I attended EO Atlanta’s 30-Year Anniversary event. I wanted to jot down some takeaways while they were fresh. Given this was a live event, I don’t have the actual word-for-word quotes from folks, so general summaries will have to do 🙂
Having a specific vision
Warren Rustand told a story about three people crafted a vision for themselves:
- I want to climb mountains
- I want to climb a mountain on each continent
- I want to climb Mount Everest before I turn 21 years old
In terms of knowing what needed to be done, Person #3’s life was simple. That person had a very specific goal and timeframe to work from. He knew exactly how he needed to train in the upcoming years to be able to accomplish that goal. The other two had a lot of leeway built in and therefore weren’t clear on what they needed to do to get there.
How specific are you on knowing where you want to go?
Weaknesses
Do most what you do best.
Don’t work to improve your weaknesses
While I do think there is some gray area in the “don’t work to improve your weaknesses” line, I view this quote more inline with the thought process of “delegate out what you don’t like doing.” Or, the simple fact that we should start with saying “no” to as many opportunities as possible.
Yes, we should always strive to improve. However, I suck at accounting. My business is better off with me not being in charge of the books. There isn’t a reason for me to work to improve that area of my life.
What area of life should you stop trying to improve?
Intense curiosity
Walter Isaacson has written biographies for some of the world’s most famous entreprenuers. Verne Harnish had the chance to speak with him and asked him: “what is the throughline between all these highly successful entreprenuers you’ve interviewed and wrote for?”
Intense curiosity.
It’s as simple as that. Remain curious. Try new things. Be OK to fail. Warren Buffett said that their “satisfactory results have been the product of about a dozen truly good decisions – that would be about one every five years.”
Think about how many decisions have failed.
It’s OK to pivot. No one will notice.
Soul of the business
Vision casting is hard. It’s extremeley difficult to zoom out and figure out what the “big picture goal” is going to be for a business – especially as a founder who started a business because he can execute on a few tasks in order to make a living.
A question Verne Harnish posed was: “What is the thing that got you started?”
What was the soul in it that drove you?
What made you excited to wake up in the morning during the weeks that sucked at the beginning?
Start there.
Book recommendations
The below recommendations come from Warren Rustand and Verne Harnish
- Confessions of the Pricing Man – Hermann Simon
- Reset – Dan Heath
- Rockefeller Habits – Verne Harnish
- Question Behind the Question – John Miller
- Leadership – James MacGregor Burns
