Matthew Thompson

The reason Riley has his incredible resume is that he understands leaders don’t need a resume or banners. They need: 1. Honesty without fear of confrontation. 2. Be direct, don’t pull punches, but don’t act in anger. 3. Set the standard, become the standard. 4. Don’t play favorites. 5. Remain confident with a sense of humility. 6. Blame no one. 7.

One of the most intelligent case studies in design is the Chinese tea cup. They’re made without handles simply because if it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to drink.

Humans naturally want to add more. Add a cardboard sleeve, add a warning on the outside of the cup, add a handle. The result of all these things never cools down the actual contents.

I think “And what else?” is the best coaching question in the world. It does two things: It extends the period of curiosity, and it tames your advice monster.

You have to bet on yourself and how you're different to make it work," he said.

I had to bet on myself being different. Everybody showed up in blue suits and white shirts and red ties, business dress of the early 1990s. I was wearing a tie-dyed, pink tie, I had long blonde hair and earrings in. I thought I’m either going to come in a distant last or I’m going to come in first. That’s it. I don’t want to come in the middle. Bet

Everyone has ideas, but ideas are cheap and easy. Knowing the real problem is rare and precious and strategic. If you’re in an organizational setting, if you want to be seen as different and valuable, be the person who’s going, “What’s the problem? What are we really trying to solve here?”

Every organization needs some type of scale or monitoring device, not to measure employees’ weights, but rather to check on accountability and set a benchmark for progress. - Daily Coach

Actually, what’s really powerful is to give people responsibility for their own freedom. There’s this paradoxical way of showing love.

(The first) question is “What’s your mind?” The last question is “What was most useful and most valuable?” The other one is “What’s the real challenge here for you?” It’s almost an identity element. It helps people figure out the real challenge rather than be the person who has the ideas. That’s actually a much rarer, more useful skill in most orga