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’s often based on misinformation. Mostly, the test for manipulation is: “if you knew what they know, would you be happy to do what they’re asking?”
It might be something as simple as tricking you into clicking, or as expensive as signing away your house. It might be the daily news cycle or the relentless push to make people feel inadequate or unsafe.
Some simple questions worth asking:
1. How does this announcement/offer/news/pressure make you feel?
2. Is there something about this news that touches a hot button issue or fear? Is the story being told designed to trigger you?
3. Are you surrounded by people who are also engaged with this news? Is it becoming a mob?
4. Is the presenter of the news using external pressure to push you into acting in ways that contradict your self-interest or self-esteem?
5. How would you feel if you discovered that the story you just heard wasn’t actually true?
By the time you’ve asked all five questions, it might be easier to resist what felt irresistible.
February 6, 2019
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 universal a demand, or where the side effects are so profound. Too often, there’s insufficient access to food, harmful health impacts, inefficient supply chains, and a reliance on petrochemicals–these are problems and these are opportunities as well.
This year, humans will spend more than seven trillion dollars on food. That food will do more than simply keep us alive, it will make us feel alive, change our culture and impact the planet.
The good news is that there’s more leverage than ever before. More power to more people. More chances to make a difference and to make a living doing it.
This is your chance to understand the ecosystem and to actually do something about it.
We’re inviting you to check out our new workshop. The Business of Food is based on one of the most popular courses at the top-ranked Haas business school at UC Berkeley. And it’s taught by the bestselling author, entrepreneur and ruckus maker Will Rosenzweig.
He’s joined by colleagues from the food industry (including Danny Meyer and Alice Waters), as well as a cohort from his Berkeley course.
Here’s a conversation I had with Will a few weeks ago:
This new seminar sits alongside the others that we’re now calling The Akimbo Workshops. More than 50,000 people have been through one of our online courses and seminars, and now we’re inviting experts to lead some new workshops we’re putting together.
The Business of Food Workshop is, like all of our workshops, a chance for you to develop your own point of view, to try out ideas surrounded by people on a similar journey. Our discussion boards are active 24 hours a day, with the typical participant posting more than 100 essays or projects over time.
Will is focused on the big picture, but he has the experience and passion to help you turn that into practical steps you can take as you seek to build something that matters.
Signups begin today, and the first session starts soon. Will’s work is game-changing and we’d like you to be a part of it.
The Business of Food might be a good fit if:
- You’re considering an entrepreneurial venture
- You work in food policy
- You care about the ecosystems around us
- You already work in a food-adjacent industry
- You’re actively considering making a leap and want to understand the systems thinking that can change our culture and our health for the better.
You can find all the details here. If you click on the green leaf that we hid for blog readers, you’ll save some money on tuition–but the discount decreases every day.
I’m eager to have you check this out–change is happening, and we need your contribution.
February 5, 2019
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 be thrilling, but you can also begin to flounder.
Here are two analogies that might help you decode what’s actually going on…
It’s entirely possible that the water is quite deep. The thing is, if you’re used to swimming in water that’s six feet deep, then sixty feet of depth is actually no different. It’s not more dangerous or difficult, it simply feels that way. Giving a speech to 20,000 people isn’t twenty times more difficult than giving one to a thousand.
It’s worth reminding yourself, regularly, that the work hasn’t changed, merely your narrative about the stakes involved.
On the other hand, if you’re used to surfing 6 foot swells and you find yourself on an island in the Indonesian archipelago—where the swells are 25 feet—this is a good moment to sit on the beach for awhile.
Surfing bigger waves is not the same as surfing small waves but with more effort. It’s an entirely different interaction, and it’s not all in your head.
Take a lesson. Take five lessons. Give yourself the room to learn. Don’t jump from 6 to 25 in one day. And don’t assume that just because you’ve figured out how to survive at 25 that you’re ready for 50. Big waves are usually right next to big reefs.
Begin with the question: Is this a deep water problem or a big wave problem?
The internet is filled with deep water moments, and we can get our narrative straight and learn to thrive even when we think the water is too deep.
And our careers often offer us big wave moments. When you see one, don’t walk away right away, but get yourself a coach.
February 4, 2019
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 to click on your video, read your tweet or see your Instagram.
Alas, awareness is not action.
Everyone reading this is aware that Peru is a country. But that doesn’t mean you’ve visited recently, or have plans to go soon.
Everyone reading this is aware that turnips are a root vegetable. But knowing they exist doesn’t mean you’re going to have them for dinner.
Awareness is important, but it is insufficient.
Action comes from tension, desire and fear. Action is the hard part.
February 3, 2019
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, that you call your own fouls, that you act honorably even if you think no one is watching…
As we think about implementing this, we need to decide between, “people are so dishonorable, it makes no sense to trust them” and, “the only way to help people become more honorable is to trust them.”
A similar question: Is it foolish to build a school that relies on students to take responsibility, to learn for the sake of learning, to lead–even though we know that this isn’t what they’ve been trained to do since birth?
The chasm is, “kids only want to do the minimum, what’s on the test…” vs. “if we want students to develop a desire to actually learn, we’re going to have stop rewarding them for just what’s on the test.”
One more:
Should employers say, “the people who apply for jobs are distrustful and are so used to being overworked, manipulated and mistreated that we need to offer work that treats people like cogs, with tests, measurements and demerits,” or do we take a risk and trust them to lead? Perhaps the long-term approach of, “let’s treat people as we’d like to be treated, and trust them to use their best judgment” will actually change things…
And in all three cases, when it doesn’t work the first time, we have the same choice again. And again.
