There is an awesome quote by no one else but Mahatma Gandhi: 

“Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.”

(BTW, I feel like only Gandhi can pull off such a run-off sentence without half the audience nodding off).

As a sales professional, a leader, or a marketer; we are in the business of changing behavior. We want people to stop doing that, to do this. We want “them” to try something new, or just think differently about something. I try not to forget this, especially when we have a self imposed goal, or we are asked to hit one (a “destiny”?).

In our increasingly results-driven society, we may be tempted to give-in and accept that we must promise to produce an outcome, to hit the metric, when in reality, to effect lasting change, we just have to follow some version of Gandhi’s advice. Brainstorm, innovate, spell it out, and communicate it; put products, services, and marketing campaigns behind it, and then, incentivize the behavior. Create new habits. Sustain that cycle enough, and those habits will become ingrained deep enough to turn into values, which will generate lasting results and will become destiny. 

The shortcut’s life is short. Start with the daily habit.

We may want to think that we follow those who align with the way we think, but the opposite may also be true. Who we follow, defines us. Either for someone observing us looking from the outside, or by slowly changing the way we think.

Who we select as our leaders, says something about us. If we don’t align with their vision. If we would not like to be called their followers, and if their leadership does not serve us in some way; perhaps we should stop following them, especially if doing so causes us pain and suffering.

Otherwise, we should not complain if we get called one and the same.

From time to time I revisit some seminal business books. This is the case of the E-Myth, which every small business owner and entrepreneur should at least know what is about. Through a number of anecdotes, the author makes his case for building businesses with a system in-place from the very beginning.

In one of the chapters, the concepts of the Technician, the Manager, and the Entrepreneur are introduced. These three characters are not different people, but they are rather all living in the business owner’s head. They rarely talk all at the same time, but they take turns, depending on the context, or just the mood of the business owner.

Let’s take a look at each of them and understand why are they important, and why is it also important not to let them take over completely:

THE TECHNICIAN

This is the part in you that knows the craft. You have probably done this (whatever “this”means!) for years, you understand the market, the industry, and know very much what has to be done to produce a quality output.

Why is it important? It is the basis of the commodity you produce. It is necessary for having domain expertise and know how to create the state of the art.

Why must be kept in check? The business is never the commodity you produce, but the value that you create for your customers. Technicians seek refuge in their craft and generally want to produce what THEY believe the customer SHOULD love. The Technician is at odds with the Entrepreneur who tends to fly high and doesn’t know what can and cannot be done, and is also at odds with the Manager who wants consistency and to follow process, when the Technician just wants to express themselves through their craft.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

This is the creative, hard-charging, visionary part in you. The Entrepreneur comes up with new ideas, products to try. Gets excited about the possibilities and drops everything to pursue the next thing.

Why is it important? The only way to move a business forward and face adversity, is with this spirit. The Entrepreneur is what keeps the business evolving and makes sure that there is “business creation”, instead of just putting out products. Without an Entrepreneur, the output that the business generates can lose its appeal.

Why must be kept in check? The Entrepreneur does not like sticking to a predetermined process, they would like to try something new (again!). The Entrepreneur also gives little regard to the craft, to getting product out the door. The Entrepreneur is at odds with the Manager who wants to control things, make them repeatable, and with the Technician, who is the one tasked to execute on some of the crazy ideas the Entrepreneur comes up with.

THE MANAGER

The Manager is the one who builds a repeatable business. Creates processes, documents them. Trains people to do things the same way. Control costs.

Why is it important? Without a real Manager, there is rarely a sustainable business. The Manager creates value by creating repeatable processes that produce repeatable products and services that customers can buy.

Why must be kept in check? The Manager, left to its own, will create procedures that are so rigid that don’t allow space for creativity, for producing things that are of value for the customer. The Manager is at odds with the Entrepreneur who wants to change things around constantly, and with the Technician who thinks they know the craft enough that there is no need for them to follow process.

Do you recognize these inside you? Do you lean more towards one, or the other?

No, this is not about some startup working on the next iteration of “smellorama”, but it is about something that could stink as well.

We go about our lives participating in the digital marketplace, interact with businesses and other individuals. We purchase stuff, use services, shop around looking for options, wear a smart watch. Overshare. Then we are surprised when we are offered exactly the thing we just mentioned and we blame our smart speakers listening on our conversations with no permission.

