Reading Time: 2 minOne eye-opening insight from Juliet Funt’s book “A Minute to Think” was her concept of 2D versus 3D content when it comes to communication. More specifically, she shared the problems that arise when we mix the two up and use the wrong form of communication for the type of content that we need to share […]
Leadership
Blameless Postmortems
Reading Time: < 1 minThe idea of a “postmortem” is something we try to do after every major project. We look back at how things went, be glad about what went well, and work on things to improve for the next one. The key to a solid postmortem, and to leading a solid team, is to focus on the […]
You couldn’t tell who the bosses were
Reading Time: < 1 minTom Murphy is one of those guys that not enough people know about it. He ran Capital Cities Communications (which you also likely haven’t heard of) for years back in the 1960’s until it eventually acquired the ABC network in 1985, which was later purchased by Disney in 1986. His story is fascinating, and a […]
Stewardship, not ownership
Reading Time: < 1 minKevin Paul Scott has a fantastic description of the idea of “stewardship” versus that of “ownership”. In his book “Return on Inspiration“, he says: “Stewards take care of things for other people; owners look out for their own interests. When we look at companies through this lens, we see that some owners act more like […]
Train people well enough so they can leave
Reading Time: < 1 minThere’s a maxim I’ve heard a few times over the years that goes something like: “You should invest in your team to make them the best that they can be. This may mean that some leave for better opportunities, but that beats the opposite of just not investing in them at all.“ This came to […]
The “Maker’s Schedule” vs the “Manager’s Schedule”
Reading Time: < 1 minWhen I was reading Josh Kaufman’s “The Personal MBA“, he shared this interesting viewpoint about our calendars from Paul Graham. He said: Paul Graham, a venture capitalist, programmer, and essayist, calls this batching strategy “Maker’s Schedule/Manager’s Schedule.” If you’re trying to create something, the worst thing you can possibly do is to try to fit […]
Nick Saban didn’t give out game balls
Reading Time: < 1 minOne of the best things that Nick Saban did while coaching the University of Alabama football team was promote an unbelievable amount of team over individual. While they certainly had a ton of amazing individual athletes on his teams that have gone on to great success in the NFL, Saban made sure the focus was […]
What can we do to get out of your way?
Reading Time: < 1 minI’ve shared a bit about Danny Meyer (founder of Shake Shack, among other restaurants) before, as he has some amazing insights on leadership. In a recent podcast with Adam Grant, he shared a few more gems. One in particular was a quote about hiring. Danny believes in hiring great people and then allowing them to […]
Never manage people who don’t need to be managed
Reading Time: < 1 minI often see posts on Reddit that follow a similar path: While I certainly appreciate that processes exist for a reason and there are times to square things back up, when people are working hard to get things done it’s often best to stay out of their way. Ideally, employees should be lead, not managed. […]
Founders shouldn’t be hireable
Reading Time: < 1 minAs GreenMellen has grown over the years, one of the challenges that Ali and I have faced is figuring out what our roles should be at various stages. Early on it was easy; she was the designer and I was the developer. Once those roles were filled by others, where did that leave us? It’s […]