THE DIARY OF A CEO

THE DIARY OF A CEO

THE 33 LAWS OF BUSINESS AND LIFE

PILLAR I: THE SELF

1. Fill your five buckets in the right order

2. To master it, you must create an obligation to teach it

3. You must never disagree

4. You do not get to choose what you believe

5. You must lean in to bizarre behaviour

6. Ask, don't tell - the question/behaviour effect

7. Never compromise your self-story

8. Never fight a bad habit

9. Always prioritise your first foundation

PILLAR II: THE STORY

10. Useless absurdity will define you more than useful practicalities

11. Avoid wallpaper at all costs

12. You must piss people off

13. Shoot your psychological moonshots first

14. Friction can create value

15. The frame matters more than the picture

16. Use Goldilocks to your advantage

17. Let them try and they will buy

18. Fight for the first five seconds

PILLAR III: THE PHILOSOPHY

19. You must sweat the small stuff

20. A small miss now creates a big miss later

21. You must out-fail the competition

22. You must become a Plan-A thinker

23. Don't be an ostrich

24. You must make pressure your privilege

25. The power of negative manifestation

26. Your skills are worthless, but your context is valuable

27. The discipline equation: death, time and discipline!

PILLAR IV: THE TEAM

28. Ask who not how

29. Create a cult mentality

30. The three bars for building great teams

31. Leverage the power of progress

32. You must be an inconsistent leader

33. Learning never ends

Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.'

ATHE FIVE BUCKETS

1. What you know (your knowledge)

2. What you can do (your skills)

3. Who you know (your network)

4. What you have (your resources)

5. What the world thinks of you (your reputation

Healthy conflict strengthens relationships because those involved are working against a problem; unhealthy conflict weakens a relationship because those involved are working against each other

Our words should be bridges to comprehension, not barriers to connection.

Disagree less, understand more.

Stop telling yourself you're not qualified, good enough or worthy.

Growth happens when you start doing the things you're not qualified to do.

Taking no no risks will be your biggest risk. You have to risk failure to succeed. You have to risk heartbreak to love. You have to risk criticism for the applause. You have to risk the ordinary to achieve the extraordinary.

If you live avoiding risk, you're risking missing out on life.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."'

Muhammad Ali

elements:

CUE: The trigger for habitual behaviour (e.g., a stressful meeting or negative event).

ROUTINE: The habitual behaviour (e.g., smoking a cigarette or eating chocolate).

REWARD: The result/impact on you of the habitual behaviour (e.g., a feeling of relief or happiness)

Sleep, Lift, Move, Smile, Laugh, Listen.Read, Save, Hydrate, Fast, Build, Create.

Your habits are your future

Your health is your first foundation

Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.'

Edward Stanley

Habit repeat in advertisement 

Do not wage a war on reality, invest in shaping perceptions.

Our truth is not what we see.

Our truth is the story we choose to believe.

Pause and acknowledge

Seek the truth

Review yourself

Speak your truth

1. OPTIMISM BIAS: Tali Sharot told me that about 80 per cent of us have this bias. Simply put, it makes us focus on good things and ignore bad things. It stopped me from asking 'Why will Wallpark fail?', because I innately believed and wanted things to end well. It's believed that this bias gave us an evolutionary advantage - optimism helped us take more

survival risks, explore new environments and find new resources, but in our professional lives it prevents us from adequately considering risk.

2. CONFIRMATION BIAS: We all have this bias to some degree. It

causes us to pay attention to information that supports our existing ideas and hypotheses - it caused me to pay attention to, and accept, information that proved Wallpark was a good idea and ignore all of the data, emails and feedback that suggested otherwise. Research shows that this human bias boosts our self-esteem and gives us emotional comfort by making our worldview feel consistent, coherent and correct.

3. SELF-SERVING BIAS: This bias impacts most of us to varying degrees and it leads us to believe that our success or failure is a result of our own skill and effort. It certainty stopped me from thinking about why Wallpark would fail, because it made me overestimate my own abilities while underestimating the impact of external factors - such as market conditions, competition or other unforeseen circumstances.

4. SUNK-COST FALLACY BIAS: This bias makes us stick with a decision - even when evidence suggests that it was a bad decision because we've already spent time or money on it. It's the reason why Wallpark carried on for three years instead of one - subconsciously I didn't want to 'waste' or 'lose' the time and money that had been invested by quitting - but in doing so, I ended up wasting even more time and money.

5. GROUPTHINK BIAS: This bias prevents a group of people from

asking 'Why will this idea fail?' because they don't want to disagree with the group. At Wallpark, at no point did any of the founding team question if the idea would fail; we had all likely conformed around the same blind hypothesis because of our desire for social cohesion, which created a strong conformity pressure for any new team members

The allocation of your time will determine if you succeed or fail in your life's work, if you'll be healthy and happy, if you'll be a successful partner, husband, wife or parent. Our time and how we allocate it - is the centre point of our influence

THE TEN STEPS TO BUILDING A COMPANY CULTURE

1. Define the company's core values and align them with aspects such as mission, vision, principles or purpose to create a solid foundation for the organisation

2. Integrate the desired culture into every aspect of the company, including

hiring policies, processes and procedures across all departments and functions.

3. Agree upon expected behaviours and standards for all team members, promoting a positive work environment.

4. Establish a purpose that goes beyond the company's commercial goals,

fostering a deeper connection for employees.

5. Use myths, stories, company-specific vocabulary and legends, along with symbols and habits, to reinforce the company culture and embed it in the collective consciousness.

6. Develop a unique identity as a group and cultivate a sense of exclusivity and pride within the team.

7. Create an atmosphere that celebrates achievements, progress, and living the company culture, boosting motivation and pride.

8. Encourage camaraderie, community and a sense of belonging among team members, encourage mutual dependence and a collective sense of obligation, reinforcing the interconnected nature of the team.

9. Remove barriers and enable employees to express themselves authentically and embrace their individuality within the organisation.

10. Emphasise the unique qualities and contributions of both employees and the collective, positioning them as distinct and exceptional

The cost of one bad apple can be the loss of many good ones.

CEO of General Electric

The following quotes from other past players of Ferguson sum up what made him such an exceptional manager.

'He had different ways of dealing with different players. He knew how to get the best out of everyone.'

Peter Schmeichel

'He was very hard on me, e, but he had to be. He saw something in me that he didn't see

ίν oέher ployers, ond he ρurhed me tο be έhe best I could be.'

David Beckham

'He always knew when to give me a kick up the backside and when to put an arm around me. He knew how to treat different players differently.

Ryan Giggs

'He treated me differently than the other players, but in a good way. He pushed me to be better, and I think that's why I became the player I am today.'

Wayne Rooney

'He treated me differently from the other players. He would always talk to me and give me advice. He helped me to become a better player.'

Cristiano Ronaldo