The truth is, that while we engage in the digital economy, we are generating, and giving away a lot of data about ourselves. Sort of a “scent” we leave behind, that the digital hounds are ready to inspect. It And soon -if we are not there yet-, we will let off so much data about ourselves, that it will be potentially possible to build a very close model of our us, of our own behavior. This same idea, when applied to buildings, factories, or airports, is what very fancily has been named a “Digital Twin”. One based on your own data, could be used to predict your every move.

Making a movie recommendation on a Monday is almost like talking about cocktails at 10 AM, but here I am, doing what I am not supposed to.

If you haven’t seen “A million miles away” on Amazon Prime Video, it is a deeply inspirational movie, with a story of struggle and persistence. The movie is an adaptation of José Hernandez’ book, “Reaching for the Stars”, where he tells the story of how he went from being the son of migrant workers from Michoacán,, to be the first Hispanic to get in orbit

The story brought some memories to me when it gets to Livermore, CA; where the late Bill Soto -probably the best sales person I have ever met- and I worked together at the headquarters of Intellicom, Inc. The story is divided in sections, in what I think is the basic entrepreneurial and strategic process, it goes more or less like this:

• Know where you are going
• Find where you are in the process
• Figure out how far are you from your goal
• If you don’t know how to get there, learn
• Work hard towards your goal
• Once you think you arrived, you will probably have to work some more

Fairly simple. With all the credit that it deserves, Hernandez’ journey, is one of being selected. Without spoiling anything about the movie, he has to apply many times before he is accepted in NASA’s space program. And the thing with this type of process, is that they tell you when you failed, but the also tell you when you succeeded, and once you did, you still have to work hard, but there is someone there to guide you. This is the one difference with the entrepreneurial process. You will know for sure every time you’ll fail, but success doesn’t come in one big moment. Many times, it comes in drips, and you’ll have to recognize it. Small successes that build upon each other, and most of the time, there is still no one there to guide you.

Enjoy the movie!

When I decided to pause The Daily PPILL sometime in Summer, I was hoping to restart it gently once Fall would hit us.

It happens to be that restarting something can be almost as hard as getting it going in the first place. We have all kinds of questions in our heads. Questions like, should I change the writing? Is it good enough? Can I just wait a little more and line up a few topics?

After the extraordinary experience of last night, I have no more excuses, I am breaking the silence.

I have to.

Last night, we went to see Coldplay, and it was great. The opening act was wonderful as well. H.E.R. as an opening act? The tickets were definitely not cheap, but worth it.

Some say, that what we pay for when we go watch an artist, is to see a human being in a state of flow. In that perfect zone where they are just taken away from what they are, and they become purely what they do. That’s exactly what we saw. You could see how the whole band was enjoying the concert just as much -or even more- than the audience. No wonder they can consistently deliver outstanding and deeply moving performances. Going above and beyond what they are asked to do, every time they play, and enjoying it. I am pretty sure they get paid handsomely, but I don’t think that’s why they showed up for work on a Wednesday evening.

So for the rest of us, what’s left? Is there a way we could get everybody in a state of flow, have them deliver outstanding results AND enjoy it? And how would the world look like if this was possible? A happier world? With unparalleled progress?

Lighting Up 58,000 Souls in Harmony

There was another remarkable thing we experienced.

Chris Martin, Coldplay’s lead singer is an artful crowd commander. He is capable of getting 58,000 individuals to sing a particular tune, at whim. While Martin is especially gifted in this skill, engaging the audience, hitting a chord in their emotions, and making them participate in a collective experience, this is something that great artists have always been able to do.

But there was something more.

Before the show, the band handed out thousands of illuminating bracelets. These light up on command, in color. The spectacle included some clever ways of lighting up the stadium with these colors, but the most beautiful to me was when they would allow all lights to come up, in a random color. Each light, was one wrist, one person, one soul in the audience. And just as the artist would connect with each individual in their own way, their light would also come up in one color. I just couldn’t ignore the metaphor.

Some version of this technology is available today everywhere. Many of us wear smartwatches and we got IoT devices everywhere. Cannot wait until we start using these for expressing feelings.

Have a great Thursday!

If we don’t have the will, we’ll never get things done. We may never even get started.

