Resilience and tolerances

Resilience is what happens when we’re able to move forward even when things don’t fit together the way we expect. And tolerances are an engineer’s measurement of how well the part… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Faucets and drains

Some people, every time they engage with others, are an energy drain. They take persuading, cajoling and enthusiasm to get going, and require ever more of it to keep going. And some people are a fa… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Unexpected yet totally plausible

That is where breakthroughs lie. If you keep poking around the expected, it’s unlikely you’ll be surprised by what you find. | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

‘Move fast and break things’ isn’t a worthy slogan

…because ‘breaking things’ isn’t the point of your work. How about, “Move fast and make things better,” or “Move fast and create possibility”? The re… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

“You made my day”

When your day gets made, how long does it last? A made day–is that different from a normal day? Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a made hour or, if we’re going to be quite t… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

The surprising secret of web headlines

It’s not that difficult to write a headline that people click on. But a headline that people click on is rarely one that earns trust, sustained attention or action. Which means that if you… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Monopoly is the opposite of capitalism

If you believe in the benefits of the free market, then the logical conclusion is to oppose policies that a market-dominating monopoly decides are in their best interest. Adam Smith and his descend… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

People who don’t care…

…doing things that they don’t understand, for managers who have no sense of strategy, in an organization that measures all the wrong things. Everyone involved unable to honestly answer … | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Everyone and no one

Rarely true. “Everyone loves it.” “No one wants to be my friend…” More effective and accurate to replace these words with, “someone.” | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Truth in bots

All day we interact with others. And sometimes, they’re bots. Perhaps you’re in a chat room, and after a few Eliza-quality backs and forths, you realize that this helpful voice isn̵… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

To vs reply vs bcc

How much of your inbox activity is initiated by you? What percentage of your email threads started with an email you wrote? And how much is spent replying to others? And finally, how often are you … | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

“I don’t like your work”

That doesn’t mean I don’t like you. The difference is critical. It’s impossible to be a productive professional if you insist on conjoining them. Here are two useful things to con… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

On feeling incompetent

At some point, grown ups get tired of the feeling that accompanies growth and learning. We start calling that feeling, “incompetence.” We’re not good at the new software, we resis… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Choice and obligation

If it’s an obligation, then you don’t have a choice. Pretending you do is simply a way to create frustration. Free yourself to simply do what you have to do. On the other hand, if you d… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

The first piece of tape

I’m sitting on a black couch in the lobby of a nice theater. The couch is cracked and peeling, with seven strips of black gaffer’s tape holding it together. And you don’t have to … | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Five reasons you might want to start a podcast

You’ll meet some amazing people. Most podcasts are based on interviews, and having a podcast is a fabulous excuse to interview fascinating people. It will help clarify your thinking. You migh… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Experience and variation

The only way to learn from experience is to have different experiences. The very nature of an experiment is that there’s a chance you’re doing it wrong, or at least less ‘right… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Telescopes and microscopes

It pays to look at opportunity with a telescope. It’s real, but it’s distant. The telescope brings it into focus and helps you find your way there. Telescopes are easy to find if you lo… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Work before passion

“Offer me something I’m passionate about and I’ll show up with all of my energy, effort and care.” That’s a great way to hide. Because nothing is good enough to earn y… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Too important to have a fight about

Battle lines drawn. Positions solidified. Arguments made. All thrilling, perhaps fun, but unlikely to change minds. If your cause is important enough, it’s worth taking the time and emotional… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Skill vs planning

If you’re a gardener, planting orange trees in Ottawa, and nothing’s growing, it’s possible to beat yourself up, burn yourself out and say, “I’m a bad gardener.”… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Who’s in the room?

We accidentally curate who comes to the meeting, who has a seat at the table where decisions are made. We almost randomly decide who is interviewing and being interviewed, who is brainstorming, who… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

The practical de-escalation of worry

In order to maintain its power, common anxiety (sometimes called worrying) needs your help. Constant reminders, moments of conflict and concrete examples all pitch in to keep our worry on the warpa… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Some problems are easier to sell

In order to solve a problem, you need to sell it first. To get it on the radar, and to have people devote time, resources and behavior change to address it. Human beings in our culture are wired to… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Mastering the medium

We know what it sounds like when you’re great at AM radio, classical music or even reality TV. We can imagine the tone and content you’ll need to be really good at being on Broadway. Ja… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

