Capitalogix

Envisioning A Bigger Future

Last week, I shared an article about creating your annual plan (and how Capitalogix does it).  This week, I want to talk more high-level about how we create a bigger future for ourselves, and next week I’ll talk about how I translate that bigger future into resolutions and actions. 

The beginning of a new year is an excellent time for a fresh start.  While it’s always the right time to take the right action, the structure of a year-end is a helpful crutch and force function. 

We look forward to what we will achieve – even though history says we rarely achieve everything we hope for.  Meanwhile, paradoxically, it is also true that we rarely achieve things we don’t hope for.  So, Hope!  It may not be a reliable strategy ... but it beats the alternative.

I’m excited about 2023.  Despite the abnormal market, the crazy headlines, and the still volatile political climate, we’re moving toward increased stability. 

Even though I expect some volatility, we have become more accustomed to handling it (and we’ve become better at transforming its strategic byproducts into strategic benefits).

On a different topic, think about how much progress we’ve made and how different the “new normal” has become.  For example, think about Zoom and remote work or how quickly our economy migrated online.  On many levels, what we are doing now seemed like science fiction, even just a few years ago.

We are living in an age of exponential technologies and exponential possibilities.

I commissioned this image from GapingVoid, to remind our team to keep shooting higher.

 

 

Resilience, resourcefulness, and a worthy goal are the foundational keys to many entrepreneurial success stories.

In the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions – I’ll add that a deliberate approach to goals is important too.

I’m a big fan of picking a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (sometimes called a “BHAG”) and taking actions that move you in that direction. 

I’m also a big fan of Strategic Coach’s Bigger Future exercise.  It is a 25-year planning exercise where you lay out your commitments and goals to yourself, your family, your career, and your legacy.  One of the keys to this is chunking high enough to name the roles, goals, and strategies you select with timeless language (meaning that the target words hold up even as you pivot and adjust your focus and actions).

While doing this, I realized that my ideal next chunk of years involves taking Capitalogix to the next level (and beyond) through collaboration, cooperation, and joint ventures. 

Once you know your long-term goal, it is relatively easy to plan the steps you need to achieve it.  Achieving smaller goals reinforces successes, builds momentum, and makes continued progress feel more likely.

Extra points if you make them SMARTs (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound). 

Actions speak louder than words, and your words can distract you. 

If your goal is to win first place at a competition, focus on the metrics of a first-place finish instead of the medal.  This makes the goal concrete and sets an internal locus of control for your victory.  This also means you don’t need to tell others about your goal too soon.  Studies show that when you announce your intention to achieve a goal in public, you decrease the likelihood of succeeding. 

It’s okay to misstep, and it’s okay to get stuck - but recognize where you are and what you’ve done ... and move forward. 

Delayed gratification happens when you want something badly, but are not able to get it right away.  The result is often anger or frustration.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media broadcasts a seemingly non-stop stream of messages screaming for immediate attention and gratification.  The result of that is not good either (for example, it can result in higher rates of obesity, drug abuse, and depression). 

Don’t be fooled.  Overnight successes are rarely actually overnight successes (for long).

It’s also important (once you’ve accomplished your goal) to set new goals. 

Over the next 25 years, there are many people I want to impact – and many goals I want to accomplish.

It hasn’t always been easy - but building Capitalogix has been an intensely rewarding passion.  It has been easier because I want what I want.  Make sure you know what you really want ... it makes getting it much easier.

I look forward to you all being a part of it as well.  Here’s to a successful 2023 and an even more successful 2048.  

Onwards!

Creating Your Annual Plan

It is that time of year, again.  We are in the midst of our annual planning for 2023.

The process is relatively straightforward.  We start by deciding what the company's three highest priority goals are. With those goals as the base, each department (and manager) creates a big three that represents what they can do to reach the company's big three. From there we dive into quarterly rocks, SMARTs (goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and timed), as well as the explicit tactical steps it will take to accomplish what we set out to achieve. 

The meetings are going well.  There is a lot of back-and-forth idea sharing, negotiating, and priority setting.

Nonetheless, I had a sneaking suspicion that sometimes what seemed like a dialogue, was really multiple monologues. 

The reason for the disconnect (or misconnect) was that the participants had fundamental beliefs, at a higher level than we were discussing, that were at odds with each other. 

I shot two videos that I think help teams get to alignment.

Thinking About Your Thinking

The first discusses several techniques to enhance your decision-making. 

 

One of the ideas is something called "Think, Feel, Know." Basically, it explains that you have to deal with superficial thoughts before getting to deeper feelings. Then, you have to deal with those feelings before you get to "knowing". 

