Category Archives: Business

What Poker Taught Tony Hsieh

Tony Hsieh’s book Delivering Happiness provides a roadmap to develop both employee and client satisfaction, focused on delivering happiness. It also includes business lessons from a successful entrepreneur that can be applied to our leadership journey, specifically if you are leading an organization.

Two takeaways for me.

Become a life long learner like Tony. Use your everyday experiences and use them to adapt. Tony was very good at applying life lessons to work.
A part of his book that really stuck with me was when he described his learnings from poker and the application to business. The lessons Tony presents are as follows:

Evaluating Market Opportunities

Table selection is the most important decision you can make.
It’s okay to switch tables if you discover it’s too hard to win at your table.
If there are too many competitors (some irrational or inexperienced), even if you’re the best it’s a lot harder to win.

Marketing and Branding

Act weak when strong, act strong when weak. Know when to bluff.
Your “brand” is important.
Help shape the stories that people are telling about you.

Financials

Always be prepared for the worst possible scenario.
The guy who wins the most hands is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.
The guy who never loses a hand is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.
Go for positive expected value, not what’s least risky.
Make sure your bankroll is large enough for the game you’re playing and the risks you’re taking.
Play only with what you can afford to lose.
Remember that it’s a long-term game. You will win or lose individual hands or sessions, but it’s what happens in the long term that matters.

Strategy

Don’t play games that you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.
Figure out the game when the stakes aren’t high.
Don’t cheat. Cheaters never win in the long run.
Stick to your principles.
You need to adjust your style of play throughout the night as the dynamics of the game change. Be flexible.
Be patient and think long-term.
The players with the most stamina and focus usually win.
Differentiate yourself. Do the opposite of what the rest of the table is doing.
Hope is not a good plan.
Don’t let yourself go “on tilt.” It’s much more cost-effective to take a break, walk around, or leave the game for the night.

Continual Learning

Educate yourself. Read books and learn from others who have done it before.
Learn by doing. Theory is nice, but nothing replaces actual experience.
Learn by surrounding yourself with talented players.
Just because you win a hand doesn’t mean you’re good and you don’t have more learning to do. You might have just gotten lucky.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice.

Culture

You’ve gotta love the game. To become really good, you need to live it and sleep it.
Don’t be cocky. Don’t be flashy. There’s always someone better than you.
Be nice and make friends. It’s a small community.
Share what you’ve learned with others.
Look for opportunities beyond just the game you sat down to play. You never know who you’re going to meet, including new friends for life or new business contacts.
Have fun. The game is a lot more enjoyable when you’re trying to do more than just make money.

Tony Hsieh and Delivering Happiness

There will come a time when all servant leaders become conflicted with focusing on profits or people. Tony Hsieh (1973-2020) does a great job of telling all of us how to link profits, passion and purpose. As Jim Collins tells us, it is the genius of the “and”, focusing on profits “and” people and not the tyranny of the “or”, focusing on profits “or” people. If you have not read Tony’s book on Zappos, or have not ever heard of Zappos, pick up a copy of his book “Delivering Happiness”. So many great lessons from the book and a shame that Tony is not around today to continue his journey of bringing happiness to others. All too often, those focused so much on bringing happiness to others have a difficult time bringing happiness to themselves – I also think of Robin Williams.

There is a great section at the end of book where Tony goes deeper on his quest on Delivering Happiness. Tony tells us that, when you ask people what their ultimate goal is (by following a five why exercise), everyone only wants to become happier.

Tony tells us that happiness is about four things:

Perceived control – Tony’s way to do this was to implement a “skill set system,” giving out small raises as each employee learned and mastered each of 20 skill sets laid out by the company. Having clarity and control over their raises made employees happier.
Perceived progress – Tony changed the practice of one large promotion into smaller promotions given on merit every six months. Employees were much happier because there was an ongoing sense of perceived progress.
Connectedness – the number and depth of your relationships. Tony believed happier employees made more productive employees, so Tony was always thinking about how to foster socializing and friendships at work – with initiatives like discounted food and relaxation areas.
Vision or meaning – being a part of something bigger than yourself. As part of this Tony brings in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Once you attain happiness, it can consist of three types of happiness:

Pleasure – Shortest lasting and requires constant stimulation.
Passion – Being in the zone – time passes quickly.
Higher Purpose – Being part of something bigger than yourself . This is the longest lasting form of happiness.

