In a recent interview, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky swapped stories with Lenny Rachitsky, a former Airbnb employee who now hosts arguably the best startup/tech podcast in the world. Lenny shared that one thing that he always appreciated about Brian was his ability to raise his team’s expectations of what was possible.
“Add a zero” was the particular principle they discussed—whatever the goal, 10x it. This sounds, uh, delusional. But Brian was quick to point out: It’s not actually about hitting a new objective that’s an order of magnitude larger. The benefit is the process—this kind of reframing helps people to get unstuck, because it forces you to approach the challenge in a different way. You have to reconsider your assumptions and break your understanding down into component parts.
This reminded me of one of my favorite previous 1 editions, which talked about asking extreme questions and even used the example: ‘What if we had to increase our price 10x?’
What about you? As you think about goals for the coming year, both personal and professional, what would you do differently if your objective were 10x larger?
Inspired by: Brian &
As a board member of a nonprofit, this hits me. Instead of increasing our contributed income 10x, I'm going to go into our next meeting saying, "What if we had to increase our donations by 10%?" So, when the president of the board announces our 2024 goal, I'm going to counter with your wording -- what if we HAD TO increase donations by 10%? As a board, we already feel maxed out in our efforts -- but your reframing shows we're never maxed out. Ask, ask, ask, then raise the bar and ask some more!
This is so thought provoking! It is a great way to stretch our goals, and helps me realize the process will get me to new places, whether I actually get to the 10X point or not. Motivation that is not self-defeating I need that! Thanks!