WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.719 We have talked a lot about why you do what you 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:07.580 do. But we haven't really talked much about what 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:11.480 is that you do. So I would love your journey 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:17.140 from being an author of Aligning the Dots to 00:00:17.140 --> 00:00:22.879 the Blue Dot Partners, your company. I would 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:27.530 love the story. How did that come about? Being 00:00:27.530 --> 00:00:30.170 working at Apple and then going, starting your 00:00:30.170 --> 00:00:35.070 own firm, I can't imagine. I think it's probably 00:00:35.070 --> 00:00:38.630 a hard thing to do, leaving corporate and doing 00:00:38.630 --> 00:00:41.530 all that. So how did it all start? Yeah, I mean, 00:00:41.590 --> 00:00:43.549 first of all, thank you for being on your show 00:00:43.549 --> 00:00:47.549 again. I'm an entrepreneur at heart. I like the 00:00:47.549 --> 00:00:52.090 transformation of idea to a business where people 00:00:52.090 --> 00:00:56.380 buy something and enjoy it, hopefully. And, you 00:00:56.380 --> 00:00:58.780 know, I've been in Silicon Valley for 35 years. 00:00:58.859 --> 00:01:03.479 I arrived on January 4th, 1990. And I have been 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:06.120 on 23 boards. I've been investing in companies. 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:08.799 I've been sometimes successful, many times failed. 00:01:09.620 --> 00:01:13.879 But I've always struggled with a very simple 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:15.859 question, which is what do I need to do on Monday 00:01:15.859 --> 00:01:18.620 morning at 8 o 'clock to grow my business? And 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:20.659 I think that top -line revenue growth is the 00:01:20.659 --> 00:01:24.200 most vexing and difficult challenge. that every 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:26.340 CEO and every entrepreneur and every business 00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:33.180 leader is facing. And I was not happy with the 00:01:33.180 --> 00:01:34.959 way people were trying to solve that problem, 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.980 which is typically kind of a knee -jerk reaction. 00:01:38.260 --> 00:01:40.140 You know, well, let's just have more salespeople. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:43.079 Let's just discount our product. You know, let's 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:45.599 just build yet another feature that our competition 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:49.120 has. I mean, while all those may sound like good 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:52.500 idea, they rarely work because they are based 00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:55.780 on They are not based on data analysis. They 00:01:55.780 --> 00:01:57.840 are not based on a deep understanding of why 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:01.040 is the company fundamentally not growing. And 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:03.400 so that's how I came up with this idea of alignment. 00:02:03.540 --> 00:02:06.180 And it's really the alignment between the business 00:02:06.180 --> 00:02:08.500 and its target market that matters. And that's 00:02:08.500 --> 00:02:11.280 the engine of growth. And just like a mechanical 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:14.520 watch, if the gears are misaligned, the watch 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:17.139 may still be working and ticking, but eventually... 00:02:17.469 --> 00:02:19.830 you will slow down and eventually will stop ticking 00:02:19.830 --> 00:02:21.990 and so if you misalign your business with your 00:02:21.990 --> 00:02:24.550 target market then you will slow down and you 00:02:24.550 --> 00:02:26.389 will eventually become irrelevant and the business 00:02:26.389 --> 00:02:29.270 may actually shut down so it's all about alignment 00:02:29.270 --> 00:02:31.530 that's really the the secret and that's the only 00:02:31.530 --> 00:02:34.090 way to grow a business you know compared to your 00:02:34.090 --> 00:02:37.909 market in which you operate um tell me more about 00:02:37.909 --> 00:02:43.389 that um for people who are uh not as understanding 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:45.960 of these terms people who are listening to it 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.139 i would love more thoughts on on what exactly 00:02:48.139 --> 