Part 3 of my mental model series. Hopefully by writing these down I am making my own modest checklist to run through while making a decision (a la Charlie Munger’s 24 point check list). Part 1 is available here and part 2 is available here. Let’s jump right in.
How likely are you to bump into someone doing something bad and in reality, they are actually doing it for the first time in their life. Hint: highly unlikely. Also think of the flip side, what would someone say when they get caught doing something bad – ‘I’ve never done this before and will never do it again’. Another related point is to manage and handle small transgressions and not let them carry on. They always fester and grow into larger issues. The broken windows theory is very much a practicality.
Authority figures persuade us more than they should. This is one of the key influence techniques used by people and is mentioned by Robert Cilaldini in Influence. It is not very hard to gain a medium level of competence by reading up on things and then ask the right questions to the authority figures to explain why they believe they are right.
Intrinsic motivation is the truest form of motivation. A lot has been written about it but what a lot of us miss is that you could actually crowd out this motivation in trying to amplify it with tangible benefits. I wrote about this in detail in trying to answer if one must pay their kids to read. In Sweet Spot, Paul Bloom discusses motivational plurality and says the best life is one that strikes a balance between pleasure and meaning. Too much of any one thing is bad.
My simplest and shortest takeaway from Essentialism is to default to saying No and only on careful consideration make way for a Yes. Don’t let others use your sprinklers to water their lawns. Take control of your time and priority.
One of the more important aspects of running a company is to not find yourself sitting on your laurels. In his book Loonshots, Safi Bahcall calls this “milking the franchise” – when a company falls into the trap of doing more of the same and ignores changes in technology or markets and doesn’t adapt. Kodak, PanAm and Polaroid are examples that built their businesses on the back of groundbreaking technology but went into the milking mode and lost out.
Countless studies have proven how people who have strong relationships feel a strong sense of belonging and make the happiest group of people. The famous 75 year Harvard study on happiness also clarifies this and so do countless other papers by psychologists. When in doubt, focus on relationships as they constitute almost all that’s good in ones life and give meaning and purpose to our pursuits.
I run a startup called Harmonize. We are hiring and if you’re looking for an exciting startup journey, please write to jobs@harmonizehq.com. Apart from this blog, I tweet about startup life and practical wisdom in books.