Great by Choice

10Xers zoom out, then zoom in. They focus on their objectives and sense changes in their environment; they push for perfect execution and adjust to changing conditions. When they sense danger, they immediately zoom out to consider how quickly a threat is approaching and whether it calls for a change in plans. Then they zoom in, refocusing their ene

Performance marker: check. Self-imposed constraint: check. Appropriate to the enterprise: check. Largely within its own control: check. Goldilocks time frame: check. Designed and self-imposed by the enterprise: check.

Of all the luck we can get, people luck—the luck of finding the right mentor, partner, teammate, leader, friend—is one of the most important.

On the one hand, 10Xers understand that they face continuous uncertainty and that they cannot control, and cannot accurately predict, significant aspects of the world around them. On the other hand, 10Xers reject the idea that forces outside their control or chance events will determine their results; they accept full responsibility for their own f

What are the brutal facts? Not opinions, but facts. What bullets have we fired? What have they hit?

When you marry operating excellence with innovation, you multiply the value of your creativity. And that’s what 10Xers do.

In short, we found that the 10X companies took less risk than the comparison cases.

The 10X leaders abhorred Death Line risk, shunned asymmetric risk, and steered away from uncontrollable risk.

The solution to this dilemma lies in replacing the simplistic mantra “innovate or die” with a much more useful idea: fire bullets, then fire cannonballs.