Virgins & Dead Poets > A Tribute To Robin Williams

20 YEARS GO, I walked into a Manhattan deli. Robin Williams and Billy Crystal strolled in behind me. I looked at Billy and said, “You look Maaaahveous!” Billy winked. I turned to Robin and said, “Carpe Diem.” Robin smiled and said, “Carpe diem kid … make your life extraordinary!”

I was crushed by Robin’s passing this year (1951-2014). He was more than a comedy genius. As co-founder of Comic Relief, he also helped raise over $50 million dollars for the homeless. He was an iconic mentor and king of “The Crazy Ones.” He also navigated the comedy-actor gauntlet with unique aplomb. He was Mork, Garp, Hook, Mrs. Doubtfire and psychologist Sean from Good Will Hunting. But if I had to choose one performance that struck us most, it was Professor Keating in Dead Poets Society (Best Original Screenplay in 1989). In that role, Robin pushed the Latin phrase “carpe diem” into our pop culture lexicon and inspired millions worldwide.

SPOILER ALERT: In 1990, I wrote the following review of Dead Poets Society. It reads as true today as it did then. Let’s all watch it again. Let’s SEIZE THE DAY!

To The Virgins

Dead Poets Society introduces a group of teenage boys at Welton Academy, a conservative prep school with a tradition of honor and discipline. On the first day of class student heroes meet their poetry teacher, Professor Keating (Robin Williams). In a powerful scene, Keating encourages the boys to “make their lives extraordinary.” He begins by asking a student to read a verse from a poem titled: To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time.

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a flying,
and this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.”

“The Latin term for that sentiment is carpe diem,” says Keating. It means, “Seize the day.” He then instructs the students to rip out the boring introductory pages of their textbook because the author suggests poems be rated on a mathematical scale. This offends Keating’s artistic soul. Keating then cajoles each student to stand on a classroom desk to illustrate that “the universe is wider than our view of it.”

Discovering an old yearbook, the boys soon learn that Keaton was once a member of a secret literary club called Dead Poets Society, whose members dared to live extraordinary lives. The boys decide to revive the club and embrace its carpe diem spirit.

Tragedy and Triumph

In a series of trips to a secret cave, the boys read from great poets and become inspired. Todd will find his sense of self worth. Knox will pursue the object of his affection. But when Charlie breaches school etiquette by submitting an anonymous article to the campus newspaper suggesting girls be admitted to Welton, he’s gone too far. The boys are soon threatened by the headmaster with expulsion but Charlie refuses to reveal the names of his fellow Dead Poet members.

When Keating hears that his students are in trouble, he tempers the carpe diem mantra with more fatherly advice:

“Sucking the marrow out of life doesn’t mean choking on the bone.”

The boys must now come to grips with their actions and parents. In the film’s climax, Neil Perry, a student with a passion for acting, ignores his father’s instructions and takes the lead in a Shakespeare play. On opening night, Neil’s father discovers appears unannounced and withdrawals Neil from Welton in front of his peers. Mr. Perry tells Neil the next ten years will be spent studying medicine. Feeling hopeless under his father’s rule, Neil commits suicide.

Mr. Perry demands the Academy launch an investigation into Neil’s death intimating that Keating is to blame for planting seeds of independence in Neil’s mind. One by one, Neil’s classmates are shuttled into the headmaster’s office and threatened with expulsion if they don’t implicate Keating. Keating is fired without a hearing.

In the movie’s final scene, the headmaster is teaching from a boring poetry text as Keating stands at the doorway prepared to leave Welton forever. In a single act of loyalty, Todd stands on his desk and says to Keating. “Oh, Captain, My Captain.” It’s a verse from a Walt Whitman poem that Keating taught the boys on day one if they ever chose to address him with a bit of daring. One by one, half the class has the courage to stand on their desks in solidarity.

The headmaster screams, “Sit down!” But the boys have chosen to seize the day.

RIP Robin Williams


What’s Your Giving Pledge?

Slider5For Your Giving Consideration

Of the 9 billion people on earth, 87% of us are blessed with food, shoes, shelter, education, medicine, and clean water. But somewhere, someone is suffering in ways we cannot fathom. A billion are hungry and homeless. Over 2 billion don’t have clean water. Just as many kids are at risk. Many are physically and emotionally challenged. There are communities without schools or books. We need urgent relief due to war, natural disasters, and diseases such as malaria to Ebola.

What’s Your Giving Pledge

The smallest contribution will change lives. Your $3 movement can feed starving babies or build schools. We can give away clothes. We can mentor youth. We can donate our time, money, products and services. So I’m challenging my friends around the world to give back even more than they already do. As one of my commitments, a portion of all proceeds from Cliff Michaels & Associates goes to global causes from cancer and the environment to kids at risk and animal rights.

