What do you believe in? What are the truths + principles that you hold yourself and others to? If we don't define these for ourselves, others will.

I finished reading Play Nice But Win by Michael Dell the other week

The part that stayed with me the most was at the end in a list he called “Things I Believe"

He had a concise list of just over 20 principles + beliefs that he said helped shape how he built and led over the years

As I closed the book, that left me with the thought of what would mine say?

So what follows here is a snapshot at my attempt to answer that question based on where I’m at in life

Most of these aren’t novel thoughts - they’re things I’ve learned, noticed, failed at, and have had to relearn

1/ Ecosystems, not channels. The contribution of any single person, channel, or team is inseparable from everything around it. Optimize for global, not local, maximums.

2/ Most problems aren’t new problems. They’re the same problems seen before, just dressed in different clothes.

3/ Common sense ≠ common practice. Somewhere along the way, our intuitive understanding of how buyers actually behave when making purchase decisions (AKA non-linear, messy, multiple people involved) got buried under the accumulated weight of common practice (AKA linear funnels, sequenced campaigns, decisionmaker is also the end user).

4/ Brand is a force multiplier. It changes the effectiveness of everything downstream, but it doesn’t show up in dashboards + that’s exactly why most people underinvest in it.

5/ Leads are not goals. Revenue is the goal. Never confuse a leading indicator for the goal itself. Remember Goodhart’s Law: “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."

6/ The work is the answer. Do it because your standard demands it, not because anyone is watching.

7/ Move before you have every answer. The next step reveals what the preparation couldn’t. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that knowing your direction means NOTHING without VELOCITY behind it. Velocity is the action. It’s taking the first step + making progress toward the plan we created.

8/ Teams are the most accurate reflection of your standards. Hire slowly, develop relentlessly, + never tolerate what you wouldn’t do yourself.

9/ Rest is not the absence of work. Going for walks, taking time to read, + enjoying quiet mornings are part of the work. We need time + space for our brain to make connections - if it’s constantly flooded with inputs those won’t happen.

10/ I've sat in rooms where the questions being asked told me everything I needed to know. When the conversation around you no longer matches the level you're operating at, stop trying to fit. Build a different room.

11/ We have 4 burners on our stovetop: work, family, health, + friends, but we can’t run them all at full capacity at the same time. Every season of life has a cost. The goal is knowing which ones you’re turning up/down intentionally + making sure it’s actually a choice.