Confucius, the great Chinese Philosopher

Source: www.yesiknowthat.com/confucius/

Image credit: Flickr JayPLee

Considered one of the most prolific thinkers, Confucius was versatility personified donning many hats, that of a Teacher, Philosopher, Sage, Editor and Politician.
Also known as Kong Qui or K’ung Fu-tzu, Confucius was born in 551 BC in Lu state, China.  While some records show that he was born into a royal family of the Chou Dynasty, there are other accounts which state that he was in fact born into poverty. Losing his father when he was just 3, Confucius did grew up in poverty making it necessary for him to take up several jobs to support his family, which included the roles of a shepherd, cowherd, clerk and book-keeper.  Barring a wooden sculpture of Confucius created by one of his disciples, no other record of his physical appearance is available.
It is widely considered that as a child Confucius had the wisdom, perception and sensitivity well beyond his biological age.  Only 15, he resolved to direct his energies in the pursuit of learning, reforms and justice for all.  This in fact is believed to have formed the essence of `Confucianism’, a school of thought developed from his teachings and philosophy which establishes humanism as the core and emphasizes the moral principles of benevolence, righteousness and justice.
Confucius married at the age of 19 and became father a year later, both of whom he subsequently renounced to pursue his learning and develop his ideologies.  At 23, he lost his mother and keeping up with the tradition mourned the loss for 3 years. When 22, he is said to have initiated what is largely accepted as the first private school, making public his ideals of compassion, rituals, justice, personal and societal conduct. After this, he began spreading his ideologies and beliefs to other parts of China.
Confucius is credited with writing and editing some of the most influential traditional Chinese classics, collectively and popularly known as the “six classics” : The Odes, The Book, The Book of Change, The Book of Rites, The Book of Music and The Spring and Autumn Annals.
Confucius died in 479 B.C. in Qufu, China, buried at a place which now has become a beautiful forest with an 8 km perimeter.  While it is believed that he was saddened by his experiences and the low acceptability of his teachings, he got his due recognition centuries after his death in shape of state honors and coveted titles. Confucius is referred to by many names including “the Master”, “Extremely Sage Departed Teacher”, “Great Sage”, “First Teacher”, and “Model Teacher for Ten Thousand Ages”.

Some wise quotes by Confucius:

• Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

• Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

• To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.

• The object of the superior man is truth.

• What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

• A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

• I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

Top five tips for starting your own business

Source: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121015102429-32175171-top-five-tips-for-starting-your-own-business

When I first started out in business I had nothing more than a phone, a copy of the Yellow Pages and a broom cupboard sized office with no windows.  Needless to say it was tough.
Whilst I don’t believe there is a magic formula to guarantee you success, there are
some common themes.  Here are some of my top tips that I believe will help would-be entrepreneurs thinking of going into business for themselves:

1  Even before you get started you need to be brutally honest with yourself.  You need to ask the question whether you possess the necessary qualities to be an entrepreneur. Is there real hunger, courage and self-belief in your personal make-up? If there is even a tiny grain of doubt then the answer is probably no.

2  Always have confidence in yourself and in your abilities but always be prepared to listen to other people’s advice and ideas. The only way you can do that is by talking to as many people as possible about your business and how you plan to reach your customers.

3  Always do your homework. Having confidence in yourself and what you are doing is great but blind faith can be a fatal mistake. Detailed research is vital and the more information and knowledge you have on your side the higher the chances are that you will enjoy the results. Talk to everyone, use the internet and take a close look at the opposition – it will all help in the long run.

4  Do you have a unique selling point that will bring the customers flocking to buy your product or service? There are very few truly original ideas out there but the very best business schemes are often a slight twist on what is already in the market-place. The real trick is to be faster, better, cheaper and more convenient than any of your competitors.

5  When you are starting out don’t get carried away with the things that are not central to the business proposition. Instead of worrying about decorating the office or choosing the company logo concentrate on landing that first sale or order. The rest will come in time but in the beginning the most important thing is to get the business up and running and the customers interested in what you have to offer them. When in doubt keep your overheads to a minimum but never come across as cheap.

