Josh Levine is an educator, designer, and author, but above all, he’s on a mission to help organizations design a culture advantage. Josh leads both Culture LabX, an international non-profit and Great Mondays, a culture design agency. His new book, also called Great Mondays, teaches organizations how to design a company culture employees love. Josh’s writing has been seen in Forbes, Huffington Post, Fast Company, and the Design Management Journal.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Josh’s friend with a bike shop in the Bay Area
When business started difficulties overcame:
“I left a stable job, I did not have a stable job to go to. I had to do it and I think the biggest challenge was letting people know that I was available for work and I had to reach out and connect with those people to say hey look I am here and this is what I can do for you. And luckily I had relationships, a big network. And I continue to do this to this day very personally and deeply with many many people. My network has been the key, the absolute key to my success, word-of-mouth. And that was the big challenge because like okay I’ve never had my own business before, I’ve never done this for anybody so I need to tell you. I already had the people that I did work with first, early early that I had relationships with for whatever reason through my professional association, the design Association in the Bay area or previous clients. They knew me so it wasn’t sort of this blind LinkedIn connection”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age Book by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh
- The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science Book by Jonathan Haidt
Favourite Quote:
“don’t mistake a clear view for a short distance”
Recommended Online Resources:
Grammarly – Millions trust Grammarly’s free writing app to make their messages, documents, and posts clear, mistake free, and effective
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“you have to be passionate about what you do or you won’t succeed. You have got to love it, you have got to be able to be convinced that this is what you were born to do. If there’s other options and you can see yourself taking them that might be the way to go and I can appreciate that. If you are going to be a successful entrepreneur you have to commit 110% because there are going to be harrowing days, weeks, months, years where you doubt yourself. And if you have a deep belief in your passion, and what you are working on and a love for actually running your own business that is the one and only way that you are going to be able to make it because it’s a hard hard job. It is really difficult it’s not for the faint of heart… But as you know the highest highs is always about landing that next gig or launching that new product. It’s an incredible feeling that success. ”…[Listen for More]
More About Josh Levine:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business.” J. Paul Getty
Other Quotes From the Chat with Josh Levine:
- “rituals are how we build and strengthen the synapses of culture. Which is relationships. Without relationships as an organisation grows you get these barriers that actually break up or divide the relationships up. And you get the fiefdoms, the silos that everybody talks about. We need your business to actually bring those together”
- “the cues are how we stay connected to the future of our organisation. The cues are physical and behavioural reminders of why we are in business”
- “I didn’t have an option, that’s when I started my business… this is what I do, I have to do this”
- “listen to the market and try a lot of things… Always be out there trying new things and connecting with new people… and being out there being exposed. You don’t know where the success is going to come from and you can’t be dogmatic about this is exactly what we are going to do. It’s almost the law of the pivot that everybody here in the bay area talks about. The product not working this way the next do it this way. It’s not one thing all of the things. And then listening for those signals, and then if something isn’t getting traction don’t invest more in that then look at the things that might be getting traction. What kind of people as our starting to come in? What kind of outreach are you doing? I think trying lots of little things. It is hard and exhausting that’s the only way that you are going to find that successful path is trying many many, many, many new things. Many things old and new”
- “my greatest successes have been built on my network. Knowing people, meeting people, getting out in the world. You just have to be your own builder of the who you know. Without that I would have nothing”
- “the common idea is when I am successful, I will be happy… In fact… when you are happy then you will be successful”
- “not that it will always be easy of course but it should always be worthwhile”
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