Another technique discussed in the video involves adding time to look for "insights" after working on something.  Those insights are often the seeds for something greater.

Chunking Higher

The second is on how to chunk high enough that you can start from a place of agreement.  Exploring distinctions from there is relatively easy.

I'll add one more concept for good measure ... Start with the end in mind. Alignment happens in stages.  Before you can truly get alignment on what to do next, you have to get agreement and alignment about where you are and where you want to go.

With that said, another important component of meaningful communication is a shared understanding of a common language.  Words can mean different things to different people.  Simply agreeing on a "word" is different than agreeing on a common meaning.

To summarize these concepts:

1. Make sure you have a common language
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Start with the highest level of agreement
4. Make distinctions from there

Hope that helps. 

On The Time Value of Life

As we near the end of the year, I start to think about what I want for my future, and how far I’ve already come. It’s also a reminder that while I can extend my life – eventually, the clock stops. 

 

via zefrank1

Death is often a trigger that sends my thoughts spinning: celebrating life; mourning death; imagining what lies in store for the family; empathizing with the survivors ... and even future-pacing to my death and memorial service.

In daily life, I often remind myself that ‘everything happens for a reason – and just because I can’t find the gift in a particular situation, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

This is the anniversary of my Father’s death.  When he died, I came out with a newfound respect for how precious life is.  I decided it was time to stop thinking about what I do – and spend more time cultivating who I want to be.  It also caused me to consider how I would be remembered – versus how I’d choose to be remembered.

Death is often a reminder to make the most of the time given to us.

In 2014, I gave a TEDx talk about the subject: The Time Value of a Life Worth Living.

 

via TEDx

It was a reflection on my struggle with juggling work-life balance.  It was about a year that brought my Dad’s death, the forced sale of my company by venture capitalists, and a divorce (in that order).  Luckily, sometimes, life’s darkest days bring the greatest gifts … if you are willing to look for them.

One of my biggest takeaways from that struggle was about the time value of life.

In finance, the “time value of money” refers to the principle that the purchasing power of money varies over time (meaning, money today has more purchasing power than money later).  In part, this is because the value of money at a future point in time might be calculated by accounting for other variables (like interest earned, inflation accrued, etc.).

It occurred to me that a similar calculation applied to life ... or living.

The above video is 13 minutes.  Hopefully, you’ll watch ... but if not, I’ve added some of my favorite excerpts below.

Live Like You Only Have a Year Left.

“During the last part of my Dad’s life, I think he would have done almost anything for a little more time.

Things that used to be unimportant, or even mildly irritating, took on increased importance.  For example, a dinner together became almost a sacred event; a kiss goodnight was truly heartfelt, and saying goodbye meant something ... because it could be the last time.

Nevertheless, as a result of that focus, he took more life out of that time.

Shouldn’t we do the same thing?  Think about it: We will never be younger than we are right now.  We are never going to have more time to fix a big mistake. Isn’t it likely that the time value of your life is worth maximizing?”

People Who Are Good Take Advantage of Opportunities.  People Who Are Great Create Them.

“When I think back to that year, I spent so much time moving away from pain ... that I forgot to move towards opportunity.  I feel like I wasted so much time.

My Dad said the difference between good and great is infinitesimal.  People who are good take advantage of opportunities ... But people who are great create them.

I think what he meant was that when they see the opportunity, they move towards it.  They shoot through it.

It is easy to say, “I see that opportunity; but it’s not the right time.” Or, “I see that opportunity, and I really want to remember it for when this is over.” And as much as I want to believe that’s true ... deep down, I know that it’s always a good time to take the right action.

Instead, “life” (the noun) often gets in the way of “living” (the verb).

To Change Your Life, Change Your Perspective.

“When you are ‘stuck’... a shift in role, or a shift in perspective, is often all you need to see a new path forward or a new possibility.

Have you ever been stuck playing a role you knew didn’t serve you?  Where you knew what the best next step was, from your perspective, but you had a sense that it wasn’t the right action?  Sometimes it makes sense to step back and ask, ‘What role can I play that would get a better result?’”

That is often all it takes to change the game.  Other times, what it takes is the decision to play a new game.

Everyone has the same 24 hours each day. Some use it better than others. 

Sometimes we are conscious of how we use this precious resource.  Sometimes it gets away from us.

The average life expectancy for men in the U.S. is 76.

How many amazing vacations do you have left?  How many jaw-dropping moments?  How many fantastic meals?  How many Super Bowls?

