- Instill discipline because this quality separates the successful from the not-so.
- You can plan, but you can’t predict the future.
- You’re not alone and likely not the first to do something, so listen to counsel and never stop learning.
- Set goals for your business and your life, and lay out plans to achieve them.
- Things fall apart unattended – the Law of Entropy: where order decreases, disorder increases.
- People are paying attention. Lead by example.
- If you aren’t passionate about your ideas, no one else will be.
- Always be sincere, unless you’re sharing a really good joke!
- Stick to the truth and deliver bad news as well as the good.
- Don’t let pride interfere with good decision-making.
- Give credit, don’t take it.
- Praise in public, counsel in private.
- Don’t hide behind emails, texts, and tweets – if it’s worth saying, it’s worth saying to one’s face.
- Annual reviews are old textbooks; try real-time conversations and feedback instead.
- Communication has to be in both directions – listen to your subordinates.
- Hold to your convictions and help others do the same. Be tenacious.
- Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way! Borrowed from General George Patton.
Disruption:
- If you’re afraid of taking risks, you’re in the wrong business.
- Don’t ask for or expect permission to design a competitive product.
- Patents are only as good as their market value versus the cost of litigating them.
- Being first to market is important but being best on market is better.
- Never accept the worn phrase “that’s the way we always have done it”.
- Just because the insurance industry won’t reimburse for it now, doesn’t mean that they won’t after it disrupts the old way.”
- Regarding the fortune 50 companies: I’d rather be a partner, but I will be a competitor in lieu of being left out.
- Fund-raising is like speed dating: perfect your spiel, make a great first impression, and waste no time on low chemistry.
AND beyond company and military leadership:
- Engage with the other side. We can’t fix our problems without it.
- Being right doesn’t always trump settling a dispute.
- Let facts guide you, but facts alone don’t win people over.