Discipline makes Daring possible. – Page 90 – Musings from The Disappearing Boss on People, Process and Responsible Autonomy for small-business employers.

August 11, 2020

Idiot-proof

“I try to invest in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.” Warren Buffet.

There are 2 ways to make a business idiot-proof.

One is to build a business that generates and shares real value, making and keeping promises to customers and continually improving how it does that. All protected from a potential ‘idiot’ at the top, because there is no top. The people who do the business run the business, the way an orchestra plays a symphony, without needing a composer to be present.

The other way is to build and protect a racket, a monopoly (Buffett calls this ‘putting a moat around the business‘), that can’t help but make extraordinary profits, no matter who’s in charge.

The first way takes investment, but for most of us, it’s the affordable option (as well as being the right one).

August 10, 2020

Automate Drudgery

I’m a firm believer in automating drudgery – boring, repetitive unsatisfying work, often physically hard, and often involving tasks that we humans really aren’t that good at.

So I welcome software that automates sending emails, or makes it easier to book people onto a job, or does my bank reconciliation for me.

But every time we automate, we insert a veil beween us and the people we serve, making it easier to forget why we are doing the work – to help another human being flourish. As layers build, it becomes all too easy to slip into thinking about people as mere statistics, rather than the flesh and blood individuals they are.

The way to counteract this is to consciously use the energy and attention released by automation to make a deeper connection with the person on the other side.

For the people who spend their lives behind whole walls of automation and disconnection, this will feel ‘wasteful’. It isn’t.

It’s an investment that will pay off handsomely, for both sides.

August 7, 2020

Planning for Serendipity

Did you know, the word ‘Serendipity’ was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754?

The ‘Serendip’ part refers to an old name for Sri Lanka and a Persian fairy tale about 3 princes who were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”.

Lots of breakthroughs have been serendipitous – penicillin, graphene, Post-it notes, Nutella (apparently). If you go back far enough most of what we eat and drink must have been discovered serendipitously – cheese, tea, kimchi, alcohol, even cooking food at all.

Serendipity doesn’t just happen though. And of course someone has created an algorithm for it.

Serendipity is fundamentally about noticing. Mindfully observing the world and what happens in it, without a specific purpose, but open to the possibility of discovery.

Three things are key to making serendipity work:

First you need time to notice.
Second you need to be exposed to the unfamiliar.
Thirdly you need a way to capture your noticings that allows them to be retrieved and reviewed from time to time, increasing the chances of making new connections or sparking new ideas. Even better if you can retrieve and review as a diverse group of people.

None of these things are inherently expensive to do. They probably also make life more interesting.

Why not find a way to plan them into how you improve your process, daily, weekly or monthly?

You never know what might turn up.

August 6, 2020

Make it well, make it last

“Do your work as though you had a thousand years to live and as if you were to die tomorrow.” Shaker saying.

If I have a thousand years to live, I’m going to see the long-term consequences of my work. I won’t be able to hide behind ‘I won’t be here, it doesn’t matter to me’. I’d better be making sure my work is solid and my impact positive.

If I’m going to die tomorrow, I can’t hide behind ‘I’ll get round to that later’. I’d better be getting on with it.

Now is the only time we have to make a difference.

Luckily, making a difference is the most satisfying work there is.

August 5, 2020

Transience for the long term

For as long as there have been humans, we have wanted to have the world remember, somehow, that ‘I was here’.

It won’t.

But if we embrace our transience and instead of using our energy to hoard – stuff, money, power, love – we use it to create systems that enrich people and planet, other human beings will.

For a little while at least.

August 4, 2020

Form follows Function

“Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.” Steve Jobs.

That’s true of all human artefacts, including a business.

Form follows function.

Our default business form follows its historical economic function – the concentration of capital and consequently power, to the apex of a pyramid.

If we want business to do something else, we need to give it a different shape.

One option:

August 3, 2020

All-inclusive

I bought a book yesterday.

No surprise there. I do that often, which is partly why we’re having an extension built.

As usual, the book came in several different electronic formats, and for a modest additional fee, you could add a print copy. So I did.

The link duly came through to the download page.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that ‘all formats’ includes audio.

But imagine my amazement when I saw that ‘all formats’ also includes EPUB, HTML and Kindle editions in Spanish, German, Italian, French, Russian, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Chinese, Swedish, Japanese, Indonesian, Punjabi, Turkish, Hebrew, Croatian, Catalan, Hungarian, Korean, Malay, Polish, Swahili, Tamil, Tagalog, Ukranian, Hindi, Thai and Afrikaans.

Derek Sivers doesn’t waste words.

But he sure as hell wants everyone to be able to read them.

July 31, 2020

Problem-solving

It’s hot. Too hot for me. My office is on the south side of the house, so it gets plenty of sun. And of course I’m at home, where I don’t have air conditioning.

It’s difficult to think, difficult to get down to anything, difficult to come up with ideas.

I can’t do anything to make the room cooler.

Luckily, I have at least 4 other options:

I could work on something that requires less mental energy, such as completing my expenses, or getting together my accounts information for tomorrow.
I could move myself north, into the cool side of the house.
I could sit my feet in iced water (I’m at home after all, nobody will see).
I could stop early.

Sometimes, acknowledging what you can’t change, makes you see what you can.

July 30, 2020

Wiring

One of my favourite feeds, Corporate Rebels, shared a really interesting post today “Removing Bureaucracy and Hard-Wiring Trust”

It’s a really great read, about instilling responsible autonomy into your team, clarifying the ‘compass’ that will guide individuals, and setting a few big rules for ‘How we do things round here’ ( based around “Act In the Best Interests of the Company”)

But.

Where’s the customer?

And where’s the continuity? What happens when these particular individuals move on? How do new people learn quickly?

It’s brilliant and essential to empower your people and your teams. But it’s more sustainable to include some infrastructure too.

Some actual wiring. Built around the people you serve.

July 29, 2020

Circles

Do you ever feel like you’re going round and round in circles?

I’ve been feeling that lately. And as usual, ended up not far from where I started.

It hasn’t been a complete waste of time though. Going back over everything has made me think it all through again, so this time round, I’m approaching with more confidence.

Time to move in a straight line now.