00:02:50.199 do you mean by alignment with them yeah it's 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:53.080 a great question so the next step was i i realized 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:56.419 that they are and that was a big discovery for 00:02:56.419 --> 00:02:58.580 me by the way but i realized that there are four 00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:01.900 universal axis of alignment and they apply to 00:03:01.900 --> 00:03:05.039 literally any business so you can take a small 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:10.150 coffee place in paris you can take a medium -sized 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:12.610 company in miami or start up here in silicon 00:03:12.610 --> 00:03:15.889 valley or large corporation those four principles 00:03:15.889 --> 00:03:18.509 of alignment are exactly the same they are truly 00:03:18.509 --> 00:03:21.789 universal so the first one is that the pain of 00:03:21.789 --> 00:03:23.830 the customer and the claim that the business 00:03:23.830 --> 00:03:26.490 makes to address that pain have to be aligned 00:03:26.490 --> 00:03:29.310 so if you come to me harry with a headache and 00:03:29.310 --> 00:03:31.430 i show you a stomach api you can say wait a minute 00:03:31.430 --> 00:03:33.550 you know i've got a headache not a stomach api 00:03:34.139 --> 00:03:35.860 So your pen and my claim are not aligned, you 00:03:35.860 --> 00:03:38.039 will never buy my pill, and nor should you buy 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:41.020 my pill. The second axis of alignment is the 00:03:41.020 --> 00:03:43.560 way the claim is expressed, which is the messaging, 00:03:43.780 --> 00:03:46.699 and the way the claim is understood, which is 00:03:46.699 --> 00:03:49.520 the perception. Those two things must be aligned. 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:52.560 So if I have the right pill for your headache, 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:54.800 and I tell you in French, you know, voilà le 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:56.539 médicament qu 'il te faut et qui soulagera ton 00:03:56.539 --> 00:03:58.599 mal de tête en 10 minutes. Well, if you don't 00:03:58.599 --> 00:03:59.759 speak French, you're like, what the heck did 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:03.960 I just say? And you will not understand my claim 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:07.240 because I am not speaking your language and you 00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:09.360 will never buy the pill, even though it would 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:12.080 be the perfect pill for your headache. So that's 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.659 the second axis. The third one is the way customers 00:04:14.659 --> 00:04:16.720 want to buy and the way the product is sold in 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:19.399 the marketplace have to be aligned. So if I say, 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:21.420 Harry, I have your pill, you have to fly here 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:23.519 to the Bay Area to pick it up. You're like, well, 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:25.180 wait a minute, the pharmacy is just down the 00:04:25.180 --> 00:04:27.939 street from where I live. Why can't I just go 00:04:27.939 --> 00:04:32.980 there and walk? pick up the medicine. And then 00:04:32.980 --> 00:04:35.060 the fourth axis of alignment is actually my favorite 00:04:35.060 --> 00:04:38.560 one. And I did steal it out of the Apple playbook. 00:04:38.899 --> 00:04:42.240 I realized that there is one and only one business 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:44.860 on this planet. I realized that everybody is 00:04:44.860 --> 00:04:48.600 in the exact same unique business. And that unique 00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:52.579 business is the manufacturing and delivery of 00:04:52.579 --> 00:04:56.560 delight. That's the business everybody is in, 00:04:56.620 --> 00:04:59.939 whether you like it or not. and so the la the 00:04:59.939 --> 00:05:02.319 fourth axis of alignment is the alignment between 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:05.920 the expected delight and the offering in other 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:08.019 words what's actually delivered to that customer 00:05:08.019 --> 00:05:10.779 whether it's a product or service and those two 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:12.819 things must be aligned they cannot be an impedance 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:16.079 