INTRODUCTION
1.As of 1994; John Antioco took over in 1997. Erik Devaney, “Netflix vs Blockbuster – 3 Key Takeaways,” Drift (blog), July 6, 2017, accessed March 7, 2019, https://www.drift.com/blog/netflix-vs-blockbuster.
2.Valued according to its sale to Viacom Inc. Christopher Harress, “The Sad End Of Blockbuster Video: The Onetime $5 Billion Company Is Being Liquidated As Competition From Online Giants Netflix And Hulu Prove All Too Much For The Iconic Brand,” International Business Times, December 5, 2013, accessed February 1, 2020, https://www.ibtimes.com/sad-end-blockbuster-video-onetime-5-billion-company-being-liquidated-competition-1496962.
3.“Blockbuster LLC,” Wikipedia, accessed March 31, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuster_LLC.
4.Greg Sandoval, “Former Blockbuster CEO tells his side of Netflix story,” CNET, May 25, 2011, accessed March 7, 2019, https://www.cnet.com/news/former-blockbuster-ceo-tells-his-side-of-netflix-story.
5.Greg Satell, “The Myth of the Moron CEO,” Forbes, August 1, 2013, accessed February 1, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2013/08/01/the-myth-of-the-moron-ceo/#686a76082c58.
6.Ibid.
7.Julia Pyper, “A Conversation with David Crane on Getting Fired From NRG and What’s Next for His Energy Plans,” Green Tech Media, April 29, 2016, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/a-conversation-with-david-crane#gs.rYrvUJs.
8.Compares Sprint’s closing stock price (NYSE:S) to both the S&P 500 Index closing price and the Vanguard Communications Services ETF (NYSE:VOX) closing price in the period between January 2, 2009, and July 31, 2014.
9.Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, Project Gutenberg e-book, chapter 18: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1232/1232-h/1232-h.htm.
10.“Bertrand Russell Quotes.” BrainyQuote.com, accessed February 2, 2020, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/bertrand_russell_384629.
CHAPTER 1: FRAUD IS OUR FAULT
1.“Theranos,” Wikipedia, accessed February 2, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theranos.
2.“A Theranos Timeline,” New York Times, July 9, 2016, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/09/business/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-timeline.html.
3.Virginia Heffernan, “Elizabeth Holmes Downfall Has Been Explained Deeply—By Men,” Wired, July 19, 2018, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.wired.com/story/elizabeth-holmes-downfall-has-been-explained-deeplyby-men.
4.Ibid.
5.Reeves Wiedeman, “A Company Built on a Bluff,” New York magazine, June 10, 2018, accessed January 12, 2019, http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/06/inside-vice-media-shane-smith.html.
6.Ibid.
7.Ibid.
8.Emily Steel, “At Vice, Cutting-Edge Media and Allegations of Old-School Sexual Harassment,” New York Times, December 23, 2017, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/23/business/media/vice-sexual-harassment.html.
9.Ibid.
10.Wiedeman, “A Company Built on a Bluff.”
11.Keach Hagey, “Vice Just Had a Big Revenue Miss, and Investors Are Getting Antsy,” Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2018, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/vice-media-confronts-tv-woes-amid-leadership-troubles-1518003121.
12.Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, “Vice Media writes down value of international arm,” Financial Times, January 6, 2020, accessed February 2, 2020, https://www.ft.com/content/992644be-30b2-11ea-9703-eea0cae3f0de.
13.“It’s Lit, a guide to what teens think is cool,” Google, accessed January 12, 2019, https://storage.googleapis.com/think/docs/its-lit.pdf
14.Wiedeman, “A Company Built on a Bluff.”
15.Alex Sherman, “Vice’s $400 million deal for Refinery29 illustrates the pointlessness of private valuations,” CNBC, October 3, 2019, accessed February 2, 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/03/vices-400-million-deal-for-refinery29-illustrates-the-pointlessness-of-private-valuations.html.
16.You can read the entire story here, ironically on Vice’s website, which hopefully serves to prove my point: Oobah Butler, “I Made My Shed the Top-Rated Restaurant on TripAdvisor,” Vice, December 7, 2017, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/434gqw/i-made-my-shed-the-top-rated-restaurant-on-tripadvisor.
CHAPTER 2: THE COMPLICATED STORY OF WHY WE LIE
1.William Wan and Sarah Kaplan, “Why Liars Lie: What science tells us about deception,” Washington Post, August 24, 2018, accessed March 16, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/08/24/why-liars-lie-what-science-tells-us-about-false-statements.
2.“Was 2018 The Year Of The Influential Consumer?” Nielsen, December 17, 2018, accessed February 2, 2020, https://web.archive.org/web/20200613215140/https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2018/was-2018-the-year-of-the-influential-sustainable-consumer/.
