VALUES CHANGE AT SCALE.
I said this at en event last year and everyone lost their minds.
“MY VALUES WON’T CHANGE BECAUSE OF MONEY OR SUCCESS”.
^ And this is how you know you’re talking to someone that has not achieved either.
Let me explain with a few concepts and examples.
- Success Creates Asymmetry
I slept on the floor in a 100+ degree warehouse for months to make my first business work.
Because I had so little, I could play a HIGH risk game without concern for the downside.
I could say:
“I’m willing to give all this up to take the next step”
And mean it.
Because when the only direction to go is up, you are more likely to benefit from a change than be hurt by it.
Now…
I look at the things in my life – the people, my puppies, my relationships…
And I cannot say that same thing. Period.
Success creates asymmetry in the other direction.
The more you have, the more you have to lose; the more likely change is to hurt you instead of benefit you.
When you have to play defense AND offense your values have to change.
You have to play the game differently.
When you have more to lose than to gain from chaos your values are different than when you have more to gain than to lose from the same sort of chaos.
Neither is right or wrong. They are just different.
If you do not account for this, any attempts to scale will fail.
2) The most powerful Asymmetry is in a very particular kind of minority.
Let’s say that a family of five is looking to buy a car that everyone can use. An extra set of wheels.
Four of them prefer a stick shift but one doesn’t know how or want to learn how to drive one.
The family is probably going to buy a car with an automatic transmission…
… as people that know how and prefer to drive a stick can still drive an automatic just fine.
But the reverse isn’t true.
So even though market research may show that 80% of people prefer a thing, it still may not be the choice.
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Let’s pretend, now, that there is a giant BBQ in the middle of summer and you’ve been given the ONLY lemonade stand within miles.
You also find out that of the 10,000 people attending, about 5% (500 total) only eat/drink kosher foods.
Which means, obviously, 95% don’t.
If the price difference is negligible (which it is) it would make the most sense to get kosher lemonade.
The other 95% don’t care that it’s kosher.
But the 5% do. (And that’s 500 extra customers).
But the reverse isn’t true.
And THAT is a massive asymmetry that companies COMPLETELY miss.
—
Advertising to and educating the household in the first example until you’re blue in the face won’t change the buying decisions.
Advertising to and educating the majority of lemonade buyers won’t change the buying decision.
—-
At scale, asymmetries are fricken $$$$$ – and if you’re smart, your values will change as the points of leverage change. 
