David Reinecke

A dial, not a switch

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 10:07:00 +0100

Some dilemmas keep coming back no matter how many times you solve them. What if that's not because your solutions are bad? What if they were never problems in the first place?

In the early days of the pandemic I wrote a short article called A problem to solve or a tension to manage? The idea was simple. Some things are not problems to be solved. They are tensions to be managed. More like keeping a guitar in tune and less like building a house.

That idea has stuck with me ever since. And the more I chew on it, the more I realise it's actually three ideas wearing one trench coat. Each one is a trap that smart, well-meaning people fall into all the time. Me included.

1. Not every choice needs a winner

Most of us treat decisions like a boxing match. Two options climb into the ring, they slug it out and one of them gets its hand raised. The loser is declared weak, wrong or obsolete. Next!

A > B

For lots of decisions that's exactly right. Petrol or electric? Pick one and move on. But some priorities only work in pairs. Push one too hard and you don't just lose the other one. You end up losing both.

Economists have a neat way of writing this down. In decision theory, A ~ B means you're indifferent: neither option is strictly preferred over the other. The useful bit for the rest of us is this. When two options sit in that kind of tension, the choice comes down to your context and constraints right now. Not some permanent ranking.

Anyone who has led engineering teams knows this one in their bones. Speed versus stability. Go all in on shipping fast and eventually things break so often that you slow right down. Go all in on stability and you ship so little that the business starts to wobble. Over-index on either one and you end up with neither.

Here's an everyday example: frugality versus enjoying your life. Save every last cent and you get deprivation and burnout. Spend freely on comfort and you get financial instability. "Frugality > Enjoyment" is flawed. So is "Enjoyment > Frugality". The right balance shifts with your financial season and stage of life. A young family with a brand-new mortgage and a couple nearing retirement shouldn't have the same answer. But both of them need both.

So swap the greater-than sign for something better:

A & B

Both/and. Not either/or.

2. Weather, not a leak

The second trap is sneakier. We tend to treat every recurring dilemma as a broken mechanism waiting for a permanent fix. Solve it once, tick it off the list, never think about it again.

But many dilemmas are not problems at all. They are operating conditions.

Think about the difference between a leak in your roof and the weather. A leak is a defect. You call someone, they patch it and if they did a decent job it stays fixed. Weather is different. Nobody fixes the weather. You check it in the morning and decide whether you need a raincoat. (Living in Dublin, the answer is usually yes.)

Problems have finish lines. Tensions are terrain you navigate every day. A logic puzzle converges on one answer and stays there. A tension keeps oscillating. Health comes from active tuning, not permanent closure.

Here's the part that trips people up. When a tension resurfaces, we assume our original solution was defective. So we go looking for a better one. And another. And another. Each one "fails" for the same reason. We're trying to patch the weather.

Take structure versus spontaneity in your daily routine. Time-block every hour of your calendar and before long it feels like a straitjacket. Throw out the structure for total freedom and your priorities drift off into procrastination. You don't solve this once and for all. You turn the dial towards structure when there's a hard deadline and towards freedom when you need some creative recovery.

Solve(X) → Tune(X)

Or if you prefer pictures:

[ON/OFF] → [───●───]

A dial, not a switch.

3. Damp the swing, don't stop the pendulum

The third trap is overcorrection. You pick an approach and enjoy the benefits for a while. Then the downsides start to show. Friction. Frustration. Clearly, you think, I chose wrong. So you lurch all the way to the opposite extreme.

Here is the thing though. That backward swing is not proof that you failed. It's the system asking for the side you neglected. Maximise the upside of one side long enough and you will eventually expose its downsides. That's not a bug. That's how it works.

Chemistry has a lovely bit of notation for this:

A ⇌ B

It describes a reversible reaction in dynamic equilibrium. Neither side ever permanently consumes the other. Change the conditions and the balance shifts one way. Change them back and it shifts the other way.

What we forget is that moving towards B is the natural by-product of having harvested the benefits of A. Call it overcorrection amnesia. The two sides feed each other in a loop. Push too hard into one and you directly fuel an urgent appetite for the other.

Raise your hand if this one sounds familiar. After a messy week you do a massive weekend deep clean. Spotless surfaces. Strict new rules. Nothing left on the kitchen counter, ever. Within days, keeping up those museum-grade standards is exhausting. Annoyed, you give up on tidying altogether. The house slides back into chaos. Which triggers... another frantic weekend of cleaning. Rinse and repeat. (Pun intended, as always.)

The answer is not to freeze the pendulum. A house you're afraid to live in is its own kind of problem. Stasis creates rigidity. The goal is to shrink the swing with small, regular adjustments. A manageable baseline with a quick daily reset beats ricocheting between show house and student flat.

A vs B → A ⟲ B

Damping the swing, not stopping the pendulum.

So, leak or weather?

These three ideas are really one idea seen from three angles. Some priorities are polarities to balance, not competitions to win. They don't have finish lines. And the swing between them is not a malfunction. It's just how they work.

It's the guitar from 2020 all over again. Strings drift out of tune. That's not a defect in the guitar. You simply tune it again before you play.