mismatch between oh i expected that and then 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:18.060 i realized as i consume the product that it's 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:20.699 different so if you get the peel and then your 00:05:20.699 --> 00:05:23.319 headache is worse and you get dizzy then obviously 00:05:23.319 --> 00:05:26.560 that's not what you expected and you're not going 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.199 to buy the product more, you're not going to 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:31.220 advise other people to buy the product. So the 00:05:31.220 --> 00:05:33.459 four universal axes of alignment is that the 00:05:33.459 --> 00:05:35.540 pain of the customer and the claim that the business 00:05:35.540 --> 00:05:38.040 makes have to be aligned, that the perception, 00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:40.459 which is how the claim is understood, and the 00:05:40.459 --> 00:05:42.540 messaging, which is how the claim is expressed 00:05:42.540 --> 00:05:45.740 by the business, have to be aligned, and then 00:05:45.740 --> 00:05:47.920 the way the customers want to buy the product 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.279 or the service and the way that product or service 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:53.069 is sold in the marketplace. have to be aligned. 00:05:53.290 --> 00:05:55.189 And then finally, that what is delivered to the 00:05:55.189 --> 00:05:57.529 customer and the expected delight have to be 00:05:57.529 --> 00:06:00.069 aligned. And if you perfectly align your business 00:06:00.069 --> 00:06:02.689 along those four axes, then you will realize 00:06:02.689 --> 00:06:05.209 the maximum growth rate possible within your 00:06:05.209 --> 00:06:07.850 target market. Wow, that's awesome. I'm glad 00:06:07.850 --> 00:06:10.110 you said those terms, maximum growth rate possible 00:06:10.110 --> 00:06:14.209 within your target market. Let's talk about all 00:06:14.209 --> 00:06:18.470 these in depth, I think, from pain to perception 00:06:18.470 --> 00:06:23.470 to perspective to... delight into delivery. I 00:06:23.470 --> 00:06:26.610 want to know more depth on that. How can people 00:06:26.610 --> 00:06:30.170 or entrepreneurs or leaders apply that practically 00:06:30.170 --> 00:06:32.829 on any level? Well, the first thing they need 00:06:32.829 --> 00:06:34.430 to do is they need to define what those are, 00:06:34.550 --> 00:06:40.430 right? So let's take the pain and the claim, 00:06:40.509 --> 00:06:42.870 for example, just to double click on this. I 00:06:42.870 --> 00:06:45.790 used to ask entrepreneurs and CEOs when I met 00:06:45.790 --> 00:06:47.730 them at a party, let's say, what does your company 00:06:47.730 --> 00:06:51.060 do? And then what I realized is very quickly, 00:06:51.180 --> 00:06:53.379 they dive into a lot of details of what the company 00:06:53.379 --> 00:06:55.899 does and the product. And they're like, well, 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:58.079 let me stop you. I am not going to buy your, 00:06:58.139 --> 00:07:00.980 you know, 10 gigabit Ethernet switch for security. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:05.180 It's like, I'm not your prospect. So I decided 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:07.360 to now, I never asked that question again. The 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:09.319 question I asked is, well, just tell me in one 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:11.759 sentence, don't tell me what you do, but tell 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.160 me in one sentence, why should I buy your product? 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:19.050 And it's a very difficult. questions sometimes 00:07:19.050 --> 00:07:21.750 for them to answer which tells me that they haven't 00:07:21.750 --> 00:07:23.750 really aligned the pain and the claim they don't 00:07:23.750 --> 00:07:25.129 know what the pain is and they don't know what 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:27.569 that claim is and therefore they describe me 00:07:27.569 --> 00:07:30.029 they describe to me the what they do maybe how 00:07:30.029 --> 00:07:31.850 they do it but they're not telling me the why 00:07:31.850 --> 00:07:35.170 i should buy um the messaging and the perception 00:07:35.170 --> 00:07:38.870 is very similar sometimes they express something 00:07:38.870 --> 00:07:40.730 to you and then you go on the website and you're 00:07:40.730 --> 00:07:42.610 like well is this even the same company it's 00:07:42.610 --> 00:07:44.529 completely disconnected between what the ceo 