For a competitive advantage to be maintained over a long period of time a network effect is required. Ask, “does this service increase in value with each additional user?”. If it doesn’t then start over.
Network effects win
Tag: Business
People before process
Bring the positivity
The capabilities of a team is affected by the individual moods of it’s members. A positive team is more collaborative and self-healing. This enables them to take on more complex challenges. Before you can do your best work you must know how to make people happy.
Criticize systems not people
Behind every frustrating experience are systems that can be improved. These systems influence the decisions and actions of everyone. Instead of fixating on any one person focus on systemic changes. Build the environment necessary for long-term improvements.
Factory of ideas
When adopting a culture of innovation it’s important to foster the spread of great ideas. Here are a few models: TED (conference), MIT Media Lab, and Harvard Business Review.
TED (conference)
In college, when I reclaimed my passion for learning, I discovered TED Talks. This conference franchise delivers insight, meaning, and inspiration. What’s amazing is how much information they give away while remaining profitable.
Putting the talks online scaled viewership. The website videos of TED Talks are always available. TED was a couple hundred people meeting in real life once a year. Now it shares ideas with millions of people watching videos online every day.
The core of any TED conference are the talks. These talks come from speakers of diverse backgrounds. The common thread between speakers is each have a unique idea worth sharing.
TED franchise continues to innovate. They expanded with their independently-organized TEDx Program, TED Prize, TED Fellows Program, TED Residency, TED Partnerships, TED Podcasts, TED Books, and so much more.
The other two models are worth exploring in future posts. The MIT Media Lab is unique laboratory with little constraints on research. The Harvard Business Review is the magazine for business leaders.
This post supports Accreu.com. Our team is discovering and enacting the path to character-first voice acting. Characters are a new form of actor asset. These assets will ensure actors have a path to adopting AI into their workflow.
Better Life — Synthesis of Win-Win Solutions
Here is something everyone can do to improve their quality of life. Recognizing that together we can do more than alone opens up new possibilities. It begins with active participation and ownership of the process.
If you go into a negotiation without brainstorming new mutually beneficial solutions then you’ve already failed. Without options to pursue discussion spirals around in a “who gets what” fashion. Worst case scenario is you establish an adversarial environment that defaults to fixed sum thinking. You become closed off from valuable opportunities.
In sales you can have a pre-close activity known as discovery. Discovery is a moment in time when relationships are built, empathy develops, and ideas flow. This approach to sales is slower as it doesn’t allow the salesman to presume the needs of the prospect. However the result is higher quality clients as it requires a relationship that fosters innovation through collaboration.
In the next negotiation or discovery call try this win-win approach. Design solutions that leverage the resources of all parties. Pursue an open mind and empathize deeply with others. Above all be genuine in your desire to add value to someone else’s life.
This post supports Accreu.com. Our team is discovering and enacting the path to character-first voice acting. Characters are a new form of actor asset. These assets will ensure actors have a path to adopting AI into their workflow.
Automate, delegate, and outsource
This is how you do more today than yesterday. You augment your capabilities with technology and additional human talent. Any significant goal will require all three activities.
In terms of big goals the commercialization of space travel is pretty big. You have the richest people in the world competing to make this happen. Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, just won a US Air Force contract via his Blue Origin company. Elon Musk and SpaceX are going to mars via the production of the BFR. While you may not be trying to commercialize space travel there are lessons to be learned from those who are.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos aren’t commercializing space alone. They both have a team. They’re spending money to buy other people’s time, so they can do more than what any single person could do alone. Hiring more people on average means you can create more value.
As freelancers and small business owners it’s comfortable to do everything ourselves. However there is work only we can do and there is work that should be automated, delegated, or outsourced. By removing the busy work you can focus on what matters.
Time management and self improvement will only get you so far.
This post supports Accreu.com. Our team is discovering and enacting the path to character-first voice acting. Characters are a new form of actor asset. These assets will ensure actors have a path to adopting AI into their workflow.
