Tag: problems

A price too high

Fabrizio2 Comments

A big chunk of every job is managing expectations.

Of course, we want to say yes to everything. We want all the new customers and partners. We want to be perceived as competent, fast, and infallible. We want others to think that we do our work with ease even though our work is complex and uncertain. We want to project an aura of competence and confidence in any situation.

But if we do not manage expectations realistically, we will soon drown and take all those around us – colleagues, friends, family – with us.

The price is just too high.

Not imperative

FabrizioLeave a comment

It’s not imperative that you are involved in everything.

It’s not imperative that you understand everything.

It’s not imperative that you check everything.

It’s not imperative that you fix everything.

It’s not imperative that you control everything.

It’s not imperative that you point out the flaws and defects in everything.

It’s not imperative that you vet everything before it gets out.

Once you understand this, you will be surprised by how things still happen, with good results, without you being there to take credit.

It’s empowering.

It’s liberating.

If it works with ten people

FabrizioLeave a comment

The idea that by hiring more you will get more business is flawed.

The idea that by implementing more processes things will be running more smoothly is flawed.

The idea that by buying a new tool your employees will suddenly start to make sense is flawed.

The idea that by acquiring more customers your product will finally take off is flawed.

Hiring, processes, tools, and customer acquisition are fantastic ways to achieve goals, but they do not work in the same manner in all contexts. And particularly, they are not a cure for some fundamental flaws your organisation might have.

A general rule of thumb: if it works with ten people, you are ready to move to one hundred, one thousand, one million.

If it does not work with ten people, though, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and find a new way to make it work.

Just because you are right

FabrizioLeave a comment

When you seek someone to blame, things to improve, new ways to get ahead, always start from yourself.

Not because you are not good enough, but because that’s easier to control. A new habit is possible. A change of mind is possible. An additional piece of knowledge is possible.

It’s much more complex when you start pointing fingers. You might be right and perhaps others are not doing their part, the environment is not ideal, the tools you were given are suboptimal.

Yet, things will not change just because you are right.

You can, instead.

Benefit everybody

FabrizioLeave a comment

Overpromising is bad not because you are going to disappoint others but because you are setting yourself up for failure.

Make the selfish decision to only promise what you can actually do.

It’s the kind of selfishness that benefits everybody.