#343 The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness: David Ogilvy
Founders
Embracing Virtues and Avoiding Vices in Company Culture
The key to a good company culture lies in adopting virtues such as courage, idealism, curiosity, playfulness, candor, intuition, free-spiritiness, and persistence while avoiding vices like fear, experience optimization, clinging to the status quo, boringness, tyranny of politeness, reliance on cold arithmetic, bureaucracy, and giving in. By instilling courage as the first habit, and other virtues subsequently, companies can enhance their organizational culture and avoid common pitfalls seen in many businesses.
What I learned from reading Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness: Being Very Good Is No Good,You Have to Be Very, Very, Very, Very, Very Good by David Ogilvy and Ogivly & Mather.
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(0:01) But what did David actually mean by divine discontent? Here's an interpretation:
DON'T BOW YOUR HEAD.
DON'T KNOW YOUR PLACE.
DEFY THE GODS.
DON'T SIT BACK.
DON'T GIVE IN.
DON'T GIVE UP.
DON'T WIN SILVERS.
DON'T BE SO EASILY HAPPY WITH YOURSELF.
DON'T BE SPINELESS.
DON'T BE GUTLESS.
DON'T BE TOADIES.
DON'T GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT.
AND DON'T EVER, EVER ALLOW A SINGLE SCRAP OF RUBBISH OUT OF THE AGENCY
(5:00) We have to work equally hard to replace the old patterns of self-defeating behaviors. An old Latin proverb tells us how: a nail is driven out by a nail, habit is overcome by habit.
(7:00) Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius. — Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel. (Founders #278)
(7:00) Fear is a demon that devours the soul of a company: it diminishes the quality of our imagination, it dulls our appetite for adventure, it sucks away our youth. Fear leads to self-doubt, which is the worst enemy of creativity.
(10:00) Trust is one of the greatest economic forces on earth. — The NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)
(13:00) How great we become depends on the size of our dreams. Let's dream humongous dreams, put on our overalls, go out there and build them.
(14:00) If you asked an oracle the secret to doing great work and the oracle replied with a single word my bet would be on “curiosity” — How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)
(17:00) Only dead fish go with the flow.
(18:00) If I have to choose between agreement and conflict, I’ll take conflict every time. It always yields a better result. — Jeff Bezos
(20:00) It's the cracked ones that let light into the world.
(20:00)
Rule #1. There are no rules.
Rule #2. Never forget rule #1.
(21:00) Bureaucracy has no place in an ideas company.
(23:00) You see, those who live by their wits go to work on roller coasters. The ride is exhilarating, but one has to have a stomach of titanium. For starters, you're never a hundred per cent certain you'll ever get there. If you (even) get to your destination, you sometimes wonder why you've ever bothered.
Other times the scenery pleasantly surprises you.
(24:00) Discovery consists of seeing what everyone has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
(25:00) God is with those who persevere.
(25:00) Dogged determination is often the only trait that separates a moderately creative person from a highly creative one.
That's because great work is never done by temperamental geniuses, but by obstinate donkey-men.
(26:00) Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Founders #300)
(26:00) We are what we repeatedly do. Our character is a composite of our habits. Habits constantly, daily, express who we really are.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
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