Is Goal-Setting Outdated? –The Rosalind Resnick Interview

Posted on Jul 30, 2008 - 7:14 PM PST

If you believe what the self-improvement books about goal-setting, listen to this (audio) interview. You'll hear Rosalind Resnick talk about the different business ideas she and her partner tried before they hit on the big one -- the idea that took their business from a "kitchen table startup" to a publicly-traded company on the NASDAQ.

The FULL program

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So here's the question: Is goal-setting an outmoded idea?

Right click here to download the interview!

(1 hour long)

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A few lessons from this program

My business mind was shaped by reading books like Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich as a kid. Most of those business philosophy books talked about setting clear goals and refusing to stop until you achieved them.

As you'll hear in my conversation with Rosalind Resnick, that's not how she built NetCreations. She didn't set out to build an opt-in email business and take it public. As far as I can tell, she didn't start out with a burning desire to get into the email business in any way. She and her partner tried a bunch of different ideas. Most of them either failed or just did okay. One of the ideas they tried was an email list management business. It hit. She loved growing it. And that's the business that changed her life.

Have you read Founders at Work yet? Most of the entrepreneurs in that book started out chasing one dream and ended up realizing another. Evan Williams tried building a project management tool and ended up with Blogger. Max Levchin was focused on the Palm Pilot before steering PayPal towards what it is today. And Steve Wozniak was just trying to build cool stuff.

If you're an entrepreneur, you can hire Rosalind's company to help guide you and you can read her book about what really goes into building a great success.

Andy Vaughn

Thanks for the insightful interview, Rosalind and Andrew. It almost seems the traditional argument for "goal setting" vs. "jump in and swim" runs parallel to Waterfall vs Agile development. Developing (a business) in a vacuum doesn't adapt to or learn from the market. Again, thanks.

Steve Campbell

Andrew, this was a really fabulous interview. It was great to hear from someone who has the breadth of experience that Rosalind shared with you. For people that missed the boom and bust cycles that characterized Web 1.0 there are great lessons in this interview.

I'm roughly Rosalind's age and listening to the interview was like reminiscing with a friend about the exciting early days of the online world. Of course, the later part of the interview was like re-living a train wreck - but I love the way she's been able to move beyond the ugly ending to her time with her company. It's great to walk away from a business with money in your pocket, but if that business was your life, the adjustment can be difficult.

Thanks for all you doing in bringing us these interviews.

Tom

Sort of an aside, but RE your intro... you mention Tony Robbins and goal setting.

As I understand it, he cites a famous study of grads from some Ivy League college and some were made to write down their goals and others were not and how those who had written down their goals had greater success than those who did not.

This has been picked up and shouted everywhere.

Problem is, someone did some digging and there never was any such study. 100% urban legend.

(I got that from my brother who studies this sort of stuff for a living).

Now onto another excellent interview I'm sure!

Andrew Warner

That's frustrated me for years. I'm so glad you know that.

What really bothers me about all the times that "fact" comes up in self-help
books is that it shows how little original research these guys do.

If they even bothered to CALL the school that was surveyed, they'd know it
wasn't true.

But they don't. Instead, they all copy from each other's books.

Chris

Great interview! I loved the way she built a "skunk works" and churned out designs until something worked. Great exit as well!

Andrew Warner

Thanks!
There's a lot to learn from Rosalind.

Andrew Warner

My brother Michael gave me helpful feedback that I think is worth posting:

The punching of the screen reminds me of blinking text on a web page. You're
not a silly blond with a blog. Just because you're doing something on a
webcam doesn't mean it has to be silly.

The stumbling at the end reminds me of that unrehearsed unedited mumbling
video. This isn't a live video, you can reshoot. The mistake was at the end
and the rest of the video went well? Oh well, rerecord. Just because you're
doing something on a webcam doesn't mean bumbling should be overlooked.

I know you want to have a slightly informal feel to the video but it's
coming off as childish and unprofessional. If you were broadcasting this on
TV would you still act the same way?

These are professional interviews with professional people for professional
listeners. You can keep it interesting without having to be silly. The
clipboard is a great example of that.

The rest of the stuff is great.

Andrew Warner

Gammill, that's brings up a question that I've been wondering. When are we giving up and when are we adjusting properly?

In my interview with Ori Brafman about rational decision-making, he told me you have to ask yourself "would I buy this idea/business/whatever now, if I didn't already own it? Or am I sticking with it just because it's mine."

But I don't think you can ask those questions on a daily basis and get a clear answer. When MySpace's parent company was trading publicly, there were days when it was considered such a POS that being inside the company hated coming to work. They struggled for a long time and turned things around.

gammill

Very important point. Startup stories regularly involve some major shifts in strategy. The internet makes it possible to change course relatively quick. I think the tricky part is to know when to change strategy. I've seen it done too early and too late and just at the right time. Tricky business, but the very nature of startup-ville. Good clip Andrew.