The Law of Sustainable Growth

Source: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121015181612-2157554-the-law-of-sustainable-growth



I recently had two startups seek my advice on the same day. As types of businesses, they could not have been more different. The first is developing a marketplace to help traders of collectibles connect with one another. These people are hard- core fans of movies, anime, or comics who strive to put together complete collections of toys and other promotional merchandise related to the characters they love. The startup aspires to compete with online marketplaces such as eBay as well as physical marketplaces attached to conventions and other gatherings of fans.
The second startup sells database software to enterprise customers. They have a next-generation database technology that can supplement or replace offerings from large companies such as Oracle, IBM, and SAP. Their customers are chief information officers (CIOs), IT managers, and engineers in some of the world’s largest organizations. These are long-lead-time sales that require salespeople, sales engineering, installation support, and maintenance contracts.
You could be forgiven for thinking these two companies have absolutely nothing in common, yet both came to me with the exact same problem. Each one had early customers and promising early revenue. They had validated and invalidated many hypotheses in their business models and were executing against their product road maps successfully. Their customers had provided a healthy mix of positive feedback and suggestions for improvements. Both companies had used their early success to raise money from outside investors.
The problem was that neither company was growing. Both CEOs brought me identical- looking graphs showing that their early growth had fl atlined. They could not understand why.They were acutely aware of the need to show progress to their employees and investors and came to me because they wanted advice on how to jump-start their growth. Should they invest in more advertising or marketing programs? Should they focus on product quality or new features? Should they try to improve conversion rates or pricing?
As it turns out, both companies share a deep similarity in the way their businesses grow— and therefore a similar confusion about what to do. Both are using the same engine of growth.
The engine of growth is the mechanism that startups use to achieve sustainable growth. I use the word sustainable to exclude all one-time activities that generate a surge of customers but have no long-term impact, such as a single advertisement or a publicity stunt that might be used to jump-start growth but could not sustain that growth for the long term.
Sustainable growth is characterized by one simple rule:

New customers come from the actions of past customers.

There are four primary ways past customers drive sustainable growth:

1. Word of mouth. Embedded in most products is a natural level of growth that is caused by satisfied customers’ enthusiasm for the product. For example, when I bought my first TiVo DVR, I couldn’t stop telling my friends and family about it. Pretty soon, my entire family was using one

2. As a side effect of product usage. Fashion or status, such as luxury goods products, drive awareness of themselves whenever they are used. When you see someone dressed in the latest clothes or driving a certain car, you may be influenced to buy that product. This is also true of so-called viral products such as Facebook and PayPal. When a customer sends money to a friend using PayPal, the friend is exposed automatically to the PayPal product.

3. Through funded advertising. Most businesses employ advertising to entice new customers to use their products. For this to be a source of sustainable growth, the advertising must be paid for out of revenue, not one-time sources such as investment capital. As long as the cost of acquiring a new customer (the so- called marginal cost) is less than the revenue that customer generates (the marginal revenue), the excess (the marginal profit) can be used to acquire more customers. The more marginal profit, the faster the growth.

4. Through repeat purchase or use. Some products are designed to be purchased repeatedly either through a subscription plan (a cable company) or through voluntary repurchases (groceries or lightbulbs). By contrast, many products and services are intentionally designed as one- time events, such as wedding planning.

These sources of sustainable growth power feedback loops that I have termed engines of growth. Each is like a combustion engine, turning over and over. The faster the loop turns, the faster the company will grow. Each engine has an intrinsic set of metrics that determine how fast a company can grow when using it.
This leaves a large amount of variety in terms of which numbers one should measure. In fact, one of the most expensive forms of potential waste for a startup isspending time arguing about how to prioritize new development once it has a product on the market. At any time, the company could invest its energy in finding new customers, servicing existing customers better, improving overall quality, or driving down costs. In my experience, the discussions about these kinds of priority decisions can consume a substantial fraction of the company’s time.
Engines of growth are designed to give startups a relatively small set of metrics on which to focus their energies. As one of my mentors, the venture capital investor Shawn Carolan, put it, “Startups don’t starve; they drown.” There are always a zillion new ideas about how to make the product better floating around, but the hard truth is that most of those ideas make a difference only at the margins. They are mere optimizations. Startups have to focus on the big experiments that lead to validated learning. The engines of growth framework helps them stay focused on the metrics that matter.

