0:00

shape dogs instinct dogs

0:05

that bridge to shirt i'm working

0:07

dog is a a honda he's a

0:09

predator to the store tell

0:12

you control my feet stink that's

0:17

paul dama d a farmer and

0:20

sheep dog trainer based in bungendore australia,

0:23

how old is trent? generations of border

0:25

collies to herd sheep and compete

0:27

in trials first step

0:29

and training is finding a dog with the right

0:32

instincts

0:39

are you are surrounded i do in front of

0:41

one of my dogs

0:45

there's no way he would stop at eight that bitter

0:47

make he

0:49

, to yeah it's nice to shape the

0:52

instinct is to one of work that stop

0:56

that instinct can't be left to

0:58

run unchecked which is where the training

1:00

comes in

1:02

they had died friday that i had no

1:04

ability and our just go

1:06

pack your dogs died wanna go a dune

1:08

just chase him till the shape lie down and i'd

1:11

want about it and bottom but that's what i've

1:13

ever had

1:14

how lives and works with each of his dogs

1:17

building a relationship and understanding that

1:19

means the dogs look to him for direction rein

1:22

in the dogs instinct or unleash

1:24

it at a single command or

1:27

even a whistle

1:31

when you're under shaved dog trolley situation

1:33

to the dog as the respondents save

1:35

a little whistle stop to manage to give

1:38

that dot the

1:40

runway so as so

1:47

don't know

1:52

the runway

1:58

keeping com and all the time

1:59

walk out war camps

2:11

i don't just blindly follow each whistles

2:14

you could even say there's room for the dog

2:16

to get creative

2:20

that dog days to have title respect

2:23

in what you're doing tide of say have control

2:25

that

2:29

be copyright buddy still as the radio

2:31

shape his

2:34

name is going to be cooking the new command

2:37

he has to be ,

2:39

going to happen for a new him telling this

2:42

formidable parents formidable playful creativity

2:46

and purpose what direction as

2:48

, far beyond the heard in in

2:51

it's an essential and tricky balance

2:54

that all scale leaders need the master

2:56

because it can mean the difference between

2:58

your company escaping the past

3:01

or being put out to pasture

3:06

that's why i believe in order to scale and

3:08

innovative idea you need to balance

3:10

creative experimentation and

3:12

purposeful direction

3:16

you gotta have incredible talent at every position

3:52

will start show in a after a word

3:54

for our brand partner, capital

3:57

one business

4:00

this would make a yellow tortilla and was nutty

4:03

there was like butternut squash knows it

4:05

was such an old factory overload

4:07

that's jorge gaviria founder and

4:09

ceo of mercy under and

4:12

is recalling his first taste of a tortilla

4:14

made from corn grown by small farmers in

4:16

iowa haka growing up in miami

4:18

he thought he knew tortillas but at that moment

4:21

he realized what had been missing

4:23

the covers i'm a had a bad debts erica really

4:25

fresh baked baghdad's edith want to savor

4:27

it for a long time and i was like whatever was responsible

4:29

for creating this is something we want to share with others

4:32

that something was martha or though

4:34

made from heirloom corn jorge mated

4:36

mafia and as mission to export that corn

4:39

to restaurants worldwide

4:40

the idea was to connect

4:43

with folks who had been producing corn

4:45

for a long time for subsistence purposes

4:47

but did not have a market to absorb any

4:49

surplus we pay farmers up front

4:51

we absorb all of that surplus and then we get that

4:53

to assess across the world

4:55

where have you had a great product and the potentially

4:57

huge market what could possibly go

4:59

wrong will find out later in the show

5:02

it's all part of capital one businesses look

5:04

at entrepreneurs were persevering with

5:06

courage and innovation

5:12

i read often cofounder of linked in

5:15

partner greylock and your house and

5:17

i believe in order skill and innovative

5:19

idea you need to balance creative experimentation

5:22

and purposeful direction the

5:25

you love breakfast cereal but seat

5:27

the hassle of making breakfast cereal

5:29

first there's the carden your for reach

5:32

for the carton than open the carton then

5:34

there's the ball you have to pick up law

5:36

and place of all just so then you

5:38

get a poor the serial into the ball

5:40

not around are under but he and don't

5:43

even get me started on the milk imagine

5:47

a device that do all this for you the

5:50

just a single touch of a button that

5:52

sense a marble spiraling

5:54

it's way down wouldn't track to knock down a line

5:56

of dominoes which toppling a one another

5:59

until i hit a brick rebalanced carton of

6:01

cereal onto its edge spilling

6:03

it's contents into a ball scrap

6:05

the top of a roomba which is activated

6:07

by the pressure of the serial flakes in the

6:09

ball pressing down on the on switch and

6:12

