A Learning a Day

“There is no product or service more cost effective, ecological, sustainable and recyclable as the one we do not use.” | Philippe Bihouix*

*lightly adapted to add cost effective

Someone I know has a simple and effective model for the responsibilities of a leader – to bring clarity and energy to their team.

There are many great frameworks for leadership. They all rhyme and draw on similar principles.

This is one that has resonated a lot of late.

The central theme in Eduardo Briceno’s book “The Performance Paradox” is about creating environments with combine a focus on performance with a focus on learning.

Environments that are overly focused on performance burn people out. Environments who focus entirely on learning don’t succeed because learning happens best when there is some tension.

Two stories stuck out to me. The first was about Beyonce’s routine while she’s on tour. Every night on tour, she reviews the entire performance video. By the time her team wakes up the next morning, they would have received notes from Beyonce on the many things they all could have done better.

The next was from research by HBS professor Amy Edmondson examining error rates in hospitals. Logically, she hypothesized that more effective patient care teams made fewer errors.

But she found the opposite. It turns out the first step to solving errors is being aware of them and reporting them. The most effective teams created environments where everyone was encouraged to share mistakes and learn. More errors were a feature, not a bug.

Both of these point to what we can do to create learning environments on our teams. First, create frequent opportunities to reflect via “retros” (or retrospectives) that help everyone grow from mistakes and lessons learnt. Second, encourage conversations about mistakes. The more we’re aware of them, the more likely we’re learning from them.

I came across Charlie Munger’s notes for career success the other day –

• Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself.
• Don’t work for anyone you don’t respect and admire.
• Work only with people you enjoy.

All three of them resonated.

We become like the people we work.

Choose wisely.

Being surprised when things go as per plan is a far more productive approach than the other way around.

One way to understand a person’s character is to pay attention to what they claim credit for.

Strategy is often better understood when we explain what we aren’t focusing on.

Similarly, culture is often better understood when we can explain the kinds of people who’d hate working here.

No trade-offs, no strategy. And no dark sides, no culture.

Like many things attributed to Albert Einstein, he likely didn’t say – “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

It is a great quote though – both simple and powerful.

It is a mistake I find myself making from time to time – doing the same thing and expecting different results.

To change the outcome, we must often change the process.

Competence is how good you are when you have something to gain. Character is how good you are when you have nothing to gain.

People reward competence – often generously. But they love you for your character.

—

H/T Mark Manson

For all the advancements in technology and the ability now to create custom GPTs, the one advancement I hope for is a home printer that just works.

No troubleshooting, no error messages, no prayers sent to printer gods… just switch it on, press print, and the document pops out.

Note: There’s a lot I like about the HP Officejet Pro 9010 that we have at home. HP’s ink subscription program has made it easy to manage ink. But there are still those moments when I have to switch on and switch off the thing or reinstall the driver or deal with a buggy app. This was written during one such moment.

That’s not counting the hours I’ve spent trouble shooting inane printer settings at home. The complexity involved in switching Wifi networks alone added a few gray hairs to my head.

There ought to be an easier way.