How much Klout do you have on Twitter?

I mainly use two online apps to run the Twitter accounts I run. And I use these two because they do very different things. There are some things I need to do from time to time where the one trumps the other, and visa versa for other things. So there’s no getting rid of either of them.

• CoTweet (I do wish Co-Tweet had an iPhone app)
• HootSuite

Anyway, a possibly meaningless introduction to Klout. It’s integrated into CoTweet, but you can get there without CoTweet (click here).

The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 0 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 25 variables to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score. The size of the sphere is calculated by measuring True Reach (engaged followers and friends vs. spam bots, dead accounts, etc.). Amplification Probability is the likelihood that messages will generate retweets or spark a conversation. If the user’s engaged followers are highly influential, they’ll have a high Network Score.

We believe that influence is the ability to drive people to action — “action” might be defined as a reply, a retweet or clicking on a link. We perform significant testing to ensure that the average click-through rate on links shared is highly correlated with a person’s Klout Score. The 25+ variables used to generate scores for each of these categories are normalized across the whole data set and run through our analytics engine. After the first pass of analytics, we apply a specific weight to each data point. We then run the factors through our machine-learning analysis and calculate the final Klout Score. The final Klout Score is a representation of how successful a person is at engaging their audience and how big of an impact their messages have on people.

I’ve enjoyed engaging with their system of measurement, simply because it goes beyond the usual measure of ‘how many followers’ I have? A friend, for example, who has three times as many followers on Twitter than I do, but our Klout Scores suggest I behave in a very different way to how he does, and because of that, according to Klout, I get a higher score.

Sometimes I smile when I look at what Klout feedbacks to me, because it sounds a little like a personality assessment based on my Twitter behaviour. Very flattering and all mushy and gooey. Who knows, perhaps this will even be a significant measure of who we are in  the future. Can it be any less accurate or definitive than some of the measures we use today? Maybe even an extra layer to be applied to the Talent Matrix being implemented inside of companies the world over? At least the feedback is objective, instant, and I know exactly what’s expected of me to move it  : ) But this is a conversation for another day…

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Talent teams vs Talented individuals

A new report is about to be released in Organization Science, entitled: “Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth: How High Status Individuals Decrease Group Effectiveness” (Authors: Boris Groysberg, Jeffrey T. Polzer, and Hillary Anger Elfenbein).

Their Abstract says:

Can groups become effective simply by assembling high status individual performers? Though an affirmative answer may seem straightforward on the surface, this answer becomes more complicated when group members benefit from collaborating on interdependent tasks. Examining Wall Street sell-side equities research analysts who work in an industry in which individuals strive for status, we find that groups benefited—up to a point—from having high status members, controlling for individual performance. With higher proportions of individual stars, however, the marginal benefit decreased before the slope of this curvilinear pattern became negative. This curvilinear pattern was especially strong when stars were concentrated in a small number of sectors, likely reflecting suboptimal integration among analysts with similar areas of expertise. Control variables ensured that these effects were not the spurious result of individual performance, department size or specialization, or firm prestige. We discuss the theoretical implications of these results for the literatures on status and groups, along with practical implications for strategic human resource management.

This is an issue we’re convinced of at TomorrowToday. We have recently developed a presentation we’re calling, “The Talent Reboot“. Our message is simply that talent works best when it is part of a talented team, and not treated as an independent entity. This is true in the world of work, just as it appears to be true in the world of sport, or in Hollywood.

For example, think of the 2010 Football World Cup. The two teams that made the finals, Spain and Holland, did not have too many superstars, and their superstars did not overly shine in the tournament. Other teams were studded with stars, and merely stuttered along. Football is a team sport. The U.S. men’s 2004 Olympic basketball “dream team” was equally filled with star NBA players. Yet the team underperformed and only won the bronze medal. They didn’t play as a team.

… Continue Reading

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Men your time is up!

I came across a very interesting and well written article in The Atlantic which examines the world in which women have now emerged as the majority workforce for the first time in US history. This is an incredible milestone and here are a few of the facts driving this very positive trend:

- for every 2 men who get a college degree, 3 women will do the same this year
- women own 40% of privately owned businesses in China
- Most managers are now women in the US

As the knowledge economy becomes more and more entrenched, thinking and communicating have come to eclipse physical strength and stamina as the keys to economic success. The world of work has now progressed to the the point where societies can take advantage of the talents of all their adults. This is a very encouraging development and I’d encourage you to read this insightful article below or follow the link to The Atlantic:
… Continue Reading

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Are Most Big Corporates Really Psychopaths?