I Pledge to Give Back by Learning Forward

I have a particular passion for changing lives through education. I think it’s the great equalizer, especially for students in need. So if you would like to join me in an education revolution, I’ll match your sponsorship with free training programs dedicated to careers, leadership. entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Just visit CliffMichaels.com and let me know how I can help a student, club or school in need.

Together, we make a difference.

Cliff Michaels

Never Quit! Abraham Lincoln’s Greatest Legacy

Lincoln.ImageEpic Lessons in Failure

My first year in college, I stumbled on a book titled Decision in Philadelphia. It’s a dramatic non-fiction about the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention and the shortcomings of America’s Founding Fathers who failed to abolish slavery or provide for women’s rights. Years later, I was watching Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-Winning film Lincoln, the crusade to end slavery and Civil War in America. Great movie! But in my humble opinion, it failed to scratch the surface of President Abraham Lincoln’s arduous road to the White House, a story that every leader should be taught in grade school.

Lincoln’s Legacy

Lincoln was born to humble and tragic beginnings. His parents were uneducated farmers. At age 7, his family was forced from their home. His father was illiterate and his mother died when he was 9. His only sister died in childbirth a few years later. His grandfather was killed when Lincoln was 23. At 24, Lincoln went bankrupt. He spent the next seventeen years paying off debts to friends and colleagues.

As a young man, Lincoln failed in business and couldn’t get into law school. He is one of ten Unites States presidents who never graduated from college but studied law and became a lawyer.

In his 20s, Lincoln was twice defeated for state legislature. At 26, he was engaged, but his fiancé died. Lincoln had a nervous breakdown. At 33, he was married to Mary Todd. They had four sons but three died at ages 4, 11, and 18 (not uncommon in the 19th century for illnesses we easily treat today).

Lincoln’s professional career was equally turbulent. At 29, he ran for speaker of the state legislature and was defeated. Once elected to state legislature, he was defeated several times running for Congress. At 45, he ran for Senate and lost. At 47, he ran for vice president and lost. At 49, he ran for Senate and lost again.

In spite of all the setbacks, Lincoln pressed on. Then in 1860, age 50, he ran for President. He won the election and changed the course of history. Today, Lincoln is the most quoted and revered of U.S. Presidents, fondly remembered as a statesman and civil-rights leader. If not for his assassination in 1865, he had so much more to teach. But that arduous road to the White House provides his most enduring legacy …

Never quit. Failure is your friend.

Change Mavens & 3 Degrees of Social Impact

On Nov 22, 2011, a team of scientists at Facebook and the University of Milan released a study based on 721 million Facebook users. The study suggested 69 billion friendships could be formed by any two individuals connecting through just 4.74 acquaintances. Sounds like fuzzy math so I thought I’d explore the “separation theory” myself. Could it mean something more to modern innovators, game-changers, and social media mavens.

In 1967, a psychologist named Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment with 160 people in Omaha, Nebraska. It was seminal work that preceded the social media phenomenon. As part of his Harvard dissertation, Milgram asked participants to forward a package to a friend they believed could bring it closer to a stockbroker in Boston who was the subject of Milgram’s experiment. Each participant received instructions to mail a folder to a friend they knew on a first name basis. Each person passed along the same instructions, hoping an acquaintance might know Milgram’s stockbroker. Milgram tracked progress through return postcards in each letter. There was an average of “six degrees of separation” between the original sender and the recipient in Boston who received the package. Sound familiar?

Kevin Bacon’s 6 Degrees

In 1990, an American playwright named John Guare wrote a Pulitzer-Prize nominated play titled Six Degrees of Separation. It was inspired by a real-life con artist named David Hampton. The 1993 movie based on Guare’s play starred a young Will Smith as the lead protagonist. The story proposes any two of us are connected at most by five others.

In 1994, actor Kevin Bacon joked in an interview that he seemingly worked with everybody in Hollywood; or at least someone who worked with someone. The social buzz exploded that year when four college students invented a party game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. They began speculating on the number of films Bacon had appeared in and how everyone was connected to the famous star one way or another. The students then wrote a letter to talk-show host Jon Stewart, telling him Kevin Bacon was the center of the entertainment universe in their “silly party game.” Soon after, the students found themselves on The Jon Stewart Show explaining the concept. A book and trivia game were released and “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” became a cultural juggernaut.

