Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people…
The powerful motivator in our lives isn’t money; it’s the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others, and be recognized for achievements.
Clayton M. Christensen, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Takeaways of Note:
Create a Strategy for Your Life – choice & successful pursuit of a profession is but one tool for achieving our purpose… but without a purpose, life can become hollow
Allocate Your Resources – decisions about allocating our personal time, energy & talent ultimately shape our life strategies
Create a Culture – Families have cultures, just as companies do… and they can be built consciously or evolve inadvertently
Avoid the “Marginal Costs” Mistake – Unconsciously, we often employ the “marginal cost” doctrine when we choose between right & wrong… doing something wrong “just this once” can seem alluringly low cost and we may not look at where that path ultimately is headed nor at the full costs of that choice
Remember the Importance of Humility – humble people tend to have a high level of self-esteem; knowing who they are, and feeling good about who they are… generally, we can be humble only if we feel good about ourselves and we want to help those around us feel good about themselves, too
Choose the Right Yardstick – Think about how our life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day guided by such… don’t worry about the level of individual prominence; focus on those around us whom we can help along their journeys
Bonus Nuggets
– “Had I instead spent that hour each day learning the latest techniques for mastering the problems of autocorrelation in regression analysis, I would have badly misspent my life. I apply the tools of econometrics a few times a year, but I apply my knowledge of the purpose of my life every day.”
– “If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find this predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratification. If you look at personal lives through that lens, you’ll see the same stunning and sobering pattern: people allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered most.”
– “it’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time. If you give in to “just this once,” based on a marginal cost analysis… you’ll regret where you end up. You’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place.”