RANT ALERT. Most times I try to be a dispassionate researcher of the new world of work. But sometimes I just can’t take it anymore. Today is one of those days…

Almost every day I pick up a story on the Net of someone being fired by their company for some indiscretion related to social media or digital communications. I suppose people get fired every day for breaching company policies, but when you dig into most of these stories, you really get a feeling that the people in charge just have no freaking clue and are acting like reactionary, idiotic psychopaths.

A psychopath is “a person afflicted with a personality disorder characterized by a tendency to commit antisocial, perverted, criminal, amoral and sometimes violent acts and a failure to feel guilt for such acts.” (dictionary.com)

It may be a bit over the top to call the reflex firing of a person a psychopathic act, but it certainly is not the act of a rational, emotional stable or intelligent entity either. And when it is clear that someone has been fired largely because their employer just does not understand how social media or digital communications work, then I think you can label it antisocial, perverted, criminal and amoral. And normally there is no apology later. That’s a psychopath then!

Is your company a psychopath? You’d be surprised who else is…

… Continue Reading

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The Talent Exodus looms large

We’ve been talking almost since the recession began about a talent exodus. Our view has been that as soon as the economy begins recovering and companies start hiring again, there is going to be a tidal wave of staff movement. We’re calling it a talent exodus.

It should be obvious why this will happen. People have been overworked, and often abused, by their employers during the downturn. Imagine, for example, what it must be like to work for BP right now, when your boss has just announced his retirement at age 53 and a £ 600,000 a year pension for the rest of his life. You will be paying for that pension out of your salary, which has not increased in two years, nor will you get a bonus this year. Most other company examples are less extreme, but the same outcome exists – people are ready to look around at other options.

Secondly, when companies begin expanding and looking for new talent, they will not favour the currently unemployed. They will prefer to hire new staff from other companies, and they will not be constrained by industry boundaries either. So, your staff will be getting head hunter calls soon, and most will be willing to take the calls.

And now, a survey confirms our instinct. According to Deloitte LLP’s fourth annual Ethics & Workplace Survey, one-third of employed Americans plan to look for a new job when the economy gets better. Of this group of respondents, 48% cite a loss of trust in their employer and 46% say that a lack of transparent communication from their company’s leadership are their reasons for looking for new employment at the end of the recession.

It’s not too late to do something about this now! But you need to start now. This issue should be top priority and the head of every management agenda for the next year! If it’s not on your leader’s radar, your company is in big trouble.

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Nine key workforce trends for the next decade

Download a copy of this article in PDF format – right click here. The contents of this article can be presented as a keynote or a workshop for your team. Contact our UK or South African offices to find out how.

My company, TomorrowToday, researches the new world of work, and focuses especially on helping our clients to understand the disruptive forces that will change the world in the next decade. We use a variety of constructs or frameworks to help people understand and respond to these issues. One of my favourites is our “TIDES of Change” framework (read an extended article on it here).

I was recently asked to simply list some of the key workforce trends of the next decade. It was an interesting exercise. So, without much explanation or detail (search this blog site for more details on each of these trends), here is a list of the most important issues we’ll be facing in the next few years in relation to our employees, leaders and teams. There are obviously some variations in different world regions, but these are fairly general trends for the next decade:

… Continue Reading

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Can your company deal with your self-promotion

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Women and the New World of Work

As it’s my very first post (ever, anywhere!), I thought it would be apt to come at it from a woman’s angle. 

I have read two articles recently, both in the Times (and thus you need to pay for them – but I attach the links at the bottom of this post anyway.

The first is a piece about Generation Y Mothers (Sarah Harris, July 10).   There isn’t much in the way of hard facts, but the content rings true – that Generation Y women are less career-orientated and approaching motherhood at an earlier age than the Gen X’ers and late Boomers before them.

Tom Savigar, strategy and insight director for the Future Laboratory says “Generation Y has decided to do things differently.  Younger women have rejected the city-slicker aspirations of the previous decade and are now seeing the value of becoming a housewife as a career.”

The second piece is by Sarah Vine (July 12,) and focusses on the dilemma 35-45 year old (Cusper/Gen X) working women are now facing, with young children and careers that are taking off.   This really struck home with me as  I am one of these women and have just left my full-time career, which has been 20 years in making, to find a more flexible way of working and devote more time to my family.  Frankly, the juggling just became too much and clearly I am far from being alone.

