Reflective Management

"Quit if you don’t like our office-working policy, Amazon executive suggests". And I agree with him. These were words attributed to Matt Garman, that head of the AWS unit at Amazon. He goes on to give his reasons. Apparently it's hard to live the Amazon leadership principles like "disagree and commit" if you're on a video call and not face to face. I'm not sure why that's the case, I disagree via phone and video call all the time. Does this imply disagree and commit has a hereto hidden physical component, perhaps including fisticuffs? Matt also said it's hard to get work done with their 3 days in, 2 days out approach to remote working because everyone takes different days off. That seems more like a planning and policy problem : have everyone in the office on the same days. It's not a perfect solution but it's better. I don't agree with Matt's reasoning, it all seems a bit spurious. But Amazon does have a notoriously challenging culture to work in and it's not for everyone. If this move makes you feel like you're being bossed around, bullied, not supported or under-valued, please please please take Matt's advice and quit. If you quit, you can find somewhere that works the way you want to that'll help you do your best work. And wouldn't it be funny if come Jan 2nd 2025 (the day people must return to the office full-time), Matt walked into his office to discover rows and rows of empty chairs because everyone had called his bluff!

It's easy to complain about those LinkedIn connection requests you get stating "Wow, we should connect because we have so much in common!" You might think "How dare they intrude upon my time and demand a connection, I don't even know them and they didn't take the time to even say why they think we should be connected!" The mistake you're making is that "John the Monk Turned Coach Whisperer" is just playing a numbers games. He doesn't care that YOU respond, only that enough people respond to build his influence. You think John is rude because you're applying your own CONTEXT. In your world your carefully craft outreach messages to people that you really want to connect with. John has violated your context and deserves our contempt. Before becoming irate ask yourself the question "Is John's behavior rational, given his desired outcomes?" John doesn't need YOUR connection, he needs A connection and he doesn't actually care if you ignore him. Once you understand and accept John's CONTEXT it takes the heat and reactivity out of the situation. He's casting a net to see what he can drag in, and you can pass without requiring the irritation of thinking he should have done more research. One less connection request to worry about.

"Our only limitations are those which we put on ourselves" - Somebody (probably) I'm right handed, which is a problem right now because my right hand is immobilized due to a surgery. You learn pretty quickly when you lose function in a hand all the things you do that you take for granted. I spent several days feeling incompetent as my family had to help me with a variety of tasks I normally consider trivial e.g. opening bags, doing up a belt, washing my left arm pit. But at some point, I realized I was holding myself back and decided to find ways to do things I thought I couldn't. I'm pleased to report I've found ways to do some of those things again. My left-handed writing is improving quickly. Because I decided to try. Because I decided to question the limitation that writing with your non-dominant hand is hard. What limitations are you putting on yourself at work?

A client told me "I've tried to explain to 10 people what coaching is, and they can't get it. Why would I pay someone to ask me questions?" There are many possible answers to that question, like "to help you see yourself or your business from a new perspective", "to get unblocked and move forward" or "to be more confident in who you are so you are better at running your business". But coaching is a mystical and ethereal process where magic is woven between two people that creates transformational change, often for both participants. Since that doesn't work as a piece of marketing copy in the tech industry, I find it's easiest to just "do coaching" with people who don't get it. Pretty quickly they get what it's about and see the value.

This is such a good example of growth mindset and vulnerability, from the CEO of a fast growing Series A startup. I encourage other founders to adopt this. Their latest monthly update starts. 'As a founder, I used to dread sending updates when metrics were slipping. Now, with retention flagging, I feel (very) frustrated, but am eager to learn from you all. Building a company is about learning together, facing frustrating months head-on, and taking decisive action.' Be aware of your emotions and how they drive you, face your troubles head on, don't wait on important decisions and learn from the experience. That's what it's all about.

If you want to 10x the chance your startup will succeed, make sure you have the right co-founder. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Your cofounder is someone you'll be working closely with to all-day everyday for years, and you'll be going through some of the most tortuous situations together. You may be paying them more attention than your partner. You must regularly ask yourself these questions : * Am I thrilled when my phone rings and it's them, or I see a meeting with them on the calendar? * Do they inspire me to do a better job and be a better person? * Do I believe they'll be fighting at your side in your final stand? As soon as you start to doubt the answer is yes to these questions, it's time to seriously look at whether you have the right person by your side. I know it's hard to separate from a cofounder but I can say this. 1. Once it becomes obvious there's a mismatch, it rarely gets better and even more rarely becomes highly, 2. You'll waste time and emotional energy on trying to manage your cofounder when they should be inspiring you and you should be working on your company, 3. Eventually it will become paralysing as important discussions get stuck in emotional friction, 4. If you eventually part ways you'll wish you'd done it sooner, 5. If you don't part ways, you'll regret it when your company eventually fails. If you're in doubt, reach out and I'd be happy to give you some examples to sway you.

