Category: Everything else

We had a nice post on The Book Bytes Project the other day – “we are the rider and the elephant.” It’s a great reminder that we are all inherently schizophrenic. We all have two beings who make up our minds and every decision we take precedes a heated debate between the rider and the elephant (a brilliant metaphor for the pre-frontal cortex and the amygdala by Psychologist Jonathan Haidt).

The elephant is emotional, rash, fearful, and action oriented. The rider is logical, correct, weak, and thought oriented. The best decisions made are thought through by the rider and executed by the elephant. But, the catch is that the elephant is not easy to control and, given it’s size, is more than capable of either executing in a hurry or not doing anything at all.

The elephant and the rider are the biggest reasons as to why we are guilty of inconsistency. We can easily find ourselves saying something logical and correct (the rider) and find ourselves doing the exact opposite (the elephant). And the only way forward is to love them both and to learn to learn how to work with both.

Here’s a simple example – I’ve made two early morning rules to ward my elephant off – I am not allowed to make a decision on whether or not to exercise when my alarm rings and I am not allowed to check email first thing in the morning.

The exercise decision is for a simple reason – if the powerful elephant is allowed to make up his mind first thing in the morning, I have no chance. I need to brush my teeth, wake up, summon my willpower, and then go for it.

The email decision is because the elephant begins thinking about action the moment it reads an unexpected email. This results in one of two unwelcome consequences – I either type out a response that I regret or I spend 20 minutes thinking about what needs to be done only to realize the problem wasn’t complicated; I was just drowsy and not thinking straight.

There are multiple little rules to train my elephant. He’s not the bad guy, of course. He’s just part of me. And, boy, do I need some training.. :-)

This week’s book learning is part of an 8 part series from The Honest Truth About Dishonesty by Dan Ariely. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

The dishonesty research team conducted a survey where students from various countries were asked about cheating in their home countries. Most believed they would cheat more than Americans with the exceptions being the Nordics and Canada. Francesca Gino (originally from Italy) and Dan Ariely (Israel) were convinced of this as well.

So, the matrix experiment was conducted in each of these countries with the reward for solving a a puzzle being the equivalent of the cost of 1/4th of a pint of beer in these countries.

The results? It turned out everyone cheated just as much! It didn’t matter whether they were in Israel, China, India, Italy, Turkey, Canada, or England. The amount of cheating (i.e. just a little bit) was consistent across human nature.

Why the difference in corruption levels? The answer lies in the fact that the matrix experiment lies outside cultural context. It just tests the basic human capacity to cheat.

Our daily activities, however, have complex cultural contexts which changes the magnitude of the “fudge” factor.

Plagiarism is an easy example – some cultures view “getting caught” as bad while others look at the act of copying as normal. Similar examples with piracy of digital content, extra marital affairs – some cultures see it as wrong while some others view it as neutral. Our cultural context plays a huge role in our attitude towards an offence. Awareness of this is the first step towards understanding why we behave the way we behave (dishonest or not :))…

Sketch by EB

When well travelled friends get together back in India, a common topic of discussion is the behavior of Indians abroad. There is always a sense of amazement that the same people who litter at home and violate every rule in the book are clean law abiding citizens in other countries. This experiment puts that behavior in context…

We are nearing the end of our series in dishonesty. Now that we know the importance of socio-cultural context in dishonest behavior, are there any other instances where ought to be extra cautious? Coming up next week..

Wish you a happy weekend and happy week!

My organization system went through a revamp last weekend. The revamp was coming because of three reasons (i.e. the “why?”)

– I was running out of capacity to work on projects I really cared about – a sure sign that something is wrong
– I was beginning to feel my current style wouldn’t be sustainable once I stop being a bachelor (i.e. in 2 months) – a sign that I needed to change the way I thought of work and these inspiration projects
– I felt I was getting caught in the “busy” trap for way too long. I’d have to go back more than a year for a weekend when I just chose to do nothing and recharge – another sure sign of something being wrong

There were a bunch of insights that formed the foundation for this change.

– Bursts vs drip, and remarkability. Cal Newport had a very good post on his blog on a potential link between bursts and remarkability.
Ties in with my recent observations that exceptional knowledge work happens only when you have plenty of downtime.

– Stillness and wisdom. I blogged about this a month back.

– Need for reflection for 2nd level insights. The learning lies in the reflection. I wasn’t setting aside enough time to just reflect. There’s no point repeatedly doing something if you aren’t  taking the time to learn and focus on what matters.

