<ul>
<li>There is one skill that stands out as CEO is the ability to focus and make the best move when there are no good moves.</li>
<li>First principle of the Bushido—the way of the warrior: keep death in mind at all times. If a warrior keeps death in mind at all times and lives as though each day might be his last, he will conduct himself properly in all his actions.</li>
</ul>

Follow Bushido — The Way Of The Warrior

<ul><li>Stand up to the pressure, face your fear, and tell it like it is.</li><li>Horowitz’s single biggest personal improvement as CEO occurred on the day when he stopped being too positive.</li><li>An early lesson Ben learned was that whenever a large organization attempts to do anything, it always comes down to a single person who can delay the entire project.</li><li>If you want to be great, this is the challenge. If you don’t want to be great, then you never should have started a company.</li></ul>

CEOS SHOULD TELL IT LIKE IT IS

1. Trust. Without trust, communication breaks. More specifically: In any human interaction, the required amount of communication is inversely proportional to the level of trust.2. The more brains working on the hard problems, the better.3. A good culture is like the old RIP routing protocol: Bad news travels fast; good news travels slow.A healthy company culture encourages people to share bad news. A company that discusses its problems freely and openly can quickly solve them.

Being Transparent About Company’s Problems

<ul><li>Training starts with a golden rule: Managers must lay off their own people. They cannot pass the task to HR or to a more sadistic peer.</li><li>Be present. Be visible. Be engaging. People want to see you. They want to see whether you care.</li><li>Talk to people. Help them carry their things to their cars. Let them know that you appreciate their efforts.</li><li>Taking care of the people means that your company is a good place to work.</li></ul>

Be Present. Be Visible. Be Engaging.

<ul><li>The first step to properly firing an executive is figuring out why you hired the wrong person for your company.</li><li>There comes a time in every company’s life where it must fight for its life. If you find yourself running when you should be fighting, you need to ask yourself, “If our company isn’t good enough to win, then do we need to exist at all?”</li></ul>

Only Fighting, No Running Away

Parcells: “Al, I am just not sure how we can win without so many of our best players. What should I do?”Davis: “Bill, nobody cares, just coach your team.” That might be the best CEO advice ever.<ul><li>TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE, THE PRODUCTS, AND THE PROFITS—IN THAT ORDER</li><li>When hiring executives, one should follow Colin Powell’s instructions (👇 ) and hire for strength rather than lack of weakness.</li></ul>

NOBODY CARES

While hiring,”Look for intelligence and judgment and, most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego and the drive to get things done.”

<ul><li>In good organizations, people can focus on their work and have confidence that if they get their work done, good things will happen for both the company and them personally. These things make their jobs both motivating and fulfilling.</li><li>In a poor organization, people spend much of their time fighting organizational boundaries, infighting, and broken processes. They are not even clear on what their jobs are, so there is no way to know if they are getting the job done or not.</li></ul>

Good Organisation Vs Poor Organisation 

<ul><li>Technology businesses tend to be extremely complex. The underlying technology moves, the competition moves, the market moves, the people move. As a result, like playing three-dimensional chess on Star Trek, there is always a move.</li><li>Play long enough and you might get lucky. In the technology game, tomorrow looks nothing like today. If you survive long enough to see tomorrow, it may bring you the answer that seems so impossible today.</li></ul>

THIS IS NOT CHECKERS; THIS IS MOTHERFUCKIN’ CHESS 

Andy Grove said that : Training is, quite simply, one of the highest-leverage activities a manager can perform.Two primary reasons why people quit:<ol><li>They hated their manager; generally the employees were appalled by the lack of guidance, career development, and feedback they were receiving.</li><li>They weren’t learning anything: The company wasn’t investing resources in helping employees develop new skills.</li></ol>Solution: An outstanding training program can address both issues head-on.

