Zone of Genius Alex Maccaw

Courage or Genius? What matters more?

The Five Big Ideas Getting things done requires defining what “done” means and what “doing” looks like. Mastering your workflow involves capturing what has your attention, clarifying what it means, putting it where it belongs, reviewing it frequently, and engaging with it. If an action will take less than two minutes, it should be done at the moment it is defined. Anxiety and guilt don’t come from having too much to do; it comes from breaking agreements with yourself. Your mind is for having ideas, not for holding them.

The Golden Circle by Simon is the top 3 of the most watched TED talks ever. Simon always adds value to anything he ends up doing.

Find how consistency is key in achieving our goals as leaders.

Reduce friction to get things done.

A strength is anything that gives you energy. A talent is an innate ability that can’t be taught. For example, a love of numbers. A skill is a competency that can be taught. For example, knowing Excel back to front. When all three are aligned, we are in our Zone of Genius.

The mission is about what will be achieved; the value network is about with whom value will be created and captured; strategy is about how resources should be allocated to accomplish the mission in the context of the value network, and vision and incentives is about why people in the organization should feel motivated to perform at a high level. Together, the mission, network, strategy, and vision define the strategic direction for a business. They provide the what, who, how, and why necessary to powerfully align action in complex organizations.

If given the option, people will solve B+ problems rather than A+ problems. Why? Because they are in their comfort zone.

If you think about people, there are two categories of high-quality people: there is the ammunition, and then there are the barrels. You can add all the ammunition you want, but if you have only five barrels in your company, you can literally do only five things simultaneously. If you add one more barrel, you can now do six things simultaneously. If you add another one, you can do seven, and so on. Finding those barrels that you can shoot through — someone who can take an idea from conception to live and it’s almost perfect — are incredibly difficult to find. This kind of person can pull people with them. They can charge up the hill. They can motivate their team, and they can edit themselves autonomously. Whenever you find a barrel, you should hire them instantly, regardless of whether you have money for them or whether you have a role for them. Just close them.

The first time I heard this question answered was from Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos. Jeff was on stage at a press event, and a reporter asked him, "Jeff, what do you think is going to change most in the next 10 years?" Jeff replied, "That's a good question. But a better question is: What's not going to change in the next 10-20 years?" He went on to say that, from his perspective at Amazon, what won't change is people's desire for lower prices and faster delivery. Accordingly, Jeff built Amazon to focus on and invest billions into figuring out how to lower prices and increase the speed with which items are shipped to you. "When you have something that you know is true," says Jeff, "even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it." WHAT ELSE WON'T CHANGE? My friend Tony Robbins often speaks about the six fundamental human needs. My guess is that these too will remain constant as long as we humans retain our current neurochemistry. The six basic human needs include: 1. Certainty: We need assurance that we can avoid pain and gain pleasure 2. Uncertainty/Variety: We have a need for variety, continuous change, and stimulus 3. Significance: We have a need to feel unique, important, and special 4. Connection/Love: We need a strong feeling of connection with people and we need to feel loved 5. Growth: We need to expand each of our own capabilities and capacities 6. Contribution: We need to contribute, and we need a sense of service and focus on giving back. I’d also add a 7th to this list: 7. The individual’s desire for more freedom: We will constantly be looking for ways to achieve more freedom in our lives. One great example of this is the shift that’s happening in freelance work. From designers on 99Designs to Uber drivers to independent consultants, more and more people are choosing “freelance” career paths because doing so affords them freedom of time, location and association. While these needs will remain constant, the way we fulfill them will change. For entrepreneurs, to the extent that you can make achieving these basic needs easier or more fulfilling, people will preferentially adopt your approach.