In 2007, Bacon also formed a non-profit called SixDegrees.org. His organization teamed up with a popular charity hub called Network for Good to power a website that linked users to over a million charities. Great concept. But I can’t help but wonder if we can improve on 6 degrees … maybe even lower the 4.74 degrees in the Milan-Facebook study?

Is 3 Degrees the New 6 Degrees?

The recent ALS Ice Bucket Challenge inspired millions of people to dump a bucket of ice on their heads to bring awareness to a debilitating disease called ALS (aka Lou Gherig’s disease). You shot a home-brewed video of yourself calling out three friends on Facebook or Twitter (maybe even 3 clubs or companies) and the frenzy began. Results? ALSA.org raised over $30 million dollars in just a few summer months of 2014 compared to less than a few million dollars in 2013 for the same period. People who had no idea about ALS didn’t want to miss the social train. Even those who didn’t donate supported the movement. In turn, ALS and other charities were rewarded with funding and global awareness. This begs a question: “Is the paradigm shift for social impact this simple? A Change Maven would say, “THE SHIFT ALREADY HAPPENED.”

What’s a Change Maven?

The average entrepreneur is not a boat rocker. He or she takes minimal startup risk to compete in an existing market the same way competitors do. Change Mavens on the other hand are disruptive innovators. They push the envelope and try something new. We know some of these mavericks as The Crazy Ones featured in the famous “Think Different” Apple commercial (Gandhi, Ali, Parks, Picasso, Earhart, Dylan, Dr. King, Jobs). They are the misfit pioneers in art, music, sports, science, medicine, business, civil rights, and education.

Chaos & Challenge in a Connected World

Now that the world is hyper-connected through social media, the biggest causes are harder to ignore, regardless of political, religious, or social positions. While 87% of us have access to food, shoes, shelter, education, and medicine, over a billion people are hungry, homeless or physically and emotionally challenged. Over 2 billon people don’t have clean water. There are communities without schools and schools without books. Our collective battle is as much against disease, disaster relief, and kids at risk, as it is with terrorism or dysfunctional governments. And the world is watching more than ever on Twitter, and Facebook as much as CNN.

Are You a Change Maven?

Making a difference and making money has never been easier. A kid maven can start a lemonade stand for a local cause and friends across the globe will know instantly. Education mavens can teach anytime, anywhere through 24/7 e-learning. A lending maven can help small entrepreneurs in third-world countries with micro-loans as little as $25. In other words, personal, professional and community impact are no longer the start-up challenge they once were. In a socially conscious world of tech savvy Millenials, Change Mavens can also be Average Joe or Plain Jane. They don’t need to be genius outliers. A passion behind a worthwhile movement has already proven that purpose can be just as strategic as profit motive.

Gone are the days where success or ability are measured strictly in terms of money. Corporate responsibility is the new paradigm according to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. “If you’re not giving back to the communities you serve, you’re not building a sustainable business model in the 21st century,” says Schultz. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh echoes the sentiment with core values that “Deliver Happiness” to employees and customers. TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie spearheaded a 1-for-1 movement that encouraged individuals and companies to always give something back (with each sale, TOMS gives a pair of shoes to a child in need). Similarly, Cliff Michaels Academy provides free books and e-courses on life skills, leadership, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship to students and schools in need worldwide.

If you’re a Change Maven who believes in social impact, you don’t think in terms of “What’s in it for me?” You think in terms of “What’s sustainable for you and me?” You’ll join forces with leaders who share similar mission, vision, and values. You might bring together three like-minded students, teachers, or club presidents from different schools. You might challenge 3 competitive CEOs to fight for a common cause like cancer or the environment. You may even help three charities work together for a global event where the sum of their teams is greater than their individual parts.

Clearly, Change Mavens don’t need to be celebrities or social media moguls to launch powerful movements. The right movement with the right message attracts high-profile messengers. Meaningful movements can also generate huge profits and that’s a big part of the paradigm shift too. So find your 3 degrees of social impact, and don’t be afraid to make money while making a difference. If you can do that, there’s a good chance you’re already a Change Maven!

Cliff Michaels Academy Giving Mission – CliffMichaels.com
With each sale, we give FREE books & e-courses to schools & students in need.

The Genius Gift of Thomas Edison – Limitation Inspires Innovation

In The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking, I wrote a chapter on famous failures, highlighting one of my first mentors, Thomas Edison. Ranked #1 in Life Magazine’s hundred people who “made the millenium”, Edison wasn’t just a visionary inventor with over a thousand patents. He was the founder of fourteen companies and in every sense of the word, an entrepreneurial thinker who taught us that limitations inspire innovation.

