Weekly Pulse is a content curation and highlights from readings, books, videos, podcasts, insights, ramblings, and other interesting things I discovered and digested during the last week.
So, let's go with some discoveries from the week!
#1 - Negotiating Your Next Job
#2 - Getting Brand Communities Right
#3 - How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity
#4 - Getting Things Done Guru David Allen and His Cult of Hyperefficiency
#5 - Maximizing Agile Productivity to Meet Shareholder Commitments
#6 - The Flux Mindset
#7 - Book Notes: The Defining Decade - Meg Jay
Negotiating Your Next Job
Source: Harvard Business ReviewAuthor: Hannah Riley Bowles and Bobbi Thomason
Year: 2021
Summary: When you’re seeking to advance your career—by joining a different company or moving into a new role with your current employer—it’s important to think strategically about not just what you want but how to get it. In this article, the authors draw on their work coaching executives and their cross-cultural research to propose four steps that can help you prepare to negotiate.
3 Highlights:
"... Think broadly about your long-term career goals instead of focusing narrowly on the offer at hand or the question of pay and benefits..."
"... Be mindful of what type of opportunity you’re asking for—something standard, an unusual arrangement for yourself, or a chance to take your organization in a new direction—and tailor your arguments accordingly..."
"... Arm yourself with the necessary information to reduce ambiguity about what’s possible and with whom to negotiate, and connect with people who can be helpful in making your case, and approach negotiations as an opportunity to enhance your working relationships..."
Getting Brand Communities Right
Source: Harvard Business ReviewAuthor: Susan Fournier and Lara Lee
Year: 2009
Summary: Marketers are trying to increase customer loyalty, marketing efficiency, and brand authenticity by building communities around their brands. Few companies, however, understand what brand communities require and how they work. Drawing from their research and experience at Harley-Davidson, the authors bring some common misconceptions about brand communities and new approaches to leveraging those communities.
3 Highlights:
"... Managers often think that a brand community must be tightly controlled. In reality, a robust community defies managerial control. Effective brand stewards can, however, create an environment in which a community can thrive—by, for example, designing multiple experiences that appeal to different audiences..."
"... Another common misconception is that a brand community exists to serve the business. An effective brand community exists to serve its members, who participate in order to fulfill many kinds of needs, such as building relationships, cultivating new interests, and contributing to society. Strong communities work to understand people’s needs and to engage participants by offering a variety of roles..."
"... Many managers think of a brand community in terms of marketing strategy. In fact, for a community to have the greatest impact, it must be framed as a corporate strategy. Realizing this, Harley-Davidson, for example, retooled every aspect of its organization to support building and maintaining its brand community and treated all community-related activities not just as marketing expenses but as a company-wide investment..."
How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity
Source: Harvard Business ReviewAuthor: Ed Catmull
Year: 2018
Summary: Many people believe that good ideas are rarer and more valuable than good people. Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, couldn’t disagree more. That notion, he says, is rooted in a misguided view of creativity that exaggerates the importance of the initial idea in developing an original product.
3 Highlights:
"... You get great creative people, you bet big on them, you give them enormous leeway and support, and you provide them with an environment in which they can get honest feedback from everyone..."
"... Empower your creatives. Give your creative people control over every stage of idea development..."
"... The most efficient way to resolve the numerous problems that arise in any complex project is to trust people to address difficulties directly, without having to get permission. So, give everyone the freedom to communicate with anyone..."
Getting Things Done Guru David Allen and His Cult of Hyperefficiency
Source: WiredAuthor: Gary Wolf
Year: 2007
Summary: Allen's approach is not inspirational, instead, it is detailed and dry. But within his advice about how to label a file folder or how many minutes to allot to an incoming email, there is a spiritual promise. He says there is a state of blessed calm available to those who have taken careful measures of their habits and made all the changes suggested by reason. Nirvana comes in routine steps, as an algorithm drives a machine.
3 Highlights:
"... Humans have a problem with stuff. Allen defines stuff as anything we want or need to do. A tax form has the same status as a marriage proposal; a book to write is no different than a grocery list. It's all stuff..."
"... He compares the person working at a desk with a person walking through the forest. There is a surfeit of things that one could possibly pay attention to, and the primary task is to pick out, from the surrounding environment, those signals that require processing. Any email could be either a snake in the grass or a berry..."
"... Allen says his goal is to be free from worrying about anything he has to do. His techniques allow him the pleasure of having, much of the time, nothing on his mind..."
Maximizing Agile Productivity to Meet Shareholder Commitments
Source: McKinseyAuthor: Paula Castilho, Khushpreet Kaur, Mel Liddicoat, Selim Sulos, and Tolga Oguz
Year: 2021
Summary: Organizations of all sizes use agile transformations to facilitate faster decision-making and business impact. However, agile methodologies do not always translate perfectly to large organizations, especially those that are engaged in complex transformations with preset productivity goals.
3 Highlights:
"... One way to boost the productivity of agile teams throughout the transformation is to assess the agile maturity of teams early on and adopt lean principles and automation to redistribute freed-up team members to launch additional agile teams and accelerate delivery..."
"... Classic agile methodology does not always translate perfectly to large, complex transformations with preset goals. A value-focused, centralized approach is key to harvesting the benefits of agile ways of working without compromising on organizations’ financial goals..."
"... Typical agile-transformation offices focus on rolling out agile methodologies, helping the organization build new capabilities, and generally producing impact. But organizations that have committed to achieving specific results need to track and test agile teams’ work—frequently—through the lens of financial performance..."
The Flux Mindset
Source: William Meller - New articleSummary: A Flux Mindset is about slowing down, so you see what's really happening, unsticking your mind from the constructs and assumptions that you hold unconsciously. A Flux Mindset is a very different way of approaching change. Instead of resisting it, you embrace it and look for new and unique advantages.
3 Highlights:
"... A fast decision is not a wise decision....."
"... The pace of change has never been as fast-paced as it is today. And yet it is likely to never again be this slow..."
"... We're living in a world in flux. The workplace is in flux. Climate is in flux. Organizations are in flux. Careers are in flux. Education, Learning, and schools are in flux. Public health is in flux. Planetary health is in flux. Social cohesion is in flux. Financial markets are in flux. Weather patterns are in flux. Family life is in flux. Democracy is in flux. Dreams are in flux..."
Book Notes: The Defining Decade - Meg Jay
Source: William Meller - Book NotesThe book centers around Jay’s experience as a clinical psychologist seeing people in their 30s and 40s who are hamstrung by having a “lack of vision” in their 20s. This book is meant to provide people in their 20s with some direction around creating a vision for their 30s and beyond.
This book is a guide to not feeling lost in your 30s and 40s from a clinical psychologist who sees young people. It’s a must-read if you’re in your 20s.
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