Four Ways To Break Through Your Fear And Self-Doubt

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/fabiennefredrickson/2012/06/26/four-ways-to-break-through-your-fear-and-self-doubt/


Just recently I read a post on a small business start-up blog by an entrepreneur who was selected to deliver a TED talk. Despite knowing what an amazing opportunity this was, she experienced intense fear leading up to the event and even considered some crazy excuses to get out of her commitment.

She’s certainly not alone.

As a coach and mentor who works with thousands of entrepreneurs, I often witness how people stop themselves by allowing fear and self-doubt to keep themselves ‘playing small’ in their business and their lives. The thing is, they’re often not even aware of it. Here’s what I mean… People SAY they want something very badly, that they want a change, and theoretically, that they’d do anything to get it.

But when the rubber meets the road, it’s a totally different story. For many, when it’s time to take action, they’re just not willing to take the steps or do the work that creates the result.  It’s that inner self-doubt that consistently has them questioning every single move they make in growing their business and their income.

Here are my four steps to break through that fear and self-doubt:

1. Take a No-Excuses Approach

Although, some may call them “reasons”, people stop themselves all the time by using excuses. The opportunity they want so badly finally shows up, and they make excuses so as not to go forward. The biggest excuses I hear are “I don’t have enough money,” “I don’t have enough time, “I’m too busy”, “I don’t want to travel,” and the list goes on.

They use these excuses as their trap door, their escape route.

Let me ask you this—when pressed in a life or death situation, would you find the time or money? If someone you loved was trapped in a building, would you stop trying to rescue them if the front door was locked? No, of course not. You’d try the back door, then the windows, and every other possible way, right?

To achieve success, you’ve got to be willing to take the same approach with your business. Successful people are those who take a No-Excuses Approach and are willing to do what others won’t.

So, how badly do you want it? You either have excuses or you have results. Which do you choose?

2. Feel the Fear—But Do It Anyway

The ego creates fear to keep you small. For example, fear of rejection, fear of overwhelm, fear of humiliation, fear of making mistakes, fear of losing it all, fear of the unknown, and on and on it goes. The list is huge.

All entrepreneurs I know experience fear. What separates those who are successful and those who allow fear to hold them back is the willingness to act in spite of the fear. The best way to get over fear is to walk directly into it. It takes courage but you know what? Walking into fear is never as bad as you think it’s going to be. Instead, you’ll find it liberating.

3. Be Willing to Stretch Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Most people avoid discomfort like the plague.  If you want to get to the next level of your business, you’ve got to be comfortable being uncomfortable—just for a short time. Yes, it’s a little scary at first but let’s face it, it’s not going to kill you.

The question is—are you willing? Are you willing to trade short-term discomfort for long-term success? If so, are you willing to go where you have to go? Are you willing to talk to who you have to talk to? Are you willing to move for what you want? Are you willing to do what you haven’t done? Are you willing to stretch beyond your comfort zone?

Yes? Then I’ve got great news–that is when the money and opportunities show up.

4. Take Decisive Action

You can’t just wish for something. You’ve got to take action. Action is an issue of personal responsibility. It’s where you acknowledge that you are solely responsible for the choices in your life and you accept that you cannot blame others for the choices you have made. Time and time again our inner self-doubt makes us question everything and keeps us from taking action when the solution shows up. This all boils down to one thing and one thing only. In plain English it’s called self-sabotage.

Widening your perspective around success starts with a decision. Once you make a decision to succeed, it’s time to commit to doing whatever it takes to make it happen.

It comes down to taking bold and decisive action toward what you say you want in your business or your life. It’s about saying YES to what’s possible for you. Saying YES to the opportunities that are divinely given to you—and then taking action. Your business, your life, your income will never be the same. I promise you that.