In my study of Edison, I soon learned that there were few people who didn’t fail big before achieving success. But there’s a difference between those who fail and those who learn from experience. This was our greatest gift from Edison. After all, he didn’t invent the light bulb. He made it long lasting after countless experiments. He didn’t invent marketing but he understood the importance of solving a need. Technically deaf, he wasn’t born with a silver tongue but was certainly famous for quotes.

“I have not failed. I have discovered 10,000 ways that won’t work.”


Ready … Set … Whoops?

In high school, I failed a chemistry exam and a friend called me “Edison.” Knowing nothing about the famous inventor, I made a trek to the library assuming he was a gifted scientist. Boy was I wrong. 

Edison was the youngest of seven children who didn’t learn to speak until he was almost four. He was a hyper and inquisitive kid like me, and so disruptive, that an early teacher told his mother he was “too stupid to learn anything.” She opted for home-schooling. Edison was not only considered dumb and dyslexic at an early age, he was technically deaf by his teenage years. His groundbreaking research in sound recordings with a hearing impairment was possible by inserting a piece of wood between his teeth in order to listen to vibrations. 

“Deafness has its advantages.” said Edison. “My own deafness enables me to
concentrate my thoughts as I’d never be able to do if distracted by noise and conversation.”

His limitations clearly became his greatest assets. Today, insight to Edison legacies such as the phonograph, electric automobile, and long-lasting light bulbs, can be found through the Edison Innovation Foundation where his personal letters and company records still exist. From his factory of workers, thousands of notebooks were discovered, documenting everything from inventions to business theories and marketing ideas. At the core, we find a system of intelligent failure and resolve. And in his whimsical quotes, we find oceans of inspiration.

“Hell, there are no rules here … we’re trying to invent something.”

Edison was known to dance when experiments failed, working into the night with teams who shared his passion. We see the same principles in highly innovative corporate cultures who compete in the 21st century. So whether you’re a student, artist, tech wiz, small biz guru or global leader, the Edison thinking model proves that limitation is your inspiration for innovation.

This blog is from a chapter in The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking
Essential 1, Skill 7 – Never Quit – Failure is Your Friend (also see blog on Abraham Lincoln)

Harvard Joe & The Fisherman | Essential 1, Skill 1: Define Success

What’s Your Definition of the Good Life? World Peace ~ Love & Laughter ~ Art & Innovation ~ Giving & Gratitude ~ Friends & Family ~ Money & Fame ~ A Healthy Mind, Body & Soul?

Fifteen years before I wrote The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking, a friend sent me a fable about how we define success. I included the principle in my book as Skill #1. Hybrids of the famous story floated on the Internet for decades, written by countless poets with themes from pirate’s tale to Buddhist myth. Curious to its origin, I stumbled upon a German writer named Heinrich Böll, a Nobel Prize winner who wrote a parable in 1963 about a traveling businessman who attempts to lecture a humble fisherman about success. Instead, the biz guru learns a valuable life lesson from the fisherman.

A modern version of the fable written in 1996 is titled “The Mexican Fisherman” by Dr. Mark Albion, a former Harvard business professor. In 2009, Mark changed the title to “The Good Life.” When I told Mark about The 4 Essentials, he graciously approved my spin on the famous fisherman’s tale. I hope you enjoy it …

Harvard Joe and the Fisherman by Cliff Michaels

After graduating from Harvard Business School, an American stock broker named Joe decided to take a vacation. He chose a small island, famous for a quiet and friendly fishing village. If only to take his mind off work a few days, Joe vowed he would fish a little and avoid the money-talk so prevalent on Wall Street.

On his first vacation day, Joe strolled the beach. He spotted a small fishing boat coming into shore. Inside the boat were a lone fisherman and a fresh catch of large yellowfin tunas. Dozens of tourists were handing over cash as the fisherman docked his boat. Joe was so impressed, he complimented the fisherman and asked how long it took to catch so many beautiful fish. “Not long,” said the fisherman. “The supply is endless in this treasure cove.”

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” asked Joe. “You would certainly make more money in such rich waters.”

The fisherman smiled and said, “Oh, I catch more than enough to support my family and lifestyle.”
“But what do you do with the rest of your time?” asked Joe.

The fisherman replied, “I read, nap, and play with my daughters. Some days I teach kids how to fish. Other days I play soccer with school children. In the afternoons, I stroll into the village where I sip wine with my lovely wife and play guitar with my friends. Most nights we cook fish and share recipes with tourists.” 

“Wow, you have tons of free time!” said Joe. “Listen, I have an MBA. I can help you vastly expand your business. If you simply spend more time fishing, you would earn enough money to buy a bigger boat.”

“Really?” asked the fisherman.

