⫹⫺ The Secret Equalizer
CMMN WLTH 127 - Cheat Codes for Creators, Makers & Doers
Hello my friends,
Focus is the secret equalizer.
Not talent.
Not 10,000 hours
Pure surrender to one thing.
In this week’s newsletter:
The art, science (and love) of design, a culture of maniacal focus and the most successful people find one thing they love and do it for an incredibly long time.
If you find CMMN WLTH useful, I’d appreciate if you shared it with your brightest friends and colleagues ↓
– Andy
*Product
A Conversation with Jony Ive
"Because we spend all our time talking about what we can measure, that’s all that matters. And that’s a lie.”
Jony describes the attention to detail he practiced designing elements as mundane as the headphone cable wrap. Why did he care? Because millions of people would experience it.
Building an excellent team culture means inviting each other in. Once a month the apple design team would host dinners at their homes for the whole team.
We shouldn’t be afraid of expert opinion. “That’s your opinion” is a cop out. You wouldn’t say the same thing to a surgeon.
*People
PayPal Mafia Culture by Keith Rabois
“Most great innovations at PayPal were driven by one person who then conscripted others to support, adopt, implement the new idea.”
Contrary to most organizations, people were promoted based on their technical expertise. The best product person would run product, the best engineer, engineering.
PayPal culture encouraged employees to challenge the top management. Not speaking up was considered worse than expressing your opinion. The ethos was - “come to work everyday willing to be fired”.
David (Sacks) implemented an anti-meeting culture where any meeting that included more than 3-4 people was deemed highly suspect. Annual review forms included a direction to rate employees on not scheduling unnecessary meetings.
*Process
David Senra - The Focused Few on Invest Like the Best
“Great ‘anything’ takes time”
The people who are the best at what they do are completely focused, are not in a huge rush and they don’t set performative goals. They find something they love to do and do it for an incredibly long time.
Charlie Munger quote: “I didn’t succeed in life because of intelligence, I succeeded because I have a long attention span”.
Companies optimize for growth vs. durability because growth is easily measurable but durability is what really matters.
*Out of Office
Put aside your political biases for a minute and read this:
1 in 5 American children are obese.
Childhood cancer has risen by 40%.
85% of teens are considered inactive.
The U.S. spends 2x on health vs. the next country.
Over 40% of American children suffer from chronic disease.
The Make Our Children Healthy Again report is the first time the government has admitted and documented that there is a problem with chronic disease in the U.S. ↓
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