Stephen Covey
Vice Chairman, FranklinCovey; Author, The 7 habits of Highly Effective People
Strive for Moral Authority
Most people define greatness through wealth and popularity and position in the corner office. But what I call everyday greatness comes from character and contribution. Sometimes people who possess the wealth and prestige also have everyday greatness, but not that often in our celebrity-obsessed culture, because they are primarily focused on what's in it for me. I'm in favor of achievements - degrees and wealth and that sort of thing. Still, those achievements convey formal authority but not always moral authority. The only way to acquire moral authority is through your character and contribution, to live in such a way as to merit the confidence and the trust of other people. Moral authority is especially important to business. This is because in order to reduce costs, increase production, and nurture a culture of innovation - all of which are important criteria in today's global economy - you've got to have high trust among your workers and partners. Why? Because everyone involved needs to sacrifice. If you don't have high trust, none of those things will happen. You can't fake high trust.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Eric Schmidt
CEO, Google
SUCCEED WITH SIMPLICITY
Silicon Valley companies have a tendency to develop these systems that rely on complexity. But it produces things like the personal computer running Windows. Google from the beginning focused on the simple search box, the simple search page.
We have the tiger by the tail in that we have this huge phenomenon of personalization. Now we need to make it simpler for people. We are trying to shape the innovation going forward from here and get things more integrated, make Google more integrated. This is a big change in the way we run the company. In the past the philosophy has been "get this done, get it built, and get it out." But continuing that, we would end up with hundreds of products named X-Google, and people can only remember five products.
CEO, Google
SUCCEED WITH SIMPLICITY
Silicon Valley companies have a tendency to develop these systems that rely on complexity. But it produces things like the personal computer running Windows. Google from the beginning focused on the simple search box, the simple search page.
We have the tiger by the tail in that we have this huge phenomenon of personalization. Now we need to make it simpler for people. We are trying to shape the innovation going forward from here and get things more integrated, make Google more integrated. This is a big change in the way we run the company. In the past the philosophy has been "get this done, get it built, and get it out." But continuing that, we would end up with hundreds of products named X-Google, and people can only remember five products.
Kevin Rose
Founder, Digg
Let the Users Run the Show
Letting users control your site can be terrifying at first. From day one we were asking ourselves, "What is going to be on the front page today?" You have no idea what the system will produce. But stepping back and giving consumers control is what brought more and more people to the site. They have a sense of ownership and discovery at the same time. If you give users the tools to spread and share their interests with others, they will use them to promote what is important to them.
We have 17 employees, and we have 4,500 submitted stories a day. We could hire more staff, but that's not what the site is about. It's about allowing users to define the site and police the site themselves.
Founder, Digg
Let the Users Run the Show
Letting users control your site can be terrifying at first. From day one we were asking ourselves, "What is going to be on the front page today?" You have no idea what the system will produce. But stepping back and giving consumers control is what brought more and more people to the site. They have a sense of ownership and discovery at the same time. If you give users the tools to spread and share their interests with others, they will use them to promote what is important to them.
We have 17 employees, and we have 4,500 submitted stories a day. We could hire more staff, but that's not what the site is about. It's about allowing users to define the site and police the site themselves.
Michael Dell
Founder and Chairman, Dell Computer
Think Big
Today the world has about 1 billion people using PCs and connected to the Internet. We've made great progress, but we have almost 6 billion people left who have yet to be connected. As our world becomes more connected, the price of being left behind will only grow. Approximately two of every three people in the United States have direct access to a computer. Some countries, like South Korea, are well ahead of the United States in connecting their citizens and in the use of fiber-optic connections that are dramatically faster. Rapidly emerging countries like China, India, and Brazil are also adding Internet users at incredible rates.
The lesson for entrepreneurs here is that the opportunities for people in all of these countries - driven by improved access to technology - are already transforming their economies. While technology is helping to build a wealthier world (and also a better world in which more people can get more of their needs met), we must be mindful of the other 6 billion people whom we have yet to connect. Consider this the digital opportunity of a lifetime: connecting the next billion users and beyond. Businesses and individuals have an essential role to play in expanding digital access. It isn't a burden or a social obligation that must be met, but rather a two-dimensional opportunity: first, to improve lives by making technology more accessible to more people; and, second, to expand our markets by increasing digital access throughout the world. Everybody can play a part.
Founder and Chairman, Dell Computer
Think Big
Today the world has about 1 billion people using PCs and connected to the Internet. We've made great progress, but we have almost 6 billion people left who have yet to be connected. As our world becomes more connected, the price of being left behind will only grow. Approximately two of every three people in the United States have direct access to a computer. Some countries, like South Korea, are well ahead of the United States in connecting their citizens and in the use of fiber-optic connections that are dramatically faster. Rapidly emerging countries like China, India, and Brazil are also adding Internet users at incredible rates.
The lesson for entrepreneurs here is that the opportunities for people in all of these countries - driven by improved access to technology - are already transforming their economies. While technology is helping to build a wealthier world (and also a better world in which more people can get more of their needs met), we must be mindful of the other 6 billion people whom we have yet to connect. Consider this the digital opportunity of a lifetime: connecting the next billion users and beyond. Businesses and individuals have an essential role to play in expanding digital access. It isn't a burden or a social obligation that must be met, but rather a two-dimensional opportunity: first, to improve lives by making technology more accessible to more people; and, second, to expand our markets by increasing digital access throughout the world. Everybody can play a part.
Chad Hurley
Co-founder, YouTube
Give Your Startup a Fighting Chance
1. Test first. Launch your product or service before you have funding. See how people respond to it before you have a PowerPoint and business plan - have something people can use, and go from there.
