Month: January 2015

Keeping perspective

The biggest challenge when things don’t work out is to keep perspective. And, here are 3 ideas that help me keep perspective –

1. Setbacks are as predictable as winters. Every “up” or few “ups” are followed by an inevitable “down.” Setbacks are guaranteed. We don’t always know their exact timings but, after a while, you pick up on the pattern. There’s no point being upset about winter. Put your winter clothes on and get to work!

2. You only need one thing to work out. Setbacks are often a matter of perception. We don’t need every element of our elaborately laid plan to work. Often, we just need one thing to work out – one venture capitalist to sign the term sheet, one opportunity to work on a cool project, etc. Hold out for that one thing.

3. You never know when it is a good day. This is my other favorite. It is hard to tell if a recent bad day was really a bad day. Things have a funny way of working out. And, looking back from a day in the future, a bad day could turn out to be the best thing that happened to you at that time. So, keep plugging away.

This definitely borders on the philosophical but I’ve found all too many times that you don’t get what you want. Instead, you get what you need in the end.

The message? Keep perspective when set backs happen. And, keep plugging away regardless..

Planting trees before you need the fruit

If you feel you need fruit 10 years from now, it is best to plant a tree today.

The trouble, though, is that you don’t often know what sort of fruit you’ll need. So, how do you strategically plant trees that’ll give you exactly what you need later?

While there might be minds who might be able to engineer such circumstances, an approach that might work better is to just plant trees anyway and tend them carefully as the years go by. Invest in people, in learning, in great relationships, in yourself and share what you learn on your journey. Create your own podcast, your own not-for-profit along the way, or join other creators who you feel are creating impact. And, no matter what you decide to do, approach it like a gardener would – plant, tend and nurture.

There is a chance that all the trees you plant will be useful. Most likely, it’ll turn out that a few are incredibly useful while many of the others aren’t. It really won’t matter. The journey would have been so much fun that the result will only feel like a small addendum. The truth about the final analysis is that there never is a final analysis. Any analysis is just a part of the greater journey.

And, as it turns out, it is rarely about the fruit. The fruit disappears in a few bites. The planting, however, lasts a lifetime. And, what a great way to spend a lifetime..

Why mobile and native ads are a big deal

There’s a lot of chatter about the mobile revolution in the mainstream press these days. In my views, the chatter isn’t nearly enough. Mobile is going to change how we do things at a fundamental level. To illustrate, I’d like to take a look at advertising – an industry that has changed a lot in the past decade. Advertising is also the engine that propelled Google’s incredible growth (and, given Google is the poster child of the modern day tech company, advertising is probably the engine for the web 2.0 as well) over the past decade. However, the very engine that propelled Google’s growth is is also turning out to be a problem thanks to mobile.

The other day, my wife was scrolling through her Facebook news feed to show me a video when we passed a native ad. She spent an extra second on the ad and continued to scroll down till we found the video.

Before we discuss it, let’s discuss what a native ad on Facebook looks like

Sidecar ad

 

And, now, let’s contrast it with a traditional search ad for the term “share car Chicago” – A Zipcar ad pops up.

 

Car Share search

 

The Zipcar ad on Google search takes up roughly 10% of my screen area while the Sidecar ad on Facebook takes up practically 100% of my screen area. In an age when attention is so precious, a native ad takes 100% of your attention for a few brief seconds.

The other interesting implication of native ads is the subconscious effect they have. My wife says she occasionally finds herself remembering a native ad she saw on Facebook and searching for more information. That’s not surprising.

And, finally, Facebook and the cookies on my browser have a ton of data on what I’m interested in, searching for, and shopping for and I’m sure these ads will get more relevant over time. This has equally big implications for niche social networks like LinkedIn (not sure 332M users is all that niche but let’s run with that), Twitter and Pinterest.

So, why is this a big deal? See this graph on Facebook’s mobile revenue growth from Statista.com

Facebook mobile revenue

Once Facebook flipped the switch on mobile in Q3 2012, they reached a run rate of about 1.5B dollars per quarter. Mobile devices are probably half of what they will be 2 years. Everyone at the Googleplex in Mountainview ought to be worried..

