Orbit Challenge: tomorrow morning, before you open your inbox, rate yourself 1–10 on four things — physical energy, mental clarity, emotional stability, relational connection.
That's your oxygen check. Do it for a week.
April 19, 2012. Qihoo filed its 20F at 6am. Stock ripped 40%.
I had sold the day before on somebody else's panic. Then I chased it up on the spike.
The trade didn't break me. My reaction to it did.
199
@annimaniac We are well on our way to helping our portfolio of companies advance along this progression path -- and about to start offering our services and learnings to other enterprises
I started over from zero after NQ Mobile. Family depending on me. Reputation tied to a company that just died publicly. Best thing that ever happened to me. The builder’s mindset was forged in that fire.
At Goldman Sachs, the fastest decision-makers consistently beat the smartest ones. Not because they were careless — because they understood that momentum compounds and paralysis kills.
I evaluate every hire, every deal, and every partnership through six letters: THRIVE. Truth, Hustle, Respect, Integrity, Value, Enjoy. Misalignment on values is an instant kill. Everything else is negotiable.
In 2013, Muddy Waters published 82 pages trying to destroy a company I worked for. Stock dropped 50% overnight. In Beijing at corporate HQ’s, I drove to the office in the middle of the night. The conference room was already full of people who chose to fight. That’s leadership.
The pushup challenge in Chapter 6 of Leadership Orbit isn’t about fitness. It’s about proving that small, consistent actions done over long periods create outcomes you can’t achieve any other way. Momentum compounds.
Stop obsessing over your altitude. Your trajectory matters more than your current position. A rocket pointed up at 1,000 feet beats a plane circling at 30,000.
Transparency is not a corporate value to print on a wall. It’s the immune system of your organization. I watched a company die because its board refused to stare at the truth. I’ll never let that happen again.
After losing a career’s worth of earnings at NQ Mobile, I had two options: victim or builder. Victims ask “why me?” Builders ask “what can I build from here?” I chose builder. That choice created everything I have today.
I discovered my superpower on a baseball diamond at 12. “Game speed” — not just fast, but fast with anticipation. Turns out that same edge wins in boardrooms, not just ballparks. Speed is a choice.
The biggest leadership lie: someone else is going to come save you. Nobody is coming. That’s Chapter 1 of Leadership Orbit — and the most important lesson I’ve ever learned.