2. Seek outside feedback. As you start building the product, don't assume that you know all the answers. Listen to the community and adapt. We had a lot of our own ideas about how the service would evolve. Coming from PayPal and eBay, we saw YouTube as a powerful way to add video to auctions, but we didn't see anyone using our product that way, so we didn't add features to support it.
3. Give partners what they want. Approach your business partners with concepts that they can get their heads around, and try to respond to their needs. An interesting example is what we've done with the music labels. With Warner and others, we saw an opportunity to protect the labels' rights and create a new market. Now we can do things like add music to people's travel videos. It allows users the freedom to create and to do it legally
Co-founder, YouTube
Give Your Startup a Fighting Chance
1. Test first. Launch your product or service before you have funding. See how people respond to it before you have a PowerPoint and business plan - have something people can use, and go from there.
2. Seek outside feedback. As you start building the product, don't assume that you know all the answers. Listen to the community and adapt. We had a lot of our own ideas about how the service would evolve. Coming from PayPal and eBay, we saw YouTube as a powerful way to add video to auctions, but we didn't see anyone using our product that way, so we didn't add features to support it.
3. Give partners what they want. Approach your business partners with concepts that they can get their heads around, and try to respond to their needs. An interesting example is what we've done with the music labels. With Warner and others, we saw an opportunity to protect the labels' rights and create a new market. Now we can do things like add music to people's travel videos. It allows users the freedom to create and to do it legally
Howard Schultz
Chairman, Starbucks
Dare to Be a Social Entrepreneur
The rules of engagement around building a brand have changed significantly over the past 10 to 15 years. Where companies at one time could spread their message through traditional marketing, consumers now seek an enduring emotional connection with the companies they patronize. The foundation of that connection is the most important characteristic of building a world-class brand: trust. Trust with your people and trust with your customers.
In the early years, we tried everything we could to exceed the expectations of our customers. But we knew that to achieve that goal we had to first exceed the expectations of our people. That was never more evident than in 1990, while we were still a private company that had yet to turn a profit. That was when we provided comprehensive health care to all of our employees, including part-timers. We also passionately believed that our people should share in Starbucks's success through ownership in the form of stock options - what we call "bean stock." It's hard to imagine advocating such expenses while we were building the business. This was not an expense but rather an investment.
Growth can cover up a lot of mistakes, and it has an intoxicating quality that sometimes makes it hard to see the need to continue to make investments ahead of the growth curve. Think of investments in your company as a metaphor for building a 100-story tower: You need to first lay a solid foundation to support future growth.
Chairman, Starbucks
Dare to Be a Social Entrepreneur
The rules of engagement around building a brand have changed significantly over the past 10 to 15 years. Where companies at one time could spread their message through traditional marketing, consumers now seek an enduring emotional connection with the companies they patronize. The foundation of that connection is the most important characteristic of building a world-class brand: trust. Trust with your people and trust with your customers.
In the early years, we tried everything we could to exceed the expectations of our customers. But we knew that to achieve that goal we had to first exceed the expectations of our people. That was never more evident than in 1990, while we were still a private company that had yet to turn a profit. That was when we provided comprehensive health care to all of our employees, including part-timers. We also passionately believed that our people should share in Starbucks's success through ownership in the form of stock options - what we call "bean stock." It's hard to imagine advocating such expenses while we were building the business. This was not an expense but rather an investment.
Growth can cover up a lot of mistakes, and it has an intoxicating quality that sometimes makes it hard to see the need to continue to make investments ahead of the growth curve. Think of investments in your company as a metaphor for building a 100-story tower: You need to first lay a solid foundation to support future growth.
Turn Your Passion Into an Empire
Rachael Ray
Chef, Author, and Entrepreneur
You have to be open-minded when those early opportunities present themselves. Take advantage of them, whether they're going to make you a lot of money or not. I did 30 Minute Meals for five years on local television, and I earned nothing the first two years. Then I earned $50 a segment. I spent more than that on gas and groceries, but I really enjoyed making the show and I loved going to a viewer's house each week. I knew I enjoyed it, so I stuck with it even though it cost me.
I've also learned that you can't be all things to all people. Whatever it is that you're successful at, that has to be the No. 1 goal. In my case, it's accessibility. So all of my products have to be usable, accessible, affordable. The olive oils we're developing with Colavita will be priced to be competitive with every other affordable olive oil. We chose to be in grocery stores, not fancy food stores, because that's where most of my audience shops. Our pots and pans have to be heavy-bottomed and sturdy but also affordable. Decide what it is that you are and then stay true to that thing. My brand is based very much on how I live my day-to-day life.
Chef, Author, and Entrepreneur
You have to be open-minded when those early opportunities present themselves. Take advantage of them, whether they're going to make you a lot of money or not. I did 30 Minute Meals for five years on local television, and I earned nothing the first two years. Then I earned $50 a segment. I spent more than that on gas and groceries, but I really enjoyed making the show and I loved going to a viewer's house each week. I knew I enjoyed it, so I stuck with it even though it cost me.
I've also learned that you can't be all things to all people. Whatever it is that you're successful at, that has to be the No. 1 goal. In my case, it's accessibility. So all of my products have to be usable, accessible, affordable. The olive oils we're developing with Colavita will be priced to be competitive with every other affordable olive oil. We chose to be in grocery stores, not fancy food stores, because that's where most of my audience shops. Our pots and pans have to be heavy-bottomed and sturdy but also affordable. Decide what it is that you are and then stay true to that thing. My brand is based very much on how I live my day-to-day life.
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