Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” is a great reminder to start with purpose. Jim Collins has a different approach, he puts “Who First.” Brian Portnoy has me thinking we need both first. That we can’t order who and why so much as needing to combine them. Your purpose for you. Our purpose for us. There’s … Continue reading Start With Who, Start With Why
All of us, as we do our jobs, receive feedback. Some good, some bad, some that never comes in at all – and yet feedback only ever helps if we have a method to sort through it and turn it into something useful. One method Seth Godin talks about (see Akimbo podcast episode “Supple”) is … Continue reading Processing Feedback
Simon Sinek’s new book, The Infinite Game, is coming out in mid-2019 and he recently sat with Cal Fussman to discuss the big concepts. Sinek explores the way we personally, professionally, and institutionally approach games that can be won (i.e. sports, bets, aka “finite games”), and those that can’t (i.e. marriage, free trade, aka “infinite games”). Perhaps unsurprisingly, … Continue reading Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the (Finite) Game
On Monday I found myself staring at an email describing all of the great initiatives a company was rolling out, showcasing a ton of “life-simplifying” tech. There was a problem though. While the list was full of “what we’re going to do,” there was no mention of “how this is actually going to work” or … Continue reading The Celery Test
Simon Sinek, in his TED Talk, “How great leaders inspire action,” tells us that part of the reason Dr. Martin Luther King is still remembered today is because he gave the “I have a dream” speech, and not the “I have a plan” speech. While there is a time and place for plans, they tend … Continue reading How to Give a Royal Wedding Sermon
Over the short term, stories beat smarts. Over the long term, cautious beats cute. The poor genius without a story never survives the short term to make it to the long term. Nobody understands him. Shout outs to “that guy at the party.” The snake oil salesman appears seemingly from nowhere with a too-good-to-be-true story. … Continue reading Stories Beat Smarts, And Cautious Beats Cute
This is becoming a broader arc. Start here and work your way through Parts 1 2 and 3. We will assemble them all into a longer form essay soon. There’s an old Marty Zweig quote that says, “it’s okay to be wrong; it’s unforgivable to stay wrong.” As we’ve discussed understanding value chains by their … Continue reading How to Pass Judgement Responsibly (Part 4)