00:07:44.529 --> 00:07:47.120 told me and what i read uh sometimes they don't 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:49.500 use the language of their prospects sometimes 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:52.180 they use lingo that we are so proud of in silicon 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:54.480 valley you know it's like what does that mean 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:58.240 i don't understand and then the next one is purchase 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:01.379 versus sale what friction is introduced through 00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:04.579 that process you know why are you making me go 00:08:04.579 --> 00:08:06.819 through hoops to buy your product once i decided 00:08:06.819 --> 00:08:09.839 i want to acquire it you know why do i have um 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:12.319 why does those terms and conditions in your agreement 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:14.399 i don't want them you know if i'm the procurement 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:17.470 of a of a government buying a product i'm buying 00:08:17.470 --> 00:08:19.750 in a very particular way because that's the rule 00:08:19.750 --> 00:08:22.370 like you have to comply and then the last one 00:08:22.370 --> 00:08:24.509 is the misalignment between the expected delight 00:08:24.509 --> 00:08:27.170 and what is delivered and the interesting thing 00:08:27.170 --> 00:08:30.149 is it's a lot easier to control the expected 00:08:30.149 --> 00:08:33.889 delight than it is to change your product so 00:08:33.889 --> 00:08:38.870 ask yourself is like what delight should my customers 00:08:38.870 --> 00:08:42.789 expect and how do i communicate that to them 00:08:42.789 --> 00:08:46.139 very clearly And so that when actually they use 00:08:46.139 --> 00:08:50.000 the product, that expectation is fully met. And 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:53.279 a lot of companies fail to define what the expected 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:56.259 daylight should be. And because of that, then 00:08:56.259 --> 00:08:57.820 there's a misalignment and then they're not growing 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:03.639 as fast as they can. What was the alignment in 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:07.980 all four of these steps for you and Blue Dot 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:11.120 Partners? So Blue Dot is very simple. The pain 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:14.549 is that... I am not growing as fast as I would 00:09:14.549 --> 00:09:17.269 like. And there's many consequences of that. 00:09:17.350 --> 00:09:19.370 And consequently, you know, my board isn't happy. 00:09:19.529 --> 00:09:23.730 My employees are not happy. My investors are 00:09:23.730 --> 00:09:25.970 not happy. I'm not creating shareholder value. 00:09:26.049 --> 00:09:28.429 I'm losing market share. So this is a real consequence 00:09:28.429 --> 00:09:31.009 of that pain. And the claim we make is that we'll 00:09:31.009 --> 00:09:33.450 help you grow faster. And very simple. It's fully 00:09:33.450 --> 00:09:36.950 aligned. The way we message this is that we help 00:09:36.950 --> 00:09:40.289 you grow faster. And we do that in a unique way. 00:09:40.350 --> 00:09:42.769 We're very different from a lot of other consulting 00:09:42.769 --> 00:09:44.649 companies or management consulting companies 00:09:44.649 --> 00:09:48.309 because we have this unique data -driven approach 00:09:48.309 --> 00:09:50.409 of four alignments and we measure those alignments 00:09:50.409 --> 00:09:53.169 and so forth. When they want to buy from us, 00:09:53.230 --> 00:09:55.309 it's very easy. We have a standard consulting 00:09:55.309 --> 00:09:58.009 agreement. There's nothing tricky about it. And 00:09:58.009 --> 00:10:00.169 then we want to delight them. So when we deliver 00:10:00.169 --> 00:10:02.809 the growth playbook, which is really the product 00:10:02.809 --> 00:10:04.809 that they buy from us, it's a very detailed operating 00:10:04.809 --> 00:10:07.330 plan. that tells them what to do on monday morning 00:10:07.330 --> 00:10:09.789 at eight o 'clock to grow they're always surprised 00:10:09.789 --> 00:10:12.049 because it's very data driven a lot of analysis 00:10:12.049 --> 00:10:15.710 and it's a very prescriptive playbook and they 00:10:15.710 --> 00:10:18.289 know exactly what to do and and that's how we 00:10:18.289 --> 00:10:20.190 maximize that alignment between the expected 00:10:20.190 --> 00:10:22.470 delight and what we actually deliver and of course 