The 3 Character Traits
Reading time: 7min
There are 3 personality traits any founder should develop to pull the 4 business levers effectively and durably.
Founders without those 3 character traits are bound to “lose” compared to those who do.
1. Unimpeachable
Impeccable. Upright. Exemplary. Fair. Honest. Blameless.
These are the people who aren’t in it to make easy money. They’re not trying to get rich quick. They’re not looking for shortcuts.
They want to build. They’re looking to create lasting value. They aim to forge an enduring business over the long term. They are honest, upright, and incorruptible.
They walk the talk.
They don’t just say stuff. They deliver. Their reputation precedes them and speaks for them.
Succession of people with these attributes enables companies to remain strong for centuries.
They know that doing the work builds their business less than it tests their character, and they’re here for the latter.
Unimpeachable Side Note
Most people are not unimpeachable because they are weak and soft.
Being weak, being strong, being soft, being hard... Those are results.
Being is the result of doing.
If you want to get stronger and become unimpeachable, put yourself in a position where most people would break to train yourself not to.
Go do epic shit that will force you to become the unimpeachable person you want to be.
Steel will never become a sword without getting burned and beaten.
2. Cautious
Zero x Anything = Zero
A single bet can cost you everything you’ve built. You can generate millions every week for 50 years and lose it all in one night. You don’t want to play the lottery with your business and your people.
Every opportunity can be seen as a problem. Every problem can be seen as an opportunity. It all comes down to a decision. The most important thing for a business isn’t the number of opportunities available. The most important things are the judgment and sagacity of the people calling the shots.
For most founders: Low risks > High returns
In an infinite game, finding a way not to “lose”, meaning not going out of business, is more important than trying to win in the short term.
If you don’t lose long enough, you win by default.
Cautious Side Note
The most advanced entrepreneurs all use the same tactic to be cautious and win at the same time:
They make bets with limited downsides and unlimited upsides. They know what they’ll lose for trying, and that if they win, they win big.
3. Visionary
Visionaries don’t have a flawless vision of the future.
They simply allow themselves to visualize a future worth fighting for and share their vision.
Developing a vision is not complex. It’s simply a question of scale.
Long-term thinkers don’t just think in days or weeks. They also think in months, years, and decades.
Why do family businesses endure, last, and outlast?
Because they think in generations. They think “long-term investment.” They think “long-term strategy.”
Visionaries don’t look for instant gratification. They don’t take the easy way out. They don’t give in to their short-term urges. They turn their dreams into a long-term reality.
Visionary Side Note
It’s not easy for everybody to have a vision when they don’t have money in their pockets.
If you want to help the world and make your big vision come to life, focus on delivering value against shitloads of money first. Then use that money to make your dream a reality.
Being Unimpeachable In Practice
How can you be unimpeachable in practice? In other words, how can we be impeccable, upright, exemplary, fair, honest, and blameless?
The answer is simple: love.
If you love, you respect, you honor, you care.
You’re impeccable if you love what you do. You’re irreproachable if you want to do it well because you love and respect your product, services, profession, customers, employees, business, and yourself.
Iron Man, Captain America, and Thanos are unimpeachable.
They each have a different vision of the world. They each have their own style. And yet they try to be impeccable, upright, exemplary, fair, honest, and beyond reproach. It doesn’t always work. They make mistakes, go astray, and fail. But they never stop picking themselves up, trying again, and trying to fix their mistakes. That’s what makes them so captivating. They repeatedly engage in behaviors aligned with their core beliefs.
They believe strongly. They love intensely. They act accordingly.
Believe in what you want and show for it.
Love what you have and respect it.
Say something and do it.
It works for a founder as well as for their business.
Unimpeachable:
= Assumed beliefs
+ Intense love
+ Clear actions
+ Meaningful results
Being Cautious In Practice.
How can we avoid taking too many unnecessary risks? How can you avoid losing everything you’ve built overnight?
All the people and companies who never lose and stay rich have one thing in common. They pass the Marshmallow Test without fail.
The Marshmallow Test:
You’re offered a marshmallow.
If you resist the urge to eat it for a while, you’re given two more as a reward. Resistance, patience, and self-control allow you to gain more and lose less.
The trick for people who avoid unnecessary risks is their ability to defer gratification.
You already know this secret by another name. Nobody sticks to it.
It’s called discipline.
The secret is that it can be learned.
You need discipline if you want to not lose long enough to win by default. You need nothing else. Everything else is just excuses.
Anyone can wait and persevere. It’s accessible. What really makes the difference is your level of perseverance and the time you spend deferring gratification.
Winners and losers share the same goals. What differentiates them is their ability to go the distance. Losers make excuses. Winners find reasons.
Nobody likes doing hard shit for a long time without getting a reward, but that’s what discipline is .
Unlike the Marshmallow Test, waiting for the right moment in life can take years.
In the end, only one question matters:
How long will you last before gobbling up your marshmallows?
Cautious:
= Discipline
+ Discipline
+ Discipline
Being Visionary In Practice
Being a visionary is easy:
- You overcome the limiting belief that to be a visionary, you must be Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Albert Einstein, or Thomas Edison.
- You realize these people say a lot of crap and not just genius stuff. They fuck up a lot and shit sitting down, just like you.
- You start doing what they do. You become more human than everyone else. You become a super-human. You poop every day. You say a lot more crap and fuck up a lot more than everyone else... until one day you don’t, and change the world a little for the rest of humanity. That’s when they’ll all call you an overnight success. And if you do it enough times over a long enough period, they’ll call you a visionary.
You, on the other hand, will know that you’re only human. That, like everyone else, you poop sitting down. And that if you’ve succeeded, it’s because you’ve spent more time than anyone else:
- Defining your dream, believing in it, and following it.
- Defining your nightmare and running from it.
- Never giving up where anyone else would have.
No visionary is an overnight success.
Every visionary is an over-life obsessed.
Find your obsession.
Visionary:
= Follow and share a very specific dream
+ Run away from a clearly articulated nightmare
+ Never give up. Never quit.