If that doesn’t feel a big enough deal, consider this – mobile is barely 10% of US ad spend. And, the US ad spend is worth $220B. Print ads still account for ~15%. This is changing, of course. And, this opportunity is going to be huge.

The Matt Damon method of finding help – The 200 words project

Here’s this week’s 200 word idea (and the first of the new year!) thanks to 99u.com, Nathan Kontny’s blog.

On his blog, startup founder Nathan Kontny explains that the best way to find help is to first become the person you seek. He observed that he regularly bumped into people seeking help from others in their projects or careers – like business people looking for technical co-founders or people looking for someone else to write a press release about them.

Kontny, instead, believes actor Matt Damon had it right. Instead of looking for some writer to give him a starring role, he just became the writer and wrote the script for Oscar winner ‘Good Will Hunting’.

So, Kontny’s advice is – if you’re a “business guy” stuck because you can’t find a technical co-founder, go become the technical co-founder. Go to some classes, conferences, meet-ups and read technical blogs and forums – do what you think a technical co-founder would do. And, you’ll be surprised that the action of trying to accomplish this actually puts you into the company of a great deal of people who would make… really great technical co-founders.

Matt Damon waySource and thanks to: www.EBSketchin.com

‘A funny thing happens when you do the work to become the thing you seek so much from others. You find it.’ | Nathan Kontny

5 books that made an impact – from 2014

I generally do a “Book of the year” feature at the end of the year and realized I didn’t do it during the holiday season.

So, here’s a belated version of the 5 books that made a huge impact on me in 2014.

1. Decisive by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Decisive has been the single biggest influence on my decision making. I was so inspired by the book that I created this learnographic with a talented friend, shared around 20 posts on decision making learnings from Decisive on this blog and even carry a small pocket card summarizing the framework.

It is an outstanding book and is one I’d recommend to every person interested in leading a better life. The quality of our decisions play a big role in the quality of our lives. This book helps improve the quality of those decisions.

2. The Hard thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. The Hard Thing about Hard Things isn’t for everyone. That said, if you have an interest in technology, start-ups, building companies or leading teams, it is the closest a book comes to an instruction manual. Ben’s thinking on the topic of building a company is profound. And, I expect to read this book many times over in the next few years.

3. How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes. One of my favorite parts about graduate school is learning how many of the building blocks of the world we live in actually work. And, this book provided me a great crash course in economics and the economy. It is a fun read. The book definitely has a political agenda and there are a few things about the theory espoused that aren’t perfect. However, it makes for a great read and is almost guaranteed to pique your interest in the working of the global economy.

4. The Everything Store by Brad Stone. I shared this book with a close friend who has been working in the tech industry for the past 3 years. He said he was so blown away by this book’s take on Amazon and Jeff Bezos that he’s started buying everything on Amazon.com. I wasn’t surprised.

For those interested in technology, entrepreneurship, retail, e-commerce, the phenomenon called Amazon.com or simply learning more about one of the greatest entrepreneur of this generation, this book is a must-read.

5. What To Do When It Is Your Turn by Seth Godin. Super biased recommendation here as I’ve shared before. But, hey, I’m talking about books that had an impact on me. :)

Other great books that almost made the list that I’d recommend in a heart beat – Give and Take by Adam Grant, In The Plex by Steven Levy (Google), The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt (Operations Management), and Flash Boys/Boomerang/Moneyball by Michael Lewis. As for 2015, I have many books queued on my Audible – some of these are How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Dilbert creator Scott Adams, The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday, How Google Works by Eric Schmidt, How We Got To Now by Steven Johnson, The Art of Thinking Clealy by Rolf Dobelli among others. And, I’m reading Mastery by Robert Greene and The Innovators by Walter Isaacson now.

Thanks to tons of interesting reading in graduate school, I’ve been reading less than usual. I think I only read 19 books last year (I average 24 usually) and I expect a low yield year this year too (12 good books would be a big win). But, every few months, I share reviews on all books I’ve read on RohanRajiv.com and also share a summary of my notes on The BookBytes Project Tumblog – that will not change. Many of these make their way here. The tumblog is just the unedited version straight out of the Notes app on my phone.