To trust people, to raise the bar, to insist on people finding their best selves.
Because that’s the best way to make things better.
February 2, 2019
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 to note that the tiny ‘pm’ wasn’t showing when I set the alarm, which means when I was setting the alarm, the clock thought it was currently 7 am, and the next morning, when 6 am rolled around, it thought the local time was 6 pm and didn’t bother to ring.
That’s as complicated to think through as it is to type, which is my point.
Rule 1: always set two alarms.
But the bigger takeaway is that AM/PM on a hotel clock is not only useless, it’s a problem waiting to happen. There are 2,000 clocks in this hotel. Who’s going to check them all?
The clock would do its job far better if there weren’t an AM/PM data bit.
Data isn’t free.
The microwave in my office also reports AM or PM. If you need the clock in the microwave to tell you whether it’s morning or night, you have bigger problems than a microwave can fix for you.
The metaphor is pretty clear: more data isn’t always better. In fact, in many cases, it’s a costly distraction or even a chance to get the important stuff wrong.
Here are the three principles:
First, don’t collect data unless it has a non-zero chance of changing your actions.
Second, before you seek to collect data, consider the costs of processing that data.
Third, acknowledge that data collected isn’t always accurate, and consider the costs of acting on data that’s incorrect.
Strip away all insignificant digits.
[PS An early in the new year reminder that the ShipIt Journal that moo.com created continues to help people make a ruckus around the world.]
February 1, 2019
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 going to think she can do it herself and isn’t going to make it an emergency.
An amateur, on the other hand, may or may not follow any of those principles. An amateur is comparing you to what? A miracle? To free? To something in between?
Professionals run the procurement process at Pottery Barn. Amateurs buy a new house every fifteen years. Professionals buy from other professionals. Amateurs ask friends for advice.
At scale, a large company in B2B selling has a multi-year approach to finding and working with professionals. Many talented soloists often can’t afford to work as patiently and so they often are exposed to amateurs.
It’s okay to sell to amateurs, but one should do it with open eyes.
When you don’t get the gig, it’s not because of something you did wrong at any particular meeting with an amateur… the mistake might simply be that you’re having these meetings with amateurs at all. Or that you’re going to amateur meetings expecting to be meeting with a professional.
There’s a way to optimize the sales pitch and even better, the service itself for when you are hoping to acquire an amateur on the way up, a chance to turn him into a pro. But perhaps your frustration is that you thought he was a pro in the first place…
Different stories for different people.
January 31, 2019
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 years, if you’re funding that daily purchase with ongoing credit card debt, at $1,000 a year, it’ll cost you $24,408.40, and you might never find the means to repay the debt.
On the other hand, if that same $1,000 went into a low-cost investment fund that paid about 7% a year, you’d end up with $13,816.45 in the bank.
That’s because interest compounds. It’s because banks like to charge more than they pay out. And it’s mostly because we’re very aware of the short-term and happily ignore the long term.
January 30, 2019
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 into this memory hole. As with a missing tooth, we probe that spot, over and over, examining it from all angles, again and again, in order to keep the story fresh.
On the other hand, forgotten stories have little power.
And the same approach works for a feeling of optimism and possibility. Repeating stories (to ourselves and others) about good fortune and generosity makes those stories more powerful.
What happens to us matters a great deal, but even more powerful are the stories we repeat about what happened.
January 29, 2019
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 can take as much food as you like, but you can only consume so much food. Which means that eating the jambalaya means you won’t have room to eat a dosa. That’s your opportunity cost.
Opportunity cost is the key to making decisions. Once you know the value of the alternatives you’re giving up, you can be smarter about what you’re choosing to do.
Time is finite. We only get the next hour once, and then it’s gone forever. So choices about how we spend or invest our time come with real opportunity costs.
A car with a bumper sticker that says, “I’d rather be surfing,” tells us a lot about the driver (including the inconsistency of his or her actions). But it’s proof that each of us wrestles with opportunity costs every day.
With that in mind, the cost of watching a cat video on YouTube is real indeed.
And the internet has raised the opportunity cost of time spent.
Our access to the world of learning and online resources means that the alternatives are far more valuable than they used to be.
You’re about to spend 11 minutes perfecting an email to a customer. You could do a 90% ideal job in one minute, and the extra 10 minutes spent will increase the ‘quality’ of the email to 92%.
The alternative? Now, you could spend that ten minutes reading a chapter of an important new book. You could learn a few new functions in Javascript. You could dive deep into the underlying economics of your new project…
Or perhaps you’re about to spend an hour manually cleaning a database or tweaking some image files. You do this every day.
Today, though, you could invest an hour in learning to build a macro that will do this recurring job in just a minute a day from now on. Or you could figure out how to hire a trusted freelancer who will do the job on a regular basis for far less than it’s costing you to do it yourself.
Next week, the choices you made at the buffet won’t matter much. But if you learn a new skill, you own it forever.
Human beings don’t like thinking about opportunity costs. As they approach infinity, it’s easy to get paralyzed. As they get harder to compute, it’s difficult to focus and be mindful of the choices already made. That’s a challenge.
But worse, far worse, is to ignore them and fail to learn and connect and level up.
January 28, 2019
