NICK WOODMAN: WHAT I’VE LEARNED
Company miscues and unforgiving public markets have taught Woodman bitter lessons. What are his takeaways from his wild ride?
BE CAUTIOUS WHEN TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURE
“Be very careful about sharing ideas about where you want to take your business tomorrow, because it’s the tomorrow that everybody is going to become fixated on. They’re not going to appreciate enough who you are today, and you’re going to have immense pressure to realize tomorrow faster than you otherwise would have. You may inadvertently shift focus from what’s making you so successful today. Be warned that if you fail to continue to execute on today, you may not be around for tomorrow. That’s what happened to us.”
BEING GREAT AT ONE THING DOESN’T MEAN YOU’RE GREAT AT ALL THINGS
“One of the big lessons is that when things are going really well, you can be lured into thinking that everything’s easier than it is. Because you’re doing a really good job, you think you must be smart and good at this stuff. So, why can’t we go do this other thing? The reality is that you can’t expect your experience in your core business to translate. Just because you’re a World Series–winning pitcher doesn’t mean you can go play quarterback.”
STICK TO WHAT YOU FEEL MOST STRONGLY ABOUT
“It comes down to how much authentic passion you have for something. When I look back, I don’t think that we had the authentic passion for being in the entertainment business. We did for being in the inspiration business. I learned never to pursue a business opportunity if it goes outside of what you, as an individual and as a business, have passion for. Because if it’s not authentic to you, your instincts start to falter.”
SIMPLER IS BETTER
“As an individual, how you organize your day affects your productivity. As a company, how you organize your teams and your communication affects your efficiency. What we did was, we structured ourselves as a much bigger business. But complexity breeds complexity, and we learned that when the organization is structured that way, you’re not as nimble. You’re not as athletic. When you have fewer lines of communication, things are less likely to break or get lost in translation.”