Craig Shaver

I write about leadership based on lessons I learned as a Marine.

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

@ericzakariasson @kashyechuri Thank you!

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

You sell future potential hires on your business, your leadership style, and your team vs. the competition.

You sell yourself on the idea that you can do it (even when you feel like you can’t).

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

Leaders are in Sales, Regardless of their Job Title.

You sell your team on the idea that they are uniquely capable of meeting the challenges of the moment.

You sell your boss on your strategy as able to drive growth for your business.

[Farnam Street @farnamstreet]

Focusing on the outcome makes the gap between now and the finish line seem larger than it is, discouraging you from starting something hard.

But when you instead focus on the next step, the eventual outcome is inevitable.

A long run is hard to do. A 0.2 mile run isn't.

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

7 steps to being a better Optimist:

Decide to be an Optimist

Keep a “Pessimism Journal”

Understand Optimism is rational

Be an active Optimist

Lead by example

Recognize Optimism is a lifelong commitment

Surround yourself with other Optimists

#Optimism

[ericosiu @ericosiu]

$20M/year & 100% bootstrapped

In 2019, they were called "IDIOTS" as they were building a product that already existed.

In 2023, their business is better than most VC-backed startups.

Thread 🧵

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

@coldemailchris Would love to see the full pdf @coldemailchris

[PJ Milani | Visual Teacher💡 @milanicreative]

Power of notemaking.

I get asked a lot how I come up with ideas for visuals.

One method I use is "notemaking." It's pretty much notetaking on steroids.

Or another way to look at it:
journaling on the ideas you consume.

The biggest difference:
you don't just copy & paste.

Instead, you ask yourself questions to make sense of what you're consuming.

Questions like:
• What does this remind me of?
• How is this different?
• Why is it important?

I know it takes more time, but when it comes to learning, efficiency doesn't always equal efficacy.

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

Leadership lessons from an Arctic explorer.

Ernest Shackleton had 5 keys to being an explorer, each will make you a better leader.

1. Optimism
2. Patience
3. Endurance
4. Idealism
5. Courage

Subscribe for the full post --> https://t.co/AJfdF6Ef3b

#leadership

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

Full post --> https://t.co/XZ0Bn7Rma7

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

8 leadership lessons learned from running:

1⃣You are going too fast

2⃣Your strides are too long

3⃣Sometimes you have to sprint

4⃣Consistency > intensity

5⃣Gains are made during recovery

6⃣Run outside if you can

7⃣Run first thing in the morning

8⃣It never always gets worse

[Daniel Mahncke @MnkeDaniel]

As an investor, you NEED to know how to read an Annual Report (10-K).

But they often have hundreds of pages and seem way too complex.

Here's how to efficiently read and understand a 10-K (+example)👇🏼

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

@NickAbraham12 Send

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

@hunterhammonds @BrettFromDJ To me it’s a comment on the pricing model. Not per project or per hour. A monthly rate where the client submits one request at a time. Not actually unlimited though to your points.

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

@hunterhammonds @BrettFromDJ Fair point, makes sense.

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

Strong Sales Leaders don’t build high performing teams by focusing on coaching alone.

My favorite framework for Sales Leaders to use when working to make a system wide / process change on their team is a simple one with three steps:

1️⃣ Document

2️⃣ Standardize

3️⃣ Automate

[Craig Shaver @CraigShaver]

3 reasons I ❤️ discipline:

1⃣ It is 100% in your control

2⃣It requires no talent, knowledge or experience

3⃣It will set you free

https://t.co/bnXvZ0C069

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

James Cameron has written & directed 3 of the top 4 highest-grossing movies of all time (Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Titanic).

Before he made movies, Cameron was a truck driver.

He didn't go to film school.

Instead, on the weekends, he would go to the library and..

"I'd pull any thesis that [University of Southern California] graduate students had written [on] anything that related to film technology," Cameron explained.

"And for the cost of xeroxing (photocopying), I [got] all these doctoral dissertations [and] build up these big binders on how everything was done."

"So I literally gave myself a full graduate course on film technology for about $120.

I didn’t have to enroll in school because it was all there in the library. I’d set it up to go in like I was on a tactical mission, find out what I needed to know, and take it all home."

Takeaway 1:

When asked what motivated him to read those big binders full of information on filmmaking, Cameron said he was just following what excited him.

"People seek out the information and knowledge they need," he said. "It's like a divining rod."

The mythologist Joseph Campbell similarly talked about how reading is like "a divining rod," a way to find what you are uniquely attracted to and meant to do.

"You’ve got to read," Campbell said. "Find [what] excites you. And if it doesn’t excite you…It’s not yours.”

Takeaway 2:

Of course, at some point, Cameron had to put the binders down and pick up a camera.

When he eventually attempted to make his first movie, Cameron said, “It was a bit like a doctor doing his first appendectomy after having only read about it."

The bestselling author and learning expert, Scott Young, has a great article with a great title, "Do The Real Thing."

"When you examine case studies of people who have had major accomplishments," Scott writes, "you expect there to be some trick or shortcut...More often, however, the strategy used is dead simple: doing the real thing."

Takeaway 3:

Leonardo da Vinci used to sign off his letters, “Leonardo da Vinci, disscepolo della sperientia” ("disciple of experience").

He used to believe that one learns best by solely "doing the real thing."

Over time, however, he evolved out of this belief and, biographer Walter Isaacson writes, "became a disciple of both experience and received wisdom."

When you examine case studies of people who have mastered their craft, you usually find they are "disciples of both experience and received wisdom."

Like Cameron, they read the library and they do the real thing.

- - -

“Those who are in love with practice without theoretical knowledge are like the sailor who goes onto a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whither he is going.” — Leonardo da Vinci

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