… Continue Reading

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A note to Generation X: Learn How to Manage Up

The concept of “managing up” is well established in management and leadership theory. As someone who reports to a boss, you need to use many different techniques to get your boss’s attention, and influence your boss to act, think and react in certain ways. This is a critical skill for people at all levels of organisations.

It is only complicated when their is a worldview divide between boss and subordinate. This can happen when the people are of different genders, religions, cultures, personality types and different generations. This last item is one I have spent many years researching and helping clients to manage (see my book on how to “Mind the Gap”, and the many white papers we have written on this issue, for example).

A brief “management tip” by Tammy Erickson in a recent online edition of the HBR reminded me of how important it is right now for Generation X (born in the 1970s and 80s) to learn how to manage up, as they deal with the Baby Boomers (born after World War II, into the 1950s and 60s) who are currently leading their organisations. Here are a few key things Gen Xers can do to more effectively manage up to Boomer bosses and bridge the generation gap in understanding what your Boomer boss wants from you:

… Continue Reading

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Career Development: Understanding that you are paid to KIS

“You’re getting paid for your knowledge, intelligence and skills” was the message I heard a Director share with young staff that were on a two-year entry-level management development programme. He was encouraging those present to accept responsibility for their own development and he was right to do so.

Taking personal responsibility for the development of one’s own knowledge and skill set; taking responsibility for developing one’s own intelligences – be that emotional, adaptive, social or spiritual is a personal responsibility. Expecting ‘others’ – the organization, to be responsible for such personal development is flawed thinking. Some might even label it, ‘lazy thinking’.  But what smart companies do is to ensure that they provide abundant opportunities for such development to take place. Doing this increases the odds on attracting and retaining ‘the Best’.

Responsibility for learning sits with the Learner.  The responsibility that sits with those tasked with the architecture and shape of developmental programmes and education is to simply provide the environment that will facilitate learning.  Perhaps ‘simple’ is a misnomer as doing such is anything but simple. Learning programmes have been curtailed by past models of ‘how we do it’, the unwillingness to embrace discomfort as a friend to authentic learning and the reluctance to incorporate risk and experiential practices in the art of learning. Learning has become a science that is swapped by the need to measure and control the outcomes.

Things need to change with our approach to learning within organizations and as to what the ‘learning organisation’ looks like.  And here’s a thought for companies: these new insights concerning learning might come from unlikely sources; ones that include schools, the non-profit sector and the ‘two-thirds ‘world of developing nations.

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In solving the ‘Talent’ crisis, it’s time for South and North to jointly solve the ‘gravitas’ problem

If you take a look at the state of business education in the world today, you’d have to conclude that we’ve never been in a better position to take our organisations forward to places we’ve only dreamed of. There’s never been more business education available than there is currently. We have more business schools, both physically and on the internet. More people are going through these formal programmes than ever before. There’s also never been more access to information informally than ever before. Almost anyone can get access to some of the greatest thinking with regards to business.

And yet there’s a shortage of people to fill key positions in most organisation I speak to, no matter the continent they find themselves on. The opportunities abound and yet there aren’t enough people to take them up. However, I contend, it’s not that there’s a shortage of educated people to fill these spaces. The problem we have is that there’s a shortage of people who have the required depth, gravitas and experience. And in my opinion, no number of business education programmes can fix this problem.

Depth, gravitas and experience are not learned in a classroom (no matter how good it is). These characteristics emerge on the job. They develop through numerous and varied experiences over time. And if this is the main process by which you aquire them, then there are some interesting modern challenges and obstacles we have to deal with:

1. The length of tenure of many young people is getting shorter and shorter, before they shift jobs, companies and industries.
2. Companies have placed significant pressure and stress on their managers and leaders by thinning head count. ‘Grey Beard’ availability to transfer knowledge and experience is becoming scarcer and scarcer.
3. More digital engagement and therefore less personal engagement. Technology doesn’t necessarily add any extra value you weren’t expecting. It does what you ask it and then moves on.
4. From a demographics perspective, the developed world, first world, northern hemisphere (I know these descriptors are weak) has an interesting challenge. Theirs is a number problem. When you look at their demographic shape you notice very quickly that there are more Baby Boomers retiring than the number of ‘replacements’ coming through in Gen X. Where do they find the extra people they need?
5. Through the same filter, the developing world, 3rd world and southern hemisphere have the inverse problem. It’s not numbers, because their demographic shape is a pyramid. More than enough people but insufficient resource to train and develop this large number. Add to that senior people being attracted to the developed world to fill their numbers problem.

