Pile On Motivation

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Category: Entrepreneurial

  • Most Organizations that inspire people to “do great things” have this in common

    In nearly every case of a person or an ORGANIZATION that has gone on to INSPIRE people to DO GREAT THINGS , there exists this special partnership between a person who knows the WHY and another who knows the HOW.

    This relationship starts to clarify the VISION statement and MISSION statement of an organization.

    The vision statement is WHY the company exists whereas a mission statement are guiding principles based on HOW the company intends to create the future.

    Bill Gates was the visionary who imagined a world with the PC , Paul Allen knew HOW to execute this vision.

    Similarly Steve Jobs had the vision about the Mac and Steve Wozniak knew HOW to give this shape.

    The list goes on…The point here is that unless and until there is a partnership between such like minded people with complementary skill set , the true magic on inspiring by innovating falls flat.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • Why do companies STRUGGLE to communicate their TRUE VALUE?

    The struggle that so many companies have to differentiate or communicate their true value to the outside world is NOT a BUSINESS PROBLEM.

    Rather it is a BIOLOGY PROBLEM.

    This is just like a person struggling to put emotions to words relying on metaphors , imagery etc. in order to attempt what we feel.

    Exactly for organizations such a message which has to be understood by the human LIMBIC brain needs to be based on belief and stories which have no rational explanation.

    Once communication starts inside OUT from WHY to HOW and WHAT the message becomes easy to understand and more credible.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • What is “Stockdale Paradox”?

    James Bond Stockdale was a United States Navy vice admiral and aviator awarded the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War, during which he was a prisoner of war for over seven years. Commander Stockdale was the most senior naval officer held captive in Hanoi, North Vietnam.

    His sheer ability to survive during tough times and come out triumphant has inspired Jim Collins to make a mention about “The Stockdale Paradox” in his book Good To Great.

    The Stockdale Paradox is stated as follows:

    “Retain faith that you will prevail in the end , regardless of the difficulties

    AND

    At the same time confront the most brutal facts of your CURRENT REALITY , whatever they might be.

    A great organization powered by a Level 5 leader never loses hope during tough times.They know that these are part & parcel of the infinite game of business and face the brutal facts of reality to rejig and come back stronger.

    This paradox is not only inspirational and applicable for organizations as well as individuals.

  • Why just copying a business model will never work?

    SouthWest Airlines copied their model from Pacific SouthWest Airlines , even copied their name but eventually carved a niche out for themselves.

    This is because Herb Kelleher was successfully able to communicate the WHY which translated into all the employee touchpoints with the customers.The consistency of messaging is the reason SouthWest has had customer loyalty over the years.

    Seeing the rising popularity of SouthWest’s low cost model , prompted United to Start TED and Delta to start SONG as the low cost variants.

    Since both United and Delta copied the WHAT from SouthWest and did not focus on the WHY hence these models never took off.

    Mentioned below links showcase the respective failures of United and Delta with their low cost segments.

    https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/united-shut-down-ted-airlines-95995/

    Source Adweek

    https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/united-shut-down-ted-airlines-95995/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/business/delta-to-close-song-its-lowfare-airline.html

    Source NY Times

    Thus just copying the WHAT is not sufficient for long term sustenance.When the WHY is clear and communicated that way is when customers truly become loyal customers.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • Why are Charismatic leaders able to command customer loyalty?

    We are all drawn to charismatic great leaders and organizations who are good at communicating what they believe.

    Their ability to make us feel we belong , feel safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us.

    These are leaders who have the ability to draw us close to them in order to command our loyalty.

    This results in us feeling a strong sense of BOND with these leaders and organizations.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why.

  • Why “Manipulation” works only in the SHORT TERM?

    To get short term benefits and returns “Manipulation” and trickery by means of risk/reward behavior manipulation becomes the strategy of choice for most companies and marketers.

    As with short cuts this has its own share of pitfalls in the long run.This is because NOT manipulation but INSPIRATION results in  loyalty which results in long term benefits.

    Organizations who have STARTED with WHY and build customer loyalty for e.g. Walmart , Apple etc.  have struggled when their WHY went fuzzy due to the presence of a finite minded leaders.When this happens it becomes difficult to maintain the growth , loyalty and to inspire employees.

    Time is witness that in order to bring such iconic companies back on track has needed an infinite minded leader back at the helm.Steve Jobs , Doug McMillon , Michael Dell the list goes on have returned to get their respective companies back on track by reviving the WHY.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • Building customer loyalty by communicating the “WHY” aspect in a product

    People DO NOT buy WHAT we do but they buy WHY we do it.

    The touch point of an organization with customers or market place is where the WHAT aspect of a product is exposed.

    Once the WHY communicated in a VISION translates to the WHAT aspect of a product is when the “innovators” , “early adopters” are able to understand the meaning of the product and get loyal with the product.Subsequently they are the ones who spread “word of mouth” to the masses.

    Thus communicating the WHY aspect of a product has to be very clear to convert customers into loyal customers.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • What is meant by “Breakage” in Retailing?

    The manipulative nature of promotions is very well established in the RETAIL INDUSTRY and one such principles is termed as “BREAKAGE”.

    BREAKAGE measures the percentage of customers who FAIL to take ADVANTAGE of a PROMOTION and end up paying FULL PRICE for the product instead.

    This typically happens when buyers do not bother performing the necessary steps to claim REBATES , a process purposely kept complicated to increase the likelihood of mistakes or inaction.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • Why great leaders “Disseminate” knowledge?

    “It does not matter how much we know.

    What matters is how clearly others can understand what we know.”

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s great quotes

  • Motivational quote of the day

    “What we DO for OTHERS has a direct IMPACT on how we feel about OURSELVES.”

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s great quotes