Just want to share an anecdote of a 500 people company that I'm based in. The company surprisingly nailed all the points that are made by the OP. And the positive effect of having such a weekly Friday All Hands is apparent. This initiative has only been implemented a month ago, and before that there was a sense of low morale in the team as they were in the dark as to the direction of the company and perhaps their work lacked recognition. However, after the implementation of the All Hands, the teams got invigorated by well-deserved recognition from the leaders and in front of everyone. And in general everyone became clearer of the company's mission and key focus through presentations and Q&A. If there are musically inclined folks in the company, it definitely helps to lift the spirit of the team singing along with songs they are playing at the end of it.
If you are a leader of a company considering having All Hands, rolling it out as described in the article could set your team in the right path.
I remember all-hands meetings like that - one in particular where the CEO tried to buy the hotel at 4am so he could order the bar open. The withering disdain of the barman was quite something.
Mind you this was in Scotland so "sufficient alcohol" really means something.
Sounds like something from Withnail & I! "All right, Miss Blennerhassett, I'm warning you, if you do, you're fired. We are multimillionaires. We shall buy this place and fire you immediately."
At least one version of OS/2 came with a midi version of Ever Onward buried in its pre-installed sound files. Seeing that songbook makes me hear it all over again.
> If there are musically inclined folks in the company, it definitely helps to lift the spirit of the team singing along with songs they are playing at the end of it.
There are musically inclined folks everywhere.
I'm pretty musically inclined but dear lord I would never do this, nor would I work anywhere that did.
While we could debate on the meaningfulness of his goal, I find the person admirable. We could perhaps award more credit to the fact that this is a 44 year old person who is taking the difficult course of going through the material of CS on his own and then setting a clear goal to aim for. And of course not forgetting to celebrate his virtue of learning for life.
People complain about Google style of interviewing but I like the idea that you can at least prepare for them. I'm sure there are many companies that wouldn't even consider because you're too old or because you don't have the right background.
Hey Michael, is it imperative to have a problem to start a company and get to product/market fit? I am thinking of successful companies like Starbucks and P&G whose customers are definitely not in hair on fire mode. Or is this framework of getting to product market fit for tech companies only? Your thoughts?
I was hoping the author would provide further elaboration on why he thinks China's economy is doing ok when I read the title. However, there does not seem to be much substantiation for why he thinks China is doing ok. It would be ironic if he had based it on China's release of GDP growth figures.
"For all the frenzy, the economy is still growing, if somewhat sluggishly by Chinese standards, and most ordinary citizens are not invested in the market. What's at stake is the government's credibility."
"Tended to manage larger companies.
Made up to $187,000 a year more than higher-pitched peers.
Lasted as many as five months longer as the head of a firm."
This is an interesting research. I have not read the research underpinning this article on WSJ, but somehow I cannot shake away the notion that this is more correlation than causation for determining the CEO's success. Btw, do some of the famous tech CEOs - Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg - have low pitch or high? I think theirs might lean to the higher pitch of the male voice spectrum.
This is a far-fetched claim. The argument doesn't hold water and it is less convincing given that the author only uses his own anecdotal example of how he is forced to concentrate given low energy to back up the claim. Willpower needs energy and thus most people need energy to concentrate on difficult tasks.
I like to work at night for his other reason that there is almost zero distraction save the social media feeds. However, I think my well-being in the day time is being compromised as I do so. Haven't found a good solution to that yet.
While his claim is anecdotal, the idea is not. There are psych and drug studies that suggest the same. Also, my own anecdotal evidence says that both working late and the Balmer Peak are effective for just this reason.
That brings to mind Carol Dweck's research on mindset in which she categorized people who bore either the fixed or the growth mindset.
Fixed mindset presumes that our aptitude are static and that we cannot change in any way; success is merely the result of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard. The striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. In other words, a huge amount of ego is tied to it that does not help progress. And unfortunately, this is very limiting to allow for the full potential of any individual to take shape. This article is an important reminder that it is not how good we are but how good we want to become.