… Continue Reading

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An Assassin, A Fishing Hook, The Power of Tribes and Two World Cups

The Assassin

The sun rose quietly over Dawn Park, a suburb on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was Easter weekend so most people were away on holiday. In many ways it was the perfect African morning. A refreshing cool breeze in the air gently hinted at autumn’s arrival, but it wouldn’t be long before the sun climbed higher, warming the African landscape. It was sure to be a beautiful day, Nomakhwezi, a pretty fifteen-year old girl saw it that way. She was waiting for her father, who had gone out briefly to buy a newspaper, to return. Her mother and sisters were away for the weekend and she had been looking forward all week to spending time alone with her Dad. Today he was going to be all hers, he’d promised. Nomakhwezi stood at the front door, she couldn’t wait for his return.

The year was 1993 and like the seasons, most things in South Africa were changing fast. Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) had been unbanned in 1990 and the great man himself had been freed after 27 years of imprisonment. The ANC were now in a position to negotiate the transformation towards democratic and free South Africa. But progress had faltered. The Convention for a Democratic South Africa: CODESA I and II had seen parties walking away from the negotiating table. The ANC’s back up plan of rolling mass actions to bring the white ruling party back to the negotiating table was backfiring. Their mass action rallies had resulted in too much bloodshed and a recent confrontation with police in Bisho had resulted in twenty-eight supporters being killed. South Africa was on the tipping point and heading fast towards civil war. A group of right-wing extremists wanted to help give South Africa a push into racial turmoil. They’d drawn up a hit list of senior ANC officials. On the list were Nelson Mandela, South African Communist Party leader Joe Slovo and the charismatic ex-head of the ANC’s military arm (the Spear of the Nation or Umkhonto we Sizwe) and now Communist Party Secretary General Chris Hani was third on the list.

… Continue Reading

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Freelancers, eLancers and Cloud workers

We have long been predicting that a significant employment trend in the years ahead will be online freelancers. We have used analogies of the movie industry to prove that it can work. We’ve done book reviews of authors who lay out manifestos of how organisations can be put together in this type of world (the most recent book is Malone’s, “The Future Arrived Yesterday”). And we ourselves try to incorporate some of this thinking in how we run our own company.

So, it’s no surprise to find that temporary freelance work is being ramped up by technology and by the recession. The Economist had a piece about this recently, which is worth reading (find it here, or an extract below).

I recently met an insurance salesman in London who was a star for his company. He sold nearly double what anyone else in his sales team was able to do. His sales manager kept trying to get him to tell the team his secret, but since his bonus was partly dependent on how much better than everyone else he was he declined to divulge his methods.

Is your company ready for freelancing?

… Continue Reading

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America reinvented – as a hub nation

The American response to the BP catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is a sad sign that the promise of the Obama presidency is unlikely to be fulfilled. Obama promised change – specifically he promised that he would change how America governed itself and how it related to the rest of the world. The internal governance issues are a topic for another time, and Obama cannot be blamed for the almost completely irrational response of the right wing Republicans to almost everything he has done. That’s a sad inditement of the state of America at the moment.

But my concern is with how America is approaching the world and its role as the largest superpower (I do not think they are the “only” superpower – India, China, the European Union and even Russia might argue with such a label). In a badly thought through moment, President Obama recently ranted about BP’s oil spill by asking “Who’s ass can I kick?”. And he repeatedly referred to them as “British Petroleum” – a name they gave up a long time ago (in part because they’re a global company, in his case, employing over 40,000 US workers). This is typical America – running around the planet “kicking ass”. Not a nice way to exercise power and influence.

Add to this their current debates about immigrants and protecting their borders. It seems that America has descended once again to myopic self-interest, and an “us versus them” mindset. What a pity. What a shame.

Recently, The Economist suggested that America could transform itself by thinking of itself as a hub nation. It’s an interesting insight and mind experiment. If only America seemed able to listen. Read the article here, or an extract below.

