. The same applies to negotiation in business. • Should you set out to compete or to work with the other party? • Should you seek to manipulate the situation or collaborate instead? • Should you trust them or work on being trusted by them? • How will your options influence the balance of power? • Is the perception of power and dependency between you and the other party based on reality? In so many cases the answer is based on appropriateness ; that is, the ability to adapt and respond, depending on your circumstances. Th is requires an objective, rational, balanced mindset: a state that few human beings can maintain at all times, especially when faced with degrees of perceived conflict, rejection, and demands, all of which need to be accommodated within the negotiation. ### # The price: A single issue which offers only one measure and is usually not representative of the quality or total value of the agreement. # “There is no right, no wrong, no good, and no bad way to negotiate. Only that which is appropriate to your circumstances.” - Steve Gates # “Until you make the unconscious, conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” - C.G. Jung # Most people have good instincts, yet under pressure do not always listen to them. # The conscious negotiator - In negotiation, nothing happens by accident. The conscious negotiator is aware of everything which happens in the room and their every action, comment or interaction is intentional and considered. # “Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.” - Aldous Huxley # The “salami” tactic - Negotiating each variable slice by slice and each time attracting a benefit in return. ### # Book: 7 principles for making marriage work (Gottman) # Predicting divorce with 91 percent accuracy: After years of research I can finally answer these questions. In fact, I am now able to predict whether a couple will stay happily together or lose their way. I can make this prediction after listening to the couple interact in our Love Lab for as little as five minutes! My accuracy rate in these predictions averages 91 percent over three separate studies. In other words, in 91 percent of the cases where I have predicted that a couple's marriage would eventually fail or succeed, time has proven me right. These predictions are not based on my intuition or preconceived notions of what marriage "should" be, but on the data I've accumulated over years of study. # Emotionally intelligent marriages --- What can make a marriage work is surprisingly simple. Happily married couples aren't smarter, richer, or more psychologically astute than others. But in their day-to-day lives, they have hit upon a dynamic that keeps their negative thoughts and feelings about each other (which all couples have) from overwhelming their positive ones. They have what I call an emotionally intelligent marriage. # Recently, emotional intelligence has become widely recognized as an important predictor of a child's success later in life. The more in touch with emotions and the better able a child is to understand and get along with others, the sunnier that child's future, whatever his or her academic IQ. The same is true for relationships between spouses. The more emotionally intelligent a couple -- the better able they are to understand, honor, and respect each other and their marriage -- the more likely that they will indeed live happily ever after. Just as parents can teach their children emotional intelligence, this is also a skill that a couple can be taught. As simple as it sounds, it can keep husband and wife on the positive side of the divorce odds. # People who stay married live four years longer than people who don't. # Success = Work, Play and Keep Your Mouth Shut! (Albert Einstein) # “You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. When you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power – he’s free again.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn # Perhaps the biggest myth of all is that communication--and more specifically learning to resolve your conflicts --- is the royal road to romance and an enduring, happy marriage. Whatever a marriage therapist's theoretical orientation, whether you opt for short term therapy, long-term therapy, or a three-minute radio consultation with your local Frasier, the message you'll get is pretty uniform: Learn to communicate better. # The determining factor in he whether wives feel satisfied with the sex, romance, and passion in their marriage is, by 70 percent, the quality of the couple's friendship. For men, the determining factor is, by 70 percent, the quality of the couple's friendship. So men and women come from the same planet after all. # Certain kinds of negativity, if allowed to run rampant, are so lethal to a relationship that I call them the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Usually these four horsemen clip-clop into the heart of a marriage in the following order: criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling. ### A 3-Step Process To Improve With Self-Reflection Begin by thinking of a specific leadership activity you played a role in. This could be a coaching conversation, a sales call, or an encounter with your teenager – anything you want to reflect on. Limit it to one specific situation. Reflect on your experience. Think about what you did, thought, and felt at the time. • What did I experience during the conversation? • What happened inside me during the conversation? Reflect on your learning. Analyze your experience and compare to the models or principles that you want to follow. • What does this experience say to me? • What can I learn? Apply to your practice. Apply your learning to your practice. Consider what options you have for the next time you face a similar situation. • What options do I see for the next time I encounter this situation? • What specifically do I intend to do based on my reflection? Ref: https://keithwebb.com/how-to-improve-with-self-reflection/
Quotations 2020-Jan-23
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