Back to entrepreneur, Rebekah who I mentioned in my introduction—her fear of failure and her desire to conquer that self doubt actually wound up being a driving force for success in her business. And it can for you, too.

Muhammad Ali’s Knockout Guide to Being the Greatest

Source: http://vividways.com/muhammad-alis-knockout-guide-to-being-the-greatest/

Muhammad Ali: "The Greatest"

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.” ~  Muhammad Ali

From the moment a 12 year old kid called Cassius Clay, Jr. first laced up a pair of boxing gloves, he no doubt knew that he was destined for greatness in both the sport and in life. Always supremely confident in his own abilities, Muhammad Ali – as he later became better known – deservedly earned himself the nickname ‘The Greatest’.
Whether you’re a fan of boxing or not, Ali’s legendary fighting spirit and positive attitude are an inspiration for anyone wanting to achieve great things.
So, what can we learn about greatness in life from the words of wisdom of the ‘fighting philosopher’?
Ali was – and still is – the master showman, both inside and outside the ring. The pre-match hype he generated was as entertaining and eagerly anticipated as his bouts.  He could deliver a mighty punch to an opponent with a well aimed verbal jab.
Here are 9 of Muhammad Ali’s best quotes on greatness:

1. You’ve Got to Have a Vision

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them- a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”
Ali always had a laser-focussed dream in mind – to become the best boxer in the world. Every minute spent training and every strategic punch thrown during a match was designed to make this vision a reality.
Having a vision for your future defines what you want to become and the things you want to achieve. Your vision also allows you to develop the actions you need to take to get there. A clear vision helps keep the momentum going when difficult circumstances threaten to derail the dream.
Knockout point: Ask yourself what your ‘ideal’ future looks like. Use this as a starting point to plan practically how to achieve this vision for your life. Dream big.

2. You’ve Got to Set Goals

“What keeps me going is goals.”
Working towards challenging goals directly helps an athlete perform better in their sport, and Ali set himself many tough goals on his way to the top.
Goal setting is the process that helps you to be clear on what you want, decide upon an action plan to help achieve it, take the necessary steps, and to focus your time and energy on reaching your targets.
Knockout point: Work out the goals you want to achieve and develop an action plan to reach them.

3. Don’t Quit the Preparation Stage

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion”.”
Ali spent many gruelling hours losing blood and sweat in the practice gyms, learning the moves and tactics of boxing. He saw training as a tough but necessary part of his quest to be No. 1.
We’d all love to achieve overnight success in our efforts, but this rarely happens. Success doesn’t come easy. It takes hard work and preparation to gain the skills needed. But investing the time now will pay off in the long run.
Knockout point: Develop a training schedule and stick with it for the long term whether you want to achieve success in losing weight, becoming fitter, gaining a promotion at work, or whatever.

4. Meet Challenges Head On

“It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.”
In the days before the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle” match, the older Ali was seen as the underdog to his younger and stronger opponent, George Foreman. After an exhausting duel, Ali was declared the winner. He’d tackled the fight head on.
It’s often a temptation to give up on doing something difficult because we see it as being too tough to achieve. Many people throw in the towel before even giving it a try. But it’s really only by pushing ourselves that we grow in confidence and develop the skills needed to be successful.
Knockout point: Be brave enough to face up to the more demanding tasks you’ve set yourself – as well as the easy ones. Start with smaller challenges and once you tick them off as ‘done’, move on to even greater ones.

5. Have the Courage to Take Risks

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
No one could accuse Ali of playing it safe when he stepped inside the ring.

Muhammad Ali by Andy Warhol

Most of us have our own ‘comfort zone’, a familiar place where we limit what we do to only those things we know we can do successfully.
If you fear failure you will never take the risks needed for excellent performance. As you apply goal setting to your life and see the achievement of these goals, your self confidence will grow, helping you to take even bigger risks.
Knockout point: If it’s something that you aren’t sure about doing, think: “What am I going to lose if I take the risk?” and “what could I gain from just doing it?” Then, weigh up which course of action benefits you most.

