On building of All Trades

Job titles are just the most visible ladder of them all. It’s interesting that pompous executive job titles were invented during the Victorian era. This is when we started the trend of calling a cleaner a hygiene technician. A bin man became a waste management and disposal technician. Later on, a call-center worker became a communications... See more

Anne-Laure Le Cunff • The tyranny of job titles: from vanity growth to personal growth

Generalists have shirked the the notion of a true job title to fit their work and have followed the thread of providing value and making an impact. No wonder there’s a group of talented professionals hiding in plain sight given how constricting the traditional job titles have become in affirming our professional worth.

There are different paths to success in the building of a startup, and it’s important to choose the one that aligns with your goals and values. Do you want to build the biggest business possible, or do you want to build a business you’re proud of and want to continue working at?

Lenny Rachitsky • Jason Fried challenges your thinking on fundraising, goals, growth, and more

I am aware that I shouldn’t judge how people try to escape the 9-to-5 grind. I am aware that a job’s purpose is money, not emotional enrichment. I know!

What I am instead arguing for is something more expansive. The thing you should work hard at is everything . Finding ways to imbue each moment with meaning and purpose and effort is the only path... See more

Evan Armstrong • Devote Yourself to the Cause of Your Life

It offers flexibility and scalability for businesses. Companies can adjust their workforce easily, scaling up or down without long-term commitments. This approach also reduces the need for routine employee management tasks like performance reviews and social events.

Another key factor is cost efficiency – hiring freelancers can be more economical... See more

Michael Houck • Startups are Experiments

On choosing different org structures and hiring models for your businesses

The arrogance of improvement

Who are you to make things better?

How dare you raise your hand to help, offer an idea, take responsibility...

Perhaps it might be helpful to reframe that feeling as the generosity of improvement instead.

If not you, who? If not now, when?

The arrogance of improvement

People don't care what you can do, they care about what you can do for them.

100 Simple Truths

Many concepts can be explained concisely, in simple language, and we should all strive for clarity. But the aphorism is a mistake, for a number of thoughts approximate the carpenter’s craft, and to meaningfully reveal them requires time and attention. Sometimes these cannot simply be told to another at all, they must be grown. For a topical... See more

Simon Sarris • Long Distance Thinking

Projects rarely unfold in a linear fashion; they require frequent course correction. Most trainees should spend more time on a project’s decision tree than they currently do. Once you get into a project, you will have learned from your initial experiments, new papers will have been published, and technology will have advanced. As a result, at any... See more

Problem choice and decision trees in science and engineering: Cell

Instead of doing broad but thin market research (e.g., customer surveys), focus on one person (or a small group) and go as deep as you can, learning everything about how your product fits into their broader lives. Or become your customer—spend a day, a month, or even a few years in the role you're trying to sell to before attempting to build a... See more