“Absolutely,” said Joe. “And with a bigger boat, you could catch enough fish to buy several boats and then a whole fleet. At that point you would be successful enough to sell directly to a processor, cut out the middleman, and vastly increase profits. Then you could open your own cannery and control distribution.”

“Then what?” asked the fisherman.

“If all goes well, you’ll find yourself in a big city, running a rapidly expanding empire,” said Joe.

“How long would all this take?” asked the fisherman.

“Not long at all. Maybe 7 years,” replied Joe.“With me as your CEO, I’ll bet we can do it in 5 years if we hustle. I’m all about the hustle!”

“Then what?” asked the fisherman.

Joe grinned and said, “When the time is right, we could take the company public or sell to the highest bidder. At that point, you would be very rich — a millionaire many times over.” 

“Really? A millionaire? Then what?” asked the fisherman.

“What do you mean?” asked Joe.

“I mean, what would I do if I was a millionaire?” asked the fisherman.

“Whatever you like,” said Joe. “You could retire, move to a coastal village, fish a little, play with your kids … sip wine at night with your wife … play guitar with friends … and …”

Without another word, Joe and the fisherman shared a good laugh. The fisherman then invited Joe to return for dinner. By sunset, the fisherman had built a small fire to share his catch-of-the-day with tourists. Joe arrived just in time for the most scrumptious fish he ever tasted. As the sun faded, Joe and his new friends sang along to soothing sound of the fisherman’s guitar.“Ahhh,” Joe whispered. “The good life.”

Final Thoughts
From Harvard Joe to the island fisherman, success means different things to different people at different stages in life. Kids dream of becoming an artist, athlete, or rock῾n’ roller. Athletes hope to break records and win championships. Parents want the very best opportunities for their kids. Third-world villagers need food, shoes, clothing, shelter, education, medicine, and clean water. Volunteers and social entrepreneurs measure success by giving back. We all search for love, health, and happiness. Clearly, definitions vary. But successful people share a common thread. They define success with purpose behind passion and a journey without compromise. At some point, we all have to define it.

Are you there yet?

This blog is based on a chapter from The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking
Essential 1, Skill 1: Define Success > Read of Listen TODAY | audio, e-book or paperback!

 

Tony Hsieh Interview by Cliff Michaels (Part 1 of 2)

A Happy Maverick on a Mission

In the Fall of 2011, The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking was 3 months away from launch when I received an endorsement from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay). Tony’s book Delivering Happiness had recently hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list so I was sincerely humbled.

As a token of appreciation, I drove from Los Angeles to Vegas with a basket of Tony’s favorite snacks (beef jerky, gourmet pickles, Red Bull and Grey Goose Vodka). Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised that my book was in the Zappos Library, snuggled between The 4 Hour Workweek and Tribal Leadership (#1 Bestsellers). A few months later, my book hit #1 on Amazon and #3 on the New York Times Bestseller list.

The day I arrived, ABC’s Barbara Walters and her 20/20 TV crew were interviewing Tony. So I asked if he had 10 minutes for an interview with me too. He graciously said yes and we filmed an impromptu Q&A. The video highlights are at the end of this blog. Below is the article I wrote shortly after. The lessons are as true today as they were 3 years ago.

About Tony Hsieh

The son of Taiwanese parents and a computer-science graduate from Harvard, Tony Hsieh is very clear on why he wrote a book titled Delivering Happiness. In a world where attracting talent and satisfied customers is everything, Hsieh not only created a unique corporate culture driven by core values, but a global movement that includes “fun and a little weirdness.” If you don’t know the Zappos mantras, a few million fans and thousands of loyal employees will tell you why you should.

In 1999, Hsieh (24), sold LinkExchange to Microsoft for $265 million dollars. It was an Internet advertising network that he co-founded out of college. Shortly after, he invested in a series of companies, including the fledgling e-commerce company Zappos.com. Hsieh started as an Advisor and eventually became CEO of Zappos, helping the company grow from almost no sales to a $1 billion dollar juggernaut. With Hsieh’s dedication to a happy corporate culture, Zappos also made Fortune Magazine’s list of “Best Companies to Work For”.

So Whats Tony’s Secret to Success & Happiness?

On July 22, 2009, Amazon announced the acquisition of Zappos in a deal valued at $1.2 billion dollars. Then in 2010, Tony’s book, Delivering Happiness debuted #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list and stayed there 27 weeks.

Tony also hands over a Zappos culture handbook and provides free office tours (to competitors and street tourists alike). He understands that success begins with sharing. “You never know where talent or ideas come from. Why not invite everyone to the party,” says Tony.

