Calendar Book #6: June: Being mortal by Atul Gawande

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes V

-Our population is broken into five segments that fall across a bell curve: innovators, early adoptors, early majority, late majority and laggards.
-Loyalty is when people are willing to suffer some inconvenience or pay a premium to do business with you.
-The goal of business should be to find people who believe what you believe, the left side of the curve.
-Energy motivates but charisma inspires and commands loyalty.
-With a group of believers all rallying around a common purpose, cause or believe, amazing things can happen.
-As is the case with almost all leaders, there were others around who knew better how to do that.
-There is always another perspective to be considered.
-To change the world takes the support of all those who  believe.
-Words are hollow, but deeds and values are deep.
-The way dictators maintain their power is through fear, reward and every other manipulation they can think of.
-The celery test: celery, rice milk, oreo cookies and M&M's.
-He believed that if he believed in looking after people, people would look after him.
-Success comes when we wake up every day  in that never-ending pursuit of why we do what we do.
-This is the reason they never feel satisfied no natter how big their yacht is, no matter how much they achieve. The false assumption we often make is that if we simply achieve more, the feeling of success will follow. But it rarely does.
-For companies of any size, success is the greatest challenge.
-I am not going to Starbucks! I am not paying five dollars for a cup of coffee.
-As the leader of the company, being the smartest was not her job. Her job was to lead the cause. To personify the values and remind everyone why the are there.
-About Walmart founder: he chastised his executives for driving expensive cars and resisted using a corporate jet for many years. If the average American did not have those things, then neither should those who are supposed to be their champions.
-Following the same formula as other inspiring leaders, Cotsco  believes in looking after its employees first.
-I had always been curious about why people do the things they do.
-When you compete against everyone else, nobody wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everybody wants to help you.

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes IV

-The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.
-They believe they could and they trusted their people to do it.
-Those within a community, or an organization, they must trust that their leaders provide a net. With that feeling of support, those in the organization are more likely to put in extra effort that ultimately benefits the group as a whole.
-Great organizations become great because the people inside the organization feel protected.
-One of the best customer service companies in the country focuses on its employees before its customers.
-Great leaders lead with why.
-She's a great leader because she understands that earning the trust of an organization doesn't come from setting out to impress everyone, it comes from setting out to serve those who serve her.
-If companies do not actively work to keep their Golden Circle in balance, clarity, discipline and consistency, then trust starts to break down.
-Herb Kelleher recognized that to get the best out his employees he needed to create an environment in which they felt like the company cared about them.
-Employees come first and if employees are treated right, they treat the outside world right, the outside world uses the company's product again, and that makes the shareholders happy.

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes III

-If a company mistreats their people, just watch how the employees treat their customers.
-You can´t have a good product without people who like coming to work.
-It is a company's responsibility to look after the employees first.
-Happy employees ensure happy customers. And happy customers ensure happy shareholders.
-Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain.
-Leading is not the same as being the leader. Being the leader means you hold the highest rank. Leading, means that others willingly follow you no because they have to, not because they are paid to, but because they want to.
-Those who lead are able to do so because those who follow trust that the decisions made at the top have the best interest of the group at heart. In turn, those who trust work hard because they feel like they are working for something bigger than themselves.
-Most healthy people live their life to win. The only variation is the score we use. For some, it's money, for others it's fame or awards. For some it's power, love, a family or spiritual fulfillment. The metric is relative, but the desire is the same.
-Everything he talked about was in terms of how it benefited the employees. He instituted an open-door policy and made himself incredibly accessible. He focused on the things they knew to be important.
-Cultures are groups of people who come together around a common set of values and beliefs. When we shared values and beliefs with others, we from trust. Trust of others allows us to rely on others to help protect our children and ensure our personal survival.
-There is a reason we are no friends with everyone we meet. We are friends with people who see the world the way we see it, who share our views and our belief set.
-It is completely false that all immigrants make productive members of a society.
-We do better in places that reflect our own values and beliefs.
-A company is a culture. A group of people brought together around a common set of values and beliefs. The goal is not to hire people who simply have a skill  set you need, the goal is to hire people who believe what you believe.
-Shackleton hired only people who believed what he believed.
-When employees belong, they will guarantee your success.
-You don't hire for skill. You hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.
-Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them. They hire already motivated people  and inspire them.
-Companies with a strong sense of why are able to inspire their employees. Those employees are more productive and innovative, and the feeling they bring to work attracts other people  eager to work there as well. It's not such a stretch to see why the companies what we love to do business with are also the best employers.