… Continue Reading

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PODCAST – Graeme Codrington speaks to some trends around the New World of Work

Graeme Codrington’s website describes him as:

an expert on the new world of work and multi-generational workplaces. He is a keynote presenter, author, futurist, facilitator and strategy consultant working across multiple industries and sectors. He blends cutting-edge research, thought leading insights with humour, a conversational style and multimedia-driven presentations to create unforgettable experiences that add real value.

I’ve worked with Graeme for 8 years now, and without too much duress, acknowledge 99% of the description : )

He’s always an interesting person to speak to as he continues to bring new and interesting thoughts to the table. Not just in his subjects of passion, but in almost anything you’re talking about. It was therefore great to be able to track him down while speaking at a conference in Spain to ask him to talk more about the New World of Work.

If you’d like to listen to this audio track please click on the following:

• iTunes automatic subscription
• RSS Feed

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How various industries are using Twitter

Mashable, the social media guide website

10 Ways Universities Are Engaging Alumni Using Social Media

Click the title above to access the full story and all the details. The author suggests the following ten uses of social media uses to engage almuni. Some of these may be clever to use with corporate “alumni” too:

• Helping Alumni Find Jobs
• Collaboration and Connecting With Students
• Fundraising: From E-mails to Tweets
• Training Alumni To Use Social Media
• Meeting Alumni Where They’re At
• Providing Tools To Spread Information
• Alumni-Generated Content
• Promoting Alumni Networks
• Mobile Reunions
• Connecting The Dots: Google Maps

How Hospitality Companies are Using Social Media for Real Results

I was excited to find this article title, but disappointed at the content. They suggest the following uses:

• Personalizing Customer Service
• Storytelling
• Making Good with Mom
• Employee Education

I’d suggest that the following could easily be added:

• Geotagged and location-based tips and specials in the venue, and in the surrounding areas
• Event announcements and daily information
• Special deals and giveaways
• Enhancement of entertainment options
• Management of staff, schedules and staff interaction
• Scheduling of activities, including allowing guests to requests services (e.g. wakeup calls, reservations at restuarants and spas, etc)
• Feedback (and responses to feedback)
• Use “objects that tweet” to manage facilities

What would you add?

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Some (more) gems from our archives – valuable reading!

This blog has been running since 2003, and has nearly 2,000 individual entries. At one level it is a living library of the “new world of work”, captured as it emerges around us. I have recently taken some time to troll through the archives, from day one, and discovered again some remarkable gems. This is the second in my series of “gems from the archives”.

These articles from early 2005, are still well worth reading. They were prescient then, and remain important now, as we think about the implications of the new world of work that we find ourselves in. Enjoy:

• The goal of diversity is not harmony
• Cultural intelligence: Individual interactions across cultures
• Would you work for Halliburton (This is even more relevant as it appears Halliburton are the ultimate cause of the current BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster)
• Lessons from where you least expect them
• The last man to wear pantaloons
• Apres moi le deluge – dealing with short term thinking in leadership
• Conversation vs Information
• Chaotic management
• Leading diversity: an invitation to leaders everywhere
• Organising the future: The Individualized Corporation

Happy reading!

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Some hidden gems from our archives – valuable reading!

This blog has been running since 2003, and has nearly 2,000 individual entries. At one level it is a living library of the “new world of work”, captured as it emerges around us. I have recently taken some time to troll through the archives, from day one, and discovered again some remarkable gems.

These articles from 2003 and 2004, are still well worth reading. They were prescient then, and remain important now, as we think about the implications of the new world of work that we find ourselves in. Enjoy:

• 10 Skills for the future
• Thirteen things smart leaders know: how to thrive in a relational economy
• Change has changed
• What women want: the future of leadership
• Relearn to relate
• If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough
• A brave new world, for women
• The great HR paradox: A thought bullet for CEOs everywhere

Happy reading!

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Best blog posts of the last month

It’s been a long time since I have done a “best of” list, and today I plan to do two. The first is the best blog entries of the last month. It’s a been a good month for this blog, and maybe you missed a few of the best entries. Here’s my list, but maybe you think I’ve missed one or two – add your own thoughts below…

