“Work like a founder”
This one is if you’re working for somebody —or if you have people working for you. 🙂 “Work like a founder” That’s lame advice. Unless this founder is sharing the same level of rewards with you, it’s nonsense. Unless you’re sharing the same level of risk with them, it’s nonsense. This is not a call for mediocrity. It’s a call out to bullshit advice where power dynamics are unequal —and it’s absolutely fine that they are. Just people can’t use it as leverage to get “more work” in exchange for…
The less you know…
The more knowledge and more imagination, more originality. How do you get to know more? By knowing less. And then diving deeper. Deepening your expertise. Specializing. Seeing the patterns. With that, you know “What is” and all you have to do after that is ask yourself “What could be?” Start with this: what if?
Fill in the blank. By Tanya Moushi.
Today, this is brought to you by daily emailer and amazing writer Tanya Moushi. She’s got it right. Fill in the blank I feel excellent about myself when I ______________. I feel like shit every time I ______________. I’m ready to finally let go of _______________. I’m going to finally explore _______________. I’m extra grateful for ____________. This one is so full of gold and self-reflection. Perfect for preparing yourself for the next year.
Leadership stress test
“Leadership is about how to create more leaders; not attract more followers.” David Marquet Do a stress test with any “thought leadership” out there. Which one do most of them fall under? From the ones who pass the test, who do you feel like giving a shout out? Give some thought on why these and no the other ones. Here’s the thing Most “leadership” (and “thought-leadership”) goes about oneself. Choose the path to focus on others. Then, that is actual leadership.
Optionality is confusing your prospects
That’s the argument I found on a LinkedIn post about why sales aren’t working. Just as these other ones: 3 options will only confuse people. And they won’t buy. Putting the full price will deter prospects from buying. I’m competing with other guys and they’ll evaluate based on price. Giving the full price and what it includes will show my offering is too expensive. So they won’t buy. And what’s the solution? We send one-price quotation. We add a line saying “Ask for this extra for $X”. We…
All hands on deck
When going into a strategy session, retreat or next-year planning, one thing that often happens is this: Everyone goes to work and figure the ways to make things work… by just jumping in and “brainstorming”, coming up with solutions, deciding on 500 steps ahead. It all would be good, if this pattern didn’t repeat over and over: no reflection nor pause to define what’s THE big thing. Everyone gets behind their own interpretations of the ideas and at the end of the day/session, it’s just…
What if
Asking this is to exercise constraints. Unlike what many people think —that to be creative, you need to have freedom— when you’re restrained is when you get to be more creative. Asking “What if” helps in thinking broadly. And that’s the first step. After that, saying “But this is all I have” will set you in a game of constraints. Where you get to push yourself on how to do things different. And depending on how these things get to be different, your approach will be more or less creative.
Feeling like an impostor?
Mike Julian and Adam Grant seem to have opposite takes re: impostor syndrome. Mike’s take: I think the tech industry has many failings and shortcomings, but one that’s been annoying me lately is the pervasive belief that everyone has impostor syndrome.There are people that worked their asses off to become great and they know it. We shouldn’t be minimizing that. And the other take, from Adam: The only people who never feel like impostors are narcissists.Being 100% sure of yourself at all times…
Unreadiness
You won’t ever be truly ready for things to happen. There will always be something in the way, something you’d love to know a bit more of, something you won’t completely know or any (or some) level of risk, Yet, you have to act. And own it. Especially when you’re scared AF. It’s taking that responsibility, being “accountable” and brave to make —at times— bold decisions, knowing what’s at stake and yet moving forward because it’s all about that bigger, larger thing than just you. And when you…
April in November
Today’s daily comes from a post by April Dunford, one of the best experts in positioning for product and b2b companies and author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch. The core of it? Comparing your start to someone else’s mid-journey (bolding mine). —- I had a call with a product marketing consultant today, and it was a little bit heartbreaking. She’s worked in-house for eight years; she’s been consulting for six months. She told me she feels like a failure. Her big question was, “Why…
