Learning from animal & plant world

• Lion does not eat grass
• Some birds can not be caged
• Birds of like feather flock together
• Tiger waits patiently for a very long time for the right opportunity to chase the prey. It has limited energy resources.
• Adapt or perish...survival of the fittest
• Chinese bamboo...4 years to come out of the ground but 4 weeks to grow 20 ft
• Water spider...takes air bubble between legs under water to provide to baby to breathe
• Oak tree sends the seed flying far
• While it looks gentle and serene on the outside, duck is paddle really hard to stay afloat
• Lizard sheds the tail to frighten the predator by surprise
• Chameleon changes color to blend with the surrounding
• Sheep has herd mentality - no leadership quality
• Birds fly in groups with coordination to conserve energy in the tail -- cycling

Favorite quotes

Its all about people. Hire the best people and figure out ways to manage them. A people want to work for A people. If something is not going to right, its the manager's responsibility to fix it....Kevin Ryan (Gilt).

Dare to dream

You can not manage what can not measure

Measure twice and cut once

A leader makes people aspire for bigger things....selling the dream/hope
To dream of things that that never were and wonder why not...Robert Kennedy
Leader: Confident, conviction, has high aspirations, who can make people believe in themselves, every one must feel an inch taller in the presence of a leader, ability to communicate and inspire....Narayana Murthy

Get rich or die tryin... 50 cent

Speak and seek the truth if you want to be a leader...Sheryl Sandberg...HBS 2012 address

Eat that frog...start with worst feared task first

Change and uncertainty create opportunity..If a deal is a great deal, they aren't going to share it with you! You need to dig it out! Right at the moment when cash creates an unbelievable opportunity, buy and hold people will not have cash to buy or sell.....Mark Cuban

It ain't over until the fat lady sings!
"Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds" -Larry Bird

Choose your enemies well since soon you will become just like them.

Sit down every night before you go to bed and write down the three most important tasks you have to get done tomorrow... Unknown

When we don’t set priorities, we tend to follow the path of least resistance. Following the path of least resistance is what makes the river crooked and ugly... Unknown

No one ever made a million bucks by being cautious or timid or reasonable -- Eli Broad

If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? -- Steve Jobs

In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. -- Jeff Bezos

I think it is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams. I know that sounds completely nuts. But, since no one else is crazy enough to do it, you have little competition (altitude sickness).  -- Larry Page

Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people … or find a different room. -- Michael Dell

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. -- JK Rowling

Perception creates relatity....big mouth shall inherit the earth; Create demand dont wait for it; create sense of urgency; Everybody wants what everybody wants; Best time to expand is in recessionary times when big guys are sleeping or protecting their money and reputation; Fire the unfit people early (6 months); Recognition motivates better than money; Pay the most to get the best employees and provide the fun at office; Believe in yourself; Think that I have the right to be here, in the elite club; Entrepreneur: Jump off the cliff without thinking logic, you will figure out the solution...Barbara Corcoran

When you are offered a seat on Rocket, dont ask which seat, just take it...Eric Schmidt

The best teams are often defined by what they choose not to do; Sign of a good entrepreneur is the ability to spot your mistakes, correct quickly and not repeat the mistakes; If you really want to earn you need to be in the top 3-4 in the company; Am I here to earn or to learn?..Mark Suster

If you need a machine and don't buy it, then you will ultimately find that you have paid for it and don't have it...Henry Ford

When setting goals is not enough...

Why do we really need to set goals?
Humans are lazy. If there is no goal, we would do nothing. Or we would do the minimum thats needed to survive. What is your minimum?

Why simple goal setting is not enough?
Because they dont mean much. One needs to be passionate about achieving them.
They should had deadlines. Without deadline, we procrastinate especially if you don't have a boss to keep reminding you.

Set life goal, break it down into subgoals and set deadlines. Create plans and execute. Measure and improve.

Why should the goals be aspirational and uncomfortably challenging?
If the goals are not challenging enough, the best wont come out of us. Also if the goals are low, most likely you will accomplish them pretty quickly. After that you would have nothing to work on and being a human being, you will end up doing nothing (complacent) unless you keep reinventing yourself.

I had a burning desire to go to IIT from my early childhood. I kicked my butt hard to get there. After that I have becoming complacent and have not accomplished anything significant. Had I set even higher goal, I would have been motivated to accomplish more and bring out more out me.

To die happily without regrets what do you need to accomplish in this life?
If I become a billionaire.

Why did you set such an aspirational goal?
So that it brings out the best in me.
Because small dreams and big dreams both cost the same.
Because it allows me to plan with end in mind. It will make priority setting easy. Life if full of choices. Having an aspirational goal will make it easier to pick the choices that matter to you most.
Because in the process I would get to enjoy finer things in life
Because in the process I would have created something useful to the world (you can't become a billionaire  without creating something of value to this world)

How to make sure I move my butt?

Lion does not eat grass
What is your minimum standard below which you would rather die than live? Since lion is going to die if its not going to find meat, it will move its butt and do something about it. Living beings have instinct to do whatever needs to be done to survive.

You can not learn to swim standing on the bank
To learn to swim you need to get into water. Probability that you will learn swimming standing outside is ZERO. But if you jump into water, probability that you will learn swimming increases enormously.

So set your minimum standard and act on achieving it right away.

Be a snob if you want to succeed?

Arrogance vs. confidence