So the next time a dilemma turns up for the third or fourth time, before you rip everything up and start over, ask yourself one simple question:

Is this a leak, or is this weather?

If it's a leak, fix it. Properly. Once. If it's weather, stop hunting for the permanent fix. Keep a hand on the dial, make lots of small adjustments and stop beating yourself up every time it rains.

A carbon frame for the bicycle for your mind

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 07:15:39 +0000

We can measure how efficiently every living thing moves. What we mean by efficiency is the amount of energy it takes to move a set distance. For instance, how much energy does it take your pet cat to walk one kilometer? Or your dog? Turns out that flying creatures use the least energy per distance. Your pets must bow to the queen of efficient locomotion: The Condor.

But what about us human? Surely Haile Gebrselassie, Eliud Kipchoge or Paula Radcliffe should be in the running? Do not pardon the pun, it was intended as always. In fact, no, even the most efficient of our kind pale in comparison to the most efficient in the animal kingdom. Human beings rank about a third of the way down on the list of movers and shakers.

What is that you say? If god or nature wanted us to spend less energy moving around, they would have given us wings? They gave us something even better, a mind that can invent things. Enter the humble bicycle. A human being pedaling around shoots to the top of the list. With one mighty leap of the mind we have managed to jump the queue.

But moving around physically is so last century. In the modern age its all about mental agility. We want to go from inventing the bicycle to inventing self-driving cars and reusable rocket ships. For that we needed another kind of bicycle. A bicycle for the mind.

This is how Steve Jobs famously described the personal computer. We can move faster, further and more efficiently than ever before by using a bike. In the same way we can collaborate better, invent more complex things and accelerate human development exponentially faster when we lean on computing power.

I have a friend who has recently gotten into mountain biking. He proudly showed me his carbon fiber bike last weekend. I lifted it off the ground and was astonished at how light it was. Anyone still competing using an old-fashioned metal frame must really enjoy losing. Here is the thing though, if you don’t invest in the right digital tools you are that person on the heavy metal bike at the back of the pack.

Do you have the right PC for your job? Is it powerful enough or frustratingly slow? Do you have the right tools installed? I use Text Expander daily to autocomplete things like my ID number and email address and more. I use SnagIt to do screen captures like a Condor. I use the Grammarly plugin to help me improve my writing. I use an external portrait-oriented monitor to make reading PDFs and Word documents a pleasure. The list goes on and on. Some of these tools I use now without even thinking.

But they all have something in common. They help me move through my work day faster, better and more efficiently. They are the carbon fiber components of the bicycle for my mind. Think about it. I bet you there is still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to how you make use of your digital tools.

Power outages shine a light on the power of timing

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 06:07:21 +0000

We’ve had tons of Loadshedding recently. Our power even went out twice on one day this weekend. But I’ve noticed something is interesting. Not all power cuts are created equal. Are some of them 5 hours and some of them 1 hour only? No – these days they are all 2.5 hours. But they don’t feel the same.

A power cut from 6.30 to 9.00 am means I can’t make coffee. And traffic lights also need electricity so taking my daughter to school is going to take double or triple as long as usual. If the power is out from 9.00 am to 11.30 am then I am having video conferencing meetings in the dark. From 5.00 pm to 7.30 pm means we can’t cook dinner or watch our favorite TV show at the end of a long day. Each timeslot during the day comes with its own unique set of frustrations, inconveniences and annoyances.

But last night we had Loadshedding from 8.00 to 10.30 pm and it was actually quite a positive experience. We finally watched the Robocop remake movie with our daughters and started it just in time to finish just as the power went out. We performed our bedtime routines by candlelight. Instead of annoying it was strangely peaceful. In fact, it was really very nice.

As a side note, my youngest daughter had a brilliant and amusing suggestion for Eskom. She proposed that they do all their Loadshedding overnight when it would not disrupt people’s lives. This is a great idea although we had to burst her bubble by explaining that what makes it a great time for us also, unfortunately, makes it a terrible time for Eskom. Cutting out power when we don’t need it does precious little for the grid the next day when the power generation cannot keep up with demand.

Perhaps there is a lesson in all this about how the same thing can be experienced very differently at different times of the day. There may also be a lesson about the value of learning to “go with the flow” and make the most of any moment. I’m reminded of that ancient proverb about lemons and lemonade. Either way, it has been interesting to observe my own response to the power outages and specifically to how it differs depending on the time of day, day of the week, and what my goals are at that moment.

Give me a break

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 06:42:16 +0000

I’ve recently started feeling very odd during the workday. It's not that I haven’t enjoyed my work. And it's not that I’ve been feeling sick or anything. Just not quite on top of my game. I’ve allowed my inbox to get more out of control than usual. I normally keep my camera on during smaller meetings. But that has felt like an effort lately. More and more I’ve kept my camera off. It’s almost like something in me wants to hide from the world.

Looking at my calendar now, I realize that we are already in the 10th week of the year. That can’t be right. But it is. Time flies when you’re having fun. Or when you are in a pandemic, working remotely. At work, we were shocked a week ago by the loss of a dear colleague. Many people’s minds immediately went to COVID. But this person did not die from COVID. I think that’s a reality we are still all kind of getting to grips with. COVID did not replace all our previous challenges, it has for the most part simply added to them.

