Successful start-up leaders begin by investing a substantial amount of time and energy into why–not what. The what question, over a certain profitable period of time, tends to cultivate bloated egos, nourish greedy arrogance and decimate clear, passionate vision. The why question, on the other hand, continuously feeds and focuses us on a deeper passion–something bigger than our own selves. The why question builds channels instead of corporate ladders; promotes humility instead of hubris; reinforces ardent vision instead of blurring lines and weaving doubt.

The why question is crucial to the start. You have to know why you are going to begin, to change, to move, to quit, to revolt, to organize or to lead before you ever take that first step of action; ask for that first team member’s commitment or pitch that first venture capitalist. You must know and deeply understand why.

In the end, when our lives are drawing to a close, it will matter what we did, but, even more importantly, it will matter why we did it. This simple insight levels the playing field. When the question takes into consideration why and not just what, it creates an opportunity for every man, woman, child and organization to have an impact, to be successful, to lead, to authentically serve another. Success is no longer based solely upon what it is that you do; rather, success is also based in large part upon why you passionately and fervently do what you do.

Of course, it’s crucial to comprehend that the why does not eliminate the need for a well planned and well executed what. You still have to work extremely hard, but the better you understand and the more often you remember the why, the stronger more resilient your what will be.

The most successful leaders understand that in order to maintain success and continually grow, they must always go back to their founding principals of why. Once we start to focus only on what it is that we do–instead of why–arrogance and selfishness have chance to brew and fester. Jim Collins in his latest book How The Mighty Fall says it well

Like an artist who pursues both enduring excellence and shocking creativity, great companies foster a productive tension between continuity and change. On the one hand, they adhere to the principles that produced success in the first place, yet on the other hand, they continually evolve, modifying their approach with creative improvements and intelligent adaption…Every organization must ask themselves: Why were we successful in the first place? Not the specific practices and strategies that worked in the past, but the fundamental reasons for success.

The question of why you do what you do is vital to everything else–it’s the groundwork, the foundation, the heart, the inner-most-core reason for you waking up tomorrow morning. Why do you_____, _______, ______(fill in the blanks)? Once you understand why, then you can passionately and full-heartedly chase after what it is that is going to allow you to demonstrate that why, every single day.

Their success was not just of their own making.  It was a product of the world in which they grew up.  -Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers

The great thing about the way in which information frolics about the universe today is that you simply do not have to know everything.

This recovering book addict–yours truly–used to read books solely in order to gain knowledge.  I believed that the more I read, the more I would learn, and hence, the better my life would eventually be.  Today, however, I read books for a deeper reason–to make connections and build relationships.  I’ve come to realize that the common ground held by multiple people or multiple groups, all of whom have a congruent knowledge base yet maintain their unique perspective, is more important to my gaining of understanding than any knowledge I may accrue from reading a book and keeping that knowledge to myself.  No longer is it about how much information I can process and store, rather; it is about the experience and information which I can share, teach and trade with others. I believe this is one of the greatest assets any avid life-long-learner can realize.  The personal gain acquired through reading and simply storing something revolutionary is far out-weighed by the joy and satisfaction gained from sharing your newly discovered insights and selections of wisdom.  Wisdom learned yet not shared, knowledge gained but never discussed, is of no benefit to anyone, and I believe that one of the most genuine ways to learn and to grow is to share and communicate what it is that you have gathered along the way.  That is why people write, why they communicate, why they spread seed and why they decide to tell their story.

You no longer have to know it all.  As Gladwell states, many times our successes are less dependent upon our own selves (the so called “making our own way” theory) and more dependent upon how well we utilize the environments in which we currently live, work, communicate and play.  For this simple reason, you no longer have to know it all.  Feel better?  More at peace?  Relaxed yet?  You should be.  There is little peace in knowing “everything” and there is rarely enough time to develop real relationships with others along the way.  And yet, it is the very relationships which we do develop which often times prove to be far more crucial to the evolution of our successful ideas than is the knowledge gained through the attempt to “know it all”.

Remember the kid in 4th grade who thought he knew it all and always walked into the classroom, head held high, believing that he really did?  I remember him.  I also remember that no one liked him. No one likes a know-it-all.  On the other hand, people do like those who seek out what they know, and who long to partner with them in order to benefit from their specific knowledge.  Great success is not about knowing everything. Great success is about putting the pieces together. He knows this, I need him.  She knows that, I need her.  We know this, they will need us.  Contrary to your popular belief, you are not the sole factor of your success.  The truth is, we need each other.  Why?  Because none of us will ever know it all, and we need each other to fill in our own missing gaps.

Success is not just about learning and storing as much as you can.  Success is also about spreading what you know, and partnering with others who know what you don’t.  It is not necessarily all about you, rather, it is about how well you utilize the environment of people all around you.

1. Known Demand. The consumer already knows that he wants and/or needs the product.  Acquisition imminent.
2. Unknown Demand. A dormant or potential demand for something, whether already in existence or not, which the consumer does not know he currently has a desire for. Yet, when the consumer is presented with the option to experience a new product (or service), he immediately recognizes his desire for it.
3. Non-Existent Demand. There is no demand for what you offer.
4. Delayed Demand. A demand for something which is readily available, already known of by the consumer, yet not fully realized as a present, crucial need by the consumer. The product, experience or service is easily accessible or purchasable, but your target audience is not yet ready or willing to engage in or invest in what it is that you offer. However, at some point in time these potentials will eventually turn into real sales or investors or followers, OR they will flat out reject you. Either way, they’ll come to a point of decision.