00:10:22.470 --> 00:10:25.230 it works because not because we're smart but 00:10:25.230 --> 00:10:27.009 because it's common sense if you start to align 00:10:27.009 --> 00:10:28.590 you're going to start to grow and people will 00:10:28.590 --> 00:10:31.730 buy customers will buy more so that's how we 00:10:31.730 --> 00:10:34.309 realize those four alignments quite simple in 00:10:34.309 --> 00:10:41.179 many ways What would you say that some of the 00:10:41.179 --> 00:10:45.899 things and challenges that you went through while 00:10:45.899 --> 00:10:52.340 starting Blue Dots and scaling Blue Dots? A lot 00:10:52.340 --> 00:10:55.879 of times people come on my show and they don't 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:59.039 like to talk about the bad. At Vision Pros Live, 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.299 I think we get excited about the good, bad, and 00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:04.509 the ugly, where entrepreneurs can see, hey, This 00:11:04.509 --> 00:11:08.950 is exactly what the leader went through to get 00:11:08.950 --> 00:11:12.210 to this level. It's not all hunky -dory. It's 00:11:12.210 --> 00:11:14.610 not all amazing. I love your thoughts on that. 00:11:15.049 --> 00:11:17.450 Yeah, that's a good question. I think the biggest 00:11:17.450 --> 00:11:21.370 challenge for us is to recruit the right partners. 00:11:22.169 --> 00:11:24.870 And to us, the right partner is somebody who 00:11:24.870 --> 00:11:28.990 has been a real CEO before. Because it's very 00:11:28.990 --> 00:11:31.549 hard to give parenting advice and to lecture 00:11:31.549 --> 00:11:34.409 somebody about parenting. when you never had 00:11:34.409 --> 00:11:37.809 any kids, right? If you don't know how to change 00:11:37.809 --> 00:11:39.350 a diaper and getting up in the middle of the 00:11:39.350 --> 00:11:42.169 night and then shuffling your kid to the baseball, 00:11:42.330 --> 00:11:44.490 you know, practice and, you know, three times 00:11:44.490 --> 00:11:47.629 a week and then dealing with the teenager years, 00:11:48.009 --> 00:11:49.389 you know, where they don't want to talk to you 00:11:49.389 --> 00:11:52.149 and so on and so forth. I think it's really hard. 00:11:52.330 --> 00:11:55.590 And so we have a principle which is if you want 00:11:55.590 --> 00:11:58.190 to be a partner at Boudot, you must have been 00:11:58.190 --> 00:12:02.120 a real CEO of a real business before. But then 00:12:02.120 --> 00:12:03.940 at the same time, you must be good at management 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:07.200 consulting. So if you take a pure CEO who loves 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:10.000 to drive and have team and give orders, who's 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:11.700 never done management consulting, that doesn't 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:13.759 work for us. And then conversely, if we take 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:16.960 somebody from Bain or McKinsey or BCG, who spent 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:18.759 their whole life consulting, well, they've never 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:21.879 been a CEO. They don't know what it means. And 00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:23.620 so our biggest challenge is to find the right 00:12:23.620 --> 00:12:26.200 people who can really get involved with our clients. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.500 and really have a high level of empathy and at 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:31.519 the same time a disciplined approach to management 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:33.720 consulting and that's really hard and that's 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:36.700 the reason we are not growing as fast as we could 00:12:36.700 --> 00:12:39.379 now i don't have to grow we don't have to grow 00:12:39.379 --> 00:12:41.360 because we never raised any money we don't have 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.899 a board we don't have investors i only have one 00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:46.340 boss with my wife and i don't have to worry about 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:49.259 anything else but companies will raise money 00:12:49.259 --> 00:12:51.600 or have a board they have to grow they have no 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:54.139 choice and so they are subject to that law which 00:12:54.139 --> 00:12:58.279 will not awesome oh sorry one more thing i want 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:00.500 to add i think when you talk