Hope this helps. And, happy reading!

Tim Duncan and Hurricane Hugo

Tim Duncan, then a kid in the Virgin Islands, dreamed of becoming a swimmer on the 1992 US Olympic swim team and emulate his sister. His mother instilled an incredible work ethic in him and he became a nationally ranked swimmer by age 13 in 1989.

But, hurricane Hugo swept through the Virgin Islands in 1989 and destroyed the only Olympic size pool in his home island of St Croix. Now, the only remaining place to practice swimming was the Carribean sea and this dented Tim’s enthusiasm as he was afraid of sharks. Following that, his mother died from breast cancer taking away his desire to swim.

While the Virgin Islands might have lost many a talented swimmer then, Tim began focusing on basketball thanks to encouragement from his brother-in-law. While there are few are blessed with Tim’s prodigious athletic ability, he only started playing basketball in his 9th grade – considered late by every standard. However, thanks to that work ethic and a constructive response to a tough situation, he went on to win 5 NBA championships and is often named the greatest power forward of all times.

It is safe to say that went well.

If it wasn’t for hurricane Hugo, we might perhaps have never seen Tim Duncan, the legendary basketball player. However, given his work ethic, we’d likely have seen or heard about Tim Duncan, the great swimmer.

There is no human being on the planet who doesn’t face challenges. Very few, however, respond like Tim and simply rise above them.

Thanks Tim – for showing the way, and for reminding us that it isn’t what happens to us that matters. It all comes down to how we respond.

This will come of use again

Often, the biggest reason for shoddy work is the belief that what we’re learning or doing will never come of use. We don’t like it, we perceive it useless and we try to do the minimum and move on.

I’ve found, however, that the world conspires (with unerring consistency) to make sure you have to do it again. I have so many comical instances where I put in the minimum required effort to get something done with the belief that I’ll never have to do so again and then found myself having to re-do it properly a few days/months down the line.

The enlightened approach to this is to just do things well. That is easier said than done, of course. Applying yourself to everything you do requires a consistency of effort and a commitment to focus and discipline that is unusual.

But, the benefit of doing things well is that, if and when you need to do them again (and you will) at a later time, you will remember the Steve Jobs line and say ‘Ah, the dots do connect.’

Because they do.

The Sandwich Strategy – MBA Learnings

Federal Express or FedEx was created to compete an overnight delivery with the United States Postal Service or USPS. Responding to FedEx’s entry and early success, USPS created a product called Express Mail priced at $8.95 as compared to FedEx’s $12.

FedEx, had it been like most companies, would have reduced price and gone to war with the USPS. But, price is not just a number. It is a way of signaling value and FedEx understood that. So, they responded by redefining their market.

FedEx’s existing Overnight Delivery” did not specify what time the delivery would arrive. So, FedEx introduced precision not only in terms of the delivery day, but also in terms of the delivery time. They then included two deliveries – one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. They then labeled the service as “Priority” and “Standard”. For firms dealing with customers, “Priority” sent a powerful message about how they valued their customer’s business. Firms like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase were happy to pay for this service distinction. Besides, if a mail marked “priority” showed up tomorrow morning with a dozen other envelopes, what do you think a person picked up to read?

FedEx sandwich

And, the kicker – FedEx increased the price of its Priority service to $13. It kept the lower end Standard service at $9 effectively “sandwich”-ing USPS between its premium and value offerings. In one move, it changed the nature of the competition from one on price to one on brand and value. It also backed the decision with technology investment in tracking parcels that provided additional benefit for customers.

The lesson? When faced with adversity, don’t just react with what comes intuitively. Take some time off and think about how you could respond by doing what’s counter intuitive. And, if you’re feeling stuck or hopeless, remember the time FedEx raised its prices when being attacked by a huge competitor.

Building teams that innovate – learning from history

I am reading “The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks” Created the Digital Revolution.” I realized I didn’t know much about the early history of the digital age and have, so far, found it fascinating. I’m still only 25% into the book and am beginning to see a trend in how innovative teams that shaped the digital age were built.