then rolls across the floor until it crashes

6:14

in your table sending the serial sliding

6:16

into your ball and will laugh your

6:18

fuss free breakfast is served

6:20

okay this susan

6:23

is a lot of things creative

6:25

experimental and amusing but

6:28

it's not a practical elegant or

6:30

scale the solution to streamlining breakfast

6:33

you're a solution gets there in the

6:35

end but it m a creative

6:38

process behind it go to too many different

6:40

places

6:41

short the creativity blacks

6:43

direction

6:45

during this balance between free flowing

6:47

experimentation and focus direction

6:49

is essential for any leader who was not

6:51

only to create a great product or service

6:54

but actually ship it i

6:56

wanted to speak to tony fidel about this because

6:58

he is one of the most creative and focus

7:00

people i know through passion

7:03

and persistence tony got himself hired

7:05

straight out of college for the famous mobile

7:07

device pioneer general magic he

7:09

then went on to pioneer other iconic

7:12

consumer products that apple as apple driving

7:14

force behind the ipod and iphone

7:17

after apple tony struck out on his own

7:19

by establishing tech startup nest and

7:22

with it the template for smart homes

7:25

you sold nest to google for three

7:27

point two billion dollars and now

7:29

heads up his investment from future shape

7:31

helping other founders direct their creativity

7:34

to developed transformative technology

7:37

there are all of these roles tony has developed

7:39

deep insights in the striking the right

7:41

balance between creative experimentation

7:43

and purposeful direction his

7:46

earliest lesson however came long

7:48

before and far away from the sleek

7:50

campuses of silicon valley tech firms his

7:52

grandfather's ramshackle garage

7:54

in michigan my grandfather

7:57

first and foremost he was an educator

8:00

he would take my brother and i swing

8:03

when we're three and four and

8:05

would love to build stuff he would

8:07

take apart anything any

8:10

would make sure he had all these cigar box

8:12

is full of all these different parts from

8:15

twenty thirty forty years

8:21

and we would be there together with him repairing

8:23

lawnmowers or bikes or building bird

8:25

houses are garden furniture repairing

8:28

doors and the houses and sinks

8:39

on his grandfather major tony

8:41

and his brother or not just idle onlookers

8:44

so at three and four years old i was doing

8:46

stuff with electricity

8:50

wouldn't want him switches and

8:52

so he just never was afraid

8:54

to put tools at our hands or

8:57

put us in seizures way

9:00

ray like we're sitting there with a lecture claws

9:03

and , and doing all that stuff

9:05

and you know my mom was always nervous

9:07

like and my grandmother to to

9:10

gonna happen are they going to be like combat bloody

9:12

and lose a finger but you know of course

9:15

a few things little happened like i slammed my students

9:17

hammer on my som or something but

9:20

other than that it was so much fun

9:22

to be able to work on all these different things

9:24

with him

9:27

along with such practical and painful

9:30

lessons in the correct use of tools

9:32

tony came away with a more philosophical insight

9:34

into thinking about how to direct his creativity

9:37

when he said to me was the

9:40

all this stuff around everything we use

9:42

today where we live on the things we

9:44

drive these were all made by

9:46

humans humans can repair

9:48

them humans can make them better you

9:52

can learn from what they've done and

9:54

you can do more don't think

9:56

it's something over here that you can't touch

9:58

so i figure was that

9:59

empowerment a building

10:02

this insight coupled with his grandfather

10:04

direction and hands off approach open

10:07

tony's eyes to the power of creativity

10:10

the was just enough direction from his grandfather

10:12

to stop tony was brother from losing a finger

10:15

to the band saw but enough freedom

10:17

to open up a world of creation and

10:19

innovation it was mother's relief

10:22

tony moved on from tinkering with hacksaws and

10:24

power drills when he fell in love first

10:26

with the apple to computer then with its successor

10:29

the apple mac at the time

10:31

you went to college where he majored in computer

10:33

engineering tony was obsessed with

10:36

all things apple so when he found

10:38

out that some of the original team behind the creation

10:40

of the mac or founding a new company he

10:42

was increased tony

10:44

didn't have much to go on but the name

10:47

general magic

10:49

that was like general magic what

10:51

and there was nothing about it absolutely

10:54

nothing

10:55

nothing at all and i was like

10:56

i gotta go there remember that

10:59

and i just set my sights i had no idea what

11:01

they were doing but i said i have to be this

11:03

whatever it is it's gotta be an insanely

11:05

great thing that we're gonna try to build