– Building skills at work deliberately vs unintentionally. I realized I was building skills at work unintentionally instead of deliberately. This means I was relying on working on the right kinds of projects to get better rather than having an agenda of my own that I was deliberately working towards.

– Work flows and costs of switching. These are recent observations that seem to support the work in “bursts” way of thought. I’m beginning to sense that switching between tasks takes a lot more out of me than I initially thought.

That drives me to the point of creating work flows where you bunch together similar types of thinking activities to make getting things done a smoother process. I intend to explain this in detail one of these days.

So, what has changed?

– Start of tracking skills at work. This is in early stages of experimentation. The steps taken so far have been to put together a set of specific skills that apply to a consulting Associate (structure/break down a complex problem, synthesis/boil a vast amount of information to it’s specifics, Excel, PowerPoint, and presentation). I’ve started working on creating some learning and training schedules for each of these skills.

In addition, I’m beginning to believe in the fact that there need to be general skills that help anybody in any knowledge work – Communication and a great work process. These are the sort of work skills we gain in our first internships. This is still a thought-in-progress.

– Downtime focus between Mon-Fri. Downtime. Stillness. Reflection.

I schedule nothing aside from admin tasks and daily must-do-habits. I used to inevitably crunch through my task list whenever I found time. This has radically changed the way I view a working week and I’m loving it.

– Sunday as a burst day. Sunday was always effectively a working day. This just makes it into a day of “bursts.” The idea going forward would be to do this on 2 sundays every month – let’s see.

– Saturday as a day of fasting. Intellectual fasting i.e. no email and work. I managed to pull this off for a while in the first 3 months last year and never managed to do it after that. I’m not ready to do it yet but is something I want to get to. No tearing hurry to get to this as yet.

What about the daily gamification system?

I still keep my daily points/gamification system. The main focus of this system has now changed to ensuring I get basic habits sorted – 20 mins of meditation, 20 mins of exercise, 30 mins book reading, and 8 hours of sleep.

Additionally, I have my morning “work flow – blog related (i.e. blog post + good morning quote) and email, and an evening flow involving studying writing and clearing email.

As far as work goes, I am now focused on deep skill work I’ve done in a day. I’m still working out a way to measure this. So, the only thing at work measured for now is that I stick to 3 hour gaps between accessing the web for google reader, email, etc.

This is a new experiment. I am really excited to see how it goes.

I interview Cam, a management consultant who specializes in Executive Coaching and Change Management, last Monday. I’ve been fortunate to work with and learn from Cam and I’m looking forward to sharing the interview with you. When I asked him about beliefs he takes into every new “change” assignment, he had a wonderful point to share.

He said we are more the same than we are willing to accept. There are a few differences but we tend to get obsessed with them. We tend to share the same needs and drives across religions, ethnicities, and nationalities.

I have often wondered if we are different at all. In my limited experience working across cultures, I’ve seen norms differ – e.g. Europeans go on long summer vacations, the Germanic cultures are typically on time, the Aussies prefer getting done with work by 5pm, etc., – but I’ve found the people to be driven by similar needs. Everyone, regardless of their culture, wants to be loved and appreciated. And everyone wants to live a happy and fulfilling life.

And, thanks to the internet, we can now connect with people who share our beliefs. I am constantly amazed at how often I’ve been able to find friends online who share a similar attitude towards life. Some of the most active commenters on this blog are people I’ve never met and yet people I’d love to go to lunch with.

The fact that can we can connect with people like us from all over the world is a privilege. We are all not that different and there are many like us. We just need to reach out and make these friends.

We might be alone in the paths we take. But we are far from alone in spirit and belief.

It is an uplifting thought.

What would it take to do it right the first time?

Yes, of course, we can learn and iterate. But, what would it take to get it as right as possible the first time?

Not all ideas are iteration friendly. Some ideas and businesses can afford iterations more than others. As a friend explained wisely, if you are setting up a logistics business, you better think through your warehousing plans or you could crash and burn before you say “iteration.”

If we are rushing into a new idea expecting to learn-on-the-go, it’s worth asking ourselves what it would take to do it right the first time.

Even with our best efforts, we’ll have to iterate and keep improving anyway. But, at least iteration won’t be an excuse for a first time product that doesn’t do justice to our abilities.

Progress in our jobs is easy to measure thanks to pay raises and promotions.

When we get to relationships and health, progress is still harder to measure. The troubles here are in the zone of “when do you call yourself unfit/unhealthy?” and “when is a relationship failing?” The inherent danger is that by the time we realize something is wrong, it’s too late to fix it.