Feel free to also lose the suit and tie at Zappos. Employees wear anything from jeans to Halloween costumes. The vibe is like a college campus party where employees are called friends and motivational mantras hang from rafters like championship banners.

As for Hsieh, there’s no private office. His cubicle is in the middle of the madness for optimal interaction with employees.

But it wasn’t always fun and games for Tony. Here’s what I learned from our Q & A …

ONE-ON-ONE with TONY HSIEH

Cliff: Thanks for your time today and congratulations on the successful sale of Zappos to Amazon. I really enjoyed reading your book Delivering Happiness. Could you take us through your story with LinkExchange as your first baby and Zappos as your big baby?

Tony: Sure. Back in 1996 after graduating college, my roommate and I started a company called LinkExchange. We specialized in online advertising and grew that company to about 100 employees. We ended up selling the company to Microsoft two and half years later for $265 million. But what a lot of people don’t know is the real reason we ended up selling — it just wasn’t fun anymore.

The company culture went completely down hill. When it was just five or ten of us, it was a typical dot-com. We worked around the clock and slept under our desks. We had no idea what day of the week it was, but it was fun. We started hiring friends which worked pretty well until we got to about 20 people and ran out of friends. Then we had to hire people based on resumes and interviews. We were fresh out of college and had never done it before. I did a decent job in terms of hiring people with the right skills and experience, but we didn’t know about company culture — so not everyone we hired was good for us.

By the time we got to 100 people, I dreaded getting out of bed and going to my own company. That’s really what led us to sell. We got lucky with timing because it was the first dot-com boom. So I started investing in companies. But after a year, I was tired of sitting on the sidelines. I missed being part of building something. Of all the investments, Zappos was the most fun and promising so I ended up joining the company and becoming its CEO.

Cliff: On that note, let’s talk about the famous Zappos 10 Core Values.

Tony: When we’re hiring, we don’t say, “This person has 9 out of 10, we’ll let them pass.” We really need all 10. The core values are:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More with Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Cliff: Were those principles the inspiration for your book Delivering Happiness?

Tony: Originally, it was about spreading the idea of “happiness” as a business model to other companies. That includes making customers, employees and business partners happy. Along the way, we decided to go on a book tour. It felt like planning 80 weddings over 4 months. We actually got the bus from the bass player of the Dave Matthews Band.

Cliff: What evolved from the tour?

Tony: Delivering Happiness was written as a business book but people took away something more. That surprised us. We had moms e-mailing us, saying they were now the CEOs of their families and thinking like value-driven corporations. We heard from charities that said they were going to focus more on their culture. We even heard the book was going to be required reading at certain colleges.

Cliff: That had to be rewarding. What happened next?

Tony: The tour led us to start a company called Delivering Happiness. This whole idea of inspiring and being inspired fostered a movement with happiness beyond the business level.

Cliff: So what’s the biggest challenge in getting that happiness message adopted within a large organization like Zappos, since everyone has a unique definition of success … or happiness?

Tony: If you want to go with one, simple principle, just be true to yourself. One of the things we really encourage at Zappos is to bring your true personality to the office.

Cliff: (smiling) One of my favorite quotes on that theme is by Oscar Wilde, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.” Where’s your biggest passion these days?

Tony: I’m still CEO of Zappos ad we’re moving to downtown Las Vegas. We’ll integrate the Zappos campus and city together.

Cliff: So you’re spearheading a renaissance. Is there a city you might use as a model?

Tony: I think it’s got it’s own personality (neighborhoodie) and community feel. There’s an area (Fremont East) with eight or nine bars and cafes where owners hang out in each other’s bars. There are tech companies and start-ups there too. I’d like to see a growing art scene and more live music. Ultimately, everything you need to live, work, and play would be within walking distance. On my wall at home there are about 70 post-it notes. They’re passion projects for downtown. These ideas aren’t coming from me. They stem from anyone with a passion about their community.

Cliff: You’ve now evolved from a technology CEO and bestselling author to a community builder. It’s great to see an entrepreneur cross bridges. Did you ever imagine you’d change a city the way you changed a business model?

Tony: Not at all. We were originally thinking Apple, Nike, and Google all have great campuses, but they’re very insular. They don’t really integrate with the community or contribute to the environment. We want to take more of an NYU approach; almost a seamless transition between the city and campus.

Cliff: Great stuff. Who were your mentors?

Tony: There wasn’t a single mentor or book. There’s something to learn from almost anyone. Here at Zappos, we have a large library with something to learn from countless books.

Cliff: Yours library is like a museum. Thanks for including my book The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking. From all you’ve learned, what are your biggest fears?

