The Pyramid Principle — Lessons from McKinsey
“At McKinsey, “start with the answer first” was drilled into us. When an executive asked a question — “What should we do?” — you were to start your response with, “You should do X,” very crisply and directly. Only then, after you have answered the question, should you present your supporting reasons. Why?”
This article was filled with incredible advice for anyone who works with clients of any kind. I have been working on this top-down approach when it comes to answering questions for some time now. Trust me, it’s a lot harder than it sounds.
Hustle :: A Quick Etymology | The Hundreds
“Our current hustle derives from the Middle Dutch hutselen, apparently meaning “to shake money in the game of hustle-cap.” Did you just think about shooting dice? Funny how the same hutselen or husselen in modern Dutch refers to shaking or tossing.”
It’s interesting that the term “hustle” was associated with “shaking money” so early on.
I went on vacation and a funny thing happened — I didn’t do any work — Signal v. Noise
“We get fewer days off than many other countries Even though we get fewer days off, we still don’t use them all When we do use them, we’re so worried about the remote possibility of getting fired or missing out on a promotion, that we just keep on working anyway And even if we get past all that, the jerks at our office contact us about work while we’re on vacation Wow, American vacations sound horrible!”
This. It’s incredible how many people I run into that simply don’t use their vacation days because they are too busy or don’t want to let their team down. Don’t forget that vacation days are correlated with how much you make annually. In other words, you’re robbing yourself if you don’t take them. If you work at a company that looks down on you for taking your vacation time I would recommend reconsidering your work situation. I used to work at companies like this and I’m glad I now work somewhere that encourages taking vacation days.
How to Be an “Irresistible” Consultant — Medium
“In the end though, if you work at an agency, and your work is providing some sort of services for a client which they are choosing to not do in house… Congratulations, my friend… You are a consultant. Because even if you’re a web designer, or a developer, or a digital analyst, or a creative writer… they’re not just hiring you for the service you provide, but your expertise in that service. You might not be delivering garbled 200 page strategy docs full of nonsense, but they’re still consulting with you.”
Last month I finished the book “The Secrets of Consulting” which was a great recommendation from my colleague, Ben. Since then, I’ve been thinking a lot about what being a consultant means. I think the above quote summarizes it well.
Abraham Lincoln’s Tough-Love Letter to His Step-Brother About Laziness and Work Ethic
“Your request for eighty dollars, I do not think it best to comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little, you have said to me, “We can get along very well now,” but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether since I saw you, you have done a good whole day’s work, in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work, and still you do not work much, merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it. This habit of uselessly wasting time, is the whole difficulty; and it is vastly important to you, and still more so to your children, that you should break this habit. It is more important to them, because they have longer to live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it easier than they can get out after they are in.”
Abraham Lincoln on tough love. We need more of this today. Instead of giving someone he loved the money they requested to borrow, he decided to teach them a lesson by not lending the money and helping his friend understand he has a problem. This is true love.
How I became (and stayed) a successful programmer — Signal v. Noise
“The best way to improve (at anything) is to learn from people better than you.”
“When I’m around these talented programmers, I constantly keep my eyes and ears open for nuggets of wisdom. I watch how my fellow programmers carry themselves, how they breakdown a problem, how they talk to each other. I look at their code for patterns and style choices that I can mimic. I remind myself to talk less and to listen more.”
This is my attitude around the amazing people I get to work with every single day. There is always something to learn, so observe and learn!