On top of the pandemic, and work, and normal family life I was also involved in a car accident on the highway recently. That meant spending several hours on the phone with insurers, at panel beaters and the police station. My daughter is changing schools and then this week I noticed a lump next to my right knee. It gave me quite a fright. I have a rule that I try to immediately have these kinds of things checked out. My doctor sent me for sonar and the radiologists say it looks like a benign meniscal cyst.

But this is not an attempt at a diary entry. The above just illustrates that everyone has exciting, scary, and sad things happening in their lives all the time. All this is in addition to work and over and above our collective problems like the pandemic. That brings me to the two things I just want to highlight today: Compassion for self and others.

When you notice yourself getting tired, stressed or worried, hopefully you pause and realize that other people also go through these things. No-one can be on top of their game all the time. For every mountain top there is a valley. Your spouse or partner will have ups and downs. Just like you. Your kids will go through stuff, just like you. And yes, your colleagues are real people and at any given time they are typically dealing with a bunch of non-work things that may surprise you. We are all in this together.

And let’s not forget to cut ourselves some slack too. It's okay to get tired. It's okay to have feelings. And for goodness sake, it's okay to take a break. I arranged with my colleagues to take some personal time today and tomorrow. I want to be there to help my daughter settle into her new online school. I want to take them to tennis. I want to run a couple of errands for my wife or maybe even take her for lunch. Sometimes the best way to get out of a rut is not to try harder to be better, but to relax and catch your breath and start again.

3 ways to transform your interview from a quiz to a conversation

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 06:48:53 +0000

This is the third and final article in my three-part series aimed at giving you practical advice on how to ace your next interview. In part one we looked at interview preparation and in part two we covered how you should show up. This part focuses on three keys that turn the interview into a conversation.

I was part of a panel once interviewing a senior developer. Our engineers were asking technical questions related to the position. The candidate answered one of the basic opening questions but for the second one responded “uhm… pass”. What followed was a moment of silence that was one part awkward and one part eerie.

The candidate answered a question here and there, but for most of the questions they simply said “pass”. I can’t remember if it was after the 4th or the 5th time when I stepped in and said the interview is not going to be helpful if the candidate passes on every second question.

To be clear, I am not saying it’s unacceptable to not have an answer. I just think there are much better ways to handle it. Most of these – as you will see – have something in common. They all change the dynamics of the interview from a quiz to a conversation.

1. Buy yourself some time

Candidates mistakenly think they must answer every question immediately. I’ll tell you a secret, no interviewer expects this. And taking time to think before answering a question reflects net positive on you. It makes you appear both human (a good thing) and thoughtful (a very good thing).

I love it when a candidate says: “Okay, so you’re asking about XYZ, let me think about that.” This is only bad when the question is trivially simple. For instance, don’t use this tactic when they ask the last company you worked at. But if it’s a question that is complex or difficult, give yourself a moment. Gather your thoughts. Think it through before opening your mouth.

A good interview helps a panel get a feeling for how someone will perform on the job in the real world. And the real world is not a pop quiz. In the real world we have plenty of time to think about things. Especially knowledge workers and IT professionals.

2. Make sure you understand the question

If I had a bitcoin for every time I saw an interviewer and candidate misunderstand each other I’d be a rich man. Actually, I’d gladly take even one bitcoin. But jokes aside, it’s always a good sign for me when a candidate says: “I’m not sure I understand the question.”

Bonus points when they reflect back in their own words what they think the question means to check with the person who asked if that is what they were saying. Another secret is that interviewers are not perfect. They don’t always ask their questions in a good way. Asking your own clarifying questions will force them to take this conversation seriously and get their act together.

Remember that you might be the 12th person they have now asked this list of questions. And they might do 50 or 100 interviews over the course of a year. It’s up to you to engage them and get them to snap out of the ho-hum. Showing the panel that you care about understanding what people say is probably more valuable than any amount of “technically correct questions”. Why? Because being able to communicate well, gain true understanding and think critically are key skills for every professional.

3. Be 100% honest

But what if you’ve tried to understand the question and given yourself some time to think things through, and you still don’t have a good answer? This is still an opportunity to impress. The key is to be honest. If you’ve never heard of the thing they are asking you about, then you should simply say you’ve never heard of it. People like it when other people are humble and honest.

My final secret for this article is that interviewers are not expecting you to have an answer for every question. Most of them would not pass their own interviews if that was the standard. They are trying to see what you’ve been exposed to – and yes, what you’ve mastered – but I’ve never been in an interview where the candidate had a perfect answer to every question.

If this is true, why did I take issue with the person who said “pass”? Good question. I think it comes down to interpersonal skills. Maybe the right word is decorum, manners or professionalism. Call it whatever you want but tell the panel as nicely as you can that you don’t know the answer to the question. Don’t give them a one word “pass”. That just sounds odd and reinforces the dynamic that the interview is a test as opposed to a conversation.

