Schappi

don’t worry about the mosquito of techcrunch trolls, focus on the raging rhinoceros of user-indifference that is charging at you at full speed

— Paul Graham

Don’t sign contracts that you don’t need to.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in 1989, is a self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey.

The First Three Habits surround moving from dependence to independence (i.e. self mastery):

• Habit 1: Be Proactive

Synopsis: Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life’s principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow.

• Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Synopsis: Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life.

• Habit 3: Put First Things First

Synopsis: Plan, prioritize, and execute your week’s tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2.

The next three have to do with Interdependence (i.e. working with others):

• Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Synopsis: Genuinely strive for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Value and respect people by understanding a “win” for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way.

• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Synopsis: Use empathetic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, respect, and positive problem solving.

• Habit 6: Synergize

Synopsis: Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. Get the best performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership.

The Last habit relates to self-rejuvenation:

• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Synopsis: Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle.

Source: Wikipedia.

 

I think we will succeed in this market place, because we’re a software company and everyone we’re going to compete with are hardware companies.

— sj on iPhone

The difference between invention and innovation is that you execute, you bring an idea in the market place.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1936, it has sold 15 million copies world-wide.

The major points in the book are:

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

1. Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six Ways to Make People Like You

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interest.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say “You’re Wrong.”
3. If you’re wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Start with questions to which the other person will answer yes.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise every improvement.
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest.

Letters That Produced Miraculous Results

In this chapter, notably the shortest in the book, Carnegie analyzes two letters and describes how to appeal to someone’s vanity with the term “do me a favor” as opposed to directly asking for something which does not offer the same feeling of importance to the recipient of the request.

Seven Rules For Making Your Home Life Happier

1. Don’t nag.
2. Don’t try to make your partner over.
3. Don’t criticize.
4. Give honest appreciation.
5. Pay little attentions.
6. Be courteous.
7. Read a good book on the sexual side of marriage.

Creativity requires isolation →

Apple’s three A’s used to alleviate customer concerns.

A - Acknowledge that their concerns are valid. 
A - Align with the customer, agreeing that you would feel the same were you in their shoes. 
A - Assure the customer that you will be able to solve their problem to their satisfaction.

Apple’s Retail Customer Service Approach

A - Approach the customer with a “warm welcome” 
P - Position, Permission, Probe — Tell the customer what you want to do, ask permission, and then ask them questions to determine their needs. 
P - Present the appropriate product solution that fits their needs. 
L - Listen to their concerns. 
E - End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return.

You could even use this as a framework for creating customer service emails.

Markkula’s Marketing Principles

Walter Issacson’s blog talks about when Mike Markkula first started with Apple he wrote his marketing principles in a one-page paper titled “The Apple Marketing Philosophy”. There were three key points:

Empathy

We will truly understand their needs better than any other company.

Focus

In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.

Impute

People do judge a book by it’s cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.