On the path to branching out and exploring life, consider taking the scenic route. The most direct route seldom overlaps more sensational routes. Whether on purpose or by accident, take the road less traveled. With or without a map, the adventure can take you to new places and allow you to see things few people take the time to see. Detours open doors to new restaurants, neighborhoods, architecture, nature and people. Who knows what you might find or connect with. Just one day per week, budget an extra ten minutes for your commute and try a new path. See where it takes you. Who knows? You might fall in love.
Monthly Archives: May 2012
Explore, Expose, Educate
For most of us, school held our hand through learning. Adults expected us to show up, study and graduate. I cannot speak for you, but the structure of institutional learning failed to inspire me to pursue learning beyond the walls. Some teachers made a difference and instilled within me the value of lifelong learning – but the curriculum never asked for it. For shame. I’ve worked very hard post-college to open books, study new things and apply learning on my own. Many things self-taught have made me considerably more competitive in the job market, comfortable with business and well-rounded as person. Sound good?
The single biggest piece of advice I have for anyone looking to better themselves: expose yourself to activities, culture and people you do not yet know or understand. Do things you’ve never done. Try things without a second thought. No prejudices. No fear. You really did not have a say in what you learned growing up – why be picky now? Wipe away those inhibitions and get back to your education! Mix it up, kick-start the brain. Live, learn and love life.
The Three-Step Interview Process
Interviews by themselves are not sufficient for thoroughly realizing your connection with a potential candidate. It takes at least three of the following steps before you can even scratch the surface:
Vocational Interview – classic meet and greet to dissect the position together.
Social Interview – drinks, meal, exercise or games to test a cultural fit.
Portfolio – collect samples of past work like writing, formulas, apps, design, etc.
Shadowing – an observational half-day tour of the office, team and work ahead.
Co-Piloting – a hands-on tour of the job, shared and observed in part by an employee.
Contract Work – full trial of a person’s skills and autonomy to complete a project.
References – a second opinion from people who worked with the candidate before.
The more involved your interview process is, the better. Candidates who make it through show true dedication to the position ahead. There’s always a way to work with someone in advance of hiring them, even if it means tours or co-piloting after hours or remotely.
My Daily Reading List
I read a lot these days, more than I ever have in my entire life. Almost all non-fiction. Very few books lately, almost all blogs and web news by industry. In addition to the 4,500+ emails I consume, I flip through nearly 8,000 articles every month across 57 subscriptions (with probably a 15% engagement rate).
Many people have asked me what I read, so I’ve decided to share key items on my list. This batch is ever-changing – I am very open to suggestions or criticism. I subscribe to all the following through Google Reader:
Web Tech News
Techmeme
TechCrunch
Mashable
Engadget
Google’s Blog
Gmail’s Blog
YouTub’s Blog
Venture Hacks
Film
/Film
The Playlist
Mondo: The Blog
Entrepreneur & Venture Capitalist Blogs
AVC – Fred Wilson’s Blog
Continuations – Albert Wenger’s Blog
Both Sides of the Table – Mark Suster’s Blog
Only Once – Matt Blumberg Blog
Seth Godin’s Blog
Experiments In Lifestyle Design – Tim Ferriss’s Blog
Reinventing Business – Bruce Eckel‘s Blog
Vinicius Vacanti’s Blog
TechStars
Feld Thoughts – Brad Feld’s Blog
Mendelson’s Musings – Jason Mendelson’s Blog
McInBlog – Ryan McIntyre’s Blog
Seth Levine’s Blog
Peter Levine’s Blog
Jeff Jordan’s Blog
Scott Weiss’s Blog
Ben Horowitz’s Blog
Marc Andreessen’s Blog
John O’Farrell’s Blog
David G. Cohen’s Blog
Ask the VC
Foundry Group
Architecture
Desire to Inspire
A Daily Dose of Architecture
The Architecture Blog – Architecture pictures!