Importance Of Training 

<ul><li>Good product managers take full responsibility and measure themselves in terms of the success of the product. Bad product managers have lots of excuses.</li><li>Good product managers define their job and their success. Bad product managers constantly want to be told what to do.</li><li>Good product managers anticipate the serious product flaws and build real solutions. Bad product managers put out fires all day.</li></ul>

Good Vs Bad Product Managers

<ul><li>Force them to create. Give them monthly, weekly, and even daily objectives to make sure that they produce immediately.</li><li>Every executive must understand the product, the technology, the customers, and the market.</li><li>Require them to bring a comprehensive set of questions about everything they heard that day but did not completely understand. Answer those questions in depth; start with first principles. </li></ul>

AGGRESSIVELY INTEGRATE THE CANDIDATE ONCE ON BOARD 

Two key techniques to be useful in minimizing politics.<ol><li>Hire people with the right kind of ambition.(What's right kind of ambition? Read next idea👇)</li><li>Build strict processes for potentially political issues and do not deviate.</li></ol>Certain activities attract political behavior includes:<ul><li>Performance evaluation and compensation</li><li>Organizational design and territory</li><li>Promotions</li></ul>

HOW TO MINIMIZE POLITICS

<ul><li>As defined by Andy Grove, the right kind of ambition is ambition for the company’s success with the executive’s own success only coming as a by-product of the company’s victory. </li><li>The wrong kind of ambition is ambition for the executive’s personal success regardless of the company’s outcome.</li></ul>

Right Vs Wrong Kind Of Ambition 

<ul><li>The Peter Principle is a concept in which the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate’s performance in their current role, rather than on abilities related to the intended role. Thus, “managers rise to the level of their incompetence.”</li><li>The Law of Crappy People states: For any title level in a large organization, the talent on that level will eventually converge to the crappiest person with the title.</li></ul>Solution: The best way to mitigate both is with a properly constructed and highly disciplined promotion process.(More about it 👇)

THE DANGERS: THE PETER PRINCIPLE AND THE LAW OF CRAPPY PEOPLE

For example, if Jasper is the worst vice president in the company, then all of the directors will benchmark themselves against Jasper and demand promotions as soon as they reach his low level of competency.Solution:<ol><li>To begin, start with an extremely crisp definition not only of the responsibilities at each level but also of the skill required to perform the duties.</li><li>Next, define a formal process for all promotions.</li></ol>

Example And Solution

<ul><li>During the meeting, since it’s the employee’s meeting, the manager should do 10 percent of the talking and 90 percent of the listening. Note that this is the opposite of most one-on-ones.</li><li>While it’s not the manager’s job to set the agenda or do the talking, the manager should try to draw the key issues out of the employee. The more introverted the employee, the more important this becomes.</li></ul>

The Efficient One-on-One

<ul><li>The basic idea is that people open up to feedback far more if you start by complimenting them (slice of bread number one), then you give them the difficult message (the shit), then wrap up by reminding them how much you value their strengths (slice of bread number two).</li><li>You don’t make yourself look good by trashing someone who worked for you.</li></ul>

THE SHIT SANDWICH

The early days of Facebook, Zuckerberg deployed a shocking motto: Move fast and break things.Meaning: If you move fast and innovate, you will break things.The following things that cause no trouble when you are small become big challenges as you grow:<ol><li>Communication</li><li>Common knowledge</li><li>Decision making</li></ol>Solution:<ul><li>You will need to split things into smaller subgroups.</li><li>You may want a QA manager, for example.</li><li>The best way to accomplish communication is to make them report to the same manager.</li></ul>

 MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS

<ul><li>Focus on the output first. What should the process produce? In the case of the interview process, an outstanding employee. If that’s the goal, what’s the process to get there?</li><li>Two core skills for running an organization: First, knowing what to do. Second, getting the company to do what you know.</li><li>Note: It’s a good idea to ask, “What am I not doing?”</li></ul>

Advice On New Companies

When someone learns to drive a race car, one of the first lessons taught is that when you are going around a curve at 200 mph, do not focus on the wall; focus on the road. If you focus on the wall, you will drive right into it. If you focus on the road, you will follow the road. Running a company is like that. There are always a thousand things that can go wrong and sink the ship. If you focus too much on them, you will drive yourself nuts and likely crash your company.

