Weekly thoughts #4
Thank you for being interested in this creative space. It adds a new layer of meaning to this blog to know that my reflection or thoughts might positively impact your life.
Here is a summary of what interested me this week and my published posts. Enjoy!
Quotes that made me reflect.
On the importance of focusing on curiosity and lifelong self-discovery in education. (something I feel is truly missing in our current system).
The correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting — no more — and then it motivates one towards originality and instills the desire for truth. Suppose someone were to go and ask his neighbors for fire and find a substantial blaze there, and just stay there continually warming himself: that is no different from someone who goes to someone else to get to some of his rationality, and fails to realize that he ought to ignite his own flame, his own intellect, but is happy to sit entranced by the lecture, and the words trigger only associative thinking and bring, as it were, only a flush to his cheeks and a glow to his limbs; but he has not dispelled or dispersed, in the warm light of philosophy, the internal dank gloom of his mind.
Plutarch, "Moralia. On listening to lectures.", first century.
On the amount of useful energy, we have at our personal disposal today
And when put in terms of physical labor, it is as if 60 adults would be working non-stop, day and night, for each average person; and for the inhabitant of affluent countries this equivalent of steadily laboring adults would be, depending on the specific country, mostly between 200 and 240.
Vaclav Smil, How the world really works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going (2022)
Most recent posts
How much space do you give on your pros and cons list to relationships, spirituality and meaning? - Link to share
Founders make a lot of decisions.
We learn how to be data-driven: measuring, evaluating, and projecting.
What happens when these skills spill over into decisions in your private life?
While building a successful startup, you develop frameworks for data-driven decision-making: what is enough data, when to take a decision, how to decide among alternatives, how to effectively follow up on a decision, and much more.
There is a good chance that this mindset gets ported to your own life outside work.
However, these tools will give you a false sense of security and completely discard everything you cannot measure.
How much space do you give on your pros and cons list to factors related to relationships, spirituality and meaning?
Most probably much less space than any financial argument.
When deciding on major life decisions, go for what you cannot measure first and listen to your inner voice.
It does sound reductive to decide to be a parent, starting with a "pros and cons" list focused on the financial impact, right?
A tool that I often use to get into value-focused mind space is this one:
I picture how I would like an ordinary Tuesday in 5 years to look in as much detail as possible. From when I get out of bed to the last thing I see before closing my eyes. Who is with me? What gave me joy and meaning? What first concepts and words resonate deeply, instinctively?
That is the starting place. That is what your decisions should have as a north star to chart the course. Data-driven tools can help work backwards and define the most probable and efficient way to get there.
Support your employees while growing your early-stage startup - Link to share
As a founder, you are under pressure to deliver results in a short amount of time. This pressure is something you are used to and probably thrive with. It is a source of meaning and enjoyment! It can sometimes turn into negative stress, but you have learnt how to handle it so that it doesn't become a chronic condition.
However, what about anyone else working at your company? There will be transition periods for your company where you are small enough that your direct efforts matter and large enough to employ non-founders in your company. This transition period is the one I found the hardest to manage personally as founder/CEO.
You will probably always be understaffed for what you want/need to do, and this pressure will trickle down to everyone in the organisation. You have been training to handle these feelings and have decided to start a company. Your employees did not. Setting up a culture where everyone can thrive with it is key to scaling an organisation. How do you do that while you can focus only a limited part of your time on "managing" instead of "doing"?
Here are some thoughts from my first-hand experience in your shoes:
- Have regular chats with everyone and ask open questions
- When you feel something is off, probe in depth with open questions to get to the real core.
- To do that, you need to be present and listen. It is better to meet fewer minutes but higher quality minutes.
- Understand what is essential for each of your employees and what is their coping strategy for stress. What makes them excited, motivated and connects with their strengths?
- Lift responsibility for the outcome of tough choices from your employees as much as possible.
- Take complete ownership of the result, and ask them to take ownership of their efforts.
- Joint prioritisation is the best antidote to the overwhelming feeling that there is too much to do. Formalise with your employees the decision on priorities.
- Help make fluffy and abstract incumbent feelings of stress into something tangible, concrete and fully actionable in the short term.
- Most of all, show that you are in this together. No one is alone. And the journey is extremely rewarding if you look for it!
Thank you again for taking the time and joining me on this journey. Let me know if there is anything that you found most exciting or any reflection you might have.
Feel free to forward this mail to anyone that could be interested!
Have a fantastic day/night wherever you are,
Francesco