11:08

fresh outta college tony want to silicon

11:10

valley and thanks to the extreme persistence

11:13

got a job a general magic how

11:15

he got this role this an amazing story amazing itself

11:18

which we don't have time for here although

11:20

it's covered in a documentary of the company called

11:22

general magic that's what i'm

11:24

saying the great thing general magic wanted to build

11:27

well tony was blown away by

11:30

so what they set out to

11:32

do in nineteen ninety was

11:34

to create a personally

11:37

intelligent communicator personal

11:39

assistant you know when you look back

11:41

on it is i know was the precursor

11:43

the the i phone just fifteen seventeen

11:45

years too early

11:47

remember this was nineteen ninety

11:50

in the small landscape of mobile productivity

11:52

the hefty day planner stood

11:54

supreme against this backdrop

11:57

channel magic's ambition to create a portable

11:59

integrated the computer was ahead of

12:01

it's time and as many

12:03

people's imaginations a

12:05

gentle magic tony found himself among

12:07

his heroes working in an environment of unfettered

12:10

creativity or new ideas for

12:12

like sparks in a foundry but

12:15

tony soon notice that each spark

12:17

had it's own champions trying the phantom

12:19

and it's own detractors trying to stamp

12:21

it out there , too much space

12:23

being given over to experimentation without

12:26

any direction toward the finished product

12:29

and no one was asking the most important

12:31

question when you're developing a product or service

12:34

why why why why are you making

12:36

what's your major not wise the company

12:38

going to be what the company's doing what

12:41

does that product mean why do they

12:43

needed what pain are you solving too

12:45

many times engineers

12:48

and designers especially early

12:50

in their career are trying to make something

12:52

to impress the person next to them

12:55

so like like impress them with

12:57

something that's gonna like be new

12:59

for them that's the wrong way to

13:01

think

13:02

creativity is vital at all

13:04

stages of scale but it also

13:07

needs to be channeled toward the why

13:10

as a leader of a creative team this

13:12

job of creative director false director you

13:15

correction picks a broad sweeping like a

13:17

be creative experimentation and homes

13:20

it into the targeted focus of a laser

13:22

beam exactly how you do

13:24

it will depend on your sector emission

13:26

and your leadership style many

13:29

factors will inform your direction and

13:31

the purpose it's driving at who

13:33

your competitors what are they doing

13:35

successfully what are they missing what

13:37

are the prime market opportunities what

13:40

did your success conditions look like

13:42

how do you know you're on target new

13:45

idea play and your existing products

13:48

services and positioning for

13:50

tony to set a purposeful directed

13:52

to your creative experimentation you

13:54

need to think about

13:56

superpowers

13:58

don't try to geek out in him the

14:00

other geeks the have superpowers

14:02

to everyday people that you

14:04

would love to have just so they go wow look

14:06

at when i can do

14:08

the only knew exactly what superpowers

14:10

he wanted to give customers he

14:13

also had a clear vision of how to drive

14:15

channel magic's substantial creative

14:17

energy to get there

14:19

starting going what's the right device who's

14:21

the audience what are we making and why are we making

14:23

us some started pending up a specification

14:27

for what a mobile

14:29

professional device was and it literally

14:31

had like word processing and email

14:34

and had a phone line on it it had a spread

14:36

seats all of these things he likes

14:38

die in a little keyboard and all that

14:41

you like i'd is more or less it's like

14:43

a very big checkbook fit it in your pocket

14:45

as we gotta make this and everyone a general magic

14:48

like we don't have time for that were on one

14:50

saying we only one thing was sick but this is what people

14:52

want mobile professor what the as i think

14:54

snacks are not now

14:57

the magic may have been on one

14:59

thing but that one thing was the

15:01

total reimagine and of how we integrate

15:03

mobile technology into our lives

15:06

which is a pretty broad ambition

15:08

this is another way purposeful direction

15:11

and come unstuck when the destination

15:13

is to general has

15:15

it was for general magic it's

15:18

easy to fall into the trap of thinking the

15:20

broader your product the more room for

15:22

creative experimentation and the less

15:24

need for purposeful direction but

15:27

that's a fallacy experimentation

15:30

works best when it's done rather specific thesis

15:33

and having and specific pieces makes

15:35

for makes clear direction that

15:37

little experimentation will kill your

15:39