1, 2 & 3 are fairly simple to understand and increasingly easy to help or satisfy.

4 is tricky though. 4 tends to make 1-3 more confusing, even cluttered and irregular. What do we do?

Make seed freely available.

Seeds are snippets of the whole which, when dispersed, can successfully land, take root and grow. Seeds are not the entire plant. Seeds are seeds. They are small packets of information and color and potential that hold everything necessary to one day burst open and grow into something useful, nourishing and profitable. Seeds are the proof and preview of what is to come. However, seeds must be used and spread responsibly.

As leaders, entrepreneurs and business owners, we have an abundance of tools necessary to spread seed and measure the most productive soils.

The old methodology would tell you to haphazardly throw seed everywhere. In other words, force enough seed into the environment, overwhelm the public with your idea, and count on at least a portion of the public cultivating your _________(fill in the blank). This doesn’t work anymore. Why? Because people are extremely picky as to what they want growing in and from their lives, and they’re tired of being told what to grow, how to grow it and what ideas to spread.

The new methodology is to give seed away and not force its spread. Allow the public to pick up your idea or product or leadership and become a part of something greater than themselves–a growing, thriving community of like-minded people who will spread the _______(fill in blank) with you. When a sector of the field sees your idea prospering in another, it becomes desirable and thus spreads on it’s own. Really great ideas spread in this manner.

It’s about creating, uncovering and cultivating an authentic desire in others lives by being a genuine example of what a little seed full of greatness implanted into your life can eventually grow into.

If it’s a great idea, people will eventually long to be a part of it, and they will love it so much that they just have to spread it. This creates demand, and the opportunity for you to make a constructive difference in people’s lives. Stop forcing seed into the environment. It’s irresponsible and not working. Start creating, talking about and distributing great ideas, beliefs and products worthy of others acquiring, spreading and planting for you. This will help more of your 4′s turn into positive 1′s.

Check out their amateur video here (warning: corny song accompaniment).

Green Machine

From a distance, it can appear that leadership is the nail, and a specific, one time event is the hammer which drives that nail into the wood, thus solidifying the nail in it’s rightful place as leader within a given community. It seems as though a single strike sets the leader in her position, holding fast the rest of the community around her. Therefore, at times, watching tenured, successful leaders can be difficult. Their leadership status seems almost unattainable and far removed from your own lifestyle and current, personal leadership responsibilities. She’s the CEO. You answer her assistants, assistants phone. Get the picture? Leading large and leading well can sometimes seem practically unimaginable. Practically.

But wait there’s more!…You’ve also won a huge supply of patience and perseverance!

As most great leaders and visionaries can attest to, leadership does not commence all of a sudden with a loud bang and a TV interview, and it hardly ever starts with an instant, massive following. Leadership does, however, begin with the steady accumulation of many great moments: a lifetimes worth of wise choices, of deciding to serve others instead of your own self, of integrity, of perseverance through pain, and the pursuance of an outstanding goal. Great leaders who are worth following do not develop overnight or in a single instance. Great leaders develop with every decision that they make, with every conversation that they have, and every action (whether seen or unseen) that they partake in.

Society, in nearly every community, is in dire need of great, willing and humble leaders. If you want to fill one of the vacancies, start living every moment with purpose, vision and a mindset that is open to leading and serving others. If it burns within you to lead, then lead! You can start now. Greatness in leadership will develop over time.

Information is forever increasing.  However, it’s not necessarily correct to state that the amount of information is increasing.  What is characteristic of information today was characteristic of information yesterday, 20 years ago and 2000 years ago.  Information is information; it is always here, it is always there, always happening, always spreading.  The majority of fundamental information is not new or genuine.  The majority of fundamental information is recycled–simple common elements with fresh, complex twists (or retro twists that are simply different from yesterdays twists).  Information is everywhere, and it always has been everywhere.  This is not a new concept.

What is new (what is changing) is the way in which information travels.  What is unique, as compared to yesterday, 20 years ago and 2000 years ago, is the way in which (and the speed at which) information moves.  Information has always been abundant, but what makes it seem overly excessive today is that it is extremely more accessible.  The mediums by which information travels are changing at a rapid pace, making information all the more simple to extract and act (or not act!) upon.  The information was always there, and now you can get it all.  Information input (and output) mass is increasing because the mediums by which it moves are getting stronger.  

We do not live in an information deficit world.  We will never struggle to produce or feed on information.  This is not the challenge.  The challenge lies in filtering through the matrix of information.  Google “started” the revolution back in the late 90′s.  They created a simple way (a tool) to extract information that was similar to or more closely related to the information that you actually wanted.  Sometimes, they actually gave you exactly what you wanted!  Twitter does a good job of bringing information snippets from all over the world into one medium.  However, Twitter is more of a funnel than a filter.  Squidoo is a filter, and they limit their information stores to what others decide to put into them.  It’s up to lens masters to input info.  Facebook is a funnel as well.  It takes personal information and gathers it into one base for all to see.  The more people and the more information they can collect, the better their system works.  They thrive on more and more information.  

The future doesn’t belong to funnels.  The future belongs to filters.  Those who can create systems and tools which work to extract specific and minute details, and deliver them to a wanting audience, will be the most successful.  There is an overwhelming amount of information out there which we are all highly connected with.  Even in our own small worlds, we are superstars based on our thousands of online followers.  Our information appetites are high, but we are reaching our fill.  From this point on, I only want the information that I want, and I don’t want to have to struggle through the clutter to get it.  Give me filtered information.    Don’t call it lazy, call it wanting to be more productive, effective and efficient.

Personalized filters.