Hey Reader!
I’ve been heads down this past week recording new podcast episodes and that’s about it, so we’ll get right to the good stuff. One new feature this week is a question to consider as you read each article I share. Send me feedback on whether it improves the reading experience!
A quote to make you think from a book worth reading
“I have always wanted to have—and to be around people who also wanted to have—a life full of meaningful work and meaningful relationships, and to me a meaningful relationship is one that’s open and honest in a way that lets people be straight with each other.”
– Ray Dalio, Principles: Life and Work
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This book is worth reading not necessarily because Dalio has figured out the most important principles everyone should live by… but because it encouraged me to think about my own principles to live by based on the good, bad, and neutral experiences I’ve had in my life.
If you feel drawn to get clear on what you’ve learned and how you plan to work and live for the next decade, this is a great book to spark deep thoughts on your own principles to live by.
Three links to encourage deep thought and breakthrough growth
1 How We Make Decisions at Coinbase by Brian Armstrong | Read time: 9min
“The vast majority of decisions in a company are low-risk and should be made unilaterally by the owner of that area (e.g. should we move the stand up meeting from Mon to Tues this week). A decision making framework is only needed when there is lack of clarity about a decision that is higher risk. Higher risk can mean that the decision has long term implications or that it can be costly to unwind if the wrong decision is made.”
Making important decisions is one of the most vital acts of leadership in a company. Distributing good decision making throughout your org means you can move faster and have more impact. But sometimes there are decisions that a big enough and irreversible enough that you need good process to arrive at the best decision for the company. We used this framework when I was a COO of a $25M revenue startup and it worked well.
Question to consider as you read: What decision making process could you put into place at your company so that more people could participate in better decisions, faster?
2 How People Learn to Become Resilient by Maria Konnikova | Read time: 10min
“Resilience presents a challenge for psychologists. Whether you can be said to have it or not largely depends not on any particular psychological test but on the way your life unfolds. If you are lucky enough to never experience any sort of adversity, we won’t know how resilient you are. It’s only when you’re faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, emerges: Do you succumb or do you surmount?”
Resilience is a hallmark of founders who are able to build sustainably profitable and impactful companies. You need to be resilient if you’re going to be in this for the long haul. This essay is a great overview of the research on what we know about how to foster resilience in ourselves and others. It starts with how we process hard shit that happens to us. Do we take back our agency or do we succumb to it?
Question to consider as you read: What is the hardest thing you’ve experienced in the past year? How has it affected your sense of well-being? What strategies from the article have you or could you employ to turn that hardship into meaning for your life?
3 Think Twice Before Taking the Top Job by Arthur C. Brooks | Read time: 8min
“The reasons usually presented for leadership failure are predictable enough: an inability to build a team, poor communication skills, an unwillingness to do hard things, selfishness, misconduct or moral turpitude, and so forth. But one huge reason that I have seen again and again almost never gets serious attention: Leaders fail when they hate being the leader.”
I hesitated on whether to share this article given that you’re likely already in the top job if you read my work. I landed on sharing for one specific reason: knowing whether you want to be in charge can be a huge service to yourself and your current or future team. This essay might normalize your experience if you’re struggling through the transition to leadership OR it might help you realize you don’t want to lead a company or team after all.
Question to consider as you read: Do you really want to lead? If so, how can you maintain your resilience through the hard parts? If not, how could you continue to shape your career without needing to lead a company or team that’s bigger than you?
An idea sparked by my client work to help you lead better
Many of us become founders in part because we’ve either struggled to find a sense of belonging in past places of work or because we want to create the sense of belonging we’ve always sought at work. This leaves us with the responsibility to create belonging for ourselves and the people on our teams (if we grow beyond ourselves).
Belonging comes from many factors. One of them is knowing that our organization is a place where we have a voice. And if the goal is to get the best outcomes possible for your company, then it’s your job to encourage people to use their voice and speak up on behalf of those outcomes.
When something threatens our ability to speak up — whether it’s a strong personality, a fear of losing our job, or the fear of losing a friendship — it also threatens our belonging. The best ideas should win, not the person with the most power.
As a leader, you have a responsibility to create space for others to take up their full space and to use their voices to help reach your shared goals.
As a teammate, you have a responsibility to take up your full space and to speak up when you have ideas, feedback, or needs that aren’t being met.
Here are three questions I learned from my friends at Reboot.io to help you speak up or invite others to speak up more often:
- What are you not saying that needs to be said?
- What is being said that you’re not hearing?
- What are you saying that’s not being heard?
Your answers will reveal the conversations you might be avoiding (or shutting down).
Much love and respect,
If you enjoyed this newsletter, forward it to a founder friend. You can also recommend me to a founder or creator as a coach.