What’s your prompt?
Justin Welsh wrote this post and it just hit home. Some time ago, I asked friend of the list and data scientist, Dr. Genevieve Hayes: – If, let’s say, 10 people in different parts of the world give the same prompt to chatgpt, would they all have the same answer?- Interesting question. My thinking is that unless the prompt is very simple and specific (e.g. what is 1 + 1?) then the 10 people will get different answers, even if they only differ by a few words. You can see this for yourself by…
Retirement
You get old, to a certain age and you retire, so that you can enjoy of savings —or at least not having to work. Retirement frames work as a chore —as something you’re not supposed to enjoy. At least not when you’re 65+. But what if what you do doesn’t need to feel like work? What if it’s about producing and feeling productive, disregarding of how much effort you put into that work? Here’s a confession: i wish i won’t retire. How about you?
The thing about AI
Here’s this one that was posted on linkedin: “You’re planning to retire and want to write for a living. How can you get started?” This question makes no sense. Retiring + doing something for a living Are you retiring or not? Because if “you need to do something for a living”, you’re not retired. But we’ll… AI —and lame filtering on the (hopefully) human side. Which begs my next question: Are you planning for retirement?
You need to get poor
Poor on what this lady says ???? Because when you get poor on your fucks to give, you get to be free-er. Are you publishing your thoughts to help your customers on a regular basis —or at all? Is it because “you have nothing to say”? Is it because all’s been already said? Well, it hasn’t been through your lens. So you do have something to say. And i bet there are people who’d love to hear about that. So, push.
“Know your worth”
That’s the common, void advice you get about how to do business and charge for the work you do. It’s pointless. Knowing your worth has nothing to do with what you charge for your work. What?! you say —but bear with me. If you’re worth a lot, then your customers oughta pay what you say, right? Let’s say your worth (and time) is $800/hr. Should they pay that money for you… Folding their socks? Mowing the lawn? Changing diapers? Designing a brochure? Writing code? Creating a strategy? If your…
Signals —when things go South.
Testing new launches, products, emails, promotions and whatever you’d like to have can give you the sense of control, that the risks will be minimized and success guaranteed. Life’s not like that —FYI neither are automations in new tech stacks. However, if you get to own what comes with it —good or bad. If you get to be mindful of what you’re trying to achieve, and have your customers at the core of it, you’ll have a better chance to reframe things. And embrace the unexpected. Like a “small”…
Accountability
If leadership is not 100% accountable, it’s not leadership. It can be anything else but. It takes you to own the flaws, mistakes, failures and successes. Not only to yourself though, but with the people you work with (employees, partners, customers, etc.). “Leadership is about how to create more leaders; not attract more followers.” —David Marquet.
Leading is language
Not only whether you say please or not. It’s about how you frame (and reframe) the situations, the context, problems and even solutions. [Framing and reframing —NOT gaslighting.] It’s about the lens you have to see things. About the words you use not to drive a decision in X or Y direction. Here’s a little thing I learned: Instead of asking “Are you sure?” to know whether the others are feeling confident or not on what they think/consider, ask “How sure are you?” This question will bring a…
Leading is not empowering
You don’t empower people: employees, customers, trainees, interns… To empower them implies you can dis-empower them. That you can take any power, agency or determination they have from them. And that’s not in your control —at all. What you can do is help them feel empowered. You can foster their sense of agency, responsibility, decision-making, and more. Empowerment comes from within. Like an elephant that doesn’t move from the ridiculous small chain because they were taught they didn’t…
A choice to make. Following. Or leading.
Friend-of-the list and data science expert, Genevieve Hayes, got back to yesterday’s message with this old Dilbert comic: Leadership is a choice —and a hard one to take because it comes with responsibility for others, taking the time and effort to transfer those skills and learnings to others. You want to be surrounded by A-players. The best way is to help them get A, and even better. But that won’t happen if you treat them as followers.
