Reading Time: < 1 minGenerally speaking, there two big ways to get your team to do what needs to be done. Obedience: You can require obedience, with a very detailed list of what needs to be done, and expect them to follow it to the letter. If you’re flipping burgers at McDonald’s, this is how it needs to be. […]
Leadership
Dumb rules come from lazy leadership
Reading Time: < 1 minWe’ve all worked at organizations where they had some rules that were clearly overkill, or even didn’t make sense at all. Most of these rules can be traced back to an incident in the past, and people say “Oh yes, that rule is because of Steve”. Rather than management talking to Steve about his behavior, […]
Transparency isn’t the same as honesty
Reading Time: < 1 minIt’s always felt to me that being transparent was a big part of being honest. It can be, but they aren’t the same thing. In his book “Lost and Founder“, author Rand Fishkin explains it this way: Transparency isn’t the same as honesty. Honesty is saying only things that are true. Many founders and startup […]
The whirlwind is a thief
Reading Time: 2 minIn reading the book “The 4 Disciplines of Execution“, they talked a lot about “the whirlwind” — all of that junk you have to do every day just to keep moving forward. This largely includes email, but also many meetings, phone calls, and other distractions. These are things that are semi-important, but they often prevent […]
Misaligned incentives
Reading Time: 2 minAs a small business owner, I’m often looking for ways to better incentivize our staff to work hard and for our clients to stick with us. For our clients it’s not about “incentives”, but rather providing the right products, data and outcomes to satisfy their needs, so it’s not all that different from what an […]
Who should you really serve?
Reading Time: 2 minWhen working in any organization, it’s important to remember who you serve and it’s not always as obvious as it seems. Years ago when I worked at a few different churches, I went on a lot of mission trips with the high school youth groups. These trips were all still in the United States (we […]
Assigning fault versus solving problems
Reading Time: 2 minAs time goes on, I’ve been finding myself caring a lot less about “who is at fault?” when something goes wrong. I’ll certainly want to investigate why something went wrong, but the who is less relevant. I’ll admit, part of this is because I’m lucky with how great our team is at GreenMellen. I’m confident […]
Serve others by taking care of yourself
Reading Time: 2 minIn Adam Grant’s excellent book “Give and Take“, he proposes that there are three kinds of people: Givers, Takers, and Matchers. The goal of the book is to show how being a giver is your best bet for long-term success and happiness. However, being a “giver” can be draining. In most studies, givers were the […]
Love is greater than hurt feelings
Reading Time: 2 minDespite the title, I’m not advocating for being a jerk, but I also think there are times when some hard truths that lead to hurt feelings can be a good thing. In Annie Duke’s excellent book “Quit“, she shares some insight on this from Daniel Kahneman: When I asked Daniel Kahneman what he thinks the […]
Mistakes versus carelessness
Reading Time: < 1 minMany times when reading books, little things pop out at me that simply help me clarify how two words relate to one another. I’ve talked about a complaint versus a problem, social networking versus social media, interpersonal empathy versus social empathy, routines versus practices, attunement versus empathy, precision versus intent, knowing versus understanding, and dozens […]