What to do if you are able to find true happiness? You need to share it. Your happiness will never decrease by sharing it with others.

Leadership Lessons from Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson is not just one of the most successful football (soccer) coaches ever, he is also one of the most successful leaders you can spend some time studying. Take some time and read over the Harvard Business Review – Ferguson’s Formula by Anita Elberse. In 26 seasons under Sir Alex Ferguson’s leadership, Manchester United succeeded in the most challenging football league in the world, the English Premier League. Manchester United won 38 domestic and international trophies, nearly twice as many as any other manager in the English Premier League. In this article, Sir Alex Ferguson breaks down his simple formula, consisting of the following key areas.

Start With The Foundation
Dare To Rebuild Your Team
Set High Standards – and Hold Everyone to Them
Never, Ever Cede Control
Match the Message to the Moment
Prepare to Win
Rely on the Power of Observation
Never Stop Adapting

Start with the Foundation. The foundation of every team is the key to success and consists of the vision, values along with leaders exhibiting those values. Good people will attract more good people.

Dare to Rebuild Your Team. There comes a time for every team to rebuild, taking too long can be detrimental. I tell everyone, from the first day a person joins our team, through every day as a part of our team to the day we say goodbye, treat each person with the respect they deserve.

Set High Standards – and Hold Everyone to Them. We’ve heard it all before, the culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate. Hold yourself to the standards, and hold everyone else to them.

Never, Ever Cede Control. Observe egos, which can be so destructive to a team. When the focus is on me, I and comparing myself to others – when we believe that other people around us are not as special as “me” – mutual respect disintegrates. Respond quickly when you see a negative influence, maintain control of the team and set the pace for expectations.

Match the Message to the Moment. Some messages are meant to be delivered to the team, some in person. Some messages can be used to recognize achievements while other ones can be used to highlight a situation that didn’t unfold as expected. Take time and prepare for every team communication.

Prepare to Win. Yes, Allen Iverson, practice is important. Not just to run through drills – skills and tactics. Training sessions are used to prepare for the big game when decisions are needed quickly. Help prepare the team to win in those tense situations.

Rely on the Power of Observation. Delegate supervision to others – trust, train and empower – and observe. Coaches need to observe, assess, clarify behaviors – recognize when result are as expected and show how to improve as needed.

Never Stop Adapting – Status quo is never an option – individually or with a team. Always learn and adapt – reflect on experiences, what went right and what didn’t. Seek out experiences from others.

Apologies for the poor quality, the graphic above is a scan of the visual reminder I keep in my office. Whose leadership lessons strike a chord with you?

Empowerment Part 1

In every leadership journey there will come a point where you will need to transition from a command and control leader (some would say micro-manager) to an empowering leader. It can be painful when someone refers to you as a micro-manager, we typically don’t want to be seen as control freaks. Command and control leaders can be very effective, look no further than Steve Jobs of Apple fame. Having a command and control leader can also be useful in emergency situations or working with a team that is very fresh and unskilled (think toddlers).

At some point, most people want to be empowered. Empowerment can be defined as giving authority or power to someone to do something. What are the basics to empowerment?

There are three basic steps to Empowerment – Trust, Train and Empower.

Empowerment begins with mutual trust – as a leader you must believe in the potential of the individual, trust that they want to do the right thing and the individual must trust you are there to support them.
Training is required, not just in the knowledge and skills required for the task, but also the “guardrails”. The guardrails are the decision boundaries including areas such as policies, procedures, SOPs’s, ethics and decisions that may show favouritism. The guardrails will change over time as the individual gains skills and knowledge.
The final step is to get out of the way and empower the individuals. Set up a pre-determined checkpoint where you will be able to provide feedback. For feedback, there is no better feedback than positive feedback when someone is executing to expectations.

Where do you lead from?

I just finished reading a book by Gabrielle Bernstein – “The Universe Has Your Back”. While the book focuses on teaching us how to transform fear into faith, the lessons can also be applied to leadership. One of the very powerful quotes is “Your purpose is to be joyful. Your purpose is to live with ease. Your purpose is to surrender to the love of the Universe so you can live a happy life. Accept the purpose of love, and your life will radically change this instant.” Now what leader would you rather follow, a leader that leads from the purpose of love or a leader that leads from the purpose of fear.