FOCUS ON THE ROAD, NOT THE WALL

<ol><li>The ability to articulate the vision</li><li>The right kind of ambition</li><li>The ability to achieve the vision</li></ol>Truly great leaders create an environment where the employees feel that the CEO cares more about the employees than she cares about herself. In this kind of environment, an amazing thing happens: A huge number of employees believe it’s their company and behave accordingly.

So What Makes People Want To Follow A Leader?

<ul><li>FIRST RULE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THERE ARE NO RULES</li><li>FEEDBACK IS A DIALOGUE, NOT A MONOLOGUE</li><li>If you don’t like choosing between horrible and cataclysmic, don’t become CEO.</li><li>People who watch you judge you on what you do, not how you feel.</li><li>Be careful with “he said, she said”</li><li>Embrace the struggle.</li></ul>

IF YOU ARE GOING TO EAT SHIT, DON’T NIBBLE

Very early on, Jeff Bezos envisioned a company that made money by delivering value to rather than extracting value from its customers. In order to do that, he wanted to be both the price leader and customer service leader. You can’t do that if you waste a lot of money. He decided to build frugality into his culture. All desks at Amazon.com would be built by buying cheap doors from Home Depot and nailing legs to them. Why? “We look for every opportunity to save money so that we can deliver the best products for the lowest cost.”

Jeffrey P. Bezos’s Vision

<ul><li>Peacetime in business means those times when a company has a large advantage over the competition in its core market, and its market is growing. In times of peace, the company can focus on expanding the market and reinforcing the company’s strengths.</li><li>In wartime, a company is fending off an imminent existential threat. Such a threat can come from a wide range of sources, including competition, dramatic macroeconomic change, market change, supply chain change, and so forth.</li></ul>

Peacetime Vs Wartime

<ul><li>Peacetime CEO spends time defining the culture. Wartime CEO lets the war define the culture.</li><li>Peacetime CEO knows what to do with a big advantage. Wartime CEO is paranoid.</li><li>Peacetime CEO thinks of the competition as other ships in a big ocean that may never engage. Wartime CEO thinks the competition is sneaking into her house and trying to kidnap her children</li><li>Peacetime CEO aims to expand the market. Wartime CEO aims to win the market.</li></ul>

Peacetime Vs Wartime CEO

The judgment that you have to make is,(a) Is this market really much bigger (more than an order of magnitude) than has been exploited to date? and(b) Are we going to be number one?If the answer to either (a) or (b) is no, then you should consider selling.If the answers to both are yes, then selling would mean selling yourself and your employees short.

SHOULD YOU SELL YOUR COMPANY?

A company without a story is usually a company without a strategy. Want to see a great company story? <a href="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/amzn_shareholder-letter-20072.pdf">Read Jeff Bezos’s three-page letter he wrote to shareholders in 1997.</a> In telling Amazon’s story in this extended form—not as a mission statement, not as a tagline—Jeff got all the people who mattered on the same page as to what Amazon was about.

Importance Of Storytelling 

A lot of people talk about how great it is to start a business, but only Ben Horowitz is brutally honest about how hard it is to run one…

Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog. While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he’s gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies. A lifelong rap fanatic, he amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs, telling it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in. Filled with his trademark humor and straight talk, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz's personal and often humbling experiences.

career

Career

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

business

Business

books

Books

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog.While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he’s gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies. A lifelong rap fanatic, he amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs, telling it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in.Filled with his trademark humor and straight talk, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz's personal and often humbling experiences.

Ben Horowitz is the cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs building the next generation of leading technology companies. The firm's investments include Airbnb, GitHub, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Previously, he was cofounder and CEO of Opsware, formerly Loudcloud, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007. Horowitz writes about his experiences and insights from his career as a computer science student, software engineer, cofounder, CEO, and investor in a blog that is read by nearly 10 million people. He has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Fortune, the Economist, and Bloomberg.

