Reading Time: < 1 min When 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 […]
Leadership
Nick Saban didn’t give out game balls
Reading Time: < 1 min One 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 min I’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 min I 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 min As 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 […]
Make decisions before circumstances force them to be made
Reading Time: < 1 min March 2020 was a scary time to be a business owner. Things were still going well for us, but the future was very uncertain — for everyone! Ali and I took some time that month to plot out two sets of scenarios for our business. The plan was simply to be ready. If things went […]
Define the problem
Reading Time: < 1 min It’s always good to be able to solve a problem, but it’s often far better to help make the problem crystal clear before you try to solve it. I was recently watching the excellent movie “Moneyball”, and this scene shows exactly what I’m talking about: The scouts are all trying to solve the problem and […]
Who is the best listener you know?
Reading Time: < 1 min I was recently reading Kevin Paul Scott’s “Inspired Every Day“, and one little statement he made hit me very hard. He simply said: “Who is the best listener you know? What is that person’s impact on you and others?” It hit because this should (in theory) be me, but it’s not. It’s hard to really […]
If you’re a leader, you’re a teacher
Reading Time: < 1 min Jim Sinegal was one of the cofounders of Costco and had some amazing quotes captured over the years. My favorite, while not related to this post, was what he told his successor as he was stepping down: “If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.” For today’s quote, though, […]
Your personal board of directors
Reading Time: 2 min Having a personal board of directors would be amazing. I’m on a few boards with other organizations, but it’d be neat to have my own — I could just have a group of people to call on to answer questions and help me work through things. As it turns out, I have one! Most of […]