Tag: team work

Startup mentality

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Startup mentality is a beautiful concept we are gradually wearing out.

It is about not being stuck in hierarchies and roles, being able to spot problems and go about solving them, having the flexibility to do work that matters whenever it is easier for you, feeling at ease with change and appreciating the challenges that come with it, sharing knowledge and experience with others to get better together.

On the other hand, it should not be about getting paid only when things are good and be happy about it, being loyal to the founders no matter what they preach, being on call 24/7, working 60 hours a week for years, competing relentlessly with everybody, being too busy to share, and having a vision of you on a Tesla in three years.

It is a not so subtle difference that might make or break your company. One to remember and often repeat to your colleagues.

P.S.: it is Christmas, and I am going to give away 5 Kindle copies of Storynomics to the first 5 who comment on yesterday’s post, sharing what they are getting from this blog. It is a slow burner, and I am going to run this until January 6th.

Kindness

Fabrizio1 Comment

Kindness starts from understanding that we are not alone.

That despite our uniqueness, the pain we feel, the challenges we face, the preoccupations that keep our mind busy are common.

That what we are going through is the reflection of what our neighbour has lived for the past six months.

That the person who does not reply to our message is not having a better day.

That it is difficult for our partner to figure us out, just as it is difficult for us to figure them out.

Kindness is an act directed at ourselves first.

Kindness is for every day of the year.

Merry Christmas!

P.S.: I have not read many books this year, but one I enjoyed is Storynomics, by Robert McKee and Thomas Gerace. I am giving away 5 Kindle copies of the book, to the first 5 people who leave a comment to this post and share one thing they got from my blog.

Alignment

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Every single company is on a mission to talk about value. Value proposition, value selling, value chain, added value. And (almost) every single company fails to appreciate what value is.

That’s because value is defined not by your management, but by your customers. It is not about increased productivity or improved workforce efficiency, but it’s about what you enable your customers to do day after day (to increase productivity and improve workforce efficiency).

Value is how, what, and why.

It is one of the most difficult lessons to understand and put in practice. It is the only way to find a unique and consistent way to talk about value across people, deparment, and stakeholders. It is the alignment you are missing.

It is worth it.

The stranger

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Every group has its own rules. And when you belong to the group, there are two things you have to do.

First, you need to figure out what the rules are. This might seem trivial and simple, but actually it often takes time to dive deep into what the group cares about and how stuff gets done. Tension and crisis accelerate the process of understanding, as there is no better time to appreciate the set of values of a group than when shit hits the fan.

Figuring out the rules happens over time, it is a continuous effort. And you can’t wait for it to be over before asking yourself if what the group believes in aligns with what you believe in. Are you at home, or are you a stranger?

Now, if the answer is that you are a stranger, you need to be able to appreciate the fact that setting out to change the rules is only one option. It is often easier and possible to go and find a group whose rules better align with yours.

One way or the other, staying in the group that makes of you the stranger is probably not something you want to consider. But you know that already, don’t you?

Gold

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If you can build relationships across groups, you are worth your weight in gold.

When you are given a task, when you are assigned a responsibility, when you have work to do, it is easy to forget about others. Yet what you do impacts them, and what they do might be significant for what you want to achieve.

Establishing and maintaining relationships with people who work in other departments, in different industries, in rival companies, in apparently antithetical roles is one of the most critical skill for success.

And that is true even if you are working on your own. Particularly if you are working on your own.