February 2009
19 posts
Desire for Meaningful Work Triumphs Over Pay,... →
Money has diminishing returns once you’ve got your basic needs met. Instead, people want to do meaningful work to be fulfilled:
Approximately half (51 percent) of those surveyed are prepared to accept a lower wage or a lesser role if their work contributes to something ‘more important or meaningful… One overriding trend is that people want their jobs to provide a degree of...
How Bad Apples Poison Groups →
An experiment shows that
The worst team member is the best predictor of how any team performs
But there is one case where the bad apple doesn’t poison the group:There was one group that performed really well, despite the bad apple. There was just one guy, who was a particularly good leader. And what he would do is ask questions, he would engage all the team members, and diffuse conflicts. I...
How to Discover What Customers Want →
Here’s how:
How do you figure out gigantic concerns?
Try asking CEO’s this question: “What keeps you up at night?”
“If you can’t get people to pay for what they love, we’re all out of...”
– Tom Ascheim, via Mark Hurst
Money = Happiness, But There’s a Catch →
Money can lead to greater happiness for the person possessing it and those around them, if it is used to buy experiences, not possessions… experiential purchases, such as a meal out or theater tickets, result in increased well-being because they satisfy higher order needs, specifically the need for social connectedness and vitality — a feeling of being alive.
The No-Stats All-Star →
Michael Lewis (author of Moneyball), writes in the NYTimes about Shane Battier, an undervalued NBA player. Battier focuses on process - he optimizes his game for events he wants with the highest probability. Example:
The ideal outcome, from the Rockets’ statistical point of view, is for Bryant to dribble left and pull up for an 18-foot jump shot; force that to happen often enough and you have to...
The Interview Question You Should Always Ask →
From the article:
Obsessions are one of the greatest telltale signs of success. Understand a person’s obsessions and you will understand her natural motivation. The thing for which she would walk to the end of the earth.
What are your obsessions?
(via Caterina)
This column will change your life →
From the article:We can’t control outcomes in any sphere of life. All you can do - and therefore the only responsibility you have - is to put in the time and effort: into relationships, parenting, finding happiness, whatever. The actual result, in a profound sense, is none of your business.
Lately I’ve been focusing more on enjoying the details of the task at hand, rather than...
Discovery-Driven Planning →
The planning process should be different when starting a new venture:
Conventional planning operates on the premise that managers can extrapolate future results from a well-understood and predictable platform of past experience. One expects predictions to be accurate because they are based on solid knowledge rather than on assumptions. In platform-based planning, a venture’s deviations from plan...
“Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.”
–
Tim O’Reilly
Watch“The core skill of innovators is error recovery, not failure avoidance.”
“Mastery in anything is a really good predictor in the thing you want done.”
“We want people who are more interested than interesting.”
- Pixar: The model for a new workplace
“Test-driven development applied to education: before learning a topic, kids...”
– Kathy Sierra
I wonder what else you can apply test-driven development principle to… cooking? Negotiation? Relationships?
Why Incentives Are Effective, Irresistible, and... →
Incentives often focus on improving one-variable world. But we live in a multi-variable world, so optimizing for one variable often has unanticipated negative consequences.
CEO Compensation Research: Why You Want Rich... →
Why you want rich people to set your compensation:
For every $100,000 that the average member of the compensation committee is paid, the CEO’s pay goes up another $51,000 per year. These effects are independent of firm performance and size!
“‘When you love something, it tells you all its secrets.’ This always...”
– Never give up (but be very quick to change)
“Without something to strive for, we stagnate and become stuck in ruts of our own...”
– DailyOM - Goals
“There’s never time to do it right but there’s always time to do it...”
– anon, via Nivi
“Process refers to the emotional intelligence skills you have about managing...”
– What are you good at?