Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences/stories that shaped your adult life?

I was born and raised in Israel and at the age of 17 enlisted into the Israeli Defense Forces. In 1973, in the midst of the Yom Kippur War, I was eight, and remember our defense minister describing that war, at a time in which we were on the verge of losing it, as possibly the end of the state of Israel. I remember hearing that our air force was almost completely lost to surface-to-air missiles, and I remember the feeling of desperation. Then, one day, I heard the sound of what had to be a very large jet flying overhead. I walked outside, looked up, and saw a huge plane unlike anything I have ever seen before, flying low and slow. Now I know that it was a Lockheed Galaxy C5A, carrying American supplies and weapons to Israel. Underneath one of its enormous wings, I could read the words “United States Air Force.” That was my first exposure to the U.S., and it made me feel that someone had our back. Twenty-five years later, almost to the day, I moved to the U.S., and eleven years after that, I became a U.S. citizen. While going through my final citizenship interview, the interviewer asked me about my first “exposure” to the U.S. I told him the story, just to find out that he served in the U.S. Air Force, onboard a C5A Galaxy…

What is something you wish you would’ve realized earlier in your life?

I thought about this question a lot, and the answer is that there was nothing I wish I would have realized earlier in my life. Every bit of knowledge and every experience were put in my path at the right time. This may get religious, but I really do believe that things happen for a reason, and at the right time and place.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

That there is only one right way of doing something, and it is a silver bullet that will make you successful instantly. First, there is probably more than one right way even just for me to do anything, let alone for everyone. Everyone is different, and what works for me may not work for you, just as much as what works for you may not work for me.
The second thing is that you will never be instantly successful without putting in the hard work. There is no such thing as an overnight success. As Sir Richard Branson put it, “it takes years to become an overnight success.”
And finally, I found that people, probably out of good intentions, will tend to guide you to their comfort zone, rather than push you to get outside yours.

Tell me about one of the darker periods you’ve experienced in life. How you came out of it and what you learned from it?

In 2017, I was in a dark place in my life. Two years earlier, I started my business full time, but two years later, it was nowhere near where I was led to believe it should be. I had no Plan B, and being out of the corporate world for two years made it hard to try and get back in. So, Plan B became “make Plan A work.” I learned to focus less on seeing the immediate results, and instead focus more on doing the right things that will eventually get me the results I was aspiring to. I started looking at the things that much more successful people than I was were doing, and started adopting what they did that could work well for me, while at the same time avoiding the things they do that would not work for me. In 2017, I faced a fork in the road. For years I have been considered an expert on innovation, and then innovation culture. All the way since I researched that topic for my Ph.D. dissertation. But in 2017, I found that the foundation for innovation and innovation culture is trust. I asked about two dozen people I trust what should I do. Should I stay the course with my focus on innovation, or should I switch my focus to trust? All but one recommended I stay the course, but I decided to shift my focus on trust, and never looked back. The business started growing, and I found a lot more excitement, fulfillment, and value in my new focus area. I focused on specifically on two aspects of trust: how to be more trusted, and how to know who to trust. I wrote books, articles, developed online courses, recorded videos, and kept on building my brand as such. And then, the phone started ringing. I was called not only by people who knew me already but by people who heard about me through others or their own research. That was my turning point.

What is one thing that you do that you feel has been the biggest contributor to your success so far?

Persistence and focus. Almost every time I allowed myself to jump from one project to another, I failed in achieving any goal. I became successful only once I focused less on expecting short-term results and focused more on taking the right actions even when I did not see an immediate return. Real success takes time, focus, persistence, and hard, relentless work. Whenever I speak with aspiring public speakers, who are typically currently still working at their “day job,” I ask them if they are willing to spend an hour every evening, and five hours over the weekend every week, just to build their business. They are typically not willing to allocate that kind of time. They need to relax from work, spend time with family, and have fun overall. Building a new business will come at the expense of all that. Then, I explain to them that the level of commitment I asked of them only amounts to 10 hours a week, or 500 hours a year (you get two weeks off…). The turning point of my own business was after approximately 12,000 hours of dedicated work. I spoke with some of my colleagues who reported spending anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 hours just to get to that point in which they were established, and their businesses took off. At a rate of 500 hours a year, it would take 20 to 80 years to get to that point. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Do not believe anyone who tells you so. It takes a lot of hard work, persistence, and focus, through years of less-than-satisfactory results, until you reach your turning point.

What is your morning routine?

