I like to keep two checklists that I execute to keep my business moving: Weekly Checklist – Actions that have to get done each week for operations Daily Checklist – What is foundational to my personal and business goals Business tends to run on a weekly cadence. The ritual of keeping a weekly checklist ensuresContinue reading “The Weekly Checklist”
Category Archives: Blog
Be a Lateral Thinker
When we are buried in the details of our work, it’s hard to look around and see connections to worlds outside ourselves. We can be talking to the same people within our crowd, read the same blogs, and look at the world through a myopic lens. Some of the big ideas of today such asContinue reading “Be a Lateral Thinker”
Loving The Main Thing
“The main thing Is to keep the main thing the main thing.” ~ Stephen Covey Keeping on the rails is so hard when our brain loves to pull us to distractions. It’s not only the distractions, but we are barraged by other people’s demands and priorities continually. The main thing to do can easily getContinue reading “Loving The Main Thing”
Too Many Moving Parts
You may have to build a business with 100 employees. Maybe a 1,000. That’s the manpower tax to help get your product into the hands of your customer. Instagram had 13 employees serving 30 million users at a $500M valuation at one point. That’s leverage. Compare that to the 145,000 people Kodak employed in theContinue reading “Too Many Moving Parts”
Set Important Decisions to Opt-out
There is such a thing as decision fatigue. Your willpower and ability to make effective decisions changes over the course of a day from mental weariness. When it comes to trying to respond and keep up with the demands of knowledge work, it’s hard to stay sharp and it’s easy to push out things thatContinue reading “Set Important Decisions to Opt-out”
Don’t Do Grand Openings
I don’t do grand openings. If you have an idea, skills and the hard work to persist, simply get your first customers and start serving them. This idea that we are anything special out in the marketplace of hundreds of thousands of options is absurd. You have to earn that over time from learning, iteratingContinue reading “Don’t Do Grand Openings”
Manage Oneself
That one can truly manage other people is by no means adequately proven. But one can always manage oneself. Indeed, executives who do not manage themselves for effectiveness cannot possibly expect to manage their associates and subordinates. Management is largely by example. Executives who do not know how to make themselves effective in their ownContinue reading “Manage Oneself”
Collecting and Testing Mental Models
Principles prevail in a world of chaos. Much of life is indeed chaos. I think the importance of collecting and testing your mental models – how you problem solve and approach the world – is critical to drive success. The 80/20 rule can help you focus on what has the best payoffs. Eliminating drain peopleContinue reading “Collecting and Testing Mental Models”
The Strategy of Going with the Winner
There is an irony about free markets that the collective participates in. On the one hand, we have massive choice in many categories. On the other hand, over time, we have a winner-take-all outcome. Over time, people consolidate and choose the best. We don’t have all these phones. We have iPhones. We have Starbucks, NetflixContinue reading “The Strategy of Going with the Winner”
Updating My Daily Routine
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – Darren Hardy Our habits define us. I like to tweak how I approach days and I experiment with my habits continually. These days, I have a few things that getContinue reading “Updating My Daily Routine”