What about time with your parents or older relatives? It’s easy to forget to call or to miss an important event because “life happens,” but if you realize you may have already used 95% of your in-person time with that person ... doesn’t it become more special?

In my TEDx talk, I mentioned “living like you only have a year left,” and how much more “life” we got out of the last part of my Dad’s life. 

How do you replicate that?

To start, think of some of the activities you do, places you go, and experiences you have that are special and make you feel like your best self. 

• Hitting flow-state and creating something new and exciting;
• Taking an amazing vacation and experiencing something completely new;
• Having a moment with someone you love that makes you stop and say - Wow!
• Making a difference in someone’s day or giving back to your community;
• Experiencing peace and relaxation;
• Feeling pure joy.

It’s easy to get lost and take these moments for granted when they happen, but when you think about how much time you have left, they take a whole new meaning. 

What would it take for you to get the most out of your life today?  How can you maximize the time you have left?  Fill it with the best experiences, activities, and people you can.

To start, think about different time frames:

• What activities could you commit to doing at least once a year?
• What activities could you commit to doing at least once a month?
• What activities could you commit to doing at least once a week?
• What activities could you commit to doing at least once a day?

Make those lists ... it is a simple way to get a better return on the time value of your life.

Seriously, try it.  

Let me know how it worked for you – and what you chose.

Onwards! 

The Power of Three Word Strategies

A few years ago, I shared a presentation called Mindset Matters that I had given to a small mastermind group.

Recently, I  have revisited that content in more detail and with finer distinction.

One of my core beliefs is that energy is one of the most important things we can measure. I believe it so strongly I paid Gaping Void to put it on my wall.

via GapingVoid

It means exactly what it sounds like - but also a lot more.

Energy affects how you feel, what you do, and what you make it mean.  That means it is a great way to measure your values too. Consequently, even if you don't recognize it, energy has a lot to do with who you hire and fire. It affects where you spend our time. Ultimately, it even affects the long-term vision of our company. If something brings profit and energy, it is probably worth pursuing. 

In contrast, one of the quickest ways to burn out is by fighting your energy.  Figuring out who and what to say "no" to is an important way to make sure you stay on path and reach your goals.

 

Three Word Strategies.

I believe that words have power. Specifically, the words you use to describe your identity and your priorities change your reality. 

First some background.  Your Roles and Goals are nouns.  That means “a person, place, or thing.”  Lets examine some sample roles (like: father, entrepreneur, visionary, etc.) and goals (like: amplified intelligence, autonomous platform, and sustainable edge).  As expected, they are all nouns. 

Next, we’ll examine your default strategies.   The strategies you use are verbs.  That means they define an action you take.  Action words include: connect, communicate, contribute, collaborate, protect, serve, evaluate, curate, share … and love.  On the other end of the spectrum, you could complain, retreat, blame, or block.

People have habitual strategies.  I often say happy people find ways to be happy – while frustrated people find ways to be frustrated.  This is true for many things.

Seen a different way people expect and trust that you will act according to how they perceive you act.

Meanwhile, you are the most important perceiver.

Another distinction worth making to that the nouns and verbs we use range from timely to timeless.  Timely words relate to what you are doing now.  Timeless words are chunked higher and relate to what you have done, what you are doing, and what you will do.

The trick is to chunk high enough that you are focused on words that link your timeless Roles, Goals, and Strategies.  When done right, you know that this is part of what makes you … “You”.  

My favorite way to do this is through three-word strategies. 

These work for your business, your priorities, your identity, and more. 

I'll introduce the idea to you by sharing my own to start. 

Understand. Challenge. Transform. 

The actual words are less important than what they mean to me. 

What's also important is that not only do these words mean something to me, but I've put them in a specific order, and I've made these words "commands" in my life. They're specific, measurable, and actionable. They remind me what to do. They give me direction.  And, they are a strategy (or process) that creates a reliable result.

First, I understand, because I want to make sure I know all sides before I take action.  For me, it is about seeing the bigger picture.  It creates a golden thread from where I am to the bigger future possibility that I want.. Then, I challenge situations, people, norms, and more.  I don’t challenge to tear down.  I challenge to find strength … to figure out what to trust and rely upon. Finally, I transform things to make them better. Insanity is doing what you always do and expecting a different result.  This is about finding where small changes create massive transformations.  It is about committing to the result rather than how we have done things till now.

If I challenged before I knew the situation, or I tried to transform something without properly doing my research, I'd be shooting from the hip, and I'd cause more damage than good. 

Likewise, imagine the life of someone who protects, serves, and loves.  Compare that to the life of someone who loves, serves, and protects.  The order matters!