Ben Horowitz

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

The six principles of SELFIE will maximize the effect of everything—your personal brand, product innovation, policy initiatives, and marketing campaigns. Your ideas will break through and catch on like wildfire.<ol><li>SURPRISE</li><li>EXPOSE</li><li>LEAD</li><li>FLAWS</li><li>INTIMATE</li><li>EXECUTE</li></ol>

SELFIE

<ul><li>And just as a good brand makes an emotional connection with consumers, successful celebrities do the same.</li><li>Authenticity is the key.</li><li>Show your flaws.</li><li>Science proves that conformity is the slowest form of suicide.</li><li>Group of diverse thinkers leads everyone to see an idea in a new light.</li><li>Sincerity, authenticity, and “realness” are paramount in today’s highly curated world.</li></ul>

Old Ways Won’t Open New Doors

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

<ul><li>Surprise your audience by simply being different.</li><li>Today, audiences judge you on your personal moral code and whether you put your unique self—or the opinions of others—first. They respond to people with a point of view, people who stand for something original, whether they agree or disagree.</li><li>Be raw and honest. Be overexposed.</li></ul>

Be Different 

Overexposure means being utterly connected with and open about what makes you, you. By overexposing yourself, your ideas, your products, and your services, you allow audiences unfiltered access to your true intentions—the how, what, and why of what you are doing. So, if you want to connect, take what you do best and own it.

Overexposure 

<ul><li>Leader’s job was to set a vision and align people with it.</li><li>Show people your passion.</li><li>We talk about leaders like Trump and celebrities like Angelina not because they’re better or sexier than the competition but because they are who they are—good, bad, or ugly.</li><li>But today being bad requires being brave, and it is this truth that will enhance your credibility, humanity, and authenticity as a leader.</li></ul>

Good,bad Or Ugly

<ul><li>Creatively Contradict Yourself</li><li>In today’s world, secrets are no longer sexy; transparency is.</li><li>Perfection is over. Flawed is the new fascinating.</li><li>Listen to your haters and—more importantly—learn from them.</li><li>MRIs show that hate activates the same area of the brain (the frontal cortex) as romantic love.</li></ul>

Flaws And Hate

You only lose what you cling to.﻿

<ul><li>People align with organizations that aim to authentically engage with them, for example, by demonstrating socially responsible behavior or doing something significant for people and the planet.(Melon Tusk)</li><li>Don’t just share your successes but your setbacks too. The more awkward your disclosure feels, the more authentic and relatable you’ll be.</li></ul>

Authentically Engage With People

<ul><li>People already place a higher value on items after they own them—a phenomenon called “the endowment effect”—but when adding the emotional attachment, the value increases exponentially.</li><li>Know who you are and what you believe in, and inject this personality and perspective into your product.</li></ul><ol><li>BE A DEVIANT</li><li>DIVERSIFY AND INNOVATE</li><li>DON’T BE A COPYCAT</li><li>BE BAD, AND DON’T APOLOGIZE FOR IT</li></ol>

The Endowment Effect

<ul><li>Nearly seven in ten young people describe their relationships with YouTube celebrities as intimate and personal.</li><li>Today’s fans are more likely to be engaged and excited by someone who can make them laugh and inspire empathy—and if they happen to be hot, well, that’s gravy.</li><li>It’s the honesty and humanity of your idea that will ensure you reach and connect with today’s audiences, who demand unprecedented openness.</li></ul>

Intimacy is everything

What we learn with pleasure we never forget.

<ul><li>Human beings are programmed to think about themselves and to enjoy sharing their self-obsession with the world.</li><li>A scientific study has shown that we find talking about ourselves more rewarding than earning a small sum of money for keeping quiet. </li><li>Taking about ourselves fire up the same dopamine-drenched neural pathways as do food and sex.</li></ul>

Self Obsession

<ul><li>Fear is intertwined with ecstasy, and for some it’s the difference between living and simply existing.</li><li>True creativity and fear go hand in hand.</li><li>They require you to push yourself, to step away from your familiar thought patterns into unknown territory, often a scary feat in itself.</li><li>Fear is an incredibly powerful force when it comes to connecting ideas and audiences.</li></ul>

The Science of Fear

“Fear gives you that extra energy that gets 110 percent out of you.”