How to show up for an interview

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 06:12:35 +0000

This is the second article in a three-part series. Each article provides practical advice on how to ace your next interview. Part one looked at how almost everyone gets nervous in interviews. We identified four things we should do before an interview...

Read up on the industry and the company.
Study the job description carefully.
Work through sample questions.
Do practice interviews.

These things build self-confidence. And they prepare you to convince the interviewers you are the top candidate. This article focuses on the logistics of the interview:

Professional but not overdressed

Find out in advance what people dress like at that company. Then dress like that for the interview. As an interviewer, I am not impressed when someone shows up over dressed. It can only make things awkward. Only wear a suit and tie if that is what you will be doing on the job. You want to look professional while being comfortable and authentic. Go ahead and wear your best appropriate outfit. Be as presentable as you can but try not to overdo it.

The early bird gets the worm

There is almost no excuse for being late for an important interview. Emergencies and other problems happen. Just phone to reschedule the moment you realise you might not make it. For in-person interviews, aim to arrive well in advance. 30 minutes is a good target. It leaves room for traffic, finding parking and signing in at reception. The goal is to be 100% ready with at least 5 minutes to spare. And to do all of this without rushing.

The same principle applies to video conference interview. Don’t start looking for the meeting link when the interview is about to start. Your system might need to install a plugin. Your software might not work the first time you launch it. The point is, you can’t assume everything is going to work perfectly. Try to log in 5 to 10 minutes early. This gives you time to let people know you are having technical difficulties.

Lights, camera, action

Many interviews are now done over Zoom, Teams and other digital platforms. So, it’s worth talking about that. I’m still shocked when candidates dial in with their camera off. Interviewers worth their salt will insist you put your camera on. So you might as well do it from the start.

Make sure the lighting is good where you are sitting beforehand. When the interview starts your video will be nice and clear. And make sure your internet connection is good. People are now expected to be able to work remotely. You are trying to show the panel that you can do the job. Poor internet is sending the wrong message.

Worried about your home internet? Then go to a restaurant with super-fast internet. Or to a friend or family member who has a great connection. But solve that problem before the interview. Don't jeopardise your chances because of technology.

And lastly, background noise is also something you should think about in advance. What happens when your dogs decide to have a barking contest? Or the neighbour starts felling trees halfway through the interview? You need to be prepared for that. Either use a headset from the start or have one ready. And make sure you've tested it so switching over goes smoothly.

Have you prepared for that job interview?

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 06:54:39 +0000

One of the reasons people are nervous for interviews is because they don’t know what questions they are going to be asked. And if you don’t know what you are going to be asked, then you can’t know in advance whether you’re going to be able to give good answers. And if you can’t be sure of that, well, then you enter the interview unsure of yourself.

If you’ve ever felt like that, I have good news for you. You are not alone. People who go into important interviews completely self-assured and not nervous are in the minority. Everyone questions themselves. Everyone suffers from imposter syndrome. Its normal to experience some amount of nerves and anxiety when peppered by question after unrelenting question from people you've never met.

I have more good news, there are some practical things you can do, both in preparation for the interview and during it, that will set you apart from other candidates. I’ve personally interviewed hundreds of people. I’ve also coached people who succeeded in landing senior leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies and MBA scholarships. Believe me, this advice works:

1. Read up on the industry and the company

Would you buy a car without knowing if it’s a petrol, diesel, hybrid or electric vehicle? Heck no. What about automatic or manual? Would you buy a car where you didn’t know what colour it was going to be until they gave you the keys? No and no.

So why would you want to work somewhere if you don’t understand anything about the industry that the company operates in? And doesn’t in matter to you if the company is a start-up or a 100-year-old established corporate? Have they recently merged with someone? If it’s a public company, you even have access to their financial performance over the last few years.

It doesn’t matter what kind of job you are applying for - from IT to finance and everything in between - you should know something about the company and its industry before you decide you want to work there. So, do that research before the interview. The more relevant understanding you have before the interview, the more confident you will be in the interview. And your answers will be better too.

2. Study the job description carefully

Now I know many job descriptions are poorly written and its hard to make good sense of the role from them. But there is usually some value to be gained. Even if the value you gain is just seeing what is not clear about the role, that is still worth it. Let’s be brutally honest with each other, part of why you end up going into the interview tentatively is because you don’t know enough about the job. So, fix that beforehand!

Bonus points if you’ve read the job description multiple times to try make sense of it. Made notes about important details you think are missing or things that are not clear, and then turned those notes into questions and sent them to the recruiter. Just say: “I’ve been working through the job description and I wanted to ask some clarifying questions.”

The worst that can happen is they don’t have answers. Hint: You might want to go work somewhere where people know what they are looking for. But, it’s more likely they will send you some helpful info. And best-case scenario, you have just jumped to the top of their list because guess what? 99% of their applicants will not have done this. Congratulations, you are now the stand out candidate and the interview has not even happened yet.

3. Work through sample questions and do practice interviews with friends

Now that you understand the industry, the company and the job itself, you are ready to work through sample questions. These days you can use Google to find some good sets of sample questions with answers for just about any job. This process serves two purposes: It can show you that you are not qualified for the job or it can give you a sense of comfort going into the inevitable barrage of questions you will face.