• The Janitor: Why the World Cup Will Succeed – the most read article on our blog in the last month, this good news story by Keith Coats is gaining a life of its own as it spreads a good feeling about Africa
• Sir Ken Robinson at TED again – the latest video from TED and the one that started it all. One of the best communicators you’ll see talking about the vital topic of how to develop creativity and the future of education
• Synthetic Life created – this is a short entry, but added to this list because it is just such a huge story. Also read the further details in the comments
• The second and third billion consumers – important insights into the developing world and the role of women in the global economy
• Wreckamovie case study – crowdsourcing comes to Hollywood – my favourite interview of the month
• Dean interviews Zappos and Harley Davidson Execs – this is my favourite interview from last month
• A story before bed.com – my favourite company of the past few weeks – how technology is now connecting us
• Just a Thought: Get Rid of Your IT Department – the post that got the most comments in the pat few weeks
• Right brain people will be a-head in the future – the most retweeted article this month
• When Retirement Stops: PODCAST – our most downloaded podcast this month

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Delivering Happiness… a path to profits, passion and purpose

I’m very excited! I’ve just received two advanced copies of Tony Hsieh’s (CEO of Zappos) new book called Delivering Happiness. And best news of all I’m giving away a free copy to a member of our blog community. All you need to do is tell me a story of a customer experience that delivered happiness to you or someone you know well. It can be your company that delivered the happiness to a customer or your own experience as a customer. Tell us the name of the company, what the experience was and why it made you happy and you will be entered into the draw for the book. You can tell us your story below in the comment box or email me your story at dean@tomorrowtoday.uk.com

I’m a big fan of the company Zappos, have been for several years and often use their approach to business as case studies in my presentations and workshops. Recently I had the privelige of being interviewed and hosting a podcast with the CFO/COO of Zappos Alfred Lin. Alfred has some facinating insights into delivering customer experiences and I’d encourage you to listen to the podcast here. Zappos under the leadership of Tony Hsieh has a unique approach to business that has been incredibly successful. I’m off now to read the book and I will tell you more about the book and it’s insights as I read it… can’t wait

To wet your appetite about winning the book here is a excerpt from Delivering Happiness: (By the way if you are also a blogger why don’t you put your name down for an advance copy of the book by clicking on this link)

Introduction: Finding My Way

Wow, I thought to myself. The room was packed. I was on stage at our all-hands meeting, looking over a crowd of seven hundred Zappos employees who were standing up cheering and clapping. A lot of them even had tears of happiness streaming down their faces.

Forty-eight hours ago, we had announced to the world that Amazon was acquiring us. To the rest of the world, it was all about the money. The headlines from the press said things like “Amazon Buys Zappos for Close to $1 Billion,” “Largest Acquisition in Amazon’s History,” and “What Everyone Made from the Zappos Sale.”

In November 1998, LinkExchange, the company that I’d co-founded, was sold to Microsoft for $265 million after two and a half years. Now, in July 2009, as CEO of Zappos.com, I had just announced that Amazon was acquiring Zappos right after we had celebrated our ten-year anniversary. (The acquisition would officially close a few months later in a stock and cash transaction, with the shares valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing.) In both scenarios, the deals looked similar: They both worked out to about $100 million per year. From the outside, this looked like history repeating itself, just at a larger scale.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. To all of us in the room, we knew it wasn’t just about the money. Together, we had built a business that combined profits, passion, and purpose. And we knew that it wasn’t just about building a business. It was about building a lifestyle that was about delivering happiness to everyone, including ourselves.

Time stood still during that moment on stage. The unified energy and emotion of everyone in the room was reminiscent of when I’d attended my first rave ten years earlier, where I’d witnessed thousands of people dancing in unison, with everyone feeding off of each other’s energy. Back then, the rave community came together based on their four core values known as PLUR: Peace, Love, Unity, Respect.

At Zappos, we had collectively come up with our own set of ten core values. Those values bonded us together, and were an important part of the path that led us to this moment. Looking over the crowd, I realized that every person took a different path to get here, but our paths somehow all managed to intersect with one another here and now. I realized that for me, the path that got me here began long before Zappos, and long before LinkExchange. I thought about all the different businesses I had been a part of, all the people who had been in my life, and all the adventures I had been on. I thought about mistakes that I had made and lessons that I had learned. I started thinking back to college, then back to high school, then back to middle school, and then back to elementary school.

As all the eyes in the room were on me, I tried to trace back to where my path had begun. In my mind, I was traveling backward in time searching for the answer. Although I was pretty sure I wasn’t dying, my life was flashing before my eyes. I was obsessed with figuring it out, and I knew I had to do it this very moment, before the energy in the room dissipated, before time stopped standing still. I didn’t know why. I just knew I needed to know where my path began.

And then, right before reality returned and time started moving again, I figured it out.

My path began on a worm farm.

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