Leaders that lead from the heart will do the following:

Show warmth, an interest in the well-being of others, and a desire to connect.
Help others faced with a challenge.
Keep their commitments.
Appreciate, respect, encourage and empower.
Take the time, especially when they don’t have time.
Active listening.
Treat others’ time as if it’s as important as theirs.
Be as passionate about the growth of others as they are about their own.

Leaders that lead from fear often have the following:

Lead by using their position instead of influencing behaviors.
A track record of employee churn because they do not value people.
Have a team walking on eggshells because mistakes are punished, quite often publicly
A comfort in dysfunction. Whether at work of home, they enjoy arguing and intimidating others. Unfortunately this usually spills over into family situations.
Teams that lack confidence due to shortcomings always being pointed out and always been told what went wrong.

Fanning the Flames

A friend of mine has a podcast called The Little Spark. Topics that will inspire creativity, genius or madness that will provide inspiration.

Leaders are always looking for inspiration and new ways to either motivate themselves or their teams. For me, it can be a long trail run listening to an audio book, a casual conversation with someone, watching a Ted Talk or listening to interviews. Wherever you find your Little Spark, the difference is is what you do with it. What do you see from high performers that fan the flames of little sparks?

Put lessons into practice quickly. Look at elite sports teams, after a tough game they review performance, make corrections and begin practicing for the next game.
They learn from others. Otto von Bismarck said it best “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others”.
They get feedback on their performance. Without feedback, you are left guessing about performance.
They are always looking for opportunities to learn and grow.
They continue to look for little sparks in everything they do.
They learn how to say no and stay focused on their goals.

High Achievers, Anxiety And Your Strength Is Your Weakness

Two times this past week the topic of anxiety and high achievers came up. In both cases, it caused me to pause and reflect on my life and leadership journey.

The first time to reflect was when reading an article that found it’s way to my inbox . It was a Harvard Business Review – How High Achievers Overcome Their Anxiety by Morra Aarons-Mele from March-April 2023. (https://hbr.org/2023/03/how-high-achievers-overcome-their-anxiety) Without a doubt, as you continue along your leadership journey there will be times that will come along where you will be exposed to stress and anxiety. Systems of anxiety can be feeling nervous, restless or tense, an increased heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, trembling, feeling tired or trouble concentrating.

The second time this week was an interview – Zane Lowe interviewing Post Malone following the release of his latest album AUSTIN. So often we look to sports or business leaders regarding anxiety and high performance. During the interview, Post Malone discusses his anxiety and his need to turn to alcohol or drugs to prepare him for concerts or interviews. Post Malone mentions a couple of times that he is trying to enjoy the journey and not focus on the destination.

Zane Lowe and Post Malone

The Harvard Business Review is very informative and a powerful introduction to anxiety, its effects and ways to live with anxiety along with the benefits when managed properly. You will be introduced to topics such as Monkey Mind – trying to focus but your mind wanders far away, Worst Case Scenario – the Stoics loved this one and instead of avoiding thought on what can happen they would face it head on. Most importantly you will be introduced to practices to help – identifying the source of anxiety, self-compassion, humour, exercise, self-talk and guided meditation.

Focusing on my goals has always been a strength of mine and along with it has come a certain level of anxiety. One of my supervisors once told me “I am happy when you are worried about something because I know you will solve the issue”. Easy for him to say, he didn’t know the effect on me. When I reached my early 30’s, blessed with two children and a career where I was the person to send somewhere in the world when a problem needed solving I started experiencing the warning signs. Always eager to take on and overcome the next challenge, I started finding myself having trouble sleeping, tense and feeling sick. I went to my family doctor and received some of the best advice I have every received. He told me, I could give you some medication but I suggest you go to a local Mindfulness clinic – an eight week program located in my hometown. It was difficult for me to go as I have never been someone to admit weakness. Mindfulness has been my go to for anxiety and my practice continues to this day. Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgement. When Post Malone says he is focusing on the journey and not the destination – this is the basic lesson of mindfulness.