Why do I say it might show you that you are not qualified? Suppose you are really, really struggling to answer the sample questions. This is a sign that you are not ready for this job. It doesn’t mean you will never be ready. It just means you should consider withdrawing your application and put in some effort to gain additional understanding, skills and experience and then try again later.

But assuming you are a realistic candidate for the role, going through sample questions will get you in the groove. Interviews can feel weird for even highly skilled candidates because they try to determine one's suitability using questions and answers. But most skills don’t express themselves as questions and answers in real life. A programmer writing a piece of code is not doing it in Q & A format. Doing sample questions forces you to translate what has become second nature and intuitive to you into a more discreet and communicable form.

The final step in preparation is to ask some fellow professionals to do mock interviews with you. Ask your toughest, smartest and most skilled peers to do the practice interview with you. And tell them to be as brutal as possible. You can also ask friends and family to help you.

You ideally want to do more than one and preferably spread out over a few days to give your brain time to adapt and learn during sleep. That’s a whole other topic which I cannot address in this article, but trust me, sleep is critical. Do not do all this preparation work the day of the interview. Spread it out over the days leading up to the interview.

This was part one. In the next article I will talk about what to do in the interview. Especially when you are asked questions where you are unsure of the answer or don’t have a clue.

How to write an article that ranks on the first page of Google

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 06:55:40 +0000

This week I noticed something interesting when I looked at the traffic logs for my personal website. There was one article I wrote a year ago that was getting a lot of visits. In fact, I was surprised to see that last month alone it was read by more than 100 people.

Digging a bit deeper I figured out why it was getting so much traffic. It turns out that the article has somehow made its way to the first page of Google’s search results for its topic. The article is entitled English is a language, not a measure of intelligence. If you Google things like “English is not a…” then the search engine will autocomplete with “…measure of intelligence”. And low and behold, there is my little article in 4th spot.

I would be lying if I said this is not exciting. Anyone who writes regularly would love to write something that people find interesting or helpful in some way. Considering how much content is out there, for an amateur writer like myself to hit the front page for the topic I wrote about feels great.

But consider this: I have now written a total of 336 articles. It took me a year and a half and over 70,000 words – the length of a book – to produce one article that is getting read regularly and widely. I wonder how many people stop doing whatever they are doing before they make a breakthrough? Especially in areas where luck and pure tonnage matters so much.

Wayne Gretzky – arguably the greatest ice hockey player of all time – famously said that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. He was very right. I was never going to get the puck into the top corner of that lucrative Google first page goal by endlessly scrolling through Twitter and Facebook. My only chance was to put my phone down and start writing. Taking shot after shot after shot.

Of course, I’m hopefully getting better over time too. Taking better “shots” each day. But ultimately, writing something that people from around the world read daily is not going to happen without lots and lots of shots. So, to all of you out there still taking shots like me. I salute you. Keep going.

Those of us that keep going have a chance of experiencing what outside observers will inevitable call overnight success. But we will know that overnight success was 10 years in the making. How do we get an article to rank of the first page of Google? Easy. Writes lots of articles. Keep going and keep getting better.

Are you conservative or progressive?

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 07:32:57 +0000

Are you conservative or progressive? This is a question I refuse to answer unless you give me the context because the answer should not always be the same. And if the answer should not always be the same, then surely pigeon-holing people into ideological boxes can be both counterproductive and dangerous.

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes traditional social institutions. But the essence of conservatism varies in relation to the traditional values and practices of the culture and civilization in which it appears. Both where and when matters. As does the what.

For example: A long time ago, in the United States, the Democratic Party was oddly considered the more conservative party. In early American politics the Democrats practiced 'conservatism' in its attempts to maintain the social and economic institution of slavery. President Andrew Johnson – a Democrat – is one well known example. He was considered a “conservative.”

In those days the Democrats were often called conservative and embraced that label. Many of them were conservative in the sense that they wanted things to be like they were in the past, especially as far as race was concerned.

If someone holds a conservative view on an issue, it’s helpful to understanding the root of their thinking and their perspective:

"To be conservative ... is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss." - Michael Oakeshott

Using the above definition to examine my own range of views over the course of my lifetime, I can see that there were times when on specific issues I would have held a conservative view. But on many occasions and on my topics my view would have progressive.

Progressivism

Progressivism is a political and social philosophy in support of social reform. It is largely based on the idea of progress. Progressive thinkers believe that advancements in science, technology, economic development and social organization are critical to the improvement of the human condition.

But again, the exact issue, time and place matters. The meaning of progressivism has changed over time. For example: In the early 20th century progressivism was tied to both eugenics and the temperance movement. This might come as a shock to a 21st century “progressive”. But both of those movements were promoted as initiatives toward the goal of making progress in public health.

Beyond labels

I started by saying that context matters and putting labels on people create problems. So, let’s say you are a modern progressive. Imagine the broader progressive community begins to embrace something like eugenics as a tool for social progress. Would you still consider yourself a progressive? Or would you hold fast to a more traditional view on how human genetics should be handled? Would you be a conservative at that time and on that issue?

