Posts Tagged with "growth"

#7: How to decouple career growth from organisational growth.

When considering your career development, you don't need to depend solely on what roles your organisation has available. Consider the next step up your career ladder, be that manager, Director, or VP. Instead of manoeuvring to land one of these limited roles, assess your skill gaps.Read more →

#7a: Growth through the optimal level of discomfort.

Growth comes from stretching yourself beyond what is comfortable, and finding the optimal level of discomfort. At work, this can be through a stretch assignment — diverse, complex and challenging. This is categorically not "your current role, but with more staff".Read more →

#7b: The value of being a beginner.

The beginner has an advantage over the expert, the amateur over the professional, the student over the teacher. In execution, they often have more options — they display Shunryu Suzuki's "beginner's mind", taking chances, questioning established wisdom.Read more →

#7c: Professional transitions and their challenges.

While your personal and professional growth may enable you to land a new role, it far from guarantees your success. The transition into a new role is a period of vulnerability for you as a leader; success or failure in your first few months is a strong predictor of overall job success.Read more →

Reference #48: An Elegant Puzzle

Career ladders have a side effect of increasing competition. They funnel people at the same level towards a finite number of roles.Read more →

Reference #305: Empowered

Despite managers and leaders being responsible for building effective teams, the technology industry focuses little on developing their skills and competencies.Read more →

Reference #306: Empowered

Developing people is the most important job of a manager. Even more than the success of your products, your own job performance should be measured on the success of your team members.Read more →

Reference #330: Thinking in Systems

The time taken for an exponentially growing stock to double in size (the "doubling time") is approximately 70 divided by the growth rate as a percentage. For example, if you put $100 into your bank returning 7% interest per year, you will double your money in 10 years.Read more →

Reference #336: Thinking in Systems

In a finite environment, no physical system can grow forever. All physical, growing systems will eventually face constraints in the form of a balancing loop. These systems will always have at least one reinforcing loop driving growth and at least one balancing loop constraining growth.Read more →

Reference #337: Thinking in Systems

A system that draws from non-renewable resources is stock-limited. The system can exhibit exponential growth but reaches the limit of the resource quickly — the faster the extraction rate, the shorter the lifetime of the resource.Read more →

Reference #338: Thinking in Systems

A system that draws from renewable resources is flow-limited. It can extract from a resource indefinitely but only at a flow rate equal to or less than the resource's regeneration rate.Read more →

Reference #339: Thinking in Systems

When a resource system is drawn from at a faster rate than it can sustain, it may or may not survive and rebuild itself. There are three possible outcomes:Read more →

Reference #340: Thinking in Systems

Renewable and non-renewable resource systems both limit a physical system from growing indefinitely. However, they apply different constraints. This is due to the difference between the systems' stocks and flows.Read more →

Reference #362: Thinking in Systems

Growth occurs when a factor ceases to be limiting. This growth continues until the next limit is reached, which could be the same or a different factor.Read more →

Reference #363: Thinking in Systems

Perpetual growth is impossible in a finite environment. The choice, then, is to decide what limits to live within.Read more →

Do you need leaders or managers? You need both.

“We need leaders, not managers.” No. You need both. We look to leaders for inspiration. Where does a company go without inspiration? We look to managers for execution. How does a company get there without execution?Read more →

Do you know how to delegate?

Delegation isn’t about making your work easier. Delegation isn't a reward. It’s a powerful tool to develop your employees. Yet most managers don’t understand delegation. Are you one of them?Read more →

The hidden story of growth at startups

Why would anyone join an early-stage company? Equity, excitement, "changing the world"? For me, it's about one word: growth. The kind that's rarely mentioned. When people talk about growth in startups, they often mean growth in revenue and headcount.Read more →

Are you an expert in your craft, or the system?

In my previous job, I was an expert. I was the first employee. I knew the ins and outs of the system. I helped the company grow. I was often the most senior person in the room. But in truth, I knew nothing. So, I quit.Read more →