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes II

-The reason gut decisions feel right is because the part of the brain that controls them also controls our feelings.
-When you force people to make decisions with only the rational part of their brain, they almost invariably end up overthinking. These rational decisions tend to take longer to make and can often be of lower quality. In contrast, decisions made with the limbic brain, gut decisions, tend to be faster, higher-quality decisions.
-A failure to communicate why creates nothing but stress or doubt.
-Great leaders and great organizations are good at seeing what most of us can´t see. They are good at giving us things we would never think of asking for.
-Great leaders are those who trust their gut. They are those who understand the art before the science. They win hearts before minds. They are the ones who start with why.
-When the why is absent, imbalance is produced and manipulations thrive.
-To lead requires those who willingly follow. It requires those who believe in something bigger than a single issue. To inspire starts with the clarity of why.
-For values or guiding principles to be truly effective, they have to be verbs.
-Everything you say and everything you do has to prove what you believe. It is at the what level that authenticity happens.
-Without a clear understanding of why, the instruction is completely useless.
-Authenticity produces relationships. Relationships build trust. With trust comes loyalty.
-Authenticity is when you say and do the things you actually believe.
-Loyalty comes from the ability to inspire people.
-No matter the manipulations you choose, this is not the way to build a trusting relationship.

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes

-There are leaders and there are those who lead.
-Just about every person or organization needs to motivate others to act for some reason or another.
-Those who are able to inspire will create a following of people, supporters, voters, customers, workers, who act for the good of the whole not because they have to, but because they want to.
-People who love going to work are more productive and more creative. They go home happier and have happier families. They treat colleagues and clients and customers better. Inspired employees make for stronger companies and stronger economies.
-All the inspiring leaders and companies, regardless of size or industry, think, act and communicate exactly alike. And it's the complete opposite of everyone else.
-We make assumptions about the world around us based on sometimes incomplete or false information.
-Great leaders understand the value in the things we cannot see.
-Knowing you have a loyal customer and employee base not only reduces costs, it provides massive peace of mind. Like loyal friends, you know your customers and employees will be there for you when you need them the most. It is the feeling of 'we are in this together', share between customer and company, voter and candidate, boss and employee, that defines great leaders.
-The inspiring leaders think, act and communicate from the inside out.
-People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
-The need to belong is a feeling we get when those around us share our values and beliefs. When we feel like we belong we fee connected and we feel safe. As humans we crave the feeling and we seek it out.
-No matter where we go, we trust those with whom we are able to perceive common values or beliefs.
-The ability of those leaders and organizations to make us feel like we belong, to make us feel special, safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us.