Progress in our intelligence is the hardest. Not reading books that expand our intelligence doesn’t hurt at all. We could go through our entire life never having really understood how our brain works, why our brain works the way it does, and how that translates to why we do what we do.

I remember failing to hit my daily 30 minutes of book reading target when I first attempted it as a university student. My elephant responded with “Maybe you are too busy doing other important things.”

And I clearly remember my rider responding in anger “More important that reading books and learning? Are you freakin’ kidding me? Who do you think you are.. The founder of Microsoft? Oh wait.. He reads 10x the number of books a normal person does.”

That settled the argument on book reading. The same argument repeated itself this year as I sought to make exercise a 5 times/week habit instead of 3 times/week.

What we tend to forget is that each of these – exercise, healthy relationships, and great books – play a massive role in making us more productive at our jobs. Stephen Covey masterfully called them PC or Production Capability activities – stuff that helps you P or Production get better.

The learning? Make twice as much effort to spend time on things that aren’t easily measured – exercise, reading books, sleeping 8 hours, and spending time on close relationships. If you ever find your elephant fooling you with “you are too busy doing other important things,” send me an email.

I’ll make sure I respond with “Are you FREAKIN’ KIDDING me?”

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a 2011 documentary on Jiro Ono, an 85 year old Sushi Master and owner of Sukiyabashi Ono, a Michelin 3-star restaurant. The film profiles the sushi master and his two sons. While the younger son has already started a sushi restaurant of his own, his older son (50) still works under Jiro and faces the prospect of taking over his father’s restaurant soon.

A few reflections..

– The pain of deliberate practice. Jiro’s journey is one of deliberate practice. Forget Tiger Woods, forget Jerry Rice – Jiro is probably the longest practitioner of deliberate practice ever. He now proactively controls every bit of the job – from the choice of fish and rice for the day to serving just the right portion for the customer.

“I do the same thing over and over, improving bit by bit. There is always a yearning to achieve more. I’ll continue to climb, trying to reach the top, but no one knows where the top is.”

– Simplicity and purity. “If you were to sum up Jiro’s sushi in a nutshell..Ultimate simplicity leads to purity.”

– Love is proactive. “Once you decide on your occupation… you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That’s the secret of success… and is the key to being regarded honorably.”

– There is no easy job. “These days the first thing people want is an easy job. Then, they want lots of free time. And then, they want lots of money. But they aren’t thinking of building their skills. When you work at a place like Jiro’s, you are committing to a trade for life.” (Jiro’s shrimp dealer”

– The power of social norms. I was struck by the power of social norms in this movie. Jiro’s old son Yoshikazu is still working for his dad despite being a great sushi head chef in his own right. His younger brother branched out 15 years ago because only the old brother could inherit his father’s restaurant. When asked if this made his envious, he said simply that, in Japan, it was expected of the older son to take over what his father did.

He just ignored the question and focused on his duty.

– No safety blankets. “When I was in first grade, I was told “You have no home to go back to. That’s why you have to work hard.” I knew that I was on my own. And I didn’t want to have to sleep at the temple or under a bridge so I had to work just to survive. That has never left me. I worked even if the boss kicked or slapped me. Nowadays, parents tell their children, “You can return if it doesn’t work out.” When parents say stupid things like that, the kids turn out to be failures.”’

Jiro is not one for safety blankets. Sink or swim. This seems to be the consequence of a childhood where he was abandoned at the age of 9. Tough times, tough people.

– Good taste. “In order to make delicious food, you must eat delicious food.  The quality of ingredients is important, but one must develop a palate capable of discerning good and bad.  Without good taste, you can’t make good food.  If your sense of taste is lower than that of the customers how will you impress them?”

– Your style may not be for everyone. Jiro’s customer and noted Japanese food critic described the experience of eating at Jiro’s nerve wracking. The sushi master serves you with a stern look on his face gauging your every expression. This is not for people who go to restaurants for a relaxing experience.

You go to Jiro’s for the food. And it is all about the food. Michelin’s inspectors feel it’s worth traveling to Japan to eat Jiro’s sushi and note the fact that it’s perfect every time.

The 30 odd minute experience also costs upward of US$ 400 per person. Doesn’t work for everyone but works well enough.

– The apprenticeship investment. At Jiro’s restaurant, it takes 10 years for you to graduate from an apprentice to a junior chef (cue: Malcolm Gladwell). It’s only after 10 years do they give an apprentice a shot at cooking Jiro’s famous egg sushi – the current assistant chef spoke of how it took him more than 300 attempts to get his first one right.