<ul><li>Psychologist Elliot Aronson’s famous “Pratfall” experiment demonstrates that most men, and many women, actually like people more when they behave imperfectly.</li><li>Selfies are a snapshot both of our immediate sense of ourselves—“ I feel hot right now”—and our deeper truths—“ but I also feel insecure and need to boost my self-esteem.”</li></ul>

Perfectly Imperfect

Sometimes it takes a good fall to really know where you stand.

<ul><li>Research shows that when consumers participate in the process of creating and personalizing a product, they generate a greater sense of intimacy with that product and are more likely to buy it</li><li>Customizing a product and being involved in the design process also gives audiences more control, which increases their feelings of psychological ownership.</li></ul>

Keeping It Real

<ul><li>Surround yourself with truly different minds, and you’ll come up with the greatest set of solutions.</li><li>Don’t fool yourself into believing imitation is innovation.</li><li>Real connections are created through giving your audience limitless information, genuine empathy, and deep emotion.</li><li>Share your thoughts openly so your ideas are exposed to a wide audience.</li></ul>

Diversity Makes Ideas Innovative

If you’re thinking like everyone else then you’re not thinking.

<ul><li>The fear of failure is one of our greatest motivators, so embrace it.</li><li>If you are totally on board with your why, then you will attract the most valuable fans.</li><li>Use your haters as your motivators. Communities come together around both love and hate.</li><li>Stories stimulate the brain and play on emotions. But don’t fixate on how your story will be received by others.</li></ul>

The Power Of Why

<ul><li>The people of Iceland are consistently ranked the happiest in the world, in large part because the culture doesn’t stigmatize failure, and its citizens feel free to try things and do what they enjoy without worrying about making mistakes.</li><li>Don’t hide your imperfections or look to “minimize” your weaknesses; this will only create an environment of distrust.</li></ul>

Don’t Worry About Making Mistakes

Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.

The Kim Kardashian Principle teaches you that empathy for yourself and standing up for what you truly believe in are essential in order to connect with audiences…..

In the instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post bestseller, Jeetendr Sehdev inspires people everywhere to learn from the way celebrities engage their fan bases. In the space of five years, Jeetendr Sehdev has shaken up the world of entertainment by revealing how social media stars generate more obsession than the Hollywood A-list. What can he teach us about making our own ideas, products, and services break through? Sehdev shows why successful images today–the most famous being Kim Kardashian–are not photoshopped to perfection, but flawed, vulnerable, and in your face. This total transparency generates a level of authenticity that traditional marketing tactics just can’t touch. From YouTube sensations like Jenna Marbles to billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, The Kim Kardashian Principle reveals the people, products, and brands that do it best. After all, in a world where a big booty can break the Internet and the president is a reality TV star, self-obsession is a must-have. No posturing, no apologies, and no shying away from the spotlight. The Kim Kardashian Principle is a fresh, provocative, and eye-opening guide to understanding why only the boldest and baddest ideas will survive–and how to make sure yours is one of them.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

In the instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post bestseller, Jeetendr Sehdev inspires people everywhere to learn from the way celebrities engage their fan bases. In the space of five years, Jeetendr Sehdev has shaken up the world of entertainment by revealing how social media stars generate more obsession than the Hollywood A-list. What can he teach us about making our own ideas, products, and services break through? Sehdev shows why successful images today–the most famous being Kim Kardashian–are not photoshopped to perfection, but flawed, vulnerable, and in your face. This total transparency generates a level of authenticity that traditional marketing tactics just can’t touch. From YouTube sensations like Jenna Marbles to billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, The Kim Kardashian Principle reveals the people, products, and brands that do it best. After all, in a world where a big booty can break the Internet and the president is a reality TV star, self-obsession is a must-have. No posturing, no apologies, and no shying away from the spotlight. The Kim Kardashian Principle is a fresh, provocative, and eye-opening guide to understanding why only the boldest and baddest ideas will survive–and how to make sure yours is one of them.

