#85 In the long run, optimism is the best prevention for regret

Explore or exploit, Trust, Release ratio and more such unconventional ideas

In “company, team, self”, Will Larson makes a bold claim - “Leadership is getting to the correct place quickly, it’s not necessarily about walking in the straightest line.” He has a fairly interesting logic to support this:

… Correctness and humans mix in complex ways. The most important lesson I’ve learned as I’ve become a better manager is that there is almost always a correct answer, but applying that answer to your specific situation will always be nuanced and messy. Further, the correct answer is almost always different if you’re taking a short-term or long-term perspective. You should always be in the longest-term perspective that you’re certain you can reach, but sometimes that’s only next week. If you’re deep in the thick of things, then it’s the right decision to compromise your long-term outcomes to avoid getting caught in your short-term challenges, even if it messes up the long-term situation something fierce. You will make some bad decisions along the way. It happens. Get some rest, reflect a bit, and get back to it.

That’s some good food for thought. And with that, let’s get to today’s discoveries.

1. TRUST framework

It’s very rare you find a hiring process that offers top notch experience to both the candidate and the hiring team. Between the coordination, conversations and documentation, it’s a chaos that most parties involved are forced to live through. The candidate TRUST Framework shares some good inputs on measuring and improving their candidate experience. Here’s what TRUST stands for:

1. Transparency

2. Reciprocity

3. Unity

4. Speed

5. Truthfulness

Some good & actionable input on measurement & how to improve your hiring processes. Worth a read for those involved in hiring & talent acquisition areas. 

I would have loved to put respect as one of the key pillars somewhere (the current pillars seem to touch it at surface level, for sure).

(via First Round Review)

2. Release ratio

Lawrence Yeo defines release ratio as shown below:

It’s easy to understand the premise of this post. It’s a helpful warning to all of us - content consumers or content creators. This ratio has no absolute scale but you can visibly see progress (and avoid all sorts of fatigue) if you’re able to keep it moving away from zero. There is an upper cap somewhere (well below 1, I believe) but that should not be a cause of concern for most of us - we’re very close to the 0.1 scale if not lower.

Lawrence has shared some good inputs on how to go about changing this. Give it a quick read.

And if you loved his style, I highly recommend checking out his post “take the leap” (more on this post in #36)

(via Brainpint by Janel) 

3. Communicating at the right altitude

Deb Liu has a very smart observation in her recent post around communication:

Often, the difference between a good leader and a great one is altitude. Being able to navigate at the right level for the conversation, whether you’re doing a deep dive into the details with a colleague or discussing high-level strategy with executives, is a rare skill. But it is also crucial to hone in order to be successful in the workplace. 

This is a delicate balancing act. Too detailed, and you are seen as being too “in the weeds.” Too high-level, and you are seen as “lacking detail orientation.” Knowing exactly where you want to fly in a given conversation is critical to landing your point. 

She has further shared some good & practical advice on how to ace this. Here’s a single line takeaway if you need: The key to flying high is to focus on the message you want to land, not the words you're saying. 

4. New opportunities

In “Explore or exploit?”, Shane Parrish shares useful advice on how to choose new opportunities. He refers to learning from “Algorithms to Live By” by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths for this. The poetic inputs to all the ideas are a refreshing surprise.

Here’s my favorite take away from the post - “Consider how much time you have?”. Some notes to expand on this:

1. “Seizing a day and seizing a lifetime are two entirely different endeavors. . . . When balancing favorite experiences and new ones, nothing matters as much as the interval over which we plan to enjoy them.”

2. “Explore when you will have time to use the resulting knowledge, exploit when you’re ready to cash in.”

(via Out of Curiosity by Reza)

5. Unconventional pieces of advice

I’m surprised I’ve not shared Sam Altman’s “the days are long but the decades are short” post earlier. It’s remarkably sharp & touches the very core of how we should (or should not) operate for a fulfilling life. Some of my favorite bits:

1. On work: it’s difficult to do a great job on work you don’t care about.  And it’s hard to be totally happy/fulfilled in life if you don’t like what you do for your work.  Work very hard—a surprising number of people will be offended that you choose to work hard—but not so hard that the rest of your life passes you by.

2. However, as valuable as planning is, if a great opportunity comes along you should take it.  Don’t be afraid to do something slightly reckless.  One of the benefits of working hard is that good opportunities will come along, but it’s still up to you to jump on them when they do.

While we’re at life advice, this one by Calvin Rosser has some good inputs as well in his post “40 unconventional pieces of advice that most people ignore”.

(via Out of Curiosity by Reza)

6. Long reads for the vacation time

If you’ve come all this way and have some spare time for good long reads, here’re a couple of recommendations.  

1. The secret lives of MI6’s top female spies (via Morning Brew)

2. Beware of the perfect gentleman (via The Profile by Polina)

3. Cancer chose me, but I chose how to die (via Twitter)  

7. Everything else

Some random goodness from the internet:

1. 25 words that are their own opposites. English is indeed a very funny language. (via Morning Brew)

2. The psychology of the menu design. Our multi-cuisine restaurant & 99 Dosa guys have not heard of them, I am 100% confident. (via Brainpint)  

3. Winners of the 2022 Comedy wildlife photography awards (via Morning Brew)

4. Joe Ades - the greatest salesman in NY history & his potato peeler. (via Now I Know) 

5. Wes Kao on thinking of yourself like a product during the interview & turning bugs into features (via Twitter).

6. It takes about 100,000 droplets to make a snowflake because the droplets are very small. And no snowflakes are the same (via Morning Brew) 

7. What's your go-to doodle? I somehow have not got one yet. (via Morning Brew)

Before we sign off, here's a quick view of how autonomy & alignment interact with each other.

That's all for this week, folks!  

I hope I've earned the privilege of your time.

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