All the studies show people are just as productive during a 4-day work week - yet hardly any companies adopt this model. The reason why tells us more about the future of work than anything I’ve come across. First, the research: Productivity across a variety of industries is unchanged in shorter work weeks because people were already doing four days worth of work and then killing time to make it through the full five days. Without having to perform this dance, employees took care of business and went home, and reported higher satisfaction and happiness. Second, what it means: Let me start with a story about myself. I’m a coach who takes client meetings Monday through Thursday; the other day someone said “have fun (Friday) on your day off.” Except I spend Friday doing random stuff that I consider “work” in an abstract way. That might be easy to see (i.e., updating my website) or more vague (like building a skate ramp, which helps with my mental health and makes me a better coach). In the case of the office workers who now have an extra “day off” with a 4-day week, it can be hard for businesses to accept this. “Why would I pay them the same salary for doing no work on Fridays?!” But they are working! Even if they are not punching a time card or logging in, what they do on that “day off” makes them a happier, less stressed person who is more prepared to give it their all come Monday morning. My point is this: In most jobs today, there is no “working” and “not working.” We are full people who bring our whole selves to work, regardless of whether we are “on the clock.” This type of holistic thinking is scary to traditional managers, and I understand that. But think of it this way: We are wedded to timesheets and 40-hour weeks because of the past: It was a simple way to determine whether someone was on the assembly line making widgets or not. Except the way we work today bears no resemblance to the traditional assembly-line structure. Every now and again technology makes jobs easier and the number of hours we need for “traditional on the clock” work goes down. That will continue further once AI improves and wipes out more menial tasks (a phenomenon that has already begun). The problem is the disconnect between reality (the number of hours needed in the office) vs expectations (what bosses think). The sooner we can bridge that gap, the closer we will be to something better for everyone.

When Microsoft exec J Allard was in charge of creating the Xbox two decades ago, he wanted to include a port to connect to the internet but his boss Bill Gates wanted to use a modem instead. That may seem like a random detail to talk about today, but it was enormous for two reasons: *First, Allard was right and it ushered in a new era of online gaming that generated billions of sales and created a cultural phenomenon that changed the lives of millions of people *Second, Allard stood up to one of the most powerful people on the planet and not only lived to tell the tale but won the battle He proved that the best leaders don’t set out to appease others, they set out to do great work. This may sound obvious, but it’s hard to do in practice. It’s a lot easier to compromise and make sure no one is unhappy than to accept that we’re all adults and some people are going to get upset by your decisions. I get it. I worked at Microsoft for a lot of years. At companies big and small, I like being liked. I don’t like when my boss or coworkers don’t like me. And there is a cost. Steve Jobs was famous for sticking by his convictions and creating great things, but a lot of people also hated working for him. Yet I don’t think you have to be a jerk to stick by your convictions. You can fight for what you believe in while being respectful. You still might end up with some hurt feelings. But if you let other people dictate what you believe in, you might find yourself as the one who ends up feeling hurt.

It’s amazing how many problems at work boil down to stuff that has nothing to do with … well, work. I mention this because of how many exec clients spend coaching sessions with me talking about office politics, meetings that didn't go well - basically everything other than the job they signed up to do. After listening to this for a while, eventually I'll say: What about the actual thing you’re building? Do you ever want to talk about that? In every case, they will pause and have an “oh sh*t” type of reaction. This happens to all of us: We get so lost in the weeds that we can’t even see it happening until an outsider points out the obvious. My advice is to occasionally step back and take stock of how you’re spending your days compared to how you thought you’d spend them when you started the job. You might have limited control over what you can focus on, but in a lot of cases you have more wiggle room than you think. The easiest distractions to start culling are the ones nobody asked you to do in the first place. If that sentence sparks an idea for you, that’s a sign.

If your marketer deleted your customer list, waited for someone else to realize it had disappeared and then stepped in to fix the problem they created, would you hail them as a hero. Of course not, but that’s exactly what we do with celebrity CEOs. Take Elon Musk, who earlier in the year heroically stepped in to correct a problem Tesla had created when they ordered 4,000 pies from a small business then pulled out at the last minute. This story highlights a number of flaws in Tesla’s culture. They promised but failed to provide money up-front for the order, failing to honor an agreement they’d made. It emerged that the person who had ordered the 4,000 pies actually hadn’t been authorized to spend money, something apparently she was unaware of and her management and procurement teams failed to catch. Canceling at the last minute and after production had started showed they didn’t have any cohesive plan in place for the pies, and failing to pay arrogance. The last kick in the teeth was magnanimously offering a tour of the Tesla factory to compensate for $12,000 of lost income. Do people really want to see a Tesla being assembled THAT badly? So do we praise Elon for stepping in and making sure the bill got paid. Absolutely not, because if he’d done his job as CEO properly in the first place, he wouldn’t have created a culture that failed so badly at every turn.