products the matter how groundbreaking

15:42

the initial idea clear

15:44

direction is a function of the strategic

15:46

focus on mission and attacked school preseason

15:49

for not just what you can do but

15:51

when you need to do in order to get you

15:53

there this is why as

15:55

a leader you need to harmonize two sides

15:57

of your personality the starry eyed

15:59

three the and the cold calculating

16:02

pragmatist counties

16:04

case general magic had been a hotbed

16:06

of creativity he hoped for the

16:09

lack of purposeful direction drove

16:11

him away honey sort of pitching

16:13

his idea a general magic licensees

16:16

one of these was these consumer electronics

16:18

company philips

16:20

and they bit helps bit as

16:23

pets the ceo of philip semiconductors

16:25

of times a day i want to do this project we're making

16:27

the semiconductors let's go make a

16:29

device to and you're gonna go run it and was

16:31

like holy what

16:33

did i just do i've never

16:35

built a device or for i'd never even really ran

16:38

a real teens i literally sat

16:40

and it's share kind of with the lights out

16:42

with my hands of my head going what's

16:45

it i just do what did

16:47

i set myself up or i have no

16:49

clue what can happen or like

16:52

let's see what happens

16:54

join philips as ctl and

16:56

ahead of it's mobile computing group aged

16:59

just twenty six despite

17:01

his misgivings about such about huge leap

17:03

so early in his career twenty don't

17:05

have don't have to create an environment where

17:07

creativity was combined with clear

17:09

direction to great customer focused

17:11

products

17:13

i'm gonna copy and leaves

17:15

a lack of process a general magic behind

17:17

put in some process as you know what that was

17:19

but some process does the know process

17:22

however tony soon ran into a problem

17:25

amy in foreigners listening will likely

17:27

relate to keep

17:29

and rugged hill you have to climb to

17:31

get traction for new niche idea

17:33

in an established organization

17:36

there's even more politics when you're trying

17:38

to do something all new at a big company

17:41

at least back in those days people like

17:43

why are we doing this little

17:45

thing we have bigger fish to fry with this

17:47

thing that's making enough forty percent or

17:49

eighty percent of our revenues this singh who

17:51

knows of it's going exists it's like you're

17:54

sitting around a dinner table with your siblings

17:56

and everyone's running after the food right

17:59

and you the scraps will usually these little

18:01

programs get the scraps of resources

18:03

budgets every one be naysayers

18:06

get all that semester

18:08

honey hungered for more purposeful

18:10

direction but it phillips the

18:12

directionless too entrenched and too rigid

18:15

instead of elevated creative experiments

18:18

the culture at philips suppress them

18:21

i feel like you have to have the energy and environmental

18:24

going to be together so let's get the energy of

18:26

it at philips i was walking in a

18:28

more everybody was in their own shut

18:30

off as if i make a noise

18:32

if someone going to get mad at me

18:35

the leader providing creative direction

18:38

you need to make sure you foster an environment

18:40

that sparks creative experimentation

18:43

this needs to be embedded in your culture

18:45

your processes and your approach a

18:48

classic example from silicon valley

18:50

is the hackathon a period

18:52

of time set aside for people in your organization

18:55

to form spontaneous groups and sprint

18:57

to make a creative solution it

19:00

to be anything from anything new business venture

19:02

to a fair system for allocating doughnuts

19:04

allocating the staff can team however

19:07

bringing creative direction this hack upon outcomes

19:10

can be a challenge this is why

19:12

i linked then we would do hackathons around

19:14

specific themes for example education

19:18

teams would submit proposals based

19:20

on the theme and if successful they

19:22

be given a block of time to work on that

19:24

idea the could affect the way

19:26

to bring purposeful direction to a hackathon

19:29

without compromising on the creative

19:31

experimentation the county

19:33

had been a general magic he saw the impact

19:35

of to little creative direction and when

19:37

he moved phillips he experienced the wrong

19:40

kind of creative direction so

19:42

and ninety ninety nine twenty love philips

19:44

without his own tech company fuse

19:47

one of it's main products a portable

19:49

does your music player was right at the cutting

19:51

edge of the move towards digitizing music

19:54

but tony struggled to get investors on

19:57

board with his vision fuse

19:59

was on the board a fizzling out then

20:02

the dot com boom turned to bust

20:05

my startup was gasping

20:08

for air this was january

20:10

two thousand and one we could

20:13

not get any more funding and funding two thousand