Jeetendr Sehdev

The Kim Kardashian Principle

<ul><li>first opportunity to explain to the committee why you should be selected to study for a postgraduate doctorate</li><li>it should complement your CV</li><li>should tailor the content to your chosen Ph.D. topic</li><li>your personal statement should be separate from the cover letter</li></ul>

What is a cover letter?

<ul><li>personal statement focus upon your interests and your ambitions</li><li>cover letter will look at your tangible achievements such as your academic and professional experience</li></ul>

cover letter vs personal statement

<ul><li>Who you are?</li><li>Your Skills and achievements</li><li>Your research</li><li>Your understanding of your research projection </li><li>specific skills</li></ul>

Key points to include in the letter

<ul><li>Start of cover letter: address the necessary person of contact</li><li>Introduce yourself: who you are, why should committee continue to read your application letter, why you want to study further, what Ph.D. you are applying for</li><li>show skills and achievement: follow the STAR method</li><li>the end of cover letter: reiterate why you want to study at this specific institute, reasons why you are a good fit, also mention what you plan to do with your research upon it completion</li></ul>

How to write a cover letter?

<ul><li>Situation: explain the situation</li><li>Task: What was your responsibility in the situation</li><li>Action: How did you solve the problem</li><li>Result: What was the outcome?</li></ul>

STAR method to explain skills achievement

<ul><li>keep it concise</li><li>don't iterate what has already been written on your CV</li><li>provide evidence</li><li>check for errors</li></ul>

Tips to improve

Learn how to make your PhD cover letter stand out from others. With examples and important tips.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

communication

Communication

How to Write a Great PhD Cover Letter

Whether you are an associate manager or a senior executive, what you say, how you say it, when you say it, to whom you say it, and whether you say it within the proper context are critical components of your strategic leadership potential.

To Sound Like A Leader - HBR

This “executive voice” is less about your performance and more about your strategic instincts and your awareness of the signals you send in daily interactions and communications. Developing an executive voice can mean the difference between success and failure in your communication and leadership style.

Executive Voice

You can show up more strategically in meetings by doing your homework and by taking the lead in analyzing difficult situations. Bring solutions, not just problems.

Doing Homework Before Meeting

Remaining calm in the pressure cooker. People with an effective executive voice aren’t easily rattled. They provide levelheaded leadership even when — in fact, particularly when — everyone around them is losing their composure. By making the necessary adjustments to your approach to participation, you can start showing up more strategically in every setting you encounter at work.

Being Calm In Difficult Situation

One of the best ways to build your strategic thinking is by leveraging relationships more intentionally, with specific business goals in mind. To develop your executive voice, take time to reach out to at least one person each week outside of your immediate team or functional area. Try to learn:<ul><li>how they fit into the business as a whole</li><li>their goals and challenges</li><li>ways you might support them as a strategic business partner</li></ul>

Cultivate strategic relationships

Knowing or finding out in advance what your expected role is in a group forum or event can guide you in determining the kind of voice you need for that particular venue and can help ensure that you understand the context before you speak up.

Understand the context

Sometimes we fail to tap into an executive voice because we focus too much on our own function or role. Strategic leaders are more visionary than that, taking an enterprise view that focuses less on themselves and more on the wider organization. Another part of being visionary is developing the ability to articulate aspirations for the future and a rationale for transformation.

Be Visionary

One of the best ways to build your strategic thinking is by leveraging relationships more intentionally, with specific business goals in mind.To develop your executive voice, take time to reach out to at least one person each week outside of your immediate team or functional area. Try to learn:<ol><li>how they fit into the business as a whole</li><li>their goals and challenges</li><li>ways you might support them as a strategic business partner</li></ol>

Leading strategically with a strong executive voice involves problem solving, not just finger-pointing at difficult issues.You can show up more strategically by doing your homework and taking the lead in analyzing situations. Brainstorm fresh ideas that go beyond the obvious. Even if you don’t have the perfect answer, you can demonstrate your ability to come up with clever solutions.