3.Conscious Capitalism, Inc. Board of Directors, Conscious Capitalism, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.consciouscapitalism.org/boardofdirectors.
4.“Guiding principles,” Rotary, accessed February 9, 2020, https://my.rotary.org/en/guiding-principles.
CHAPTER 3: GIVING POWER TO THE PEOPLE WILL MAKE YOU RICH
1.Maggie McGrath, “Inside The 2020 Just 100: How We Rank America’s Best Corporate Actors,” Forbes, November 12, 2019, accessed February 2, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2019/11/12/inside-the-2020-just-100-how-we-rank-americas-best-corporate-actors/#3f702c5f5bc4.
2.“JUST Capital and Forbes Announce Partnership to Collaborate on Research Based on Corporate Behavior,” Forbes, November 4, 2016, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbespr/2016/11/04/just-capital-and-forbes-announce-partnership-to-collaborate-on-research-based-on-corporate-behavior/#26f257183a76.
3.“The JUST 100,” YouTube video, 1:45, posted by Just Capital, December 14, 2017, accessed January 12, 2019, https://youtu.be/btr_6b9fhdM.
4.“From Insight to Action—JUST Capital’s 2018 Survey Results & Roadmap for Corporate America,” JUST Capital, October 2018, accessed January 12, 2019, https://justcapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/JUSTCapital_SurveyReport_10252018.pdf.
5.“New Survey Reveals 75% of Millennials Expect Employers to Take a Stand on Social Issues,” Glassdoor, September 25, 2017, accessed February 14, 2020, https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/corporate-social-responsibility/.
CHAPTER 4: THE HOURGLASS OF HONESTY
1.Mark Manson, “Personal growth is merely the process of learning to lie to oneself less,” Instagram, February 8, 2020, accessed February 9, 2020, https://www.instagram.com/p/B8T2MgAAg_c/.
2.“Steve Jobs’ Vision of the World,” YouTube video, 0:45, posted by Gocarlo, November 19, 2011. https://youtu.be/UvEiSa6_EPA.
3.“‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs Says,” Stanford News, June 14, 2005, accessed January 12, 2019, https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505.
CHAPTER 5: SALES: THE HONEST-TO-GOODNESS TECHNIQUE FOR EXPLOSIVE SALES
1.Martin Whittaker, “Snap Back to Reality for CEOs on Corporate Purpose,” LinkedIn, October 3, 2019, accessed October 4, 2019, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/snap-back-reality-ceos-corporate-purpose-martin-whittaker.
2.Mike Rowe, “Truth in Advertising,” January 26, 2017, accessed February 2, 2020, https://mikerowe.com/2017/01/truth-in-advertising.
3.A copy of the original email was forwarded to me by Sean McCourt.
4.Mike Rowe, Facebook post, February 16, 2017, accessed February 2, 2020, https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe/posts/time-to-close-the-loop-on-charlotte-mccourts-great-american-girl-scout-cookie-ca/1439024296107709.
CHAPTER 6: MARKETING: THE UNDENIABLE POWER OF COURAGEOUS CANDOR
1.“Domino’s—Show Us Your Pizza,” YouTube video, 0:30, posted by MU Franchising, February 17, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqy8mAs-Izk.
2.Comparing Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) closing stock prices from January 4, 2010 to June 22, 2018, to the S&P 500 (SPX) closing prices on the same dates. DPZ’s total stock return was nearly twenty-three times larger than the SPX’s total return over that period.
3.“Domino’s DXP VR,” YouTube video, 1:47, posted by “Domino’s Pizza,” July 18, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m5QdrMELIQ.
CHAPTER 7: FINANCE: INVESTING LIKE BUFFETT IN LONG-TERM HONESTY
1.Fred Imbert, “Warren Buffett Likes Quarterly Earnings Reports from Companies but Not Guidance,” CNBC, August 30, 2018, accessed March 16, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/30/warren-buffett-i-like-quarterly-reports-from-companies-but-not-guidance.html.
2.Verizon Communications Annual Report Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year ended December 31, 2008, accessed March 17, 2019, http://verizon.api.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EdgarPro.dll?FetchFilingHTML1?SessionID=s_w3U3CGBeUgXx5&ID=6435582.
3.Special thanks to Trevor S. Harris, Professor of Accounting at Columbia Business School, for providing guidance on this example.
4.“Sprint is most improved company in customer satisfaction – Fact Sheet,” Sprint, May 21, 2013, accessed February 3, 2020, https://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-is-most-improved-company-in-customer-satisfaction-fact-sheet.htm.
5.“Sprint Is First Among Major Wireless Carriers for Customer Satisfaction,” Sprint, May 15, 2012, accessed February 3, 2020, https://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-is-first-among-major-wireless-carriers-for-customer-satisfaction.htm.