1. Multi-disciplinary teams. Great technology breakthroughs were not made by a group of computer scientists working together. Instead, they involved groups of theoretical physicists, chemists and programmers who came together. This was the case in the creation of the early computers at University of Penn and in the case of the semiconductor at Bell Labs.

Bell Labs was a great example of a place that was simply bustling with innovative ideas. Its DNA was built on the fact that it kept exposing scientists to others with different expertise. Steve Jobs was so inspired by Bell Labs that he designed the Pixar headquarters (and, perhaps, Apple, too?) to mimic Bell Labs. At the Pixar headquarters, you are forced to bump into others from different parts of the organization at the large Atrium. It is, as Jobs described it, a place that “promoted promoted encounters and unplanned collaborations.”

2. An intersection of science and the arts. Ada Lovelace, John von Neumann, Steve Jobs were examples of people who brought together two seemingly unconnected disciplines. This is, in some ways, related to point 1 but still worth a separate call out. All 3 were credited with visionary thinking that shaped the digital age and, perhaps, it was only made possible by their position at that intersection.

3. Teams that combined individual genius and great team spirit. We like building tales of the individual inventor. But, great inventions were largely built by teams. What is distinctive about nearly every one of these teams is that they combined individual genius (often one or two within the group) and great team spirit from working really well together. Not all these times lasted long because of recurring issues around ego, but when they did, they worked fantastic.

This point is a great guide to anyone looking to build a great team. You want to encourage individual genius in your team and, at the same time, do your best to foster team spirit. It always feels safer to just bring people whose egos don’t clash. But, then, you lose edge. And, edge is often what make teams great.

The email tool

Email has been around for 30+ years now. And, despite its ubiquity, it still polarizes. Email has also been declared dead many a time in these 21 years but still manages to stick on. If you read Cal Newport’s excellent blog, you will likely see regular posts telling you – it’s okay to be bad at email. There are tons of productivity blogs who’ve written about inbox zero, the 2 minute rule, etc., etc. So, which is the truth?

Here’s how I think of email –

1. Email is a near-ubiquitous communication tool. It is important to think of it as a communication tool and not a getting-things-done tool or productivity tool. Email just helps get messages across.

2. This leads us to the question – where is email most useful? Email is most useful in any work that requires connection because, well, it helps connect people. “Duh” – you might say. Forgive me for stating the obvious.

3. So, for researchers who need to spend more time reading and digesting complex scientific paper, Cal is absolutely right. Email isn’t a necessity.

4. However, if you work in the “connection” economy, I believe it is essential you learn how to use the tool. If you lead a team of really busy people or a team of people at different locations (increasingly the norm), for instance, being bad at email is really not an option. A CEO who doesn’t do email well can repeatedly stall an entire organization.

5. Did we communicate well before email? Sure, we did. We survived just fine without computers too. While we could argue about whether our quality of lives have improved, the fact is – things have changed. As things stand now, email is the norm for a tool of communication. Figure out a way to deal with it.

6. Notice, my message isn’t to respond to every email. Just figure out a way to deal with it – set expectations on how you respond and help folks who work with you understand what to expect. This may become easier as you become more busy/sought after/important as people understand you have a lot on your plate. But, I’d argue that it probably never gets much easier.

7. You can definitely choose to view email as a necessary evil. But, given many of us spent at least 30 minutes to an hour on our inbox in our working lives, I’d imagine that view isn’t doing us much good. Every once in a while, I get a completely serendipitous email from someone I haven’t heard from in a long time and I feel really thankful for the awesomeness that is email. If you aren’t getting such emails, be that someone and send someone you are thinking about a nice personal note..

8. Also, email can be incredibly helpful in making connections with people you have never met. I’ve been fortunate to meet some really cool people after some persistent emailing. So, if you haven’t gotten around to using the email tool for that, well, it is about time..

Email is a tool we’re going to have live with. I’d recommend the following – Take some time really think about how you plan to work with it, learn to use it to your advantage (it is definitely a skill) and love it. Love is a verb, after all.