Founder of business social network Linkedin Reid Hoffman is one of the most well connected people in Silicon Valley and throughout the world. Be Casnocha has co-authored two books with Hoffman: The Alliance & The Start-Up of You. As he followed Reid around for over two years he learned a ton of great lessons and has shared some of them with readers which I recommend checking out here: http://casnocha.com/reid-hoffman-lessons
For those who want the cliff notes of the top 16 he lists they are below:
16 Lessons Learned (Among Many!)
- People are complicated and flawed. Root for their better angels.
- The best way to get a busy person’s attention: Help them.
- Keep it simple and move fast when conceiving strategies and making decisions.
- Every weakness has a corresponding strength.
- The values that actually shape a culture have both upside and downside.
- Understand someone’s “alpha” tendencies and how that drives them.
- Self-deception watch: even those who say they don’t need or want flattery, sometimes still need it.
- Be clear on your specific level of engagement on a project.
- Sketch three possible outcomes for a project: the likely upside, likely ‘regular’, and likely downside scenarios.
- A key to making good partnerships great: Identify and emphasize any misaligned incentives.
- Reason is the steering wheel. Emotion is the gas pedal.
- Trade up on trust even if it means you trade down on competency.
- Tell the truth. Don’t reflexively kiss ass to powerful people.
- Respect the shadow power.
- Make people genuine partners and they’ll work harder.
- Final: The people around you change you in myriad unconscious ways
Like other powerful Silicon Valley Titans Ben talks about Reid's mission to save and change the world for better.
"But what he really wants to do is save. He wants to use his talent and network and money to change the world for the better and solve some of humanity’s biggest problems. He is among the most selfless and externally-generous people I’ve met in my life."
