2011 riverview opening reception

Career Nutrition®

20 Simple Rules for Success
(in Work and in Life)

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Saturday, September 24, 2011

A Parable
Consider the story of a new bank president who went to meet his

predecessor. Upon being introduced, he quickly said: 'I would like to know
what have been the keys to your success.' The older man looked at him for

a moment and replied, 'Young man, I can sum it up in two words: good
decisions.' To that the young man replied, 'I thank you immensely for that

advice, sir, but how does ones come to know which are the good decisions?'
'One word, young man,', replied the old man. 'Experience.' 'That's all

well and good', said the young executive, 'but how does one get
experience?' 'Two words', replied the old man. 'Bad decisions.'

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This is simple stuff ...
• ... but most of us just don’t
get around to becoming
masterful at the basics. Try to
Get Brilliant at the Basics.
• “Common sense is anything but
common.” (Voltaire)
• "It's hard to teach a young dog
old tricks." (Warren Buffett)
• But why wait to get old to be
experienced?

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Nutrition for your
Life and Career
• “Career Nutrition” is all about sharing the experience and
wisdom of others in order to accelerate your growth curve
• I know that it’s hard to learn from other people’s experiences.
Simply being told the ﬁre is hot might not be enough to teach
you not to touch it ...
• However, at its essence, all experience is a recognition of a
pattern you’ve seen before. If you can remember these lessons -
and recognize them - you won’t have to go through them
yourself
• I’ve tried to combine ‘Best Thinking’ with ‘Best Practice’.

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How to Gain 20 Years of
Experience - without wrinkles or
grey hair - with 20 Simple Rules
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I - Begin with the end in
Mind

• My ﬁrst day at Business School
and the ‘Eulogy Exercise’

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II - Plan your Exits as
carefully as your Entrances

• People frequently go to great
lengths to plan their
entrances (at parties, their
introductions, ﬁrst day on the
job), but they almost never
give thought to their exits.
• you never get a second
chance to make a ﬁnal
impression ...
• So End with the beginning
in mind.

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III - Expect to encounter
‘Black Swans’
• Black Swans are low-probability,
high impact unexpected events.
• They happen more often than we
realize (economic meltdowns,
‘rogue’ 100-foot waves)
• Don’t be fooled by our society’s
excessive trust in statistics to expect
a predictable world
• ‘Plan’ for randomness - in work and
in life

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overload

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IV - Focus is your best
Friend

"You can do anything, but not everything."

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V - Technology is not
always your friend

• “Today’s technology is
consuming your attention
without actually allowing
you to pay
attention.” (Nicholas Carr,
author of The Shallows)
• Create a ‘Cognitive
Surplus’ by cutting down
on mindless distractions
(Clay Shirky)

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VI - The importance of
Conquering Cookies
The Cookie Experiment and what it teaches us:

“Discipline is doing what you don’t want to do, when you don’t want to do it.”
"If you let yourself be undisciplined on the small things, you will probably be
undisciplined on the large things as well." (Warren Buffett)

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Use Skill, not just Will
• You can’t rely solely on willpower, however.
• Every time we have to think about whether
or not to do an activity (go to the gym, don’t
eat that chocolate chip cookie), we deplete
our limited reservoir of will and discipline
• Limit temptation in order to free yourself
from its pull.
• It’s easier to avoid temptation than to resist it.
• It’s easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of
trouble.
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VII - Develop
Good Habits
“We are what we repeatedly do.”
Aristotle
• Good Habits, Routines and Practices go a
long way towards putting yourself on ‘auto-
pilot’ to success. Tap the power of
Automaticity.

• Take a long look at your habits and routines.
Are there some that you can improve and
optimize, and others you should just lose?

• Habits begin being aspirational and then become inspirational.
Forget nature v nurture: habits beats genetics every time
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VIII - Your Mind is for Having
Ideas, not Holding them

• Free your mind to think by ridding it of
unnecessary elements
• We have limited working memory.
Overcome this by capturing ideas and
then ‘forgetting’ about them
• You never know when and where you’ll
have that epiphany or eureka moment,
but I’ll bet it’s when you least expect it
(in the shower, while you’re falling
asleep, when you’re driving ...)