It depends on whether I am writing a book or not… When I write a book, I typically get up at 4 am, as I found that between 4 am and 8 am is the quietest time I have to write when everybody else is asleep. I also turn off email and notifications when I do that. At 8 am, I start “dealing” with the business. One of my main problems was always the “squirrel” problem. I could get distracted very easily and start working on very cool, creative things, but things that were also low on the priority list. So, I decided to allow myself to do those for not more than an hour a day. When it happens, I let it happen. Letting my creative juices flow is great. But I also force myself to spend 4-5 hours on the important, pre-planned “big projects” every day. This is how I get those big projects accomplished. Then, there are things that need attention immediately. Phone calls to make. Communications with customers, suppliers, and others. It is important to be responsive to those, too.

What habit or behavior that you have pursued for a few years has most improved your life?

I stopped listening to advice. Instead, learn from other people’s experiences. There is a difference. I found that people are very quick to give advice, regardless of whether it will be applicable to me or not, and even whether they followed their own advice or not (“do as I say, not as I do…”). I also found that people tend to guide me to their comfort zone when, instead, I need to push the boundaries of mine. Therefore, I look at successful people in my industry and learn what works for them, and what did not work for them. I learn from their experience, rather than asking them what I should do myself. I adopt the things that work and avoid those that do not. There is no point in reinventing the wheel, especially if you can learn from other people’s successes and failures.

What are your strategies for being productive and using your time most efficiently?

Sometime in 2020, there were three important projects that I just could never finish. One was the release of the second edition of The Book of Trust, another was my new promo video, and the last was rolling out my online course, Trusted at Work. I would make progress on each but could not see the end. Until I realized that I had to be more disciplined. That is when I adopted the following strategy.
First, I list all the projects I could think of that could contribute to my business. Whenever I have new ideas, I add them to the list. Second, is to spell out what would it take, realistically, to achieve them, how long would each activity take, what would it cost, and what are the prerequisites for it to even start. Then, I prioritize the projects based on importance, financial impact, and alignment with the mission statement of my business. After that, I start putting all activities into the calendar, leaving enough time for unexpected, unplanned, things that happen. My “rule of thumb” is that out of the 8-12 hours I work per day, 4 hours must be allocated for things planned in advance, and the rest are more reactive to things that were not planned, or allowing for “bursts of creativity.” That means that I can complete 24-28 hours (yes, I work on weekends) of planned work every week. Once I map my prioritized list of activities into my calendar, not more than 4 hours per day, I get a good picture of when things will be done and plan accordingly. If it is not on the calendar, it’s not going to happen.

What book(s) have influenced your life the most? Why?

It was one of the earliest business books I read, Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore (who was later my instructor at Stanford), followed by his second book, Inside the Tornado. These books gave me a very pragmatic insight into customer behavior and why do they buy (or don’t buy) things, an approach I adopted and am teaching now in my entrepreneurship classes, but also an approach I use to understand and explain empathy and trust. You just can’t assume everyone is exactly like you and, instead, you must empathize and understand others if you ever want to be successful interacting with them. Beyond that, I love reading almost every book that Malcolm Gladwell wrote, but especially Outliers, Blink, and The Tipping Point. Gladwell has an amazing ability to take research data and make it simple, easy to read, relatable, and impactful. I do my best to adopt this approach in my own books.

Do you have any quotes you live by or think of often?

From the book Built to Last: “Be a clockmaker, not a time-teller.” Often, leaders micro-manage their employees by telling them exactly what to do every step of the way. They are being “time tellers,” which is not a scalable model. However, when leaders show employees the big picture and let them do their part autonomously, the organization can grow and scale and would be less dependent on a single employee.

Another quote supporting this is adapted from Teresa Amabile: Autonomy means giving employees the freedom to decide how to climb a mountain. Not to choose which mountain to climb. Approximately 30 years ago, I was a manager of a technology development group. I was the poster child for the term “micro-manager.” I was definitely a “time-teller” and not a “clockmaker.” Once, I got too busy with one of my projects, that I “allowed” two of my employees to work on their own project without my micro-management. I didn’t do it for any “smart” or viable reason. I did it only because I didn’t have time. They experienced a failure with their project, but didn’t give up, and then succeeded. Without me… When I interviewed them I learned that while one of them thrives with his newly-found freedom, the other didn’t. Autonomy is not for everyone. However, that was the moment I switched from being a time-teller to being a clock-maker. That, and the fact that my father was a real clock-maker…
Finally, from Albert Mehrabian’s 1971 book Silent Messages, “when our words contradict the silent messages contained within them, others mistrust what we say.” I’m a big believer that leaders should “get their butt out of their office” and go see their teams face-to-face. In fact, one of my peers told me that once when I ran a business unit. Face-to-face communication is much more powerful than written communication. It gives the person you communicate with the ability to determine whether to trust you or not.