Book Review: “Mark Zuckerberg: Ten Lessons in Leadership”

zuckI was sceptical that “Mark Zuckerberg: Ten Lessons in Leadership” by Michael Essany would be worth reading, but decided to give it a go anyway. It isn’t a large book, but the documentary style works well and I found it in fact contained good practical advice including inspiration to get out there and make a difference, leveraging mentors, getting started, focusing on the idea first and details later and many other great pearls of wisdom.
The key points I noted were:

  • When popularity supplants passion at the forefront of the entrepreneur’s mind, the likelihood of success rapidly diminishes.
  • Live your regular life and just try to build stuff that matters.
  • The most successful entrepreneurs of tomorrow will be those who take to the next level that which we have today. If you want to be the next Steve Jobs, you're not required to invent anything in order to do that. You simply have to listen, observe, and innovate.
  • Young entrepreneurs are notorious for idolizing the wrong people. You cannot and should not have a 'mentor' who is unreachable, outside of your industry, and doesn't wholly represent that which you seek to become.
  • Most people think of great entrepreneurs as lone wolves who accomplished their dreams by themselves. This could not be more false. From Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to Warren Buffet and Donald Trump, each had a mentor or two along the way. Each have well documented experiences with these mentors and speak openly about the help they got along the way.
  • "Hit 'em where they ain’t" and never let your immediate location be an immediate deterrent for immediate action.
  • Starting the entrepreneurial process is one thing; sticking to the process is another
  • Control must not be yielded under any circumstances.
  • The most successful inventors and entrepreneurs of our time have given the world technologies that can be personalized and effortlessly controlled by the user. When people take ownership in a highly personal way of their smartphones, computers, social networks, etc. they are highly inclined to keep returning to those devices and platforms.
  • Rivalries are healthy for business, essential for innovation, and just a whole lot of fun.
  • The most successful entrepreneurs of the 21st Century will be those who limit their adherence to 'traditional distractions.'
  • When inspired, wait for absolutely nothing.
  • In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.
  • If you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress
  • The things we can do without a lot of thought or effort are often of greater value because they allow us to get started and getting started is the most important part.
  • The companies that work are the ones that people really care about and have a vision for the world so do something you like.
  • When you're passionate about a simple idea that brings together diverse and wonderful ideas, resources, and technologies into a cultivated platform that does collectively that which each part could not do individually, success is not only possible, it is virtually inevitable.
  • It's all about the idea - the core, compelling, central focus of the product or service. Details don't matter at first. Details come once you've assembled your team, consulted bright, diverse minds, and patiently charted a course toward prototype or product completion.
  • Details matter more than anything else - but not at first. It's the core idea that must lead the way

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

IT & Enterprise Architecture Conference 2015 - Day 2

Using Raspberry Pi as a Time Capsule to backup a Mac

Considerations when responding to an RFI or RFP (a view from the receiving end)