Thinking Backwards

The people who are doing work that matters aren't doing work that's popular, they're doing work that changes some people.

I have no doubt that the people in this room are going to succeed - the question is, are you going to matter?

It has never been easier for you to figure out who your audience is, who you're gonna change, and what work you're gonna do that's gonna matter.

Everyone's not gonna love your work, but you don't need everyone.

It's the work you are after, not the credit.

We're not in the industrial economy anymore, we are in the connection economy and connection creates value.

Demand responsibility but don't worry at all about authority.

The myth of the overnight success is just that, a myth.

No one is stopping you except the little voice in your head that says 'It's not your turn and you're not supposed to.'

Tell stories that resonate with those in charge. You cannot prove anything to get the people you work for to do something, but you can tell them a story that gets under their skin, that resonates, that they remember.

And some people will say “I don’t get it.” And you may have to say, with guts, “then it’s not for you.”

If they don't get it, go somewhere that does. You don't get tomorrow over again. You don't get next week over again. If you're working with people who are truly stuck in a way that they cannot get out of it, you need to find someone who gets it.

Do it on purpose. Figure out on purpose every day, 'How am I leading up? How am I laying the tracks to get my clients to be better clients, to get my boss to be a better boss?'

It’s more important you do work that’s important, than you do work that’s pretty.

Create an environment where it's not only safe to fail, but required to fail.

If you want to put on an event and have 500 people come, you can. If you wanna write something online and have a million people read it, you can. If you wanna be in the connection business, you can. And this is really bad new for who are insisting on being picked; because you're not gonna get picked.

Think about who your heroes are in the world you work in. None of those heroes are known by the typical man on the street.

Demand responsibility but don't worry at all about authority.