Remember that we discussed conventions in the session on bigger dreams, and how people can add new value to work if they question deeply held assumptions? here’s a great example of an inferior convention: the way we board airplanes. Turns out that there is a far faster method. Are you surprised by which is the fastest?
All posts by Morten Hansen
lean startup at GE
Here’s an interesting article on how General Electric is applying ideas from lean startup and focus on rapid learning in product development (a type of deliberate practice with those refrigerators).
“The feedback was hard for the engineers to hear, but it made a huge impact on them. In January 2013 the team came out with a “minimum viable product.” They put it out in front of customers, and … the customers didn’t like it. The first feedback they got was that the stainless steel was too dark. So they made it a lighter shade of silver. Then the lighting tested poorly. They revised it and tested it again. They cycled through several product iterations. By August they had version 5, and customers started to like it. They built 75 of version 6 in January 2014 and response so far has been positive. They’re now working on version 8, which they will produce in October, and version 10, with better lighting, and there is a design projected for 2015. They intend to launch new products every year.”
Enhancing your charisma
Here’s an article interviewing the author of the book “the charisma myth.” I personally think she is going too far in saying that it can all be learned, but one can certainly enhance it, and especially through the 3 components of charisma she is talking about. A little glib.
Samsung going simple
New York times writes that new Galaxy 5S is all about simple. Less is more.
“Samsung must have made a New Year’s resolution to stay more focused.”
Jiro writeup
In the Jiro assignment, there were two questions. Here are specific points that your writeup should have covered. (if you haven’t heard from me, your writeup is fine and a pass.)
1. Why successful. Clearly, his personal qualities–work ethic, perfectionism, etc.–play a large role in explaining his success. However, that alone is not sufficient. His intense focus and narrow scope (one small restaurant serving only 15-20 pieces of sushi) allow him to concentrate and dedicate everything to this one quest. His embodies the principle of “do less, not more.” Choosing to focus is part of that; the immense dedication to that one focus is the other part.
2. Comparison to Gordon Ramsey. Ramsey is the opposite and he too is successful. Ramsey runs a restaurant empire, with one restaurant having 3 michelin stars. His metrics for success seem to be celebrity and financial, very different from Jiro. But he is not considered the very best at what he does, even though he is extremely good. One can be successful without doing less, but perhaps not the very best.
How to say no and have conflict
In this blog post, there is a reference to being able to say no;
“Last spring, the man got marching orders to promote 13 new books rather than his usual six. He walked into his boss’s office and calmly declared, “This (assignment) is too much. I don’t think I can do it,” he recalls.
The boss agreed, and immediately reassigned several titles. “The sky didn’t fall,” the vice president notes. “That was kind of a great moment.” ”
Also, the article is about the ability to stimulate productive conflict, something we will talk about in the session on “build, fight, and unite.”
WhatsApp: simple, doing one big thing well, worth $19bn!
Here’s from the founder of WhatsApp; “The simplicity and the utility of our product is really what drives us.” It really fits our framework. One big dream, “messaging app on every smartphone in the world,” and incredibly focused, just messaging. no adds, no games, no gimmicks. Th price paid by Facebook just shows how Silicon Valley has lost any connection to reality. But good for the founders of WhatsApp.
Forming Habits: The idea of “exercising”
It seems that there was some confusion in the last minutes of class today regarding the exercise of finding techniques for becoming better at focusing and simplifying in daily work. Sorry to have not been clearer. Here’s the idea in a nutshell. We can all learn to focus and simplify better. We can learn about that in the classroom and go out and do it ourselves. Our we can have a mobile “coach”–a system that drops tips on us, small techniques to implement in a day. They not only help us do better that day, but they also help us form a habit. For example; let’s say that on this coming Monday you received a notification on your phone, “Today, say NO to something you want to do that takes at least one hour of your time, then use that time instead to work on a key priority.” So you say “No!”, and then you get stuff done that hour, feel good, and now you have taken a first step in learning to say NO. Then maybe you will just continue doing so, forming a habit of learning to say No in order to focus. These are “micro-habits” that together and cumulatively leads to more effective behaviors.
As an analogy, a few months ago I signed on to weightwather.com to learn how they cajole their customers to lose weight. They try to get people to engage in small habit changes, routines they call them. I chose to do “put down your cutlery on the table between bites” (the theory being that when you slow down eating, you eat less). Similarly, when you don’t bring your smartphone to meetings, you probably listen better , if that’s what you’re working on.
Big Bad Dream!
We talked briefly about the downsides to big dreams. One is that people with evil intentions can also dream big, and even pull off their dream. Here is an amazing example of such a big bad dream, what the Economist called “the King of Con Men.”
http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21568583-biggest-fraud-history-warning-professional-and-amateur-investors
TED talk on Rules of Simplicity
Here is an interesting TED talk from an old colleague of mine from BCG. He is talking about a forthcoming book from BCG on 6 simple rules: how to manage complexity without getting complicated.