From: alexhormozi
The belief that hard work alone leads to wealth is a misconception; hard work will not make you rich [00:00:00]. Influencers who claim “no one can outwork me” are often objectively false and their statements are irrelevant [00:00:18]. While putting in volume and doing the work is crucial for improvement [00:00:42], bragging about the amount of work is misguided because work has very little to do with success at the highest levels of business [00:00:53].
Consider Warren Buffett, who deems a year successful if he makes two good decisions [00:00:57]. He reads five to six hours a day and makes few but impactful choices [00:01:07]. This contrasts sharply with those who emphasize working long hours [00:01:11]. Everyone has the same number of hours in a day, so simply working more hours does not differentiate success [00:01:15].
Output Formula: Volume × Leverage
Total output is determined by the volume of activity multiplied by the leverage of that activity [00:01:26]. While some initial energy input is necessary [00:01:33], measuring success by the number of activities is a “newbie measure” [00:01:38]. Successful individuals like Warren Buffett or Jeff Bezos don’t focus on activity metrics like sending a thousand emails or waking up early [00:01:45]. Waking up early, going to bed late, or not sleeping much are superstitious beliefs and don’t inherently matter [00:01:54]. What truly matters are the inputs that generate the most leverage for the greatest output [00:02:00].
“The few things that matter are the inputs that go into the system that have the most leverage to create the most output.” [00:02:00]
For a novice, getting started and doing something is crucial [00:02:07]. However, there’s a limit to how much physical work one can do [00:02:12]. Once maximum work capacity is reached, the next step is to maximize the leverage of those activities [00:02:17]. Even a low-leverage activity done many times can yield more than a single high-leverage one [00:02:23], but the goal is to shift towards higher-leverage tasks.
Shifting to High-Leverage Activities
When a CEO joins a company like acquisition.com, they often work nearly every hour of every day [00:02:28]. The focus isn’t on working more, but on changing what they work on, as that is the only remaining lever [00:02:37]. This involves analyzing calendars and organizational charts to identify and delegate low-leverage activities to other team members [00:02:46]. If no one in the existing structure can take on these tasks, it signals a need to hire for that specific role [00:02:59]. This strategic shift is how you grow a business [00:02:49].
The Entrepreneur as a Coach
The “no one can outwork me” mentality is problematic because there are multiple ways to win in business [00:03:03]. Like a video game war party, a business team needs diverse skills, not just one type of player [00:03:14]. You wouldn’t field a football team with only running backs [00:03:32].
The entrepreneur’s true role should be that of a coach [00:03:37]. Success depends on organizing the team and how well its pieces play together [00:03:39]. A team with an All-Star but a poor supporting cast often loses to a better overall team [00:03:44]. Many entrepreneurs try to be the star player, scoring all the points, but ultimately lose to well-organized teams like Apple [00:03:51]. Bragging about work is akin to celebrating just one type of player; it’s not the sole requirement for victory [00:04:02].
Specialized Roles in Business
To win, it’s more valuable to understand:
- The distinct roles within a business [00:04:14].
- Which role best suits your characteristics and skill sets [00:04:16].
- Your eventual evolution through entrepreneurship [00:04:20].
Businesses have various functions, each requiring specialized skills:
- Marketing/Promotion: Making things known, storytelling, branding, providing audience value [00:04:29].
- Sales: Converting attention into direct sales, whether through ads, sales pages, or person-to-person interaction [00:04:39]. This includes direct selling, training others to sell, and leading sales trainers [00:04:53]. Marketers can be poor at sales, and vice versa [00:05:00].
- Product: Creating something beautiful and functional. The founder of Shopify, for example, excelled as a product visionary [00:05:06].
- Customer Experience/Success: Managing customer engagement, providing value, ensuring amazing experiences, and helping customers hit milestones [00:05:16]. This is distinct from product design and user experience [00:05:27].
As an enterprise grows, skills become more specialized and require deeper experience [00:05:33]. Instead of claiming “I can’t be outworked,” leaders should boast: “I can’t be out-recruited,” “I can’t be out-managed,” or “No one can build a culture like me” [00:05:40]. These are high-leverage activities across an organization [00:05:50]. While working hard is good, claiming to be the hardest worker is an irrelevant activity metric [00:05:54].
The entrepreneur’s journey involves progressing from being a specialized expert (e.g., CMO, Chief Sales Officer, Chief Product Officer) [00:06:13] to, ultimately, becoming the coach [00:06:24].
The CEO’s Ultimate Leverage
The best coaches actively headhunt and recruit top talent [00:06:28], similar to how Google recruits the best and brightest from universities, business schools, and at the executive level [00:06:32]. The parallels between sports and business are striking [00:06:47].
The final level of entrepreneurship involves being the coach:
- Recruiting top-level executives [00:07:09].
- Creating a farm system to feed into the company, ensuring sustained competitive advantage and a dynasty [00:07:11].
- Developing soft skills to foster a high-performance culture, maximizing each player’s output [00:07:22].
The value of a coach or CEO is the difference between what players would achieve without leadership and what they achieve with the best leadership [00:07:28]. The CEO must have the highest return on time in the organization [00:07:40], constantly solving the next problem and replacing their own direct activities with new ones that further build the business [00:07:46]. This leverage can transform large businesses within a few years through setting standards and embodying values [00:07:54].