He had tears in his eyes when Jiro finally gave him a nod of approval.

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The movie was a stirring reminder on the importance of deliberate hard work.

I am guilty from time to time of being too impatient and trying to over-hustle to make progress.

Jiro Ono’s story is as an inspiration to everyone attempting to get better at what they do to never stop trying..

“Always look beyond and above yourself. Always try to improve on yourself. Always strive to elevate your craft. That’s what he taught me.” | Yoshikazu, Jiro Ono’s older son

This week’s book learning is part of an 8 part series from The Honest Truth About Dishonesty by Dan Ariely. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Last week, we were left with an intriguing question – if wearing counterfeits changes the way we view our own behavior, does it also cause us to be more suspicious of others?

To find out, Ariely and co. asked another group of participants to put on what they were told to be either real or fake Chloé sunglasses. They were asked to fill out a long survey with their sunglasses on. There were 3 sets of questions and they were asked to estimate the likelihood that…

Set A: people you know might engage in various ethically questionable behaviors such as standing in the express line with too many groceries.

Set B: When people say particular phrases, including “Sorry, I’m late. Traffic was terrible,” they are lying.

Set C: Given 2 scenarios with one honest and one dishonest option, the person in the scenario would take the opportunity to cheat.

The results? Participants in the counterfeit condition judged their acquaintances to be more likely to behave dishonestly than did participants in the authentic condition. They also interpreted the list of common excuses as more likely to be lies, and judged the actor in the two scenarios as being more likely to choose the shadier option.

Thus, counterfeit products not only tend to make us more dishonest; they also cause us to view others as less than honest as well.

Sketch by EB

To quote Ariely, “Thanks to self-signaling, a single act of dishonesty can change a person’s behavior from that point onward. What’s more, if it’s an act of dishonesty that comes with a built-in reminder (think about fake sunglasses with a big “Gucci” stamped on the side), the downstream influence could be long-lived and substantial. Ultimately, this means that we all pay a price for counterfeits in terms of moral currency; “faking it” changes our behavior, our self-image, and the way we view others around us.”

This brings us to another interesting question – are levels of dishonesty stable across culture? Another interesting experiment coming up next week..

I interviewed Cal Newport for Real Leaders this morning. The first 30 minutes were a disaster – I was having internet connection trouble on my side and Skype didn’t cooperate. We switched to Google Hangouts and, in an attempt to stop the echo, I put on headphones to get the interview started. 7 minutes into the interview, I realized this wouldn’t work as the recorder wouldn’t be able to hear the audio. Cue feelings of embarrassment, disappointment, and annoyance all at once.

Luckily, we persisted. The next 30 minutes were much better. We did complete the interview. Cal was full of insightful ideas about work, excellence, and building careers. Regulars here know I am a big fan of Cal’s work, specifically his book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You,” which I consider to be the best career related book I’ve had the fortune to read. So, in a way, I expected to walk out of the interview with these ideas.

However, I walked away with something different. I walked away remembering the guy who was empathetic, understanding, and patient through technology troubles and my screw ups. Nice guy first.

We’ve been fortunate to reach out to, and occasionally interview, a whole bunch of successful people thanks to Real Leader interviews. Ego and petulance could perhaps be expected (there is a lot of that out there, too). But, I’ve learnt that many of these folk are remarkable because they are nice, first.

As I reflected on the conversation with Cal, I read a first draft of our next interview due tomorrow – Chandoo of Chandoo.org. Excel geeks all over the world love Chandoo.org – one of the world’s top excel help websites. Chandoo has been featured in Chris Guillebeau’s “The $100 Start-up” as well. And, Chandoo’s interview was one of the heartfelt interviews I’ve read (My lucky teammate called “dibs” on his interview first so I didn’t interview him myself). Nice guy first.

Regulars know how I have been continuously influenced by Seth Godin’s great work. Despite his many many commitments, Seth still takes responds to notes asking for help. Again, nice guy first.

So many other examples spring straight to mind.

You can say great things and back it up with great action. These guys do that. But, people hardly ever remember what you said or did as much as how you made them feel. You can be great at what you do but to truly inspire others, you need charisma – that ability to make others feel capable of great things. And charisma comes from being nice first.

I once heard an executive described as somebody who would “sell his grandma” to make sure he gets his job done and gets promoted. Sure, that’s one way to go – be hard nosed with a focus on success and nothing else.

Or be nice first while being remarkable at your craft, inspire others around you and be a leader in the true sense of the word. Your pick.