This is my whole point. Give me the time, the place and the issue. Then I will tell you how I feel about it. But don’t try to call me a Conservative or a Progressive or an Anything for that matter.

If you are going to call me anything then call me someone who understands that I don’t know everything. Someone who knows that I am wrong about many things. Call me intellectually curious, call me open minded and call me unorthodox. But put your label maker back in the stationary cupboard.

Sometimes luck - and what you don't do - can save your life

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 06:57:29 +0000

On Saturday afternoon I almost died. Instead I walked away physically unscathed from the most dangerous situation I’ve ever been in. How does one almost die but have no injuries to show for it? I’ll tell you how, by being very lucky.

With the 2nd wave of the coronavirus now under control, we had determined to “get out a bit”. We were on our way to Melrose Arch for lunch, driving in the middle lane on the N1 high way at about 110 km/h. My daughters were in the back and my wife in the passenger seat next to me.

With me driving, Antoinette was the DJ. We had just finished my request – The Closest Thing to Crazy – and she was going to play us one more Katie Melua song before I’m Like a Bird by Nellie Furtado. That was Emma’s request. Its funny how I can remember all those details but very little about what happened during the 60 seconds that followed.

First, I noticed a large black sedan begin to move towards us from the lane to our right. It was a simple case of changing lanes without looking. Something we’ve all done a few times in our lives. But I wasn’t thinking about that. I was – strangely – not thinking much at all. My primal brain did the math and knew that a collision was imminent.

My sense of hearing and of time evaporated. People always say time slows down, and that might sound odd, but you have to feel it to know what it means. And to realize it’s true. I was now the main character of my own bizarre and silent slow-motion movie.

I remember becoming very aware of a few things: A red car right next to us in the left-hand lane, the large space between us and the next car in front and the feeling of my hands on the steering well. My foot lifted off the accelerator and my hands gently turned the steering wheel a little bit to the left. And as our car began to move… contact.

The front left bumper and wheel of their car slammed into the front right bumper and wheel of our car. They told me afterwards that at this point my daughters started screaming, covered their eyes and burst into tears.

But my central nervous system had now exchanged hearing for more important things like the perception of balance (Equilibrioception), sensitivity to gravity and motion (Kinesthesia) and the ability to sense force (Mechanosensation).

Our car was sort of swaying from left to right. And I could feel every part of it. There was no distinction between me and the car. I knew three things. We had somehow avoided contact with the red car to our left, we were fishtailing, and I had limited control.

I remember being especially aware of the dynamics of the movement. Critically, each time the rear skidded in a different direction the magnitude of the movement was decreasing slightly. Once I sensed this gradual return to normal, I opened my mouth and said to my family: “Everything is okay, we are going to be fine.”

I believe two things saved our lives. One was luck and the other was the things I didn’t do. I didn’t turn the steering wheel dramatically in any direction and I didn’t apply break pressure. I’m sure I did something with the steering, but I can’t remember what it was, and I know it wasn’t much.

To add to our luck, our wheel alignment was fine, and we could continue driving. On the way home I used the opportunity to tell my daughters that this sort of thing is exactly why following distance; speed limits and seat belts are important things. But mostly I was just glad to be alive and relieved my family was okay.

The current traditional schooling system cannot be the end game

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 07:07:13 +0000

The pandemic – and our subsequent zig-zagging between on campus and online school – has made education a big part of our family conversations recently. For many years I’ve been worried that old school education (pun intended as always) just cannot be the final, optimal system we invent as a human species. It has too many problems that should not be problems.

I remember trying to drop Afrikaans towards the end of High School. I was the top student in my class and already had two extra subjects (Computer Science and Advanced Mathematics). But of course, it was “not something I would be allowed to do”. When I asked the dreaded question of why, I was met with answers – I kid you not – like “Languages are important because you need to be able to communicate, to construct sentences etc”.

Give me a break. I think by age of the 17 I has figure out how spell and to sentences construct.

But schools had not figured out how to move from being factories that produces drones for society to places where young people can genuinely explore their natural curiosity and express their intelligent creativity.

And of course, now I’m reliving some of those frustrations through the lives of my daughters. There are minor annoyances. A teacher resigns and suddenly French becomes a “reading period” for two weeks. To more serious ones. Teenagers - whose circadian rhythms are biologically shifted from being larks to night owls - must simply comply with the old “be there at 7.25am” rules. So many rules and traditions that no one ever questions anymore because, well, that’s just the way school is supposed to be. But is it?

Intelligent, sophisticated human societies have been on this planet for thousands and thousands of years. In that time period it’s only the last couple hundred years that we’ve had the current school system.

The problem is once your parents had school that way, and you had school that way, it becomes too easy to just go along and assume that school has always been that way. And that it should always stay that way.

I applaud innovations – big and small – that push the boundaries and attempt to reinvent and override traditions. The national school of the arts. New online schools that are popping up. Micro schools. Technical high schools. All these are helping us as human beings break through the old and discover what lies beyond the limitations of the status quo.