The trap of early feedback

We skew our thinking based on the first feedback we get. That’s the moment of maximum fragility, and so our radar is on high alert. But the math doesn’t hold up, and this high alert can… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Workshop updates

Today’s the very best day to sign up for the Business of Food Workshop. It’s being run by the extraordinary entrepreneur and UC Berkeley professor Will Rosenzweig. You can see all the d… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Workshop updates

Today’s the last-best day to sign up for the Business of Food Workshop. It’s being run by the extraordinary entrepreneur and UC Berkeley professor Will Rosenzweig. You can see all the d… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Hard work

Consider two loading docks at small companies. At the first, a tractor-trailer filled with heavy boxes shows up. The sole worker on the dock is tasked with unloading the trailer, asap. He puts on h… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

CNP

As Close as Necessary to Perfect The thing is, with limitless focus and energy, just about everything can be improved. That’s not the question. The question is: Is this thing you’re wor… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Productive choices (which?)

When you’re doing scary creative work, or work that requires emotional labor, it’s natural to want to walk away a bit. To distract yourself. To go shave a yak, mindlessly eat or bother … | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

What if you pretended, just for a little while…

What if you acted as if? What if you pretended that you were glad to see me, happy to deliver this service, eager for it to be well received? What if you acted as though you were more charismatic t… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Digital peer pressure

“You’re using it wrong.” That’s how culture develops, of course. That’s why no one uses ALL CAPS IN THEIR EMAIL ANY MORE. Culture develops online at the speed of light… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Are you being manipulated?

Pundits, politicians, hustlers, unethical marketers, hucksters and grifters seek to manipulate people every day. Manipulation is pushing for a change that benefits the manipulator, not us. It’… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

The business of food

Everybody eats. Every day. I’m thrilled to announce a new workshop, one that could change the way you work (and have an impact on the rest of us). There are few products or services with as u… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

When you’re over your head

As you gain a reputation for doing projects that work, it’s not unusual for the stakes to go up. For projects to look and feel bigger, with more inputs, more decisions, more pitfalls. It can … | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Getting the word out

For some, this is the holy grail of marketing. If only more people knew what you know. If only they were aware of what you have to offer, of the work you can share. Perhaps you can get more people … | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

The job interview approach

That meeting on your calendar, the one scheduled for tomorrow. What if it were the final interview for a job you care about? Would you show up on time? Where would you sit? What sort of questions w… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

The honor code

Does introducing an honor code presume that the people involved have honor, or is it designed to create a space where honor can develop? An honor code: The simple expectation that we trust you, tha… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Data is expensive

The iHome alarm clock, common in hotels, shows a small PM when the time is after 12 noon. I arrived at my hotel at 7 pm, carefully setting the alarm for 6 am the next morning. Of course, I failed t… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Are you selling to a professional or an amateur?

A professional is going to buy from someone like you. They’re going to have a process to review the process, a method, an experienced approach to obtaining what they need. A professional isn’t goin… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

The $37,000 latte

If you live in the city and grab a coffee or a snack every afternoon for about $4, it’s a vivid example of the cost of debt. You’re either a little behind or a little ahead. Over ten ye… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

The repetition of stories

It’s not difficult to maintain a grey cloud and a sullen outlook. The event is long over, but the story remains. A proven approach is to keep repeating the narrative that led us ever deeper i… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Opportunity costs just went up

Every choice has a price. If you have $100 to invest and you buy this stock instead of that bond, the interest you gave up in making your choice is your opportunity cost. At the dinner buffet, you … | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Contractor yield

Imagine you’ve got a set of plans for a simple one-family home. And imagine that you’re a developer with acres of land waiting to be subdivided. You could hire four different contractor… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Magical technologies involving media-friendly disasters are the hardest to sell

Cars are many times more dangerous than airplanes. More dangerous per mile, more dangerous to bystanders, more dangerous in every way. And yet there are very few people who say that they are afraid… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Relentlessly lowering expectations

We always compare performance on a relative basis. “Well, it’s better than it was yesterday…” Toddlers, for example, seem like geniuses compared to the babies they used to b… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago

Magical technologies

Cars are many times more dangerous than airplanes. More dangerous per mile, more dangerous to bystanders, more dangerous in every way. And yet there are very few people who say that they are afraid… | Continue reading


@seths.blog | 5 years ago