20:15

two thousand internet fall off happen it was

20:17

just a disastrous there was

20:19

no money anywhere i have eighty

20:22

meetings you know bc meetings

20:24

and it was just no no no no

20:26

no

20:27

strapped for cash tony took a contract

20:29

and gig at the company that had originally

20:32

sparked his interest in tech apple

20:35

tony's task was to help develop a digital

20:37

music player worthy of the company

20:39

name as with any new initiative

20:41

and apple was an air of secrecy about

20:43

it the project was code

20:45

named dulcimer just

20:48

a few weeks after joining tony would find

20:50

himself pitching his ideas for the new

20:52

device to steve jobs

20:54

we'll be back in a moment afterward from our

20:56

premier brand partner capital one

20:59

business

21:02

we had literally millions of pounds of corn and

21:04

now we're having to pay for expensive floating and

21:06

storing it and there was no place

21:09

actually sell it to a terrifying

21:11

we're back with jorge gaviria of must be

21:13

under he was telling us how we came up

21:15

with a fantastic business plan buying

21:18

heirloom corner from subsistence farmers

21:20

in mexico and exporting it to

21:22

chefs worldwide

21:23

we're on track to have been amazing year was the

21:25

that cause it's you million pounds of corn

21:27

with the most we'd ever source

21:29

this amazing year they were on track for was

21:32

twenty twenty the pandemic shuttered

21:34

restaurants and suddenly must the under

21:36

had no customers but jorge saw

21:38

a surprising market chest

21:40

it started an ecommerce platform for south

21:43

and we started as the a huge up taking orders

21:45

and it wasn't from folks in the industry with just

21:47

home cooks

21:49

where he wanted to capitalize on this new market

21:51

and he didn't have the cash but he had a fight

21:53

knapsack he had purchased all that corn

21:55

on its capital one spark card that gave

21:58

him unlimited two percent cash back

21:59

and a cash was just waiting

22:02

we had this amazing reserve of cash

22:04

and we started to treated as a true innovation

22:06

fund

22:07

they invested that to present cash back in

22:10

this new and unexpected market

22:12

we had to create products that were more driven to hunker

22:15

the we created a massive start her kids just like

22:17

a tortilla pressing two bags of martha

22:19

and it became the best selling products on our site

22:21

today

22:22

the cash reserve let must be under bet big

22:24

on the consumer market

22:26

that reserve of is like dry powder for us

22:28

to be able to explore new opportunities

22:31

jorge entered the pandemic saddled with millions

22:33

of pounds of corn but he pivoted fast

22:36

that is the kind of rapid response and cave

22:38

of capital one business salt throughout

22:40

the pandemic

22:41

times of crisis spark innovation and

22:43

require entrepreneurs to pivot quickly

22:45

move fast and start

22:48

to uncover new possibilities and path

22:50

forward

22:51

now mafia do is expanding their mission

22:54

and extending their impact will hear about

22:56

that later in the show it's all part of capital

22:58

one businesses spotlight on entrepreneurs

23:00

who are persevering with grit and determination

23:08

we're back with tony fidel if

23:11

you're enjoying this episode on how to balance creative

23:13

experimentation and purposeful direction

23:15

be sure to share it with your friends and colleagues

23:18

you can do that right now just hit

23:20

the share but in your podcast app and

23:23

the listen to my full conversation with tony become

23:25

a masters go member at massive scale

23:27

dot com slash membership you'll

23:29

be able to hear some of the things we couldn't fit into

23:32

this episode like tony's fascination

23:34

with classic wristwatches or discussion

23:37

or discussion the right go to market speed and

23:39

tony's mission to find innovative solutions

23:41

to the global crisis of plastic waste

23:44

he won't wanna miss before

23:46

the break tony had just taken a contract

23:48

and gig with apple to help development digital

23:51

music device code named dulcimer

23:54

it have been three and three and years since t

23:56

jobs had returned as apple ceo

23:58

he was starting to making [unk] the turn the company

24:00

around with a new desktop computer

24:03

imac and the i both laptop

24:06

there also interesting experiments one

24:08

was called i tunes marketed

24:10

as jukebox software however

24:14

apple wasn't out of trouble yet and steve

24:16

jobs was searching for a physical product

24:18

that would capture imaginations and reignite

24:21

the company's growth how

24:23

he found himself in a meeting with steve

24:25

jobs alongside hardware marketing

24:27

manager standing and i tunes

24:29

head chef robin who's only

24:32

one thing one the agenda pitching

24:34

steve on dulcimer

24:36

the end of the meeting see was like okay