about growth there's 00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:03.860 a really important concept which is to grow responsibly 00:13:03.860 --> 00:13:08.720 like what how can a company reasonably grow within 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:11.019 a market that has his own growth rate and rhythm 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:14.240 and i always i always say you know growing a 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:16.100 business is like drinking wine you have to do 00:13:16.100 --> 00:13:19.190 it responsibly um and part of the issue we have 00:13:19.190 --> 00:13:21.090 in silicon valley is we tend to put a lot of 00:13:21.090 --> 00:13:22.809 money into companies and like well you need to 00:13:22.809 --> 00:13:25.309 grow at 100 a year for 10 years it's like i just 00:13:25.309 --> 00:13:27.029 gave you 40 million dollars how come you're not 00:13:27.029 --> 00:13:30.370 growing and we're forcing a growth that is sometimes 00:13:30.370 --> 00:13:33.750 unhealthy and that is just not the right rhythm 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:35.809 for the company and then we're actually destroying 00:13:35.809 --> 00:13:39.769 value instead of creating value so how can how 00:13:39.769 --> 00:13:42.049 can a company an entrepreneur or leader avoid 00:13:42.049 --> 00:13:45.769 that They have to avoid that by understanding 00:13:45.769 --> 00:13:48.090 the growth rate of the business they're in, how 00:13:48.090 --> 00:13:52.169 much is my market growing at, and then how much 00:13:52.169 --> 00:13:57.669 more growth can I reasonably deliver. So, for 00:13:57.669 --> 00:13:58.990 example, if you're in a market that's growing 00:13:58.990 --> 00:14:01.769 at 15 % a year, you're not going to go and grow 00:14:01.769 --> 00:14:04.870 at 150 % a year, right? So you want to beat the 00:14:04.870 --> 00:14:07.629 market for sure, but if you grow at 22%, 25%, 00:14:07.629 --> 00:14:09.509 then I think that's a reasonable growth rate. 00:14:10.659 --> 00:14:14.080 And sometimes you don't, if your market is decreasing 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.980 and at minus 30 % a year, if you are negatively 00:14:17.980 --> 00:14:20.039 growing at minus 5%, you're actually gaining 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:22.580 market share. That's actually a good thing. And 00:14:22.580 --> 00:14:25.039 you may become a leader in a whole market that's 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:27.519 going down, but because you're taking one more 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.240 market share, then you're going to become a leader 00:14:29.240 --> 00:14:31.720 and you're actually creating value as well. So 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:34.100 it's really in relation to the growth of the 00:14:34.100 --> 00:14:36.299 market in which you operate. That's what's important. 00:14:36.779 --> 00:14:41.309 Yes. what would you say, what books or resources 00:14:41.309 --> 00:14:44.490 would you recommend? Well, I mean, of course, 00:14:44.549 --> 00:14:47.389 you know, of course, the only book they need 00:14:47.389 --> 00:14:51.429 to read is Aligning the Dots, right? But, you 00:14:51.429 --> 00:14:54.169 know, I actually, it's interesting. I wrote a 00:14:54.169 --> 00:14:55.950 business book, but I actually do not read a lot 00:14:55.950 --> 00:14:58.129 of business books. And the reason is that a lot 00:14:58.129 --> 00:15:01.190 of business books have a lot of pages and there's 00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:03.629 only maybe five pages that are really teaching 00:15:03.629 --> 00:15:07.190 me something. so in fact when in the book i have 00:15:07.190 --> 00:15:08.950 a section that says how to read this book and 00:15:08.950 --> 00:15:10.690 i say how much time do you have you know one 00:15:10.690 --> 00:15:12.509 minute three minutes ten minutes or half an hour 00:15:12.509 --> 00:15:14.649 or forever and then i actually tell them what 00:15:14.649 --> 00:15:16.750 to read depending on the time that the reader 00:15:16.750 --> 00:15:21.690 has and so i think you know i think my advice 00:15:21.690 --> 00:15:25.169 is you know read a few books when you very quickly 00:15:25.169 --> 00:15:28.669 are connecting to the books if you are interested 00:15:28.669 --> 00:15:31.370 in and you're learning and keep reading if you 00:15:31.370 --> 00:15:32.889 don't feel that connection very quickly just 00:15:32.889 --> 00:15:35.559 don't read the book Instead, meet other CEOs, 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:39.299 investors, and board members. I think that can 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:43.179 