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Tag: Productive Paranoia

  • Why hyper vigilance is needed in an infinite game?

    An infinite game player exhibits “Productive Paranoia” to stay hyper vigilant even when the situation seems rosy red.

    Failing to stay hyper vigilant by zooming in and out to disruption can land up a player into extinction in the near future.

    Kodak Camera failed to understand the disruption of the digital camera.

    MySpace failed to preempt Facebook.

    There are numerous such examples where a once successful player went into extinction for not being able to preempt the future led by disruption.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game and Jim Collins’s book Great By Choice

  • The need of “Productive Paranoia” in the infinite game of life

    Life is not a single scene.It is the whole movie that must play out , our only challenge or opportunity is we do not know what comes next

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Together is Better

  • How high performers turn bad luck into good results?

    High performers shine when clobbered by setbacks and misfortune.

    These are ones who use difficulty as a catalyst to deepen purpose . recommit to values . increase discipline and respond with creativity.

    They heighten productive paranoia and use resilience to overcome all obstacles to reach greatness.

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book titled “Great By Choice”

  • How “Productive Paranoia” helps keep high performing organizations afloat?

    The three main dimensions of “Productive Paranoia” exhibited by high performing or 10X companies , as mentioned by Jim Collins in “Great By Choice” are as follows:

    1. Build cash reserves and buffers is like having sufficient oxygen cannisters to help climb Mount Everest.It is the reserve that bails a company out of crisis situations and helps to proceed with its 20 Mile March even during tough times
    2. Bound all possible risks and safeguarding against them with religious planning.The risks are a) Death Line Risks b) Asymmetric Risks c) Uncontrollable risks and d) Time bound risks
    3. Zooming out and in and being continuously vigilant to sense change conditions and threats in the environment.

    Thus “Productive Paranoia” when exercised with the right intention can help to keep a company afloat and make profit and growth during difficult times.

    The best example that comes to mind is how SouthWest Airlines made profits without any job cuts post 9/11 by demonstrating this quality to the best extent possible.

  • Why is “Productive Paranoia” needed for high performance?

    High performers referred to as 10X performers in Jim Collins’s book titled “Great By Choice” , maintain hypervigilance ,staying highly tuned to threats and changes in environment even when everything is going well.

    These high performers use “Productive Paranoia” to turn their fear and worry into action , preparing and developing contingency plans , building buffers and maintaining high margins of safety.

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book titled “Great By Choice”

  • Merits of Herb Kelleher’s conservative balance sheet

    South West Airlines over the years has become renowned as an iconic Airlines in the United States of America.

    The chairman of SWA , Herb Kelleher built the company’s culture around employee benefits , respect to employees which was a key aspect that helped SWA outperform competitors.

    As a leader Herb Kelleher exhibited “Productive Paranoia” , always vigilant about the external operating business conditions to help SWA stay afloat.

    Once such strategy was to maintain a conservative balance sheet and surplus cash balance without being too greedy for growth.

    What this did was that it helped SWA continue with its 20 Mile march and reap profits even during rough times for e.g post 9/11 , SWA was the only Airlines who did not fire people and who registered profits when its competition was falling apart.

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book titled “Great By Choice”

  • David Breashears and his “productive paranoia”

    David Breashers was the director of the IMAX film titled “Everest” which was shot in Mount Everest ,the tallest peak in the world.

    This was filmed during the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster which killed quite a few mountaineers.

    It was the “Productive Paranoia” of the 10X leader David Breashears which saved his entire team and helped in production of the iconic film titled “Everest”.

    By use of “Productive Paranoia” he was able to preempt the storm and hence his team was better prepared in the face of the storm.

    Read more about “Everest” the film and 1996 Mount Everest Disaster from the following wikipedia links:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everest_(1998_film)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book titled “Great By Choice”

  • Three dimensions of “Productive Paranoia”

    10X or high performing companies over the last 30 to 40 years exhibit an unique quality of “Productive Paranoia”.

    This quality helps them remain afloat through thick and thin when others around them fall by the wayside.

    The three dimensions of “Productive Paranoia” are:

    1. Accumulate cash reserves and balances to be better prepared for rough times.
    2. Bound all kinds of risks e.g. Death line , asymmetric , uncontrolled as well as time bound risks
    3. Zoom in and zoom out and remain hyper vigilant all the time to be wary of the competition.

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book titled “Great By Choice”

  • How to succeed in an “unforgiving environment”?

    Look at the behavior patterns of the following 10X high performing leaders:

    1. Herb Kelleher of South West Airlines – Predicting 11 of the last 3 recessions
    2. Andy Grove of Intel –  “Always looking for the black cloud in the silver lining”
    3. Bill Gates – Issuing nightmare memos in Microsoft

    By embracing the myriad of possible dangers , they put themselves in a superior position to overcome danger due to an “unforgiving environment”.

    These are leaders who succeeded in uncertain , unforgiving environment through deliberate , methodical and systematic practice.

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book titled “Great By Choice”

  • Is “Productive Paranoia” good for high performing organizations?

    The high performing 10X companies are ones who maintain hypervigilance in good times as well as bad.

    They are always on their toes wary of disruption and hence competing with themselves to be a better version everyday.

    These companies constantly consider the possibility that events could turn against them at any moment and hence to counter such unpredictability they are always better prepared.

    Such “Productive Paranoia” thus keeps a high performing 10X organization afloat to be better prepared in the “Infinite Game” of business.

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book “Great By Choice” and Simon Sinek’s book “The Infinite Game”