Theme.
This week's #founderhacks are on the art of getting stuff done.
Seen.
Hey Good Looking
Years ago, one of us had a very small IT consulting business.
The business served other, very small businesses.
A learn from these days was that when meeting a new client, it was always possible to tell what the founder would be like from the files they had on their shelf.
If they were labelled with felt tip, in no particular order and a mess, the founder was often similar. Stressed, a little dishevelled, and being driven by their business rather than driving it.
Conversely, if the files had printed labels, were in order and had been treated with care and thought, the founder would often be calm, self-possessed, and making sure their business operated well.
Maybe caring how things looks is infectious. A founder caring about files looking neat and tidy, maybe sets a tone for the whole business.
The Japanese even have a word for it: Yarikata. It means "the way of doing" and it speaks to taking pride in doing the simplest of tasks exceptionally well.
Read.
Cooking Up Something Good
Another Jim Collins this week:
"People execute well if they are clear on what they need to do. People execute well. if they have the right skills for the job. People execute well if they have freedom and are supported. People execute well if they are appreciated for their efforts. People execute well if they see the importance of their work."
We thought this was rather a good recipe.
We also shared experience that sometimes you can find people who are able to create these conditions for themselves. They're often who we want leading our businesses alongside us.
Learned.
Trust In Me
In many ways trust is the essence of business.
But trust can also be critical to getting things done.
No business can grow based on a founder working harder. At least, not for very long, and it will hurt a lot.
So trusting the right people at the right time is effectively all we can do to grow our business. And learning how to trust and who to trust is a key skill for founders.
Who do you need to trust next?
And finally.
One of us always has bookshelves behind him when we record our podcast.
This week he described them as "the shelves of shame." Containing a myriad of business books that sit there quietly mocking the fact that he's rarely made it past the first few pages of most them.
This said, our experience has been that a lot of business books contain 80% of the value in the introduction and first two chapters. The rest being examples and reiteration so they have just enough pages to make it look serious.
We've been thinking we might like to write a book. Maybe we should just write an introduction and two chapters and stop.
Brevity of wisdom is underrated.
Don’t forget to check out the accompanying podcast version of #founderhacks for a tantalising live experience of team atomex!