Tony: Based on past experience, I want to make sure the Zappos culture not only scales, but gets stronger. That’s why this campus move to downtown is exciting. It will take our culture to a whole new level. Every bar or bookstore will become an extended conference room. Employees are already gravitating downtown. On any given night, every bar feels like Cheers.

Cliff: Walking through the Zappos halls, I hear cowbells, pride, and passion. Your co-workers speak of you as a friend. That culture is rare and stems from how much you give back. Can you speak about the charitable aspect of Zappos?

Tony: It’s funny because it all goes back to what people are passionate about. When we were smaller, we could only afford to give to one local or national charity. We basically sent a survey out and asked employees what they would suggest.

Cliff: So you engage employees to make decisions, even about charities?

Tony: Right. Now that we’ve grown, we can do more and still leave it up to the employees.

Cliff: Do you think boredom is what drives you to constantly improve?

Tony: I don’t think that’s unique to me. Everyone wants to grow and flourish. Everyone may not instinctively know how because they’ve been stuck in a boring job for ten years. But I think once you push people slightly outside their comfort zone, they realize there’s more potential in them than they may have realized.

Cliff: On that thought-provoking note, thanks for your time today Tony. It’s been an inspiring interview. Good luck with the new Zappos campus … and keep delivering happiness!

 

Part 2 of this interview provides Tony’s Top Tips on Social Media. Part 2 with Tony & Cliff.

How to Unleash Your Entrepreneurial Soul

Cliff-ECourse-Book-ThumbIn The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking, I set out to dispel a few myths about born entrepreneurs and the genius-at birth-theory. I analyzed innate talent, I.Q vs E.Q, great teachers, supportive parents, private coaching, soci0-economic advantages, and the value of a college degree. While each of these are a substantial leg-up, well-educated and privileged people often fail miserably in life, careers or business. We also know underprivileged people who came from poverty, had life trauma, or physical and emotional challenges, and managed to excel (Oprah, Richard Branson, Jackie Robinson, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Steve Jobs, The Beatles).

We can draw only one conclusion … From classroom to boardroom and battle field to playing field, we’re all entrepreneurs.

Be it an artist, athlete, high-tech CEO, or barista in a coffee shop, each of us is destined to boldly go where others only dream once we tap into the entrepreneur’s mindset. Yes, we all have it. We’ve all lied awake at night with a driving force that says, “There’s a better way.” At the core is imagination and a mission to improve the human experience. For most leaders in their field, the inspirational spark wasn’t a gift at birth. It came from a poet, book, movie, friend, parent, musician, or teacher. Sure, Mozart was extraordinarily musical, Bruce Lee was freakishly Kinesthetic, and Picasso was, well, Picasso. But each of us has a unique spark … and it can ignite with the simplest questions:

What if ? Why not ? When can we start ? Who do we know that’s been down this road?
What worked? What didn’t? What lessons were learned? What’s the best use of my time?

Highly successful people master these questions, then focus on their unique abilities. And you’ll never ask a silly question like, “Will I need to work overtime?” The answer is, “You bet! You’ll work your ass off! At that moment of clarity, you’ll unleash your entrepreneurial soul!

2014 Resolutions | 10 TIPS for Goals in Motion!

What Really Happens to New Year Resolutions?

Every December 31, we reflect on the past 12 months. What worked? What bombed altogether? Then we set new goals for health, wealth, careers, startup ideas or expanding business. That’s never enough so we pile on passions like writing a novel, adopting puppies, fun with friends, time for family, and hiking Kilimanjaro. Some are reasonable, others never get a chance. By March, 101 to-dos taunt us from desktops and refrigerator doors.

Want to keep your 2014 goals in motion? Here are 10 steps to guaranteed success!


1. Make it FUN!

  • The #1 reason goals fall apart is they never motivated us in the first place. Add “the play factor” to inspire your mission, friends, co-workers, and teammates.

2.  Stay HUMBLE!

  • If goals are stifled, ask for help. You may be closer than you think.

3.  Create BENCHMARKS & TIMELINES to support your PURPOSE!

  • Whether you hope to double sales, change careers, launch a business, get in shape, find love, or save the world, hardcore goals require S.M.A.R.T. routines (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely). Expect what you inspect!

4. THINK BIG but remember LESS CAN BE MORE!

  • Goals that start too big often fail to address little things first. Don’t put so much on your plate that essential projects never start or simple steps get half baked.

5. Don’t let PERFECT ruin GOOD!

  • Don’t always compromise good at the expense of great? Just start, get messy and be willing to screw up. Getting great requires deliberate practice with progress.

6. Write lots of THANK-YOU notes!

  • The fastest path to success is paved through gratitude. The return on that investment yields loyal clients, supportive friends, and great karma.

