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Advertising Agency: Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Argentina

The formula for success: Start with why

Have you ever heard of Ernest Schackleton? He was an anglo-irish explorer famous for an expedition he took on the ship Endurance. This expedition is so legendary because the Endurance was stranded in the Antartic for nearly two years, and no one died. You can find loads of articles all over the web about Shackleton's extraordinary leadership skills and how these contributed to these 27 men successfully braving the 22 months in the Antartica Ice when the Endurance was trapped and crushed in the ice. However, one of the most fascinating things about this story was exactly how these 27 men were recruited. Shackleton was so great by being a true leader who put his men's weel-being, both mental and physical, above all else. But was really did set Shackleton apart as a true great leader started with his selection of the Endurance crew. How did he hire the crew? Like most companies out there still do today. He placed an ad on a newspaper. And what do we usually say when we take out job ad on a newspaper or on a website? We say what we are looking for, correct? The typical job ad usually says something like this: Account Manager needed. Required skills? Minimum 5 years experience in account management. Must speak 3 languages. Come work for a fantastic company. 

Here's the job ad Schackleton posted:

Noticed any difference? Brutally honest,right? The only people who applied for the job were the people who believed in what Shackleton believed.They were people who loved adventure and insurmountable odds. Bottom line: they were survivors just like Shackleton. And this was the reason the expedition ended being a success and why they all managed to survive in the Antartic Ice for so long. I wrote this here before. Simon Sinek's inspiring message Start with why explains clearly that it's not what you do that matters.It's why you do it. This is the formula for success, no matter who you are and what you do. Shackleton knew that his goal wasn't to hire people who needed a job. He knew that he needed to hire people who believed in his cause, and who would work for him with blood, sweat and tears because they loved adventure and challenging insurmountable odds. Honour and recognition in case of success was their reason for doing this expedition. If Schackleton had hired his crew based only on their skills and experience, and only on the fact that they could do the job, probably his expedition would have had a different ending. I heard about this story for the first time in another inspiring keynote presented by Simon Sinek and thought it was really worth sharing. 

A Branding nightmare

China: The Land where fake brands reign supreme

The death of traditional resumes

The World has changed. Everything has changed. Why? Because the Social media revolution has changed the way we live our lives, the way we connect with other people and even the way brands conduct their business. Many brands out there have already understood that the game changed and therefore are moving their marketing efforts from traditional media like T.V and radio to online tools waiting to share content and build communities. Now it's all about building a community and establishing a relationship with your community. At least this should be the path. Despite this change, most brands out there still use traditional methods to recruit staff. They might post something on their facebook or twitter page saying they are hiring staff, but they still expect you to send them a nice cover letter explaining why you should be hired, and your resume. Why does this still happen?


Personally, I believe resumes suck. I hate reading resumes and I hate writing resumes. When I was a graduate student I was told "to get a job you should write a resume or a curriculum vitae describing your educational background, your work experience and your skills."  I was told, and you probably as well, that this is the first step for you to get a job. Then start bombarding 50 to 100 companies per day and if you're lucky at least 10 of them will call you for a job interview and soon you'll probably have a new job. This worked in the past. But it's over. It doesn't work any more. The game changed. 


If you think about it...a resume as it is traditionally defined is just an excuse to reject you or me. Once you send a .pdf listing a bunch of facts like where you studied or where you worked and what you did, whoever is reading your resume is probably thinking "well...they're missing this or they're missing that". That person will probably be looking for specific keywords and then boom, you're out because relevant keywords were missing. If the HR department of that company you just applied for is polite and has time they might even send you a nice e-mail saying you're out, but most companies out there will just ignore you. I totally agree with the legendary Gary Vaynerchuk when he once said: 


"Developing your personal brand is the same thing as living and breathing your resume every second that you're working. Your latest tweet and comment on Facebook and most recent blog post? That's your resume now."


Gary is absolutely right! I believe that in the future people will get jobs based on their desire to succeed and not on their qualifications (the past) as we still see right now. Traditional resumes are dead, or at least they will be soon. 

The law of two-thirds by Simon Sinek

When you go to college you’re told you can have good grades, a good social life or sleep – pick two.  Business is no different.  Almost everything we buy can be boiled down to quality, speed or price – pick two. A Rolls Royce, for example, is made from the finest materials and costs a lot of money.  But they take a long time to make.  A Toyota Camry, in contrast, is fast and cheap and though the quality is good, it’s not the best.


Energy consumption is governed by the same principle.  Choosing oil as our primary source for energy – we decided we wanted our energy cheap and readily available – but the damage it does to the environment is the compromise.  In contrast, clean energy is less damaging to the environment but, depending on the source you choose, it can be slow to collect or expensive to deliver.  You can have two out of three, but not all three. 

Our economy is the same.  The way we judge and manage our public companies is often based on quarterly results (speed) and large returns (money) but to achieve that, the long term stability of our public companies and our economy (quality) constantly seems at risk as a result. The rich and fast choice we made during the dot-com era weakened the foundation of the economy that resulted in a stock-market crash. The rich and fast mentality of the housing bubble and the sales of mortgage backed securities produced the same result.  As did the boom before every bust in history.  In contrast, companies that choose the combination of money and quality, like Warren Buffet’s Berkshire-Hathaway, offer good results and long-term success, but few get-rich-quick opportunities. Two out of three.

The two-thirds compromise is so remarkably consistent in so many areas that you can even use it to test if a salesman or a company is being honest when they are trying to sell you something.  I never trust anyone who tells me they offer the best price, fast delivery times and the best quality.  No such thing…something’s gotta give.

A business that understands the two-thirds compromise when marketing its products or services will be viewed as vastly more credible and honest when they offer two out of three.  Offer someone amazing quality, offer it at speed…but don’t be shy to charge a premium for that combination.  If you want to keep the cost down but don’t want to sacrifice quality, then make sure your customers know they will have to wait a little longer to get what you sell.

The remarkable thing about the rule of two-thirds is that people are happy to sacrifice one third to get the two-thirds they value more.  In fact, they expect and prefer it.  If I’m going to pay a lot of money for something of extreme quality, I actually prefer that they take a little more time putting it together for me.  And if I’m going to eat at a fast-food joint where I want my food fast and cheap, I’ll get impatient if it takes too long – even if they tell me it’s because they are trying to ensure the best quality. I don't want quality - I want it fast and cheap. If I wanted quality, I would have gone somewhere else that would make me wait longer or pay more. That's just the way things work.

Source: Re:Focus