Happy Saturday! And welcome back to my newsletter on leading for impact.
Would you do me a favor? If you’ve listened to an episode of the podcast, I’d be really grateful if you would go here and leave a rating and review.
Shout out to the kind folks who have left generous reviews already, including the ones below. I see you and appreciate you, Darren, Amanda, Barron, Bjork and everyone else who’s jumped in.
This week on the show, one of my best friends in the world joined me for a wonderful conversation about his work as a founder, investor, and super connector.
Ryan Delk broke into Silicon Valley at the age of 19, has worked at multiple incredible startups and now is the founder and CEO of Primer, where he’s working to reinvent the education system.
We talk about what it takes to solve a piece of a huge problem (education), the influences that shaped him, how he goes about building relationships and what makes teams perform at a high level. A couple people have said the last 8-10 minutes were their favorite.
Listen here:
- Apple Podcasts
- Spotify
- YouTube
- Show notes
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Let’s get to it.
A quote to make you think from a book worth reading
“Understanding, exploring, and addressing pain and suffering — that we have personally felt or witnessed — helps us identify our own sense of purpose and meaning in life. ”
-Shawn and Lawren Askinosie, Meaningful Work
Three links to encourage deep thought and breakthrough growth
I ended up down a rabbit hole of Marc Andreessen’s writing from 2007 this week. Marc is the co-founder of a16z, one of the leading venture capital funds in the world. In a rare move, I’m going to share three reads from one author because they were powerful when read in close succession.
I also enjoyed the metacognition of considering Marc 17 years ago, trying to document what he knows about entrepreneurship, luck, hiring, and more, with data as a guide insomuch as that was possible.
1 Age and the Entrepreneur (2007) | Read time: 9min
“Those who generate the most contributions at the end of a career also tend to have begun their careers at earlier ages, ended their careers at later ages, and produced at extraordinary rates throughout their careers.
You might’ve heard this debate before: what is the ideal age to start a business? To launch a career as a creator or artist? To do the most important work of your life?
This essay pulls the highlights from a data-driven review of the literature and shows that:
- Peak age of production is field-specific
- Total output is the biggest determinant of impactful work
- Even the best or most well-known people in their field are subject to the quantity law — great work requires a lot of shots on goal
- IQ is a determinant to a point (120) and then has no effect beyond that
Questions to consider as you read: What field are you in? Are you producing a quantity of work that will make it more likely you produce something great?
2 Luck and the Entrepreneur (2007) | Read time: 8min
“Curious people are more likely to already have in their heads the building blocks for crafting a solution for any particular problem they come across, versus the more quote-unquote intelligent, but less curious, person who is trying to get by on logic and pure intellectual effort.”
A review of research on what leads us to get lucky.
We think of luck as a random event that happens to us. But this essay highlights four different types of luck and what we have control over to increase our likelihood of getting lucky.
Luck matters. Do what you can to attract it.
Question to consider as you read: What’s an example of a time that you’ve experienced each of the four types of luck? What can you do to make luck more likely going forward?
3 How to Hire the Best People You’ve Ever Worked With (2007) | Read time: 10min
“Driven people don’t tend to stay long at places where they can’t succeed, and just because they haven’t succeeded in the wrong companies doesn’t mean they won’t succeed at your company — if they’re driven.”
Potent, clear, and specific advice on what to hire for and how to do it.
I agree, fwiw, that drive, curiosity, and ethics are three vital things to look for in the people you hire.
Questions to consider as you read: The last time you hired, what were you looking for? The next time you hire, what will you look for?
A Short Essay Based on My Work with Founders
Your Lifeline
One of my favorite and most impactful coaching exercises I’ve ever done is a “lifeline” exercise. It’s meant to help you look back at your life and understand the stories, experiences, and milestones that shaped you into the person (and leader) you have become today.
The exercise is simple:
- Grab one piece of printer paper for every five years of your life (for example, nine pieces of paper if you’re 45)
- Draw a line down the middle with the paper-oriented landscape/hot dog style
- For each five-year period, make a mark on the line for every major life event, relational dynamic, experience, failure, or achievement that caused you either pain or joy
- Consider using one color pen for pain and one for joy (or two different highlighters, etc.)
- Write a short summary or title to remind you why each mark is there
Depending on how eager you are to dive in (and how good your memory is), this can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours.
When I have done this on a couple of occasions, I often find myself looking back through old photos or texting family and friends to gather details I can’t remember.
Once you have your entire lifeline on paper, ask yourself a few questions:
- What is the story of your life?
- What are the most painful aspects of your life that have shaped you?
- What are the most joyful aspects of your life that have shaped you?
- What habits and patterns of behavior did you form as a result of the pain and joys of life?
- Which of those habits or patterns has served you well? Which are no longer serving you?
- How might you want to reshape your habits and patterns for your current goals and aspirations?
- Who are the people and what are the places that were involved in each of these moments? Are they still in your life? Why or why not?
- How do these patterns and habits show up in my work and personal relationships?
You can also add drawings, doodles, or additional notes as more thoughts come to you throughout.
When you get done, ask yourself one final question: How has my perspective shifted while doing this exercise?
Even the most talented and experienced founders often gain something from the exercise if they’ve never done it before (and those who have often gain something by repeating it).
If you feel skeptical, I understand. Perhaps now isn’t the right time. But if you feel open despite the skepticism, at worst, you’ll waste a bit of time thinking about your life story.
If you give it a try, let me know how it goes and what you take away from it!
Much love and respect,
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