Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Seth's Blog : A source of stress

Wanting to do two things at the same time. If you're on the stairmaster at the gym, you're engaged in a workout voluntarily. But if your job involved standing on a stairmaster all day, every day, you'd be stressed out. Because you want to stay (you need ...

A source of stress

Wanting to do two things at the same time.

If you’re on the stairmaster at the gym, you’re engaged in a workout voluntarily.

But if your job involved standing on a stairmaster all day, every day, you’d be stressed out. Because you want to stay (you need the paycheck) and you want to leave.

A volunteer fireman feels totally different about a burning building than someone who is trapped in one.

That’s because the volunteer goes in on purpose.

The distinction (and the stress) comes down to the word “but.”

I need to do this but I hate it.

I have to stay but I want to go.

The external forces might not be changeable, but our use of the word “but” can be.

If it’s what you want to do, then do it. Dropping the “but” costs you nothing but stress.

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Monday, 30 July 2018

Seth's Blog : Old buildings on the edge of town

"We're not going to be here long." That's because this project isn't going to work and we can't afford to stay, or because this project is going to work and we're going to move up. That's a pretty profound thing for some real estate to say about ...

Old buildings on the edge of town

“We’re not going to be here long.”

That’s because this project isn’t going to work and we can’t afford to stay, or because this project is going to work and we’re going to move up.

That’s a pretty profound thing for some real estate to say about its corporate tenant. And the employees absorb it each and every day.

Compare that to a bank in the big building in the middle of town… They’re in maintenance mode, how could they not be? It’s too hard to move—up, down or out.

Choose your metaphor, choose your narrative. It’s not just your office, of course. It never is.

 

[For those intent on moving up, consider applying to the altMBA. The last session of the year happens this fall.]

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Sunday, 29 July 2018

Seth's Blog : Our engineering ratchet

Quietly, over the last thirty years, engineering has become dramatically more efficient and effective. Insulated glass, cars that don't break down, keyboards with just the right feel to them… Mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering are all ...

Our engineering ratchet

Quietly, over the last thirty years, engineering has become dramatically more efficient and effective.

Insulated glass, cars that don't break down, keyboards with just the right feel to them… Mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering are all moving faster than ever.

Several factors are at work:

  1. Computer aided design and engineering means that smaller teams can do more, faster.
  2. The internet shows engineers the state of the art immediately, so everyone is working off the latest benchmark.
  3. Markets are more open to levelling up… new innovations that translate to productivity are adopted more easily.
  4. There's an expectation that better is possible, so organizations are hooked on seeking out better. The ratchet turns the ratchet.

When we're in the middle of it, we don't see it. But travel back in time just a bit and you'll see that few things worked as well as they do now.

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