also bring a lot of light to your learning experience 00:15:43.179 --> 00:15:45.860 and to growing and becoming a better entrepreneur 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:50.159 or a better business leader. Awesome. Thank you 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:55.519 for sharing that. My question, there's still 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:59.179 one unanswered question from our talk, is how 00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:04.909 did you become an author? I understand what problem 00:16:04.909 --> 00:16:08.470 you were trying to solve, but why the book? Well, 00:16:08.509 --> 00:16:09.970 I think it's a great question. I think, and I 00:16:09.970 --> 00:16:12.230 advise a lot of people who come to me and say, 00:16:12.309 --> 00:16:13.750 well, I want to write a book. What advice do 00:16:13.750 --> 00:16:15.090 you have? And I always give the same answer. 00:16:15.450 --> 00:16:18.210 I said, the best advice I can give you is really 00:16:18.210 --> 00:16:21.250 ask yourself fundamentally, why do you want to 00:16:21.250 --> 00:16:24.429 write a book? If the answer is, well, I want 00:16:24.429 --> 00:16:25.769 to make millions of dollars because I'm going 00:16:25.769 --> 00:16:28.740 to sell 50 million copies. typically tell them 00:16:28.740 --> 00:16:30.320 well forget it that's just not the way it works 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:31.980 now you may be lucky and you may be exceptional 00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:35.679 but that suddenly wasn't me um if they say well 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:38.039 i want to flatter my ego and just say i'm i'm 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:40.879 another then okay i mean i think that's that's 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:43.039 not an invalid answer but it's like i don't think 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:45.860 that's gonna really fulfill their dreams the 00:16:45.860 --> 00:16:48.700 reason i wrote the book is because We have this 00:16:48.700 --> 00:16:51.379 very unique approach to solving a very difficult 00:16:51.379 --> 00:16:52.980 problem, which is the problem of growth. And 00:16:52.980 --> 00:16:54.779 we do it through those four axes of alignment 00:16:54.779 --> 00:16:57.519 and measurement and data. And I wanted to tell 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:00.419 that story. I've been on 23 boards. I didn't 00:17:00.419 --> 00:17:02.460 want people to struggle with, well, we don't 00:17:02.460 --> 00:17:04.940 really understand why we're not growing. Now 00:17:04.940 --> 00:17:06.720 they know it's because they are misaligned and 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:08.920 by reading the book and by diving into how we 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:11.079 do things They know exactly what they are misaligned 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:12.779 and they can start to correct those misalignments 00:17:12.779 --> 00:17:15.319 So I wrote the book I get the TED talk because 00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:18.619 I wanted to evangelize this idea I wanted to 00:17:18.619 --> 00:17:21.180 share this concept and hopefully people will 00:17:21.180 --> 00:17:23.359 use it and start to think about their business 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:26.240 differently And if they do, then that was my 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:28.440 definition of success in terms of writing a book. 00:17:28.519 --> 00:17:30.180 It's not how many copies I sold because I don't 00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:32.579 really care. And I give a lot of free copies 00:17:32.579 --> 00:17:34.059 to people and just say, hey, you know, if you 00:17:34.059 --> 00:17:36.519 can't sleep at night, take my book and read it 00:17:36.519 --> 00:17:39.279 and that will help you. And, you know, and hopefully 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:41.079 people will find, you know, one or two things 00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:43.940 in the book that is like, oh, now I have a new 00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:46.240 idea, I have a new concept and now I understand. 