The education of Airbnb's Brian Chesky. By Leigh Gallagher Photograph by Michael Lewis for Fortune Magazine How the home-sharing site’s co-founder hacked leadership and taught himself to be a world-class CEO. Brian Chesky is drawing intently on a napkin. We’re sitting in the President’s Room at Airbnb’s airy, ultra-chic headquarters in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco. Other meeting spaces in the historic building, which the company moved to in 2013, are designed to replicate an Airbnb rental in Fiji or the war room from the movie Dr. Strangelove. With its wood-paneled walls, leather club chairs, and a model of a ship on the coffee table, the President’s Room retains the feel of the original executive quarters from 1917, when the building was built to house a battery factory.
“If you think about it, Airbnb is like a giant ship,” he says, holding up the napkin. Watch: Airbnb’s founder on disrupting an industry Chesky, who in 2008 had never heard of an angel investor or read TechCrunch, knows this better than anyone. Four words that create real abundance for yourself and others. I asked myself the question. What worked on the way up for me? What didn’t work on the way down? I decided that every day I would improve 1% in four areas of my life. I chose a word or phrase to represent each. They were: ’physical’, ‘emotional’, ‘mental’ and ’creative gratitude’. Physical can’t be measured by strength or weight. Emotional – I looked around and realized I had nobody I could call. I actively spent time building relationships based on love rather than business.
Mental – I do this every day: I write down 10 ideas a day. But the idea muscle is a muscle like any other. Creative gratitude – Every day I practice what I call ‘creative gratitude’. I have to find five new things to be grateful for every day. Why 2015 is the year you will change. When a car doesn’t start all winter, the engine will get ruined. When you don’t walk for two weeks, your leg muscles atrophy and you need physical therapy to walk. Change is a muscle. When you change you go from a flattening learning curve (your old situation) to a steep learning curve (the new situation). Steep learning curves feel good. Like the feeling of new love. At every stage of our lives, the people around us try to write our scripts. When we are young the script your family writes you might be: school, cubicle, promotions, management, CEO, retirement, death.
But you might realize that the right script for you didn’t include “cubicle”. You have to rewrite your script. If you stay in the old script it’s like acting in a role that is not written for you. You want to be in a work of art, not a forgery or a plagiarism. When we were kids we played different games all the time. But then we got handed our "scripts" by our parents, schools, political parties, jobs, institutions, etc. 2014 at-a-Glance: a Look at Major Conferences and Events in the Year Ahead - News. By Cody Switzer Two things are already clear about 2014 for nonprofits: It will be the year of the woman—two national meetings in April will focus on female giving—and a year filled with politics.
In addition to the midterm elections, the IRS is examining changes in lobbying rules and seeking public comments through February 27. Here are some of the highlights of meetings and other events that affect nonprofits. To see updates to this list and to submit your events and conferences, visit philanthropy.com/events. Jan. or up to Feb. 3: The President’s budget proposal is released 23: National Center on Philanthropy and the Law: invitation-only conference, “Fraud on Charities: Analysis and Prevention,” New York 9: The Philanthropy 50, The Chronicle’s list of the biggest individual donors, is announced for 2013 13-14: Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation conference, Washington 7-11: South by Southwest Interactive conference, Austin, Tex. 2-3: Classy Awards, San Diego, Calif.
How Neuroscience Is Key to Successful Marketing Strategies. Tim Ash | November 26, 2013 | 3 Comments inShare19 The human brain hasn't changed for more than 100,000 years, yet its exposure to information is growing at an unprecedented rate. How can marketers get through when the brain is screening megabytes of data every milliseconds? I'm fascinated with all the new information being published about the brain and how it is converging with the efforts of marketers to more effectively communicate with consumers. Ponder this fact for a moment: the human brain hasn't changed for more than 100,000 years. Through filtering, the prefrontal cortex of the brain continuously coordinates and prioritizes incoming stimuli, deciding what is essential and what can be ignored or "filed away" for later.
How on earth can marketers get through this "filtering" when the brain is screening megabytes of data every milliseconds? Use Action Words The brain's filtering process seems to afford greater significance to action-oriented words. Stimulate with Puzzles Simplify. The Importance of Content Marketing. How to Optimize Your Blog for Monetization. How to Deliver a TED Talk | Paul Sohn | Salt&Light. Watching the phenomenal performance of the world champion of public speaking was amazing. Getting to know him on a personal level inspired me to give a TED Talk. As a TED fanatic and speaker, I often find myself analyzing the different presentation styles, techniques, and idiosyncrasies each speaker brings to his/her speech. In June’s edition of Harvard Business Review, Chris Anderson, TED’s curator, shares five key to great presentation. 1. Frame Your Story According to Anderson, conceptualizing and framing is the most vital part of the preparation.
TED talkers also restrain their desire and urge to cover all the ground – you simply cannot summarize your entire book or product within 18 minutes. 2. Anderson simply says, “Don’t read and never use the teleprompter.” For instance Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain researcher who had suffered a stroke, shared her story on how she recovered for the next eight years. 3. Many of TED talkers aren’t professional presenters. Also make eye contact. 4. 5. The Folly of Age as a Number: How We Can All Be Young.