Hannibal (not the fictional serial killer of “Silence of the Lambs”, but the Carthaginian general), has been recognized as one of the greatest military strategists of all times.

Among other things, he famously invaded Italy (and the Roman Republic) during the second Punic wars, by crossing the Alps on African elephants, a shock-and-awe tactic. His strategies often relied on other innovative tactics like carefully crafted diversions.

But what drove him to come up with these innovations, was his determination. He is supposed to have uttered one of my favorite quotes:

I have it engraved on the pen I use every day, and it reminds me that where there is a will, there is a way.

No wonder why younger generations prefer to text or just use an app. We still have to call-in every once in a while, and when we do, we get the “…your call is important to us…please stay on the line…” on loop. Even we hear this, we know is not true. How do we know?

• Been waiting too long
• The deck is stacked against us: If no one answers, our problem will not be resolved, we will have to pay the extra charge, live with the broken product, or with the mistaken information.
• When we called in, the option we had to push, was always the last one.
• Was never able to get out of the tree by pushing “0”

If you want to make your customers feel that they “are important”, not just say it, act like it.

To me it is pretty clear, but there are still sources that try to make it look like the environmental impact of an electric vehicle is higher than one equipped with an internal combustion engine.

Here are a couple of graphics that show the data, you may argue that the data is skewed, but you can be the judge.

First, there is the consumption, a Tesla is 4250 lbs, and makes the equivalent of 132mpg, your annual fuel cost is estimated in $550. In comparison, a regular Toyota Camry is 3310 lbs, makes 29mpg, your annual fuel cost is estimated in $2100. (Source: https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=45721&id=46206).

Here is visualization of similar data:

(Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/life-cycle-emissions-evs-vs-combustion-engine-vehicles)

Second, there is the argument of the energy itself being “dirty”. Imagine that all your home appliances, your blender, espresso machine, microwave oven, toaster, would be powered each with Briggs & Stratton gasoline engines. Besides each of them being as loud as the guy with the leafblower that shows up when you are on an important call, they will NEVER be able to connect to a clean energy source, no matter where electricity comes to your house from. You need to have the right appliance to benefit from the upgrade.

Third, you have the argument about the materials. Mining rare-earths and other exotic materials to manufacture batteries is scarring the earth, and we should do everything possible and more in order to avoid or mitigate it, together with the human drama that comes with it, but the truth is that the biggest component of any vehicle, is steel.

Here is another graphic showing what are they made of, but the steel part is not even listed.

(Source: https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/evs-vs-gas-vehicles-what-are-cars-made-out-of/)

Most of the vehicle’s weight is the steel for the frame, the suspension, brakes, etc., and the body. Out of the 3,000 lbs of weight of a Camry, probably more than 2,000 are steel, and making of steel is highly energy demanding. Steel production is the most energy-consuming and CO2 emitting industrial activity in the world. Today, 75% of the energy comes from burning coal, and requires large inputs of coke (a sort of coal).

The mining of iron ore and the coking process causes water pollution of heavy metals, acid, carcinogenic organic compounds as well as cyanide, sulfides, ammonium and ammonia. 1.83 tons of CO2 are emitted for every ton of steel produced, and there are long-lasting effects for steel production, for example, the “Iron Mountain” is a Californian mine that was shut down in 1963, it will pollute nearby waters for at least another 3000 years though.

(Source: https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/mining/environmental-impact-of-steel-production)

So? We are not there yet. Do I think these are steps in the right direction? Absolutely.

Are we still in the celebrity CEO era? I think we are. I believe I heard someone calling its end, but the market never got the message. We continue to laud -sometimes even worship- the energetic visionary, and even despotic fearless leader in front of some of the companies that are the protagonists of our changing world.

In our mind, they may be very masculine, hard-charging individuals, who always know what to do; but the truth is that company building requires much more care and effort than just blazing through life.

Company building, more than strong-leading military campaigns, looks more like the quiet gardening type of activity. Carefully selecting each part of the garden, making sure they play together well, and that they add to overall value and beauty of the garden. And then, tending to each plant, watering them and nurturing them so they become the stronger, better version of each one of them.

Gardens, much like companies, also have the tendency to wither and to get overgrown with weeds if we neglect them. Sometimes, it is even necessary to take out a plant and change things a little bit.

Suddenly, gardening sounds much more exciting!