Hello Mastermind
First things first.
Please see this video by Napolean Hill. Then read about Paypal Mafia (a term used to indicate of former Paypal employees who went onto create companies like Youtube, Tesla, Space X, Yammer, LinkedIn, Yelp, reddit etc). Read about The Inklings (a group of writers meeting regularly at Oxford). Read about The Vagabonds (where Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were amongst the members). And about The Nine Old Men (Disney animators). And the Vienna Circle (a group of philosophers). And Lunar Society and so on and so forth.
You may also read bout TED, Freemasons, Akbar’s Navratnas and other such groups. Also read about shoulders of giants.
Though each group, each idea mentioned above is different from other, the basic premise is same. That an individual could benefit if he spends time in company of great minds. After all they say that you become the average of 5 people you spend most of your time with.
Of course people like me, who aren’t really connected, often have an issue getting access to smart people. A Mastermind group is a way to solve that problem. And this is my attempt at creating a group.
So what is a Mastermind? And why be a part of one?
A Mastermind is nothing but a formal way to seed (or create or re-create) these groups that I have mentioned above. A Mastermind is thus a group of people, each pursuing their respective interests, that comes together often (say, once a month) and acts as a bouncing board for members of the group.
Experiments and experience suggest that an effective Mastermind group needs to have between 5 and 8 members, all in the same geography and in an age range of about 5 years. I am not sure why does the age matter. But I dont argue with experience. And ideally, each member must be passionate, ambitious and must have opinions. And yet has to have an open mind to learn new things.
Think of it as a peer-review group. Or a company’s board — just that, here, the company is you — the individual. Or a bouncing board for your ideas. Or a mirror that helps you see your actions in a neutral light. Of course you need to have an open mind to accept inputs.
There is trust, there is goal-setting and there is accountability. From each member. By each member. Towards each member. You don’t really report to the group per se but you trust them and you don’t want to let them down.
Why am I doing this?
Warren Buffett says, you need to “marry upward.” This is my attempt to marry upward. If I have asked you to join in, you (individually and collectively) are better than me. You will help me get better.
And in return, I promise that I will do what it takes to contribute to your betterment. Plus, I may be inferior to you but the group as a whole could be marrying upward for you. Come find out!
What do you stand to gain out of this?
Imagine a personal “board” where each member comes from a different background and gives you a unique perspective on how things are moving for you.
You get access to super smart people who are invested into your success. Well, not literally per se but emotionally. That to me is a larger investment.
Most people who are members of Mastermind groups have found value in being a part. They say that the group has allowed them to speed up what they were trying to achieve. Because, they said, they had a personal board that helped them when they were stuck. And the group allowed them to stay on course by continually reminding of the goal that they set for themselves.
Isn’t that awesome?
What next?
I am trying to create a group with a friend. He has agreed to ask 5 of his friends. I asked five smartest people I knew in Mumbai (three said yes, two said no). So I am looking at a first meeting of about 8 people. Let’s see if its good use of time. Or a wasteful experience.
Hope to be a part of a super great mastermind group. Wish me luck. I will report back here after the first meet.
Thanks for reading this.
SG
P.S.: Do consider creating a group of your own! If you need my help on it, would love to give you inputs.
P.P.S.: If you’ve been a part a Mastermind group before, please help me make my group better!
P.P.P.S.: These two links are great resources to generally read up about Mastermind groups..