Bring solutions, not just problems

Whether you are an associate manager or a senior executive, what you say, how you say it, when you say it, to whom you say it, and whether you say it within the proper context are critical components of your strategic leadership potential. This “executive voice” is less about your performance and more about your strategic instincts and your awareness of the signals you send in daily interactions and communications. Developing an executive voice can mean the difference between success and failure in your communication and leadership style. You can show up more strategically in meetings by doing your homework and by taking the lead in analyzing difficult situations. Bring solutions, not just problems. And stay calm in the pressure cooker. People with an effective executive voice aren’t easily rattled. They provide levelheaded leadership even when — in fact, particularly when — everyone around them is losing their composure. By making the necessary adjustments to your approach to participation, you can start showing up more strategically in every setting you encounter at work.

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

teamwork

Teamwork

To Sound Like a Leader, Think About What You Say, and How and When You Say It

Pick one or two values that are important for your company in order to win, and evaluate your candidate's attitude and track record relative to them.Facebook and Dropbox are two examples of companies that did this consistently. They managed to build a strong company culture that enabled them to grow fast.

Interview candidates based on your company's values

Facebook evaluated culture fit for two values:1. Move Fast and Break Things <ul><li>They evaluated if candidates finished their coding questions in time. It mattered less if they had errors.</li><li>They looked for tradeoffs that candidates made to move faster. Did they make the right simplifying assumptions? Did they cut corners while still solving the problem?</li></ul>2. Focus on Impact<ul><li>They asked candidates about their proudest accomplishment, and looked to see if they drilled down on why that accomplishment was significant. Did it have downstream impact on users?</li></ul>

Facebook company values

Dropbox evaluated culture fit for two values:1. Sweat the Details<ul><li>They looked for correctness and attention to the small details. Did the candidate go the extra mile or did they end up duct-taping something together?</li></ul>2. We, Not I<ul><li>They asked candidates about their proudest accomplishment, and looked to see if they were giving credit to their team. This was a good filter for whether someone thought of the world in a I-centric way vs a we/team-centric way.</li></ul>

Dropbox company values

The first and most important element of success is building a killer engineering team.

startup

Startups

Hiring for Culture Fit at Facebook & Dropbox

After reviewing hundreds of resumes, and talking to top executives about what they look for in a candidate, it's found that including strong keywords is one of the best ways to stand out.But many people use keywords the wrong way.

Keywords

Lately, the biggest resume mistake I’ve been seeing people make is “keyword stuffing” — or trying to use as many keywords from the job description as possible. Job seekers often do this because they believe the resume scanning software many employers use — known as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) — automatically rejects resumes that have too few keywords. But the primary function of an ATS is to organize applications and make the hiring process easier for recruiters. It does things like keep track of applicants and interview schedules. It doesn’t actually reject applications.

‘Keyword stuffing’: The No. 1 resume mistake

A simple tip to remember: Use keywords with humans in mind, not machines. That means doing it in a way that is convincing and properly contextualized, rather than awkward or forced.

How to use keywords on your resume

Having an idea of the impression you want the resume reader to walk away with can help you decide what keywords to prioritize. To uncover what makes you special, ask yourself questions like: <ul><li>Is there a specific part of my job that I am better at compared to my peers? </li><li>Looking at my biggest wins, is there a common theme? </li><li>What does that common theme say about my strengths? </li> </ul>

1. Decide what you want the hiring manager to know  before  you start writing.

The most impressive resumes tell the reader how you used your skills to create to quantifiable results. For example, let’s say one of the required skills in a job description is “Microsoft Excel.” Instead of writing “Used Microsoft Excel to track and report load speed data,” write “Leveraged Microsoft Excel to automate load speed insights and decrease weekly reporting time by 50%.”

