Hi,
After two years in quarantine in Turkey, I have been lucky enough to spend the past couple of weeks in the US, reconnecting with friends, family, and colleagues. I have realized that going completely virtual has robbed me of the subtle joy of human connection. Where I would usually count the minutes until a zoom call ends, I find myself losing count of time spent during these encounters.
“Communication is merely an exchange of information, but connection is an exchange of our humanity.” - Sean Stephenson
** For this month, here are some ideas, hacks, and mental models to think about:
- The Surrogation Bias: How Metrics Can Destroy Your Business
- Constraints Drive Innovation
- Strategies For Those Feeling Anxious About Returning To The Office
- Great Leaders Are Damping Capacitors
- The Power Of Diaphragmatic Breathing
** The Surrogation Bias: How Metrics Can Destroy Your Business
Wells Fargo was good at metrics. Their internal strategy was centered around increasing customer value by selling them a variety of products and services. The CEO branded the approach himself: The “Power of 8”. The idea being, cross selling 8 products to each customer. Naturally, management started tracking and measuring how many products sales would cross-sell. Internally, folks forgot the original intent of the metric. The metric became the objective. This phenomenon is called surrogation. It cost Wells Fargo billions of dollars in fines and untold billions in brand damage.
According to neuroscientific studies on surrogation, it was concluded that an abstract strategy being measured by a clear and concrete metric, will almost always result in a substitution of the metric for the goal. In other words, if you start measuring code commits or lead time without a clear strategy, the metric will become the goal.
Preventing Surrogation:
- Get the people responsible for implementing the strategy to help formulate it.
- Loosen or eliminate the link between metrics and incentives.
- Use multiple metrics rather than one.
** Constraints Drive Innovation
I firmly believe that leaders should create constraints to inspire creativity and innovation. I recently came across a fascinating story about one of the primary creators of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - Hélio Gracie. Hélio was physically weak and also suffered from vertigo. These constraints prevented him from excelling in other fighting forms that required strength and stamina. Given these constraints, he developed a new style of fighting that utilizes leverage and has become one of the most popular martial arts of all time.
** Strategies For Feeling Anxious About Returning To The Office
I was chatting with a friend over breakfast a few days ago, and he was telling me how COVID changed his life. He felt being at home forced him to create a balance he had not known prior. According to him, “I’m far less stressed and far more effective.”
For many, returning to the office has induced a sense of dread and anxiety. Here are some tips to help ease the transition from WFH to the office:
- Go easy on yourself - treat the transition like starting a new job. Even though you’re returning to your old workplace, so much has changed that you can expect to feel the same kind of adjustment stress.
- Get back into your old routine gradually, to help dissipate your anxiety. Returning to something after having avoided it for so long will always induce some fear.
- Apply what you learned about your work style during WFH at the office. Consider the social rhythms that best support your productivity, the strategies for getting work done, ways you manage interruptions and communication. This will help add some familiarity to your day.
** Great Leaders Are Damping Capacitors
In a discussion with one of my friends and mentors, Tim Born, he proposed a key trait of great leadership: great leaders, when bombarded with stress and negative energy, are able to diffuse it, and when they sense a spark of positive energy, they are able to amplify it. The inverse also applies: a suboptimal leader amplifies negative energy and neglects positive energy. I think the same can be said about parents, too.
** The Power Of Diaphragmatic Breathing
Rickson Gracie, the renowned BJJ practitioner, suggests that short, shallow ‘chest-breaths’ irritate emotions and disturb calmness, due to too much activity close to the heart. So by pushing your breathing down to your diaphragm, not only does your breath capacity increase, but you experience greater negative energy release and increased calmness. Rickson can calm himself to the point of sleep, five hours before a fight.
Beyond emotional control, this kind of breathing releases muscle tension, increases oxygen flow (and thus focus and alertness), and helps balance the autonomic nervous system.
Wishing you a September full of connection,
Ahmad