24:38

we're doing this i greenlighted it doing

24:41

means will do to the next steps and tony

24:43

you're going to be the one to do it as like was

24:45

ah ah what i said

24:47

you know we'll talk about

24:49

honey was surprised by how quickly steve

24:52

approve the idea but sees rapid

24:54

green lighting wasn't the cc embrace

24:56

of a new idea rather it

24:58

was because steve had steve had vision of what

25:00

he wanted for apple and how project dulcimer

25:03

would play a major part in making that

25:05

vision a reality

25:07

the mack was in the us less

25:10

than one percent market share of all

25:12

computers right worldwide

25:14

it was already you know more or less debt the map

25:16

was dead so the it

25:18

had tried all kinds of different things to try to

25:20

read the market wasn't going anywhere

25:23

what steve jobs so how that funky

25:25

little piece of jukebox software known

25:27

as itunes could combined

25:29

with project dulcimer become not just

25:31

a killer app that would hoist apple from the

25:33

almost rand's but could herald

25:35

a digital music revolution

25:38

he saw that i tunes

25:40

was some new way of using

25:42

a computer a new way right

25:44

you could rip cds you

25:46

can make playlists that's great

25:48

but they need is beyond ago

25:51

m p three players did exist

25:53

the were clunky with no easy way to

25:55

get music on them to steve jobs

25:58

this was an opportunity

26:00

so he was like well if we

26:02

could make a better device an apple

26:05

devices maybe people will buy more

26:07

max this was gonna be the first device

26:09

that apple would make that you needed so

26:11

badly they you would buy a mac for

26:14

project dulcimer would be the hardware bridge

26:16

that unsettled people from their computers

26:19

all tying them more closely to apple's

26:21

fledgling music ecosystem and

26:23

this is why steve jobs a project

26:26

dulcimer the immediate greenlight in

26:28

proven hers takes note if

26:31

you can show your leaders how your project can quickly

26:33

integrate into organization and

26:35

strengthen your current strategy and

26:37

a delightful surprising way

26:40

that will be most of your battle one at

26:43

least when it comes to getting the go ahead

26:45

for your project the tony

26:47

had been burned before by general magic's

26:49

permissive unfocused creativity

26:51

and by the restrictive culture at philips the

26:54

needed to be sure that apple under steve

26:56

jobs new the importance of combining

26:59

experimentation with creative direction

27:01

that's he would remain one hundred

27:04

percent on the project

27:06

like steve i know we can build this like

27:08

thirty built parts of

27:10

right

27:10

how i know you so in market in do

27:12

the right things that you need to do on your side

27:15

of the equation to make sure the successful

27:17

and he said i guarantee you

27:19

make this device half and i will put

27:21

all my sales and marketing dollars for

27:24

minimally two quarters if not for quarters

27:26

only on this project called dulcimer

27:28

because i want this thing does be a success

27:31

the i'd like you swear is like yes

27:33

i looked him in the eye and he said okay fine

27:36

and so i was like that's all i could ask

27:38

right

27:39

notice how steve said you

27:41

make it happen in , so

27:44

he was expressing his belief in tony's

27:46

ability and creativity he

27:48

was also making it clear that tony would

27:50

be given the room for experimentation and

27:53

experimentation the same time see will be providing

27:55

purposeful direction that would keep the creative

27:57

experimentation focus

27:59

wasn't just these words that set told

28:02

his mind at rest

28:04

it felt very different than phillips right so i

28:06

was like oh this guy's really in charge

28:08

i knew steve was obviously bus

28:10

like he said it i saw how he isn't the meeting

28:12

i saw everybody the whole company shift in a bunch

28:14

of people got behind the selects okay

28:17

maybe this is actually gonna really happens so

28:19

that was it

28:21

in case you hadn't guessed already project

28:23

dulcimer was soon given a new name the

28:25

i pod and while again

28:28

critical acclaim on its release took

28:30

release few more iterations before iterations really

28:32

took off igniting the next chapter

28:34

of apple story

28:36

i pod was successful for a few

28:38

mack fanboys back in two thousand

28:40

and one two thousand troops but it was really not

28:42

so i'm very well because it was only

28:44

impressing mack folks

28:47

not the rest of the world so we still

28:49

had a worked really really hard to actually

28:51

turn the i pod into what it became

28:54

the success or happened after you

28:56

know the first three generations the

28:58

ipod when we have the i tunes music store to

29:01

the success of the ipod begin

29:03

to worry phone makers it showed

29:05