2. Highlight keywords through your achievements.

A separate skills section is a great place to put keywords that don’t naturally fit under your experience section. I recommend including at least nine key skills and grouping them into columns of three, spread evenly across the top of the resume. We limit ourselves to nine skills total to avoid “keyword stuffing.” You also don’t want to look like “a jack-of-all-trades and master of none.”

3. Keep your skills section short.

A short read about how to improve our resume and avoid a simple mistake

Career expert and recruiter Jermaine L. Murray has helped candidates land jobs at some of the world's biggest companies, including Facebook, Google and Microsoft. He reveals the No. 1 resume mistake he's been seeing lately, and how to fix it.

No. 1 Resume Mistake and How to Fix It

Do the work gives you step-by-step instructions on how to overcome and conquer Resistance - the biggest enemy of them all.Do the work explains who and what your allies are and how to embrace and utilize them in your creative life or in your day  to day situations.

INTRODUCTION 

Start before you're ready

Is it surprising that most people spend their days doing work they don't like instead of the work they want to do?<ul><li>If you put in the time and effort, you can overcome any resistance standing in your way. Happiness and success are the rewards for the persistent pursuit of one's dreams. Your happiness depends on how hard you work.</li><li>That's why many people choose jobs we wouldn't like. We don't feel as much pressure or worry about failing on our jobs because they aren't all that important to us.</li></ul>

THE MORE TIME AND EFFORT YOU PUT INTO A BIG PROJECT, THE MORE RESISTANCE YOU'LL FACE

<ul><li>When we work on something we're interested in, we usually put in more time, effort, skills and abilities.</li><li>It's easy to take a pay check and leave a job that doesn't matter to you, but it's difficult to quit work that care about.</li></ul>

<ul><li>You already have the seed of your creative project planted or growing. But you may think it would be better if you had more time to think about it, </li><li>Do a thorough study weigh pros and cons, and dive right in. </li><li>People never get their ideas off the ground because they think too much. Many individuals regularly engage in this behaviour and fall behind because of it.</li><li>The time to start is before you feel completely prepared. You should do two things iteratively: ACT, REFLECT.</li></ul>

STOP THINKING AND BEGIN WORKING

"Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel"

<ul><li>You are not to blame. you can't merely blame your lack of drive, enthusiasm or motivation on these issues. There is nothing wrong with if you've many unfinished projects</li><li>Resistance hurts us emotionally, but it works in a way that is not personal and is natural</li><li>Everyone is feeling its effects. Think about the successful individuals. who's your favourite creative person who makes it seem so easy? All of them also encounter pushback.</li></ul>

YOU'RE NOT ONLY ONE EXPERIENCING RESISTANCE

<ul><li>Nothing hits closer to home than the feeling of having to write, produce a video, or giving a presentation. But it hurts to get halfway through and realize that you have done nothing. </li><li>Since you've spent so much time reading and watching things about your subject, You think you're productive because you've read a few books and watched countless videos. The deadline for your project is near. Yet, you haven't even finished the first chapter.</li><li>If you can identify with this, start including a research diet in your projects. </li></ul>

DEVELOP A RESEARCH DIET

<ul><li>Keeping to a research diet means watching fewer movies. It also means reading fewer interviews and listening to fewer podcasts. </li><li>Instead of dedicating all your time to research, start your tasks. This will help identify the issues and confusions that need to be resolved. It also helps you make meaningful progress with the resources you are using.</li></ul>

<ul><li>Pursuing excellence and consistent practice guarantees some disappointment along the way. If you put yourself out there and don't succeed.</li><li>Working at a job you don't like, the problems you face will seem less severe. But if you are passionate about what you do, it hurts much to encounter setbacks when you've put your heart and soul into your work.</li><li>However, there will be setbacks on the road to success in whichever endeavour you undertake. Although setbacks may be painful, they are still important. They are vital for personal growth, resilience and gaining the right perspective</li></ul>

ALWAYS EXPECT YOU WILL FAIL

Do the Work!

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