Inhabitat – Green technology, design and architecture
Comedy
Cracked
#Hollywoodassistants
Presidential Pickup Lines
Bonkers World
Texts From Bennett
Other
Zelda Universe – Legend of Zelda news
The Shirnal – Shirl’s travel log
The Domino Project – The future of publishing
Dr. Greer’s Blog – Extraterrestrial disclosure
Optimal Fitness Hub – Health hacks
Insights from the Corner Cubicle – Garrett Dallas’s Blog
Quantified Self – Life tracking
Information Is Beautiful – Infographics
Brain Rules – Neuroscience and life application
Big Things Are Difficult to Move
If you need to move something big (like a company, brand, bureaucracy or collective theory), take the mafia approach: chop it up limb for limb so that you can fit the parts in your trunk and move on. As with any complicated problem, you need to break it down into several constituent parts, analyze them and reconfigure them into a package that’s easier to manage. Many smaller problems tangle into larger complex problems if left unchecked. To completely clean up the mess, you need to resolve them all. It takes an analytical mind to separate everything and navigate the labyrinth. Not easy to do. And it takes a lot of time. Sometimes it’s not worth it. Certainly not worth it to butcher a corpse. Some ships need to sink. More often than not, you need to try. Do what you can to break it all down, focus on the details and figure things out.
Choice Silence
Sometimes there’s nothing you need to say. That’s okay.
Bad Hires Beget More Bad Hires
One of the most costly and toxic mistakes you can make in building an organization is hiring people who do not fit or deliver. Especially at the management level. Bad managers that don’t fit tend to hire more bad people who don’t fit. Not a good situation to be in. If you continue to grow without amputating the infection, you might find yourself with a heavily weighted and unhealthy organization. Don’t do it. Never compromise on hiring. Make sure at any cost that the people you are recruiting can do the job and fit in. It’s worth hard questions. It’s worth confrontation and debate. It’s worth negotiation. Do not be afraid to be absolutely sure.
Profiteering Is Not A Good Bet
Setting out to build a business or project for the money is a huge risk – a bigger risk than building something meaningful that can make the world a better place. What happens if you seek a capital return and come up dry? What do you have then? Sadly, you have nothing but a lot of wasted time and energy. What if you build something that makes a difference, but still does not pay out? At least then you can be proud of building something great. Never do things for the money – you have everything to lose. Do things for the challenge, the value to the world, and for yourself. Build something you can be proud of, something rewarding in and of itself.
Give Everyone A Piece of Leadership
Dan Pink makes a big deal about autonomy, mastery and purpose as the three key motivators for success. I agree with each one. As a manager, you should do everything in your power to give each member of your team a little piece of leadership. Whether that be a process to oversee, a special project to helm or oversight to a group of people, give each person ownership of something they like to do (autonomy). Best if you give them something they have room to improve in and master (mastery). Bonus points if they come up with idea for what they own themselves (purpose). If you can be a trusting person and want to help people succeed, let go and give people the power to direct their own lives as often as possible. When you give your team widespread authority, it becomes your job to keep all the chips on the table. Make sure everyone is on the same page when and where possible. Different leadership means different directions – do not let your leaders completely run away on their own, or you will have fragmentation and anarchy. If only as an experiment, surrender control over every little thing and award responsibility. You’ll be surprised with the results.
Why Fudge Your Own Numbers?
Data is good and can be very useful. Manipulated data is bad and can hurt you. What’s the point of collecting information in the first place if you’re going to mess with it? Your method of collection isn’t as accurate as you would like? You must stand behind the data you collected so far and move forward with another method instead. By adjusting numbers you’ve collected, you are misrepresenting the method or formula. Ethically better, I think, to publicly acknowledge a broken metric than stand behind massaged lies.
If the numbers are not for you and instead for someone else (boss, investor, customers, etc.), get to the bottom of why you want to change the numbers. If you feel the data misrepresents your business or project and worry that the numbers might throw you under the bus, it’s important to push back against the people asking for them in the first place. Again, better to admit a broken method than stand behind numbers that aren’t true. Honestly, I can think of no situation where it is ethically or practically appropriate to manipulate data you collected. It’s fine to do that in a budget or estimates, but actual cold hard data should not be toyed with. No one can learn anything from our lies except for the person with something to hide (or of course until the truth is revealed – don’t put yourself in that situation).
Be honest with yourself and your numbers. Don’t lie. Try a new formula instead.
Craig Ormiston 