00:17:46.779 --> 00:17:48.700 And if they do that, then I'm thrilled and I'm 00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:51.319 very, very happy. Thank you for sharing that. 00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:54.490 One last question for you, Philippe, before we 00:17:54.490 --> 00:17:58.390 end today's segment. What held you back during 00:17:58.390 --> 00:18:02.609 your career? I think it's lack of confidence 00:18:02.609 --> 00:18:05.170 at the beginning of my career. You know, fear. 00:18:08.009 --> 00:18:11.490 I think fear is a big factor in holding people 00:18:11.490 --> 00:18:16.619 up. And I was very... successful in working with 00:18:16.619 --> 00:18:19.039 Steve Jobs directly because I had no fear. And 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:20.839 I told him many times, I said, Steve, this is 00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:23.880 my idea. This is what I think. Here is the reason. 00:18:24.500 --> 00:18:26.500 And you may think I'm the stupidest guy on the 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:28.559 planet. Doesn't affect me. I don't really care. 00:18:29.140 --> 00:18:32.400 And you can fire me this afternoon. I don't really 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.200 care because I'm sure I'll find something else 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:36.019 somewhere. It's like I'm not worried about that. 00:18:36.359 --> 00:18:38.500 And that created a very healthy relationship 00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:40.740 where he knew that I would not, you know, try 00:18:40.740 --> 00:18:43.559 to kiss his feet or please him or flatter his 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:46.690 ego. You know, and many times he didn't like 00:18:46.690 --> 00:18:48.430 my ideas and he thought it was stupid and that 00:18:48.430 --> 00:18:51.470 was fine. It's like, I'm okay with that. And 00:18:51.470 --> 00:18:53.670 many times he thought it was stupid and then 00:18:53.670 --> 00:18:55.089 three weeks later he would actually implement 00:18:55.089 --> 00:18:58.470 them and do it, which is fine as well. So I think, 00:18:58.470 --> 00:19:03.829 you know, I think it's what holds people is fear 00:19:03.829 --> 00:19:07.769 of understanding who they are truly, pretending 00:19:07.769 --> 00:19:09.470 to be somebody they are not. I think that's a 00:19:09.470 --> 00:19:12.190 big problem. And also fear of building relationships 00:19:12.190 --> 00:19:16.349 and connections. without having to ask for anything. 00:19:17.049 --> 00:19:21.650 Just authentic, healthy relationship where you 00:19:21.650 --> 00:19:24.369 start the dialogue by, how can I help you? Is 00:19:24.369 --> 00:19:27.369 there anything I can do to help you? As opposed 00:19:27.369 --> 00:19:30.910 to buy my product and pay me quickly. And if 00:19:30.910 --> 00:19:32.930 people don't understand that, this is the advice 00:19:32.930 --> 00:19:35.289 I give to young people, build your network, an 00:19:35.289 --> 00:19:37.029 authentic network. I have relationships with 00:19:37.029 --> 00:19:39.069 people that I've had for 35 years since I came 00:19:39.069 --> 00:19:43.140 here. And that has always been paying big dividends 00:19:43.140 --> 00:19:45.559 for me and always helped me. So don't hesitate 00:19:45.559 --> 00:19:47.980 to engage with people you don't know. Listen 00:19:47.980 --> 00:19:50.119 to their story. Everybody has a story. It's always 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:52.359 interesting, at least to me. It's like, well, 00:19:52.380 --> 00:19:53.900 what's your background? Where were you born? 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:55.700 And which country do you come from? And why did 00:19:55.700 --> 00:19:57.059 you start this company? The kinds of questions 00:19:57.059 --> 00:19:59.400 you're asking. I think that's really important. 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:03.460 And to listen to the story and travel and, you 00:20:03.460 --> 00:20:05.200 know, look at the world and everything is different 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:06.799 from the way you think. And that's how you get 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:08.509 better. And that's how you learn. Thank you for 00:20:08.509 --> 00:20:10.509 being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned 00:20:10.509 --> 00:20:12.809 in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to 00:20:12.809 --> 00:20:16.069 seeing your reactions as these episodes continue 00:20:16.069 --> 00:20:17.869 to move forward. This is going to get more and 00:20:17.869 --> 00:20:19.869 more fun. We'll have more and more engagement 00:20:19.869 --> 00:20:21.990 as well. We'll invite people to participate in 00:20:21.990 --> 00:20:24.170 the show. And thank you for giving us your time 00:20:24.170 --> 00:20:26.450 and attention. Have an excellent time building 00:20:26.450 --> 00:20:28.789 out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.