6.Donald Trump, Twitter post, August 17, 2018, 4:30 a.m., https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1030416679069777921.
CHAPTER 8: MANAGEMENT: HOW AUDACIOUS AUTHENTICITY BUILT AN EMPIRE
1.“The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company,” Wikipedia, accessed January 12, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ritz-Carlton_Hotel_Company.
2.“The Ritz-Carlton Gold Standards,” The Ritz-Carlton, accessed January 12, 2019, http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/about/gold-standards.
3.“What It Takes to Work Here: Ritz-Carlton Hotels,” Minyanville, accessed January 12, 2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20190630055514/http:/www.minyanville.com/special-features/articles/ritz-carlton-ritz-jobs-jobs-ritz/6/15/2010/id/28530.
4.Megan Wells, “Turnover and Retention Rates for Hotels and the Hospitality Industry,” Dailypay, November 13, 2018, accessed January 12, 2019, https://business.dailypay.com/blog/staff-turnover-rates-hotel-motel-hospitality-industry.
5.Katie Kelly Bell, “Former Ritz Carlton President Horst Schulze Talks About the New Frontier In Luxury Hotels,” Forbes, May 3, 2012, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebell/2012/05/03/horst-schulze-on-the-new-frontier-in-luxury-hotels/#6f68d29666ef.
CHAPTER 9: COMMUNICATION: HOW HONEST FEEDBACK LED TO BILLION-DOLLAR GREATNESS
1.Ray Dalio, Principles (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017), ix.
2.Dalio, Principles, jacket cover.
3.Tae Kim, “Ray Dalio Made $50 Billion for His Clients, Topping List of Biggest Hedge Fund Moneymakers Ever,” CNBC, January 26, 2018, accessed January 19, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/26/ray-dalio-made-50-billion-for-his-clients-topping-list-of-biggest-hedge-fund-money-makers-ever.html.
4.Sarah Berger, “This powerful formula helped Ray Dalio build his $18 billion fortune,” CNBC, October 11, 2018, accessed February 9, 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/11/this-powerful-formula-helped-ray-dalio-build-his-18-billion-fortune.html.
5.Dalio, Principles, 34.
6.Dalio, Principles, 36.
7.Email correspondence between Dalio and the author, received October 17, 2018.
8.Julia La Roche, “RAY DALIO: It’s ‘Fantastic’ When We Play Conversations We’ve Recorded Back to Our Employees,” Business Insider, December 11, 2014, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/bridgewater-records-conversations-2014-12.
9.Richard Feloni, “Ray Dalio Explains Why 25 Percent of Bridgewater Employees Don’t Last More Than 18 Months at the Hedge Fund Giant,” Business Insider, March 23, 2016, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-challenges-new-bridgewater-employees-face-2016-3.
10.Bess Levin, “A Sex Scandal at Bridgewater Is Testing Ray Dalio’s ‘Radical’ Philosophy,” Vanity Fair, November 7, 2017, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/ray-dalio-greg-jensen-bridgewater.
11.Jacquelyn Smith, “23 Intense Questions You’ll Have to Answer If You Want to Work at the World’s Largest Hedge Fund,” Business Insider, April 15, 2016, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/intense-bridgewater-associates-interview-questions-2016-4#why-shouldnt-we-hire-you-manager-candidate-23.
12.Richard Feloni, “Here’s Why the World’s Largest Hedge Fund Makes Applicants Take 5 Personality Tests Before Sitting Through Hours of Intensive Interviews,” Yahoo! Finance, August 16, 2016, accessed January 12, 2019, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-worlds-largest-hedge-124000146.html.
13.Bess Levin, “Ray Dalio’s Master Plan to Make His Hedge Fund Cult Immortal,” Vanity Fair, August 10, 2017, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/08/ray-dalio-bridgewater-charter.
14.Alexandra Stevenson and Matthew Goldstein, “At World’s Largest Hedge Fund, Sex, Fear and Video Surveillance,” New York Times, July 27, 2016, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/business/dealbook/bridgewater-associates-hedge-fund-culture-ray-dalio.html.
15.“Bridgewater Associates Employee Reviews,” Indeed, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Bridgewater-Associates/reviews?fcountry=ALL&lang=.
16.Feloni, “Ray Dalio Explains Why 25 Percent of Bridgewater Employees Don’t Last More Than 18 Months at the Hedge Fund Giant.”
17.Excerpt lightly edited for grammar and punctuation, not for content: “Bridgewater Associates Employee Reviews,” Indeed, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Bridgewater-Associates/reviews?fcountry=ALL&lang=.