I’ll end this Friday morning rant with a couple of my favourite quotes from one of the greatest educators the world has even seen. One Professor Richard Feynman…

“The problem is not people being uneducated. The problem is that people are educated just enough to believe what they have been taught, and not educated enough to question anything from what they have been taught.”

“Don't just teach your students to read. Teach them to question what they read, what they study. Teach them to doubt. Teach them to think.”

2020 was like lifting a car off your kids

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 06:38:19 +0000

Imagine your teenage son is working underneath his car. Now imagine the car falls off the jacks that were holding it up. What would you do in a situation like that? Would you stay calm and call 911? Not very likely. Patience usually goes out the window at that point. And it’s all thanks to the hypothalamus region of our brains and our adrenal glands.

This is exactly what happened to Angela Cavallo in 1982. A Chevvy Impala fell off its jacks and onto her son Tony. What did she do? She simply lifted the car high enough – and long enough – for a couple of neighbors to replace the jacks and pull Tony out.

Here is what happened: Her brain sensed danger and sent a chemical signal to her adrenal glands. This activated her sympathetic system which sent her body into an excited state. Adrenaline and noradrenaline were now coursing through her. It raised her heart rate, increased her respiration, dilated her pupils, slowed down her digestion and – very importantly in this situation -- allowed her muscles to contract.

This raises interesting questions. Why do we only possess such “super human” strength in short bursts? Why does it require us to be confronted with danger? Wouldn’t we be more capable and equipped to deal with life’s challenges if we could walk around in a constant state of heightened readiness?

I love how Josh Clark addresses this idea in his howstuffworks.com article. He says the short answer is… it would kill us. Indeed, scary things happens to a body that stays in an excited state for prolonged periods.

Your body enters what is called a “state of exhaustion”. Your immune system begins to wear down. You become more susceptible to infections and other medical problems. You will more easily catch a cold and may have a higher chance of suffering a heart attack. A “state of exhaustion” is seen most often in cases of prolonged stress. A prime example is workplace stress.

Which brings me to the real point of today’s article. Sure, it is possible for a mom to lift a car off a child. But prolonged or intense stressors will not leave you the way it found you. You can seriously damage your body when lifting a car. Betsey Stevenson is an economist at the University of Michigan. She recently noted that the year 2020 was like lifting a car off your kids.

The last 12 months were stressful as hell, but many people rose to the challenge. But super human efforts come at a steep cost. One of the most important questions we must answer in 2021 is therefore “How are we going to heal after lifting the pandemic off ourselves, our families and our businesses?”

Innovation without execution is hallucination

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 06:09:23 +0000

Innovation without execution is not vision. Its hallucination. “An experience involving the apparent perception of something not present”. Execution is what takes things from the world of ideas into the realm of reality.

I would even say that innovation without execution is worse than execution without innovation. Even a clueless person that executes gives themselves the opportunity to fail. Which is an opportunity to learn and try again. In fact, failed execution is often where the best innovations come from.

I think that’s why we have such a common human response to enticing ideas. We say, “cool, let’s make it happen”. We use a different phrase when the idea is not so enticing. Like when you and an acquaintance run into each other and one of you suggests getting together for coffee or lunch. Then we say “yeah, we should make a plan”.

Suggesting we should make a plan is the perfect no-action phrase. If we really wanted to have coffee or lunch then we would, but instead we settle for should. In fact, to bring the lunch into the realm of reality we should just set a date. Or even better, we should just go for coffee right now. I mean, do you really not have 20 minutes?

This is how I personally want to approach innovation. I’m challenging myself. To move beyond that wonderful world in my head, the one where I can have great ideas, dreams and potential innovations without any risk of failure. A world where all my ideas have potential but nothing really happens.

It’s a world full of rainbows and unicorns… and regrets.

I once imagined using sensors and lights to indicate which parking bays are open inside a busy mall parking lot. I even told my wife about the idea. It was a great idea. I know it was a great idea because for the last couple of years I’ve experienced it first hand at many malls around Joburg. You drive in, see how busy the parking lot is and your heart sinks. Then you see that magical green glow in the see of red. And you glide towards it knowing that there is a place for you to park.

But I never acted on that idea. I was innovating in my head while someone else - who had the same idea - actually did something with it. It’s a lesson in the importance of going beyond vision – beyond hallucinations – and “making it happen”.

Raising small children is a terrible and wonderful experience

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 06:41:32 +0000

My daughters are transforming from little girls into little woman before my eyes. And with the passing of time the Facebook memories and old photos and videos on our phones are becoming more and more emotional to watch. I hear those little voices and am transported to another lifetime.

It is interesting that all those photos and videos are of beautiful memories. Little songs being sung while strapped in the car seat. Adorable. Dancing their hearts out to some or other Disney movie theme song. Too cute for words. And snippets catching them saying the darndest things. It’s enough to melt your heart.

The question is, where are the videos of the dirty nappies, the sleepless nights and the terrible twos? As my wife and I concluded, one does not typically grab your phone to record those moments. The challenges of raising small children are instead hidden in plain sight. If you look carefully at the old Reinecke photo albums there is one common theme...

My wife and I look tired in most of them.