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IX - Ideas are worse than
worthless

• Nothing is more overrated than a new idea. An idea, no matter
how big, only assumes value when it's acted upon and brought to
life. It what’s you do with an idea that matters.
• Execution matters more than Ideation.
• Perspiration is more important than inspiration.
• While most of us spend too much energy searching for the next
great idea, we would be better served by developing the capacity
to Make Ideas Happen

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X - Don’t Confuse Action
with Accomplishment

• Don’t confuse Activity
with Productivity
• Doing the right things v
Doing things right
• Shift from being busy to
getting results

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XI - Remember that Not
deciding is a decision
• It’s impossible to achieve 100%
certainty in anything; you must be
able to proceed without having a
full understanding of events
• The Marines and their 70% Rule: If
you have 70% of the information,
have done 70% of the analysis, and
feel 70% conﬁdent, then GO.
• Have a bias - a default - toward
Action, not Inertia

Prioritize PROACTIVITY over the path of least RESISTANCE
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XII - Educate your
intuition. Then trust it
• Intuition is recognizing
things without knowing
how we do the
recognizing
• "Use your intuition. I
deﬁne intuition as the
way we translate our
experience into
action." (Gary Klein)
• Blink (Malcolm
Gladwell) and the
supercomputer of your
Your Intuition is a source of
subconscious 19 power and wisdom

XIII - Always pick the Harder
Right over the Easier Wrong

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XIV - Deal with the
Decisive Details
• I’ve found that it’s the little things
in work and in life that make a big
difference.
• Small, daily improvements over
time create stunning results.
• Lasting success comes via
EVOLUTION, not REVOLUTION.
• Take care of the little things, and
the big things will take care of
themselves.

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XV - You need Wednesdays
to enjoy Saturdays
• You need a winter to enjoy a
summer
• You need setbacks to enjoy
successes.
• Cultivate Resilience in the face
of relentless change - emotional,
physical, ﬁnancial, spiritual
• Surviving challenge will give
you the self-conﬁdence that you
can and will overcome the
inevitable future ones (and
therefore don’t need to fear
them)
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XVI - Be in a Category of
ONE
The great business philosopher Jerome Garcia once remarked:
"You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best.
You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do."

The year Jerry Garcia died, the Grateful Dead was the highest-
grossing rock-and-roll band in the US.
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What can kill a Doctor’s
career ...

... can kill yours.

What’s the best
indicator that a doctor
will get sued for
malpractice?

The relationship between that doctor and his patients
People just don’t sue doctors they like
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XVII - Be a
Social Capitalist
• Remember that Relationships are the most 'transportable'
part of your assets
• The best way to network ... is not to ‘network’
• Treat people the same way when you’re on the way up as
you would if you were on your way down
• Your industry is tiny. They all are.
• Challenge ideas, not people.
• Learn to disagree without being disagreeable.
• When at a loss for words, ask questions.

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XVIII - Mentors are
nowhere ... and Everywhere
• We should all be so lucky to
have a mentor or mentors who
skillfully guide our career
trajectory with assistance,
advice and active guidance. If
you don’t have this luxury,
don’t worry ...
• ‘Mentors’ are everywhere. You
just need to know where to
look ...
• Have ‘big ears’ and big eyes’

Sometimes the most valuable lessons are being shown
what not to do. 26

XIX - The job of the leader
is to develop more leaders
• Everybody is replaceable. Get over it.
• Do your job: make yourself redundant.
• Success can’t come without succession planning.
• “The goal isn’t to live forever. The goal is to create something that
will.” (Chuck Palahniuk)

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XX - Make
Magniﬁcent Mistakes

“Always make new mistakes.”
Esther Dyson

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t
live long enough to make them all yourself.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

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Summary
I - Begin with the End in Mind. XI - Remember that Not Deciding is a Decision.

II - Plan your Exits as carefully as you do your XII - Educate Your Intuition. Then Trust it.
Entrances.
XIII - Always Choose the Harder Right vs. the
III - Expect to Encounter ‘Black Swans.’ Easier Wrong.

IV - Focus is Your Best Friend. XIV - Deal with the Decisive Details.

V - Technology is not always your Friend. XV - You need Wednesdays to enjoy Saturdays.

VI - The Importance of Conquering Cookies. XVI - Be in a Category of ONE.

VII - Develop Good Habits. XVII - Be a Social Capitalist.

VIII - Your Mind is for Having Ideas, not XVIII - Mentors are Nowhere ... and Everywhere.
Holding Them.
XIX -The Job of the Leader is to Develop More
XIX - Ideas are Worse than Worthless. Leaders.

X - Don’t Confuse Action with Accomplishment. XX - Make Magniﬁcent Mistakes.

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Thank you and hope to keep in touch!
Ion@PortfolioIV.com

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