some of the huge unrealized potential

29:08

for mobile devices this

29:10

was still the age of the feature phone

29:13

devices that the do more than just calls and text

29:15

but lacked the unified operating systems

29:18

or touchscreens that would come with a smartphone

29:20

era

29:21

they decided to start going all we're going to do

29:23

the same thing that i pod is and take their

29:25

market share and that's when things

29:27

got oh wait oh wait

29:30

well people want to carry one device with

29:32

them if the phone got all the features the

29:34

ipod i by i pod

29:36

business

29:37

now prepare for what might be the most

29:39

condensed and understated story

29:42

i think we've ever had on masters escape

29:45

and through a bunch of different

29:47

attempts and a bunch of different internal

29:49

designs then ultimately the

29:51

i phone pops up and two thousand and

29:53

seven i know i just kind of brushed over

29:55

it but we've heard the i phone story

29:57

so many times in officer

30:01

that's true the story the i phone's

30:03

development is a keystone

30:05

of the story of tech we're going to

30:07

focus on here is how the i phone

30:09

was a triumph thanks to the combination

30:11

of experimentation and highly focused

30:14

strategic creative direction that when into it

30:16

making it a groundbreaking product the

30:18

blu ray the competition with innovation

30:21

and design

30:23

we had so many false

30:25

starts we tried a

30:27

touchscreen ipod that played video

30:30

we tried a click wheelbase

30:32

i pod that did phone calls

30:35

there was a touchscreen mack that was being

30:37

developed so all of these different

30:39

things were kind of in process

30:42

in flight

30:43

this was not general magic

30:46

all over again

30:47

you know there's some lower about oh my god

30:49

there was all these you know a huge

30:51

competitions of like this vs

30:54

that there was not any of that

30:57

here tony's referencing has so

30:59

many articles over the years have like in the

31:01

development of the i phone to the way things

31:03

have been done a general magic the chaotic

31:06

unfocused rush a brilliant yet

31:08

competing ideas there were more service

31:10

of the eagles of the engineers than the needs

31:13

of the customer but this

31:15

was far from the

31:17

development of the i phone and while the cascade

31:19

of new ideas and groundbreaking combinations

31:22

of old ideas this

31:24

process has been carefully guided

31:27

by the project leads like tony and of course

31:29

the laser focus creative direction of

31:31

steve jobs

31:33

now obviously this politics and

31:35

you know teams and stuff like that but there

31:37

was not face to pieces of

31:40

technology answer one leaves kind

31:42

of thing you know it was taking bets

31:44

from all around putting them together massing

31:46

a mops figuring out what worked what

31:48

didn't react amazing creating

31:50

new bits it was literally like

31:52

you know having a style lego blocks all

31:55

around and kind of coming up with the

31:57

right miles and then the team's really

31:59

came together

31:59

then pull all

32:02

the different smart pieces from each of them

32:04

to create but became the iso

32:06

tony stayed with apple until two thousand

32:09

and ten overseeing the first three generations

32:11

of the iphone but , was only a matter

32:13

of time before tony would be struck by

32:15

new problem that he needed to solve

32:18

solve was around two thousand and two while

32:20

we still at apple that the idea for his next

32:22

project the smart tech company nest

32:25

first took root the ideation

32:27

for net started with being

32:29

really damn called whenever my

32:32

wife and wife went up to our tahoe house

32:36

because it only at radiate heat the house

32:38

is called the bat is of frozen

32:40

rock i can't run the heat

32:42

all the time but time also tempe of

32:44

ice block for twenty four hours before the heat tix

32:48

so i started doing crazy stuff with analog

32:51

phone lines the

32:53

hacking these things together to try to see

32:55

blood dial up the house and in a remotely

32:58

just turn on

33:01

didn't really work reliably as you could imagine

33:03

the

33:05

i put that aside that was in two thousand and two

33:08

two thousand three doing that stuff

33:12

fast forward to two thousand and

33:14

seven eight i started designing a house

33:19

that would next to the one on how and as like out

33:22

well we must fix this problem by now

33:24

and i was like oh , how

33:27

can this thing costs more than that i phone

33:29

this thermostat

33:31

all it does is give me calendars

33:33

of voters but it doesn't do the thermostat functions

33:35

any better i'm like this is not

33:38

soon tony was saying all kinds of

33:40

other problems with household devices

33:43

and , noticed everybody

33:45

had the same thermostat problems

33:48

problems everyone had the same light switch problems