I've set daily alarms on my phone with these words, I use them when I'm in meetings, and they're used to evaluate whether I'm showing up as my best self. 

You can also create three words that are different for the different hats you wear, the products in your business, or how your team collaborates. 

Finding Your Three Words 

Just like recipes, your words should have ingredients, orders, and intensities. As you use your words more, the intensities might change. For example, when my son was just getting out of college, one of his words was contented because he was focused on all the things he missed from college - instead of being appreciative of the things he did have. Later, his words switched to grateful and then loving. Evolutions that paired with his personal journeys. 

As well, your words should be actions. They should be things that you do, not just words that describe you. You want to be an active participant in your life - not a passive bystander. You can also see that in my son's words. As he grew, the word became an action that he wanted to approach life with, instead of just a feeling. 

Once you learn how to create and use these simple three-word strategies, you can use them everywhere. 

What are your words?

 

"Earl, Honey"

 

My first wife (and mother of my children) Denise is a smart and talented author.  I still remember the first time she asked me to read an early copy of her work.  She never let me do it again. 

That being said, she recently released a new book, Earl, Honey.  The book is loosely based on the real story of her family history.  I enjoyed it.  It's a southern coming-of-age story set in the 1920s - which is not my typical genre.  Nevertheless, it's a poignant story with insight into the human condition, and its dramatic realities remind us how good we have it. 

It's a story she learned, first via her grandmother, long after the events of the book take place.  Those events shaped the lives of generations of her family. 

It's a tough and heart-wrenching Southern Gothic read that covers incest, domestic abuse, and more.  Check it out. 

Here's the book's blurb from Amazon:

"Ever since Pa hit him in the head with the two-by-four, Earl had lived with blinders on. Not real blinders, of course, because that would be foolish. It was his own brain that blinkered him."

Earl Hahn is slow, the last one to catch on to things. Since the day his father hit him in the head with a 2x4 of loblolly pine, he's struggled with a "thickness in his brain." It takes him longer to make the connections others arrive at easily. When his father is prosecuted for the crime of incest, it feels like deliverance for Earl, his mother Lizzie Belle, and the entire Hahn family. Unfortunately, his father's abhorrent actions are not done exacting a price.

Everyone in the household will pay for their patriarch's crimes - no one more than Earl.

So begins a powerful coming-of-age tale about a shy, damaged boy who must overcome unimaginable personal tragedy - both as its victim and its perpetrator. Raw, honest, and filled with heart, Earl, Honey recounts an extraordinary search for redemption amid the perilous world of the 1920s American South.

 

Lincoln: The Entrepreneurial President

A few months ago, I brought my cousin Matt Pinsker, an expert in civil war history and Abraham Lincoln, to talk to an exclusive mastermind. He did an outstanding job of relating Lincoln's letters and history to the entrepreneurial mindset. 

It was a hit. 

So, I'm excited that I also convinced him to do a podcast with me, Dan Sullivan, and Steven Krein on the ultimate entrepreneurial president. Steven Krein is also my cousin, so it was a family affair. 

We talk about revolutions, technology, future-orientation, and more. It's a great episode, and worth listening to for entrepreneurs, history buffs, and anyone looking to thrive in a changing world. 

Hope you enjoy it. 

GPT-3: Boom or Bust?

GPT-3 was released by OpenAI in 2020 - and was considered by many a huge jump in natural language processing. 

GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer. It uses deep learning to generate text responses based on an input text. Even more simply, it's a bot that creates a quality of text so high that it can be difficult to tell whether it's written by a human or an AI.

GPT-3 is 100x bigger than any previous language AI model and comes pre-trained on 45TB of training text (499 billion words). It cost at least 4.6 million US dollars (some estimated as high as $12 million) to train on GPUs. The resulting model has 175 billion parameters. On top of that, it can be tuned to your specific use after the fact. 

via Towards Data Science

Here are some interesting GPT-3 based tools: 

• Frase - AI-Curated SEO Content 
• Emerson - AI Chatbot
• Viable - Customer Feedback Analytics Platform
• Sapling- Customer Service

Practically, GPT-3 was a huge milestone. It represents a huge jump in NLP's capabilities and a massive increase in scale. That being said, there was a frenzy in the community that may not match the results. To the general public, it felt like a discontinuity; like a big jump toward general intelligence.  

To me, and to others I know in the space, GPT-3 represents a preview of what's to come. It's a reminder that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is coming and that we need to be thinking about the rules of engagement and ethics of AI before we get there. 

