All in Entrepreneurship
Tough times call for tough measures. But those tough measures can also be fraught with risk - both real and perceived. Biggest of all is the perception that we'll be overreacting.
But, as I discuss in today's podcast, that shouldn't worry us. The end goal and those we serve, matter far more.
At the end of the day, I think the most important type of wealth we’re after is time. In particular, the freedom to do what we want with it.
I know the conventional thinking is that we’re after financial freedom, but the reason we’re after that is to be able to do whatever we want i.e. to use our time as we please.
Earlier this week, I was in an Uber on my way to a client meeting.
As we rolled up to the building, my driver pointed to the client’s name emblazoned on the building and exclaimed: “This is a Moroccan company! I grew up in Morocco and their products are everywhere!” I smiled and said they’re a very big brand.
Confidence and volume are two separate ideas, but often, when it comes to our communications, we tend to conflate the two.
There is a material difference and, as I discuss in today's episode, it's important we work to understand that distinction.
I’ve always held to the view that the root cause of poor behavior (towards others) is low self-esteem. That’s always made sense to me: if we don’t have enough self-confidence or belief in ourselves, how can we expect to accept others’ (differing) perspectives - and not react in some way?
Well, Adam Grant posited a somewhat different - perhaps a more nuanced - point of view, based on research published in journals such as Psychological Review.
How we spend our time on a day to day basis is materially influenced by the extent to which we're responding to signals or to noise.
In today's episode, I speak to the need to think about which cues we pick up and what we react to - the signals versus the noise.
One of Google’s tenets is “Fast is better than slow”.
The idea is that ‘getting to market’ i.e. shipping your product even if it isn’t perfect, is the most important thing. Instead of spending time nailing down every last detail, we need to put out a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and let the market tell us what needs to be improved.
Is it an investment or a cost?
That seems like semantics but I think there’s a bit more to the question.
When we're trying to sell an idea or a product, we want to say all the right things to the prospect, so that we can close the deal quickly.
In doing so, we can at times, sugar coat the message, or gloss over key issues that need to be grappled with upfront. All the more reason, as I discuss in today's episode, that we always be upfront - even if that means talking about difficult things.
Having our “fingers in multiple pies” seems like a good idea when we’re starting out.
Business environments are competitive, clients are demanding and surviving means doing whatever’s needed to make money.
Expectations management is everything in business. We understand and buy that when it comes to big picture issues - such as a client delverable.
But, as I discuss in today's podcast, it matters just as much in our more common day to day activities.
Ideologies are a useful mobilizing force. They rally our communities and allow resources to be effectively deployed towards a common goal.
Everyone involved knows exactly what they need to do and the ends towards which they’re working.
When markets are at an all time low and everyone else is selling, there are the brave few who wade right into the thick of things and start buying.
They do this despite the ‘evidence’ to the contrary, because they’ve done their homework, formed an educated point of view and are willing to bet on their own logic (versus the consensus view).
We love being the hero in our stories. But Donald Miller talks about there being only 4 key roles you can take on in your business story.
And being the hero isn't one of them. You need to be the guide, as I discuss in today's episode.
We tend to think of competitions as absolutes, that there are always clear winner and losers.
But other than in sports, that’s just not the case. (And even in sports, depending on your timelines, it’s absolutely the case.)
Is it still breaking the rules if everyone knows you’re doing it?
My kids’ High School has this tradition near the end of Senior Year called “Senior Ditch Day”, where kids skip school and just hang out. Now, this was never a thing when I was growing up (I didn’t grow up in the US) but it seems to be here.
In today's episode, I talk about the idea of partnerships.
The word "partnership" is easy to throw around when the stakes are low. But when the going gets tough, we really find out who is (and isn't) a true partner.
I don’t know how much is actually within our control.
I know many of us like to think everything is, even as there are others who think nothing is, that we’re all simply subjects (victims?) of fate.
If I had to choose, I’d put myself more in the former camp - that we can indeed make of ourselves and our situations what we will.
Momentum, in a psychological sense, is a funny thing.
It’s a mindset that wields so much influence, dominating our focus, often despite the facts. And while momentum tends to build over time, the reality is that it can also turn on a dime.
You can be in the midst of a string of strong results but one bad event, particularly one that you’d banked on, or considered ‘symbolic’ and your confidence is gone.
Trevor Noah once referred to our culture as our operating system, one that we're rarely even aware of.
That's an apt explanation of the role and value of culture. It's something that can make us - but just as equally, it can break us.
