Connecting the Dots: Leadership Lessons in a Start-up World. John Chambers

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       Chapter Two

       ACT LIKE A TEENAGER AND THINK LIKE A DYSLEXIC

       (How to Spot Market Transitions)

      One of the advantages of being a CEO in Silicon Valley for 20 years is that I got to see a lot of leaders when they were just starting out. Their businesses and their personalities are all quite different, but they share some common characteristics with a lot of the startup founders that I’m betting on today. If you think that they all came in with an impressive track record or flawless communications skills, you’re wrong. In fact, some of them were so green and lacking in those areas that it was easy for critics and competitors to write them off as inarticulate, naive, or even immature. What struck me was not their inexperience, but rather their insatiable curiosity and ability to handle multiple random data points at once. Along with possessing a bold, almost dreamlike vison for where they want to go, they have this distinct talent for moving from one topic to another with lightning speed, and possessing a bold, almost dreamlike view for their company. It’s the kind of nonlinear thinking that someone who is dyslexic, like myself, will find familiar. The most consistent similarity across every age and area of expertise was the mindset of these entrepreneurs: They came across as fearless, curious, and hungry for new ideas, with a desire to disrupt a segment of the industry. They were all about the future and determined to do things differently from the people who were in charge. Some seemed almost too impatient to stand still and none of them were satisfied with the present. In short, they acted and thought like teenagers—with all the enthusiasm, bold dreams, and ambition that most of us had at that age. Teenagers don’t believe in incremental change and the best leaders don’t either. They want to disrupt the status quo and are frankly audacious in believing they can change the world. I’ve seen that quality in startup founders who are not far removed from their teens and also in leaders who are well into their nineties.

      What differentiated the ultimate winners from the losers in Silicon Valley wasn’t their ability to “mature,” but their ability to hold on to that teenage mindset and “dyslexic” ability to connect the dots while adopting the practices to scale and continuously innovate their businesses. Today, many of those impatient, curious, and bold founders are leading some of the biggest tech companies in the world. The qualities that made others write them off were essential, I believe, in fueling their success. What is so exciting—and makes me feel so positive about the future of startups on a global basis—is that I see the same combination of factors in the next generation of leaders. The difference is that, this time, I’m seeing those leaders emerge in every part of the world. Three of the startups I am involved in have CEOs who have won multiple awards and recognition as leaders under the age of 30. They are all similar when it comes to their vision, curiosity, impatience, competitiveness, and bold aspirations to change their segment of the industry. The age of the average CEO I am meeting with nowadays is actually getting younger. The reason, I think, is that the need to solve hard problems with a digital native’s enthusiasm for new technologies and a desire to disrupt the status quo have never been greater. That’s not enough to win in the long term, as I’ll explain later on, but that mindset is a prerequisite to being in the game.

      In the last chapter, I talked about the lessons of West Virginia to show how any place can become a market leader at a point in time, and lose that status when it fails to get ahead of market shifts. In this chapter, I want to bring the focus back to the individual. Everyone has their own definition of leadership. For some of you, it might involve starting a company that will change the world. For others, it might mean becoming a decision maker in a major company that needs to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Some might want to build a career in politics or create momentum around a cause that really matters to them. No matter what your ambition, the foundation for success is not only your skills but your mindset. If you are curious, hungry to learn, audacious, and eager to seek out change, I’d bet on you before I’d bet on someone with a great set of skills but no vision for what’s possible, no appetite for what’s next, and no willingness to take bold moves.

      Why am I so optimistic about the role digital natives will play in leading us through the next waves of disruption? They are prewired to seek out change and dare to get ahead of it. If you’re a CEO or the leader of any organization, you have four key responsibilities: (1) to set the vision and strategy of the organization; (2) to develop, recruit, retain, and replace the management team to execute that vision and strategy; (3) to create the culture; and (4) to communicate all of the above. How you fulfill those responsibilities will depend on everything from your industry to your personality, but it’s hard to succeed in any of them if you don’t start with the right mindset. You have to develop a capacity for filtering and evaluating the facts, the fears, the fiction, and the feedback that bombard you every day. When you see an opportunity, you act fast to figure out where the world is really going. Standing still is riskier than moving forward. If you wait until the trend is obvious, you’re already too late.

      The next generation of leaders are more than just tech-savvy; they are brave and curious and hungry for new ideas. They’re too impatient to stand still. I’ve talked to a lot of teenagers over my career and I’ve never met one who is satisfied with the present. They’re all about the future and it can’t come fast enough for them. They want to do things differently from the people who are currently in charge. In fact, it’s their job to disrupt. Teenagers don’t seek incremental change. They want to turn the world upside down and make it their own. They’ll shake things up while juggling a dozen other things: doing homework, listening to music, texting friends, eating over their computer (even though you’ve told them not to), posting a video on YouTube, and then finding something funny to share while they’re at it. In a teenager, such instincts can be reckless and impulsive at times. Leaders can channel that mindset into a more structured framework and it can become a powerful predictor of success. If you’re looking for signs of disruption and change, you’re more likely to find them. If you want to tackle big problems, you have to take big risks and accept that there will be setbacks along the way.

      It doesn’t matter how old you are. In fact, the first person who comes to mind when I think of a boundless curiosity and impatient mindset is the late Israeli leader Shimon Peres. He was inspiring, fearless, and even brash about solving big problems. He was also well into his 70s when we first met at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, 18 years ago. I thought he wandered into my session by mistake. I was used to seeing global leaders onstage, not in the audience. He was there to learn about new technologies and came up after the session to introduce himself and ask more questions. After we talked, he didn’t just move on to the next session. He wanted to follow up and start working together on a plan to bring the internet to every person in Israel. I couldn’t believe he was serious. Normally, these issues are discussed at the 30,000-foot level, especially in a place like Davos. Here was a man who liked what he heard and wanted to act on it as soon as possible. I came to realize that this was typical behavior for Shimon Peres: No matter how senior the position or how sensitive the topic, he always had an incredible thirst to learn, enthusiasm for what’s next, and a willingness to take risks. I think that’s why he was so good at sensing shifts in technologies and markets as well as in the public mood around key issues. It’s why Shimon Peres was a man who not only reinvented himself throughout his career but also played a key role in reinventing Israel. As he put it, “Through creativity and innovation, we transformed barren deserts into flourishing fields and pioneered new frontiers in science and technology.” In short, he transformed Israel into a startup nation. He taught me that the wisdom of experience and a teenage mindset are not mutually exclusive. Together, they can be incredibly powerful in driving and scaling innovation. We developed a friendship and a partnership that would last right up to his death at the age of 93.

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