A crash is when your competitor's program dies. When your program dies, it is an 'idiosyncrasy'.
Guy KawasakiRead
You say: "I'm a blue sky thinker." Investor thinks: "You have no business model, and you don't know how to ship."
Interpretation
Creative ideas need practical plans to be successful.
This quote by Guy Kawasaki highlights the contrast between having visionary ideas and the necessity of grounding those ideas in practical business models. It suggests that while being a 'blue sky thinker'—someone who thinks creatively and innovatively—is important, it must be paired with a solid understanding of business operations and execution to turn ideas into reality.
In practice
During a business meeting, when discussing innovative ideas, you can say this quote to emphasize the need for practical plans.
A crash is when your competitor's program dies. When your program dies, it is an 'idiosyncrasy'.
Here's what you should say [to an investor]: 'this is what my company does' It's that simple. What you're trying to do is get potential investors to fantasize about how your product or service will make a boatload of money. They can't fantasize if they don't know what you do.
Knowledge is great. Competence is great. But the combination of both encourages people to trust you and increases your powers of enchantment. And in this world, the combination is a breath of fresh air.
At the end of my life, is it better to say that I empowered people to make great stuff, or that I died with a net worth of $10 billion? Obviously I'm picking the former, although I would not mind both.
Enchantment is the purest form of sales. Enchantment is all about changing people's hearts, minds and actions because you provide them a vision or a way to do things better. The difference between enchantment and simple sales is that with enchantment you have the other person's best interests at heart, too.
• People deserve a break. The stressed and unorganized person who doesn’t have the same priorities as you may be dealing with an autistic child, abusive spouse, fading parents, or cancer. Don’t judge people until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. Give them a break instead.
The idea that you can create a template that will work forever doesn't happen in any business. There's some really, really bright people in this business. You can't do the same thing the same way and be successful for a long period of time.
Greatest risk is not development of new product, but development of customers and markets
In this business, by the time you realize you're in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you're running scared all the time, you're gone.
Profit is not the purpose of a business, but rather the test of its validity
The NBA is never just a business. It's always business. It's always personal. All good businesses are personal. The best businesses are very personal.
If you can tune into the fantasy life of an 11-year-old girl, you can make a fortune in this business.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.