Calendar Book May #5: Start with why by Simon Sinek

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes IX

-Discipline equals freedom.
-If you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.
-The only way you could make  time, was to get up early. That took discipline..
-Waking up early was the first example I noticed in the SEAL teams in which discipline was really the difference between being good and being exceptional.
-Those who were at work before everyone else were the ones who were considered the best operators.
-When you have the discipline to get up early, you are rewarded with more free time.
-A leader must lead but also be ready to follow.
-A true leader is not intimidated when others step up and take charge. Leaders that lack confidence in themselves fear being out shined by someone else.
-A leader must be aggressive but not overbearing.
-Leaders who lose their temper also lose respect.
-A leader must be confident but never cocky.
-A leader must by able to speak up when it matters. They must be able to stand up for the team and respectfully push back against a decision, order, or direction that could negatively impact overall mission success.
-A leader must be close with subordinates but not too close. Leaders must never get so close that the team forgets who is in charge.
-A leader has nothing to prove but everything to prove.
-A good leader must  be:
. Confident.
. Courageous.
. Competitive.
. Attentive to detail.
. Strong.
. A leader and follower.
. Humble.
. Aggressive.
. Quiet.
. Calm.
. Close but not too close.
. Able to execute Extreme Ownership.
-A leader's best quality might be his confidence, but when he becomes overconfident he doesn't listen to others.
-The leadership principles:
. Be humble.
. Listen.
. Don't lie
. Work hard
. Be on time.
-Good performance comes from rehearsal.
-When someone is not leading you, then you lead them.
-The insecure leader is always worried about looking bad.
-It's actually a sign of insecurity if you can't ask when you need help with something.
-Leaders have to always recognize that their role is to detach.
-Leadership must be aligned with the front-line troops.

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes VIII

-A public display of discontent or disagreement with the chain of command undermines the authority of leaders at all levels. This is catastrophic to the performance of any organization.
-As a leader, if you don't understand why decisions are being made, requests denied, or support allocated elsewhere, you must ask those questions up the chain. Then, once understood, you can pass that understanding down to your team.
-Take responsibility; look in the mirror first; don't ask your leader what you should do, tell them what you are going to do.
-Despite the forceful pressure to comply, I had to take a step back and see the bigger picture.
-Know your target and what is beyond it.
-Jocko has always encouraged us to be aggressive in decision-making.
-In combat as in life, the outcome is never certain, the picture never clear. There are no guarantees of success. But in order to succeed, leaders must be comfortable under pressure, and act on logic, not emotion. This is a critical component to victory.
-Leaders cannot be paralyzed by fear. That results in inaction. It is critical for leaders to act decisively amid uncertainty; to make the best decisions they can based on only the immediate information available.
-Waiting for the 100 percent right and certain solution leads to delay, indecision, and an inability to execute.
-Act decisively amid chaos. My default setting should be aggressive, proactive rather than reactive. Instead of letting the situation dictate our decisions, we must dictate the situation.
-As a leader, you want to be seen as decisive, and willing to make tough choices.

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes VII

-We need a process that is repeatable.
-Mike dove on top of that grenade, shielding his teammates around him from the bulk of the blast and sacrificing himself for them. Each of these fallen SEALs were beloved teammates, friends, and brothers. We would forever mourn their loss.
-It was an emotional return. After all the blood, sweat, and tears that Task Unit Bruiser and our brothers and sisters  in arms in the US Army and Marine Corps  had spilled there, I felt torn. As a leader, nothing had prepared me for that monumental burden I must forever carry for not bringing all my guys home to their families. If only I could trade places with them. When Ryan got shot and Marc was killed, they were doing exactly what I had asked of them. I was in charge; I was responsible.
-Some of the politicians and most senior military brass in Washington felt that killing bad guys only created more enemies. But they did not have a clue.
-One of the greatest lessons learned for me was that I could have done a far better job of leading down the chain of command.
-It is paramount that senior leaders explain to their juniors leaders and troops executing the mission how their role contributes to big picture success.
-Leaders must routinely communicate with their team members to help them understand their role in the overall mission.
-Leading down the chain of command requires regularly stepping out of the office and personally engaging in face to face conversations with direct reports and observing the front line troops in action to understand their particular challenges and read them into the Commander's intent.
-As a leader employing Extreme Ownership, if your team isn't doing what you need them to do, you first have to look at yourself.
-We had to focus our planning efforts on the risks we could control.
-Leadership doesn't just flow down the chain of command, but up as well. We have to own everything in our world. We need to look at ourselves and see what we can do better.
-I needed to check my negative attitude, which was corrosive and ultimately only hampered our ability to operate.
-If your boss isn't making a decision in a timely manner or providing necessary support for you and your team, don't blame the boss. First, blame yourself. Examine what you can do to better convey the critical information for decisions to be made and support allocated.
-One of the most important jobs of any leader is to support your own boss, your immediate leadership.