Working “for the man” is exhausting. Most people, most of the time, want to minimise the amount of work required to unlock the reward. Usually the reward is salary and benefits. I find that the entire mental calculus changes when you’re working primarily for yourself. I’ve found two ways to do it. Make sure that your workplace provides enough opportunity to grow that it’s genuinely worth putting in extra effort to grow more as a human....
3 person founder team. Good delegation is making sure that each founder is playing to their strengths and asking for help on things that others are better at. Functional boundaries are very flexible, and delegating is based mostly on optimal speed and quality of delivery. Delegation to freelancers can already be in full swing at this stage, and is mostly about very clearly defined specific processes that have not yet been automated but still need to be done, and shouldn’t be done by a founder who has to focus on continued growth....
Google’s mission statement anno 2024 is “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. The failure to execute against that mission since the rise of LLMs has been epic. I’m not talking about the recent damage to their stock price or the latest earnings calls. I’m talking about Google no longer being relevant to how humanity accesses useful information from 2024 onwards, and not having the wherewithal to take decisive action on that change....
Feedback happens when: There’s a high confidence it will be well received. Are you easy to give feedback to? There’s a likelihood it will make a difference. Have you demonstrated a willingness to change based on feedback? The work has been inspected. Are you clearly holding up your work for review that might elicit feedback? The work is well understood. Have you communicated in detail about the work and highlighted areas that might be especially relevant to get feedback on?...
Teams perform better when: Information flows free and fast. Accountability is clear and implicitly expected. Trust is high. Teams perform better - and deliver strategy more effectively - on a foundation of strong relationships. But relationships to who? On the left: Relationship strengths when a team leader tries to build connections, information flows, and work around themselves. This can create dense and strong relationships with direct reports. This is, all else being equal, a good thing....