What works for me will not work for everyone. The important lesson is to recognize the symptoms and if it gets to be too difficult, seek out methods to learn to live with anxiety and turn it into your superpower.

Do you have a Growth Mindset?

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has the famous saying and that is to be “The Hardest Worker in the Room”. Other examples in sports were Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. It takes a certain hunger to overcome adversity and to develop the drive to outwork others. In order to do this you need to have a “Growth Mindset”. The figure below compares the behavioral traits of those with a Growth Mindset and those with a Fixed Mindset. If you are in a leadership role, more than likely you have a Growth Mindset – challening yourself and looking around for inspiration. Inspiration can come from observing others, reading books, taking courses or spensing time with others that have successfully put in the effort to achieve what you are looking for.

Show up, even when you don’t feel like it. Make learning a daily priority. Challenge yourself and then others. Do the jobs that others aren’t willing to do. Encourage the team. And most importantly, be consistent! Can a Growth Mindset be nurtured and developed – the answer is yes. Whether it is your children or team members with a Fixed Mindset, there are steps that can be taken to develop the Growth Mindset.

Dr. Carol Dweck gives us some tips:

Recognise the powerful influence that beliefs have on final results.
Improvement is always possible.
Eliminate chronic self-doubt.
Become more “Goal focused”.
Life requires evolutionary growth.
Evolution is growth by degree.
Contained within every defeat are seeds of an equivalent benefit.
Mind your language.
Thoughts are things.
Be guided by your Visions of a better future.

Newton’s First Law (Law of Inertia)

Newton’s first law (the law of inertia) states states that if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force.

Being an Engineer, I love when we can apply laws of physics to our daily lives and leadership journeys.

Perfect time to understand this law with the NHL hockey playoffs on right now. You get the player cruising into the other teams area, focused on the goalie and where to shoot the puck, when WHAM!!!!! Out of nowhere comes a 200 lb hockey player focused entirely on you and how best to stop your motion. This is a force that is difficult to get away from and following the impact, you learn a lesson you will not too soon forget.

Now, in our personal or leadership journeys it is very easy to maintain status quo – either at rest or following a straight line. It is very rare that a 200 lb man will crash into you and remind you not to eat that sugary treat, drink one more cocktail, continue to think of ways to become more efficient even when your company is profitable or look for ways to engage your team members and help them grow even after a recent promotion. It comes down to each and every one of us to continue to improve every day. We have been given an opportunity to exist in our current state on this planet for a limited time.

There are so many opportunities in life to seek out information, techniques and better ways of doing things. We are bombarded with blogs, books, articles and tips of the day. It is up to you as a leader to continue to look for ways to improve, either by searching out information or coaches that can help in your journey. The force required for change can come from within or can come from outside. Think of the case when your Doctor tells you that if you don’t veer from your current path you may reduce your time on this planet. Or when your supervisor tells you that status quo is not an option and without change you may be looking for a new job.

Be the force necessary to make change in your life.

Gresham’s Law

Gresham’s Law: The Bad Drives Out the Good As Time Passes

Gresham’s Law was first applied to economics. In ecomomics, Gresham’s law is a monetary principle stating that “bad money drives out good”. For example, if there are two forms of commodity money in circulation, which are accepted by law as having similar face value, the more valuable commodity will gradually disappear from circulation.

Whenever coins containing precious metals have been used along with base metal coins of the same denomination, both legally accepted as tender, the bad coins have driven the good coins out of circulation. Gresham’s Law is named after Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579), an English financier in the time of the Tudors.

One practical application of Gresham’s Law and perhaps the most important is to avoid becoming part of systems where good behavior cannot win due to the nature of the law. There are certain companies and organizations that lack the “policing” necessary to keep systems of behavior on the straight and narrow, and thus bad behavior gains a hard-to-replace foothold. While it’s admirable to be the “cleanest shirt” in a pile of dirty laundry, certain areas of human life do not allow the clean shirts to win. As a leader, when you do observe behavior that is not acceptable, it is your duty to deal with it and not reward it. If you do, over time bad behavior will drive out good beahvior.

People and Characters – Good Versus Bad | Straight Talk

Learning To Lead

Learning to lead is a life long journey