CHAPTER 10: INNOVATION: SAYING NO TO THE STATUS QUO
1.“Quicken Loans’ 1st Quarter Mortgage Volume Solidifies Its Position as America’s Largest Residential Lender,” Quicken Loans, May 2, 2018, accessed January 19, 2019, https://www.quickenloans.com/press-room/2018/05/02/quicken-loans-1st-quarter-mortgage-volume-solidifies-position-americas-largest-residential-lender.
2.“Fast Facts,” Quicken Loans, accessed February 3, 2020, https://www.quickenloans.com/press-room/fast-facts/.
3.“It’s Who We Are—Not What We Do: Ideas Are Supported By Belief | Quicken Loans Culture,” YouTube video, 4:24, posted by Quicken Loans, November 8, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2mnx_Ce7ck.
4.“To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.,” Berkshire Hathaway, accessed January 12, 2019, http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1998htm.html.
CHAPTER 11: LEADERSHIP: THE UNDERAPPRECIATED QUALITY OF SUPREME IGNORANCE
1.Sections of this chapter originally appear in Peter Kozodoy, “Bethenny Frankel Just Gave Brilliant Advice on How She Went From TV Housewife to ‘Shark Tank’ Star,” Inc.com, October 26, 2017, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.inc.com/peter-kozodoy/bethenny-frankel-went-from-tv-housewife-to-shark-tank-expert-here-are-her-2-top-pieces-of-advice.html.
2.Dalio, Principles, ix.
3.Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—but Some Don’t (New York: Penguin Books, 2015), 45.
4.“To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.,” Berkshire Hathaway, accessed January 12, 2019, http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1985.html.
5.Re-created from: “File:Johari window.PNG,” Wikipedia, accessed January 12, 2019, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johari_Window.PNG.
6.Sections of this chapter originally appear in Peter Kozodoy, “Try This Technique 11,000 Leaders Use to Understand Themselves Better,” Inc.com, June 14, 2017, accessed January 12, 2019, https://www.inc.com/peter-kozodoy/try-this-technique-11000-leaders-use-to-understand-themselves-better.html.
7.“To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.,” Berkshire Hathaway, accessed January 12, 2019, http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1983.html.
8.Pietersen’s ideals are taken largely from a blog post on his personal website: Willie Pietersen, “Outside-In Thinking; Crucial but Unnatural,” WilliePietersen.com, August 13, 2015, accessed January 12, 2019, https://williepietersen.com/outside-in-thinking-crucial-but-unnatural.
CHAPTER 12: HOW TO GET HONEST WITH AND ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY
1.“To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.,” Berkshire Hathaway, 1989, accessed January 12, 2019, http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1989.html.
2.James Clear, “How to Start New Habits that Actually Stick,” accessed February 4, 2020, https://jamesclear.com/three-steps-habit-change.
CHAPTER 13: HOW TO GET HONEST WITH AND ABOUT YOUR OTHERS
1.“Formula for Change,” Wikipedia, accessed November 10, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_for_change.
2.“Asch Conformity Experiment,” YouTube video, 4:10, posted by “eqivideos,” December 22, 2007, https://youtu.be/TYIh4MkcfJA.
3.“Conquering a Culture of Indecision,” Harvard Business Review, accessed January 12, 2019, https://hbr.org/2006/01/conquering-a-culture-of-indecision.
4.Jim Harter, “Employee Engagement on the Rise in the U.S.,” Gallup, August 26, 2018, accessed March 31, 2019, https://news.gallup.com/poll/241649/employee-engagement-rise.aspx.
5.Susan Sorenson, “How Employee Engagement Drives Growth,” Gallup, June 20, 2013, accessed October 20, 2019, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236927/employee-engagement-drives-growth.aspx.
CHAPTER 14: HOW TO GET HONEST WITH AND ABOUT YOURSELF
1.Sections of this chapter originally appeared on Inc.com: Peter Kozodoy, “The 1 Trick to Knowing Whether A Prospect Will Be A Good (Or Terrible) Client,” Inc.com, October 24, 2017, accessed February 18, 2020, https://www.inc.com/peter-kozodoy/what-this-values-exercise-taught-me-about-selecting-right-clients.html.
CHAPTER 15: EFFECTIVE HONESTY FOR MANAGERS AND FRONTLINE EMPLOYEES
1.Susan J. Ashford and James R. Detert, “Get the Boss to Buy In,” Harvard Business Review, January–February 2015, accessed January 12, 2019, https://hbr.org/2015/01/get-the-boss-to-buy-in.
CONCLUSION
1.See for more information: http://www.heartattackgrill.com.
2.As paraphrased by Henry David Thoreau, in Walden (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018), chap 1.
APPENDIX
1.Special thanks to Threads Culture for this excellent list of examples: “Core Values Examples,” Threads Culture, accessed November 10, 2019, https://www.threadsculture.com/core-values-examples.