Especially with Musk unveiling his intention to build 'friendly' robots this week. 

On the scale of AI's potential, GPT-3 was a relatively small step. It's profoundly intelligent in many ways - but it's also inconsistent and not cognitively concrete enough.

Take it from me, the fact that an algorithm can do something amazing isn't surprising to me anymore ... but neither is the fact that an amazing algorithm can do stupid things more often than you'd suspect.  It is all part of the promise and the peril of exponential technologies.

It's hard to measure the intelligence of tools like this because metrics like IQ don't work.  Really it comes down to utility.  Does it help you do things more efficiently, more effectively, or with more certainty? 

For the most part, these tools are early. They show great promise, and they do a small subset set of things surprisingly well. If I think about them simply as a tool, a backstop, or a catalyst to get me moving when I'm stuck ... the current set of tools is exciting.  On the other hand, if you compare current tools to your fantasy of artificial general intelligence, there are a lot of things to be improved upon. 

Clearly, we are making progress. Soon, GPT-4 will take us further. In the meantime, enjoy the progress and imagine what you will do with the capabilities, prototypes, products, and platforms you predict will exist for you soon.

Onwards. 

AI Meets Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss was recently in the news for stopping the release of 6 of its books. 

Whether it was a marketing ploy or not, I've been seeing a lot more Dr.Seuss content. 

To start, here's a video of an A.I. written Dr. Seuss book with animation. 

 

via Calamity AI

In addition, here's an A.I. remastered World War II cartoon written by Dr. Seuss with a character named Private Snafu. It's one episode of a series of shorts that were banned post-WWII, and it's one of the more tame episodes.  For an extra piece of trivia, the name of Private Snafu and his series of shorts was based on the military acronym for "Situation Normal: All F***ed Up". 

It's an interesting piece of history ... enjoy. 

 

via Adam Maciaszek

While produced by Warner Bros., these shorts which were made for the US military did not have to go through the Production Code Administration and thus got away with raunchier humor, foul language, and what we would today categorize as racist propaganda against the Japanese and Germans. 

While it's okay to acknowledge that we should be doing better today, I also think it's interesting and informative to watch older materials in the context and time period they were written. 

Racism isn't okay, but if you don't know history, you're doomed to repeat it, and art can be discussed and enjoyed within that context as well.  

 

The Shapes of Stories

Seemingly complex things are often simpler when understood.

This applies to many things.

For example, great writing is diverse and nuanced ... but its underlying structure isn't.

Kurt Vonnegut wrote a number of "Classics", including Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, and The Sirens of Titan.

For all his great writing, and all the complexities, he simplified stories into a few basic story shapes.

Here is a graphic that explains the concept.

Here is a 17-minute video of Vonnegut discussing his theory of the Shape of Stories.  You can get the basic concepts in the first 7 minutes ... but he is witty and the whole video is worth watching. 

 

 

You can explore a bit more elaborate version of his "Shapes of Stories" from his rejected Master's thesis from the University of Chicago.

Vonnegut's idea was fulfilled not too long ago--a computer was used to identify story shapes. Researchers extracted the emotional trajectories of 1,327 stories and discovered that there are six core emotional arcs:

• Rags to riches (a rise)
• Tragedy (a fall)
• Man in a hole (fall, then a rise)
• Icarus (rise, then a fall)
• Cinderella (rise, then a fall, then a rise)
• Oedipus (fall, then a rise, then a fall)

 For more on writing from Kurt Vonnegut:

• How To Write With Style
• Eight Rules For Writing Fiction

 

Chunking Higher

We've been doing annual planning for 2021.

The meetings are going well.  There is a lot of back-and-forth idea sharing, negotiating, and priority setting.

Nonetheless, I had a sneaking suspicion that sometimes what seemed like a dialogue, was really multiple monologues. 

The reason for the disconnect (or misconnect) was that the participants had fundamental beliefs, at a higher level than we were discussing, that were at odds with each other. 

I shot this video to explain how to fix that issue.   

The short answer is to chunk high enough that you truly start from a place of agreement.  Exploring distinctions from there is relatively easy.

 

 

 

I'll add one more concept for good measure ... Start with the end in mind. Alignment happens in stages.  Before you can truly get alignment on what to do next, you have to get agreement and alignment about where you are and where you want to go.

With that said, another important component of meaningful communication is a shared understanding of common language.  Words can mean different things to different people.  Simply agreeing on a "word" is different than agreeing on a common meaning.

To summarize these concepts:

1. Make sure you have a common language
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Start with the highest level of agreement
4. Make distinctions from there

Hope that helps.