33:51

than security system problems and

33:54

smoke alarm prompts so you start

33:56

going everybody has these problems

33:59

and look through can cause a my head

34:01

it's an eyeful

34:06

the only knew that any creative solution

34:08

to this collection of domestic management

34:10

issues he did someone a dig into the why

34:13

behind the product

34:14

then provide the creative direction to

34:16

get there i spent six

34:19

months in paris in a working out all the details

34:21

and stuff and then after my time

34:23

here went back to silicon valley and will

34:26

work with matt rogers and matt nice

34:28

cofounded nest together and then ultimately

34:30

delivered the learning thermostat about eighteen months

34:32

later to the world you know who knew

34:35

that the recess could be sexy and

34:38

successful it was really turned

34:40

heads a lotta has and how exciting

34:42

to make something that was so

34:44

unloved become a gift under the

34:46

christmas tree that people were dying the have

34:48

you know love care and attention

34:51

in solving a problem that lot of people out

34:53

of course when on a credit and kotick

34:56

smart thermostat and lay the road map

34:58

for smart home technology in

35:00

two thousand and fourteen google [unk] hardness

35:03

for three point two billion dollars after

35:05

google bought nest it precipitated up flowering

35:08

of creative solutions from the thermostats

35:10

to wifi base stations and arguably

35:12

map the road for the likes of amazon alexa

35:15

and google home in two thousand

35:17

and sixteen tony left nest and

35:19

fully moved over to future shape and

35:21

investment firm he launched tell founders

35:23

handle their creativity with the right kind

35:25

of direction

35:27

so future seats not of venture capital

35:29

firm right we don't have any limited

35:31

partners who give us money to invest on

35:34

their behalf we're not trying to make money for

35:36

ourselves we're they're saying

35:37

we don't like to be retired retirements

35:40

sucks okay i tried that for

35:42

awhile and it didn't work we're going to

35:44

put our money where our mouth is ever going to give

35:46

you our time to help you because

35:48

we only want to work with companies with

35:50

great big challenges that

35:52

most people wouldn't invest

35:55

one of tony's guiding principles at future

35:57

shape is be hands on when founders

35:59

need including creative direction

36:02

and get out of the way when they don't he

36:04

also urges founders to cultivate

36:06

a beginner's mindset tell approach new

36:09

challenges with a right mixture of

36:11

structure and flexibility

36:14

when you ever you take on a new project

36:16

or whatever you have a beginner's mind

36:18

said he started asking what's a question would you

36:20

go to a new city okay where do i get

36:22

money with the heap here locally

36:25

how do i pay for things how to ice since

36:27

you're a beginner whenever you move outside

36:29

of your environment the all when you start

36:31

picking up on all these details some that matter made

36:33

some that don't and some that are similar

36:36

to what you've experienced in the past and others

36:38

that are totally brand new

36:40

approaching problems with a beginner's mindset

36:43

is important when you're creatively experimenting

36:46

being able to spot that mindset is

36:48

important when you're giving purposeful direction

36:51

this comes into play not just for creative

36:53

projects but from entering the next

36:55

generation of entrepreneurs

36:58

the only reason why i'm sitting here talking to you

37:00

and maybe for you while you're talking to me right

37:02

now is there were people along our careers

37:05

that helped us with our financial

37:07

gain they went wait a second

37:10

this is a smart person

37:11

maybe i can help them with something they're asking

37:13

the right questions they're ambitious they're

37:15

it's wanting to do something that i could feel

37:19

this is why tony put mentorship

37:21

at the heart of see to shape and

37:23

his book build an unorthodox

37:25

guide to making things worth

37:28

making

37:29

they now i have to pick up the baton and

37:31

i need to mentor the people

37:34

and say a forward like those people did

37:36

for me trying to show that passed

37:38

in different forms different ways and trying

37:41

to have nots his show the past

37:43

but show the thinking behind the

37:45

past and how things happened and

37:47

what the lessons learned

37:49

the leader directing and focus and your

37:52

team's creative explorations balls

37:54

to you if both art and

37:56

science one done well

37:58

the direction you give stifle

38:00

your team's innovation the will unleash

38:02

at i'm read often thanks

38:05

for listening

38:06

and now a final word from

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our premier brand partner capital

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