Blog
Words. Wisdom. Winners.
Both
Should we go after 18-24yrs or 25-35yrs?
Should we go after market 1 or market 2?
Should we focus on mobile or desktop?
Should we focus on merchant or customer?
Should I focus on work or life?
Both is wrong
Both is the average
Both is not equal to doing more
Both is not what will make you win
Both might just make you lose
If unsure between two choices, both is almost always the wrong response.
Pick one. Do more.
Earning respect
Your colleague invites you to her wedding, by sending a personal email with the invitation card attached
Response 1:
Open the email
Read it
Reply back
“Thanks <insert colleague name>
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I am traveling and will unfortunately not be able to make it. Thanks for inviting me :)
Wishing you both a lovely wedding. All the best and God bless”
Response 2:
Open email
Open card
Read the details
Reply back
“Thanks <insert colleague name>
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I am unfortunately traveling on the 19th and will be unable to make it. Sorry about that and thanks for inviting me
Wish you and <insert bride’s name> a wonderful life ahead. All the best”
Time check
Response 2 > Response 1 by 10 seconds
Respect check
Response 2 > Response 1 by infinity
Respect doesn’t come from title. It comes from conduct.
Gut
Gut is an awesome thing
It supercedes data
It drives immediate action
It’s based on experience
It’s already rationalized
It’s you
Your judgement
Precisely the reasons why gut is also a bad thing
Because most people end up using gut to express fear.
“I know I know, all the facts are right, but it just doesn’t feel right”
Gut is your enemy when you use it to represent your fears
Excel sheet leadership
If, as a leader, you take all your decisions based on excel sheets, devoid of emotional labor, you are a victim of excel sheet leadership.
Here is the deal about excel sheet leadership.
It’s an oxymoron. It doesn’t exist.
The hard part is going through each cell on that sheet.
The hard part is listening and responding to all exceptions.
The hard part is looking at the world from someone else’s perspective.
Excel sheet leaders die young. And they die as managers.
The rest become leaders
Ideas
Received an email yesterday. A fellow entrepreneur wants to get into the gifting space. Wants to offer 2 hour delivery and only brands. Because no one else is serving this need.
Here is the deal
No one starts a business saying I will deliver bad products and I will deliver slow.
There is an economic reason behind everything.
Everything.
I always do myself a favor whenever a new idea hits me.
I tell myself – “you are stupid. People before have already thought of this idea. But how come no one has done it yet?”
Ideas don’t need parents.
They need work
Everything that happens
Everything that happens, happens for a reason
Perhaps true.
Everything that happens, happens for the good
Perhaps true.
If you wait long enough, everything will explain itself. Everything will settle.
But is that the best use of your time?
#getshitdone
What is respect?
The reality of firing is not that of capability. It’s rarely that.
It’s that of a value mismatch. The value that is being added is lesser than expected or the strengths possessed are not valued enough.
The same value can be significant someplace else. And it usually is.
The hard part about firing then becomes realizing this fact. And thus still maintaining respect for the individual.
I have personally fired 27 individuals in my life.
Not one of them would refuse to help me if I called them one day for help.
Most would say that the firing, though painful at that stage, was a wise decision eventually.
They were told, with respect, of how the mismatch will not work out. For both parties involved.
That it is best for both to move on.
Maintaining respect for the opposite side, when the side has not delivered, is a hard thing to do.
It is also the right thing to do.
Respect is never situational.
Problem with the 5%
I have a golden rule for policy making
Solve for the 95%, not for the 5%
Look around you.
Most rules and policies are drafted to curb the 5% that deviate. Not to acknowledge the 95% that adhere.
No car blinds for the 5% rapists
Punch cards for the 5% free loaders
25 yrs drinking limits for the 5% that can’t control
Daily reviews for the 5% that can’t self manage
Bell curve for the 5% that don’t fit in
And it’s obvious why that’s the case
It’s the 5% that create the most chaos
They make the most noise
They destroy the most
They seek the most attention
They get the most attention
The 5% will make themselves visible come what may. The hard work then is to make the 95% visible.
Don’t let the 5% takeover
Sorry
Sorry, I won’t do this again
Sorry, I didn’t think through this
Sorry, don’t punish me
Sorry, I did this on purpose
Sorry, I do not care
Sorry, I now know what I have to do
If your sorry has multiple intents, don’t expect forgiveness as the only reaction
Jazbaa
Jazbaa is an Urdu word
Translated in English, it means passion
It is the only thing that makes the world move
Or not
Jazbaa is a good thing
Don’t become comfortable
Have jazbaa
Subscribe to warikoo wanderings