6. Don’t be Afraid of Losing

“I never thought of losing, but now that it’s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That’s my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.”
While Ali lost only 5 matches in his amazing career, everyone was shocked that such a ‘winning machine’ could lose at all. It’s ironic that Ali’s very last fight was a loss by unanimous decision.
In today’s success obsessed society, we’re programmed to be terrified of losing. Losing is bad. Losing is to be avoided at all costs. Losing is for losers!
Yet, in reality, you can’t ever know the full experience of winning if you’ve never lost.
Knockout point: See failure as the opportunity to identify areas where you can improve your skills and performance for the future.

7. Believe in Yourself First

“I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.”
Your own self belief is the key to successful life change, achievement, contentment, and happiness. When you believe that something is possible and within your power to get, you are much more likely to put in the time and effort required to make it happen.
Knockout point: Work on building your self belief by reflecting on your past successes and achievements, however minor they might appear to others. What strengths did you show that helped you do those great things? You did it before, so you can certainly do it again.

8. You’re Free to be What You Want

“I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.”
The pressure to conform to other people’s standards is enormous. Parents, friends, the media, and society all set goals for you, based on what they want. Often they do this by ignoring your own needs, desires and ambitions. But, regularly following someone else’s suggestions on what to do with your life will leave you unfulfilled, as will trying to fit in with their idea of who you should be.
Knockout point: Never let other people limit you. Your dreams belong to you and you alone.

9. The Power of Positive Affirmations

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
Negative internal thoughts are the enemy of success. That nagging little voice of self doubt always appears when you’re on the verge of great things. Thankfully, with practice, it’s possible to reprogram our mind and replace the destructive messages with more positive ones.
Knockout point: If you tell yourself that ‘you can’ enough times, one day you’ll start to believe it. When that happens, there will be no stopping you!
Which of Muhammad Ali’s motivational quotes inspires you the most? How could you apply them to your own life today?

Five top tips to starting a successful business

Source: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121002115242-204068115-five-top-tips-to-starting-a-successful-business?trk=NUS_UNIU_PEOPLE_FOLLOW-megaphone
As LinkedIn is a business that started in a living room, much like Virgin began in a basement, I thought my first blog on the site should be about how to simply start a successful business. Here are five top tips I’ve picked up over the years.

1. Listen more than you talk

We have two ears and one mouth, using them in proportion is not a bad idea! To be a good leader you have to be a great listener. Brilliant ideas can spring from the most unlikely places, so you should always keep your ears open for some shrewd advice. This can mean following online comments as closely as board meeting notes, or asking the frontline staff for their opinions as often as the CEOs. Get out there, listen to people, draw people out and learn from them.


2. Keep it simple

You have to do something radically different to stand out in business. But nobody ever said different has to be complex. There are thousands of simple business solutions to problems out there, just waiting to be solved by the next big thing in business. Maintain a focus upon innovation, but don’t try to reinvent the wheel. A simple change for the better is far more effective than five complicated changes for the worse.


3. Take pride in your work

Last week I enjoyed my favourite night of the year, the Virgin Stars of the Year Awards, where we celebrated some of those people who have gone the extra mile for us around the Virgin world. With so many different companies, nationalities and personalities represented under one roof, it was interesting to see what qualities they all have in common. One was pride in their work, and in the company they represent. Remember your staff are your biggest brand advocates, and focusing on helping them take pride will shine through in how they treat your customers.


4. Have fun, success will follow

If you aren’t having fun, you are doing it wrong. If you feel like getting up in the morning to work on your business is a chore, then it's time to try something else. If you are having a good time, there is a far greater chance a positive, innovative atmosphere will be nurtured and your business will fluorish. A smile and a joke can go a long way, so be quick to see the lighter side of life.


5. Rip it up and start again

If you are an entrepreneur and your first venture isn’t a success, welcome to the club! Every successful businessperson has experienced a few failures along the way – the important thing is how you learn from them. Don’t allow yourself to get disheartened by a setback or two, instead dust yourself off and work out what went wrong. Then you can find the positives, analyse where you can improve, rip it up and start again.