“There are two reasons [ business people are not publicly anti-Donald Trump ], one is well-intentioned, which is the classic kind of American notion. We want to be inclusive, we want to have our shareholders, our employees, our customers, whether they are Democrat, Republican, Green or Libertarian, to feel comfortable with how we're doing business. And so that tends to be apolitical. People say, "No, no, I just simply shouldn't get involved in politics."” PeopleWantFeelsWellsKindTwoReasonTrumpInvolvedRepublicanComfortableGreenDemocratNotionCustomersLibertarianClassicEmployeeGet InvolvedShareholdersApolitical Author:Reid Hoffman
“Probably the biggest mistake that I made personally is I knew early on that I wanted to go into start-ups and creating kind of software that could help change the lives of millions of people. And basically what I did is I kind of went, okay, well, I need a set of titles and I need a checklist of skills, and I ran through all that, and that wasn't a useless thing, but what I didn't realize, and, you know, and no one gave me the right advice for doing this, is that actually your network, in essentially, is your career.” PeopleKnowsNeedsWellsKindMadeHelpingWantedRealizingMistakeCareersMillionsAdviceSkillsCreatingOkayUselessTitlesRanSoftwareBiggest MistakeChecklistsUseless Things Author:Reid Hoffman
“Well, well-run companies always have a focus on growth and the two lines, which includes profit. The key thing during, I think, tough times, is to make sure that you've covered the basis for when something, you know, essentially things taking longer, bad luck, adversity, other kinds of circumstances may occur. Make sure that you can monitor to win, it's potentially, you know, something is going to go wrong, monitor early enough, and then take appropriate action to essentially counteract that or shift your strategy or plan, even if in fact something is not working out as well as it is.” IfsThinkingKnowsWellsKindMayTwoEnoughFactsRunningActionWinningGrowthLinesCompanyFocusPlansKeysCircumstancesToughBasesAdversityLuckStrategyProfitWork OutAppropriateCoveredTough TimesBad LuckKey Things Author:Reid Hoffman
“During normal times or boom times, there are some parts of the business that are going to so well, that that can cover for weakness and other parts of the business. What happens during recessions, is you have less windfalls just helping you cover mistakes. You have to be more careful about not making mistakes.” WellsHelpingHappensMistakeNormalWeaknessCarefulMaking MistakesRecessions Author:Reid Hoffman
“The key thing for a CEO to keep their head in the game is recognize that there's turbulent times, plan for, you know, bad luck as well as good luck, keep people focused on what the key, you know, business wins are, and you know, provide the energy that people always need in order to, you know, to go into battle because, you know, work is hard and go into work and do that well. And provide a good leadership beacon for that. In other words, it's the same thing that makes good leadership in any other time.” PeopleKnowsNeedsWellsHardOrderGamesWinningEnergyPlansKeysBattleLuckFocusedCeoGood LuckBad LuckGood LeaderBeaconsGood LeadershipKey ThingsTurbulent Times Author:Reid Hoffman
“Everyone, you know, during crises times, is much more focused on, okay, how do we get the boat completely seaworthy, sailing along well, and everything going well? And so as long as you're communicating how the general strategy of the company and how the work they can do to add to that and to make that more successful and the thing that they can contribute to that, that is generally very motivating for employees in crisis times.” KnowsWellsLongCan DoCompanySuccessfulOkayCrisisStrategyAddCommunicateFocusedBoatEmployeeSailing Author:Reid Hoffman
“If you have to conduct layoffs, which is always a regrettable thing, there's kind of three things that are very important. One is to communicate well with your employees in order to help them understand why it is you're doing, and how. Second is to make sure that the employees who are part of the go forward, understand kind of what happened and are not like the ground doesn't keep moving. It's like, okay, we did that, we're moving forward, here we go. And then for the employees that you unfortunately have to let go, try to provide as much support for them as possible.” IfsTryingWellsKindImportantHelpingMovingOrderThreeSupportHappenedLetting GoOkayCommunicateMoving ForwardEmployeeThree ThingsKeep MovingLayoff Author:Reid Hoffman
“Boom and bust cycles are very difficult for businesses because you're hiring a bunch because you're planning for the future. And if the future is going to be very big, you need to hire people, or suddenly you go to boom to bust, then all of a sudden, you're kind of battening down the hatches and trying to sail, you know, through the storm, it's a different thing. So part of it is making good decisions about, well, how long is a boom cycle going to be, you know, don't plan on it going forever.” PeopleIfsKnowsNeedsTryingWellsKindLongDifferentBigsDifficultDecisionForeverPlansStormPlanningBunchDifferent ThingsCyclesBe YouSailHiringFuture PlansGood DecisionThrough The Storm Author:Reid Hoffman
“I think most of [people] are not very well educated themselves to understand the Winston Churchill line - democracy is the worst of all governments until you consider all the other ones.” PeopleThinkingWellsGovernmentLinesDemocracyWorstEducatedWell Educated Author:Reid Hoffman
