SethG

Are you making that choice because your labor is cheap and convenient, or because it’s the place of maximum leverage? It’s often easier to be busy than it is to be productive.

A question from ​The Strategy Deck​ by Seth Godin:

“Better waves make better surfers. Are you on the right beach?”

An argument, though, is an exchange of ideas that ought to surface insight and lead to a conclusion.

Deadlines, loud requests and last-minute interventions are crude forcing functions. They’re inefficient and common.

It’s far more effective to organize for important instead.

We thrive when we do things when we have the most leverage, not when everyone else does. Waiting for trouble means that you’re going to spend your days dealing with trouble.

“Tell me about other strongly-held positions you’ve changed as the result of a discussion like this one...” is a direct way to start a conversation about the argument you’re proposing to have. “What sort of information would make it likely you could see this in a different way?”

Your job might not be to do your job. Your job might be to make the decisions and commitments needed to lead other people who do your (former) job.

A manipulator doesn’t care if the story is true. They’ve succeeded by taking advantage of our goodwill, our assumption that things asserted to be true usually are. A manipulator brings us a story that creates emotion–and causes action that the recipient ends up regretting. Manipulation isn’t resilient, because sooner or later, we discover that the ... See more

Confusing status with skill

The tenured philosophy professor at Princeton might not even be half as effective a teacher as the adjunct at the community college.

The head of surgery might be relatively better at meetings and politics than they are at actually helping patients.

Having a lot of social media followers doesn’t mean you’re really good at ma... See more

The most difficult part of adult learning is choosing to learn.