7. Maintain PASSION in your PURPOSE + PATIENCE in your PRACTICE

  • Clarify “WHY” you set that goal in the first place and ask friends to hold you accountable by checking on “the results” of your practice routine. Be patient but persistent!

8. FOCUS on what you do best, then delegate, collaborate, or eliminate the rest!

  • Hyper focus on your unique ability. Be willing to outsource or bring in co-workers and experts for things you don’t have time for, don’t like to do, or don’t do well.

9. Stay THIRSTY my friends!

  • Complacency kills the competitive spirit! If the goal is critical, you have to CRAVE it!

10. It’s not enough to THINK different. Have the COURAGE to BE different. As Mark Twain said, “Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.”

  

Remembering Steve Jobs – The Crazy One

He was a dreamer and a misfit who built one of the most endurable brands in history. He took us through revolutions in computers, music, and entertainment. He even master-minded one of the most popular advertising campaigns in history: Think Different: The Crazy Ones (featuring 17 iconic figures from Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Pablo Picasso, Bob Dylan and John Lennon to Richard Branson, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart and Martin Luther King, Jr.).

And on October 5, 2011, we lost Steve Jobs. He left behind an entrepreneurial spirit we may not see for a long time. His biography (Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson) reveals the saga of a complex soul who vacillated between genius and madness. In Isaacson’s words, we discover a “deeply emotional, sometimes mean, anti-social human being … who lived in his own altered reality.” But we also discovered a creative mind with a passion for what’s possible and no space for mediocrity.

When he passed away, I thought about one of the essays I wrote in The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking. I had a little fun comparing Gates to Jobs and Mozart to Tiger Woods in order to dispel the myth of born genius, born entrepreneur, and take on a bit of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outlier Theory that suggests 10,000 hours or 10 years of practice are secrets to success (yes and no in my book).

Most of us know the stories of Apple founder Steve Jobs and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Volumes have been written about both juggernauts so I can offer little to their biographies. But there’s a unique lesson I picked up watching a 2010 Apple commercial comparing PC to Mac. In its cheeky ad campaign, Apple pokes fun at the ongoing glitches of Microsoft’s operating system. Apple had similar bugs throughout its storied past, but since Microsoft’s PC is known to crash more than Apple products, the audience gets the joke. The commercial is clever but I came away with a totally different take than the one intended. It starts with a hip-looking kid i jeans (Jobs), standing next to a geeky, older guy in a suit and glasses (Gates). The next 60 seconds goes something like this …

Kid Mac: “Hello, I’m a Mac.”

PC Gates: “And I’m a PC. Hey Mac, did you hear the good news? Windows 7 is out and it’s not gonna have any of the problems that my last operating system had. Trust me.”

Kid Mac: (suspiciously): “I feel like I’ve heard this before, PC.” For the remainder of the commercial, we see PC Gates in decade-old leisure suits, insisting each new version of Microsoft’s operating software won’t have the previous problems.

PC Gates: “Windows Vista won’t have any problems Windows XP had, or any problems Windows ’98 had, or any problems Windows ’95 had … or any problems Windows 2 had. This time it’s gonna be different. Trust me (winking).”

What I gleaned from this time-capsule wasn’t that Mac was better than PC, Apple better than Microsoft, or Jobs better than Gates. My epiphany was that neither guy ever stopped innovating. Microsoft was still working out the kinks on Windows 7.0 when I wrote this. By the time you read this, the latest versions of iPads and iPhones will be in stores for at least 12 months anyway (trust me, wink-wink).

So as we remember Steve Jobs, we have to ask, “Was he a genius or just crazy enough to be obsessed with a passion for excellence?” After all, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was the original tech guy but could never have created Apple Computers the multi-billion dollar empire without a crazy sidekick. Jobs was the visionary and marketing guy who told us everything was “insanely great!” For Jobs, crazy was as much about form and beauty as function. And for that reason, he was more of a poet and artist than Gates even though both were crazy enough to think they could change the world.

Fortunately, Jobs left behind some of that crazy poetry, mantras that almost every artist and entrepreneurs alike know…

“Think different … Don’t be trapped by dogma and other people’s thinking … Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition … They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”

With all his foibles, we admire Jobs not because of his perfection, but his imperfections. He told us to never stop asking, “What if ?” To that end, we classify him as modern-day Mozart who played with passion and practiced with purpose.

For any of us to harness the essential legacy of Steve Jobs, we can’t wonder rest on our laurels. If the goal is “insanely great,” then the crazy question is “What’s next?”

Thank you, Steve. (R.I.P.)