The $1 billion CEO framework for software engineers
Steve Bartlett philosophy of greatness - in the tech world.
Greatness requires the master of four pillars:
Your self
Your storytelling
Your team
Your philosophy
After building companies that are collectively valued at over $1 billion, Steve Bartlett shares his psychology, science and accumulated wisdom-based principles.
And his philosophies are extremely important for us, software developers, who live in the fast-changing world of technology.
Takeaways
Master the Self through learning
Constantly update your knowledge and skills, particularly in emerging tech areas such as AI. This continuous learning cycle is crucial for staying relevant and competitive.
The power of storytelling
Learn to effectively communicate complex tech concepts in simple, engaging ways. This skill is invaluable whether you're pitching to investors, leading a team, or marketing a product.
Build a cohesive team
Build a team with an emphasis on different skills and problem-solving methods.
Develop strong personal and company philosophy
Create a philosophy that will guide you through your personal career path and shape your business’s culture.
Live your values for authentic leadership
Reflect regularly on your core beliefs and ensure they align with your actions. Authentic leadership attracts talent, builds trust, and establishes a positive reputation in the tech community.
The Self
Steven talks about the 5 buckets you need to fill up to master your Self.
And this is true, especially in the tech industry, where things change very fast and constant innovations have become the norm.
Ever since GPT-4 was released a year ago, most of the new products are AI-related.
Go to ProductHunt and see for yourself.
The 5 buckets are:
Knowledge
↳ Regularly update your understanding of new concepts, product updates, new management ideas and more by reading books, articles or practice.
Skills
↳ Apply this knowledge by working on projects, either within your team or as personal projects.
Network
↳ Attend tech meetups or participate in hackathons to meet peers and potential friends or mentors.
Resources
↳ Leverage these networks and skills to access better tools, jobs, and perhaps venture capital for your own startup ideas.
Reputation.
↳ Build a positive online presence, contribute valuable insights on platforms like LinkedIn, and be consistent in the quality of your work.
Great accomplishments come from years of pouring time and effort into these five buckets. If you have five full buckets, you can change anything.
The buckets are interconnected, and filling them should be done in a specific order. Filling one bucket helps fill the others.
At the beginning of his career, Bartlett faced a dilemma:
Build a company or save lives in Africa.
Radhanath Swami, a world-renowned guru, monk, and spiritual leader, advised him to focus on his career first. He is the one who came up with the metaphor of the buckets and told him to prioritize filling his first before helping others.
Bartlett went from being a poor public speaker to becoming an accomplished one by creating an obligation to teach daily.
If you want to become an expert at anything, practice it frequently and teach it to others.
The Story
Mastering the art of storytelling is not just about telling stories.
It’s about connecting with people’s emotions. It’s about education. It’s about you being real and sharing your story. It’s about you captivating your audience.
Storytelling is extremely important in the tech world, whether you are a leader or a member of a team who needs to unite the team around a new idea or change, or if you are an entrepreneur who needs to pitch his idea.
To do that, you must:
Understand your audience. Know their fears, aspirations, and what keeps them up at night.
Be authentic. Authenticity resonates. Your stories should be genuine and reflect your values and experiences.
Evoke emotion. Whether it’s joy, sadness, surprise, or anticipation, emotional engagement is what makes your story memorable.
Keep it simple but profound. Complexity can make your message unclear. You should aim for simplicity with deep messages that provoke people’s thoughts.
Bartlett wasn’t born with the skills to tell stories. He built up his courage and skills after understanding that people don’t just buy products. They buy stories.
They invest in how those stories make them feel about themselves.
The Team
To build your team you need to have more than a recruitment team.
You need to have talents, where each plays a different role that completes the others.
A successful team is built off of different skills, perspectives and personalities, driven by a shared vision
To assemble that team, consider the following:
Shared goals. Clearly define the project’s objectives and ensure everyone understands how their role contributes to the bigger picture.
Recognition and growth. Regularly provide feedback and recognize the efforts of your teammates.
Diversity in skill and thought. Look to include team members with different technical backgrounds and problem-solving approaches to improve the product.
A culture of trust and respect. Build an environment where team members feel valued and understood and where their voices matter.
Bartlett knew the power of a united team. He believed that individual talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.
His ventures thrived on the ethos of collective effort and shared success.
The Philosophy
Your philosophy is how you view the world. It’s a compilation of your beliefs, values, and principles that help you make decisions.
A strong philosophy will help you in times of uncertainty by helping you make tough decisions when these are hard to come by.
Your company’s culture is also a philosophy of its own—a collective set of beliefs and values that guide how its members behave and make decisions.
To build your philosophy:
Stay flexible. Be open to changing your philosophy as you grow and learn from your experiences and failures.
Be self-reflective. Regularly reflect on your core values and beliefs. Understand why you hold them and whether you still want them or not.
Learn from others. Draw inspiration from the philosophies of leaders, thinkers, and mentors.
Live your philosophy. Let your beliefs guide your actions. Consistency between belief and behavior fosters authenticity and trust.
Bartlett believes his success comes from his philosophy of continuous learning, resilience, and the pursuit of excellence.
“what we think, we become”
We are on Product Hunt today - Big shout out to
on releasing Microns to Product Hunt! Go upvote Microns! :)Screenshot marketing = the ultimate curiosity hook 🪝 in
- Speaking about storytelling, Tom’s substack is the go-to place to learn about marketing.How to share your point of view (even if you’re afraid of being wrong) in
“I believe instinct is millions of subconscious data points accrued over time, reps, and lived experience.”
Steven Bartlett top 10 books recommendations
If you enjoyed the article, you’ll probably enjoy other things Bartlett suggests. For an easy way to see and save his top 10 books, I created the list in BookWiz for you.
The buckets of life was a great story.
He also mentioned in the book that you may lose the later buckets: reputation, resources, and even the network. But nobody can't take away from you your knowledge and skills.
It's easy and appealing to think we need more resources to complete a project or we need a network of connections. But everything starts with the self, only then you can start impacting the team
Hi Orel, would you be interested in writing a listicle of the top machine learning books to learn about Generative AI? That's a topic my audience would be very interested in I think. I mean as a guest contributor, I use this as a tactic to cross promote newer Newsletters.