That is why my advice to new parents is emphatic: Get and take all the help you can. Lean on parents, siblings, aunts and uncles as much as you can. Your mom’s offering to come stay with you for the first couple months? Bite her hand off! Someone’s offering to babysit? If you trust them, then for goodness sake go for it! Think you can afford a nanny or au pair? I guarantee you it will be some of the best money you ever spend.

Enjoy every moment they say. Well, you can love a toddler every moment but it’s near impossible to enjoy every moment of a child’s life. That’s something you say to people when you’ve forgotten how hard it can be to stay sane while being sleep deprived. So instead I have a different bit of sage advice: Stick together and remember it gets better.

I still hear of too many dads who are unwilling to change nappies or do the 10pm and 5am bottles. Let me be clear, it really does take a village. I didn’t contribute enough with our first baby and I regret it to this day. I redeemed myself somewhat with number two and all through the rest of the toddler years. In my experience it really does make a difference. The saying “many hands light work” comes to mind.

So where does that leave us? For me, having kids was simultaneously the hardest and most wonderful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. You might think there are going to be difficult moments. But you don’t know the half of it. There will be teething nappies, midnight fevers and at least a few tantrums that will cause you to question every decision you’d ever made up to that point. But at the same time, however much you think you are going to love and enjoy having children, I promise you, you are underestimating how incredible it is. My daughters are not just my life, they are my universe.

How to share disappointing news with people that report to you

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 06:35:08 +0000

Sharing disappointing work-related news with someone that reports to you is probably one of the least satisfying parts of any business leader’s job. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to anticipate the disappointment. You don’t have to have worked with that person for 10 years. And you don’t have to be a mind reader. Most leaders just know when the news isn’t “good news”.

Organisations that are small and growing are in constant flux. Large corporates might be growing slower but, in my experience, they are also constantly changing. Senior leaders resign, retire or take on new assignments. Departments and teams are moved and merged. And entire corporate structures or strategies shift, creating small tremors throughout the organisation.

The problem of course is that org charts don’t have feelings. People do. Changes don’t just affect teams and companies. They impact individuals. When you absolutely must make a change that is going to affect a person, you must do more than anticipate their feelings. You must plan your change management around it. Below are 4 things I try to consider:

1. Include them

The bravest of all change management strategies is to include the affected person in the process before the decision is made. It takes more effort but gives the benefit that the decision doesn’t completely blindside them. It also gives you their unique perspective and insight before having to lock in a decision.

2. Make notes

But let’s say a decision has finally been made. You are now going to need to have a conversation. Do I even need to say it should be face-to-face instead of over e-mail or text message? Or that your camera should be on? I hope not! The conversation is likely to be emotionally charged at times and it’s good to have your thoughts laid out in advance. Extra points if the notes are put together well enough that you can send it to them afterwards.

3. Timing matters

It might be better to do it in the morning, or in the afternoon. It might be better at the start of the week or towards the weekend. There is no one size fits all time, but I do think choosing the time thoughtfully is valuable. I once got an unexpected pseudo-demotion at 4.30pm on a Friday afternoon. It wasn’t the best weekend of my life.

4. Open cards

Start at the beginning. Talk about the bigger picture, the catalysts and the knock-on effects. Give the person context and bring them up to speed. Remember, they are going to be processing this, messaging their best friend and breaking the news to their family over dinner. You have an opportunity to put all your cards on the table. The more they understand the logical, business rationale behind the decision the better chance they will be able to make peace with it. Even if it takes them some time.

It’s said the only constant is change. But there is another truth I’ve learned over my career. Not all changes are like a holiday. Sure, corporate changes open the doors of opportunity to some. But it also closes as many doors as it opens. And where there are winners and losers there is sure to be disappointment.

Some of my biggest failures as a leader have involved not managing changes well. And some of my most frustrating personal experiences at work have been around changes that I felt could have been handled better.

As leaders we cannot shield our team members from all disappointment. But we can position uncomfortable developments, changes and other potentially negative news in ways that give people a better chance of surviving the shock. And if we lead well, these shocks can even become watershed moments that launch people into an exciting next part of their career.

Amazon and the Coronavirus remind us that failure should be an option

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 06:00:31 +0000

SARS-CoV-2 is a relatively slow learner. The virus accumulates only two single-letter mutations per month in its genome. That means it changes at about half the speed of the flu and a quarter the speed of HIV. Learner is too strong a word. The virus isn’t really “learning” at all. The changes are random and most of them either make it less dangerous or have no meaningful impact on its ability to survive.

But the important thing is it does change. It might not be learning, but it’s constantly buying lottery tickets. And every now and then it picks the right number. That’s why there are currently a couple of new variants floating around that have scientists concerned. But this article isn’t about the pandemic. It’s about the importance of running experiments in the world of business.

Consider this quote from Jeff Bezos:

“As a company grows, everything needs to scale, including the size of your failed experiments. If the size of your failures isn’t growing, you’re not going to be inventing at a size that can actually move the needle.”

Notice how he assumes there will be experiments and there will be failures. For him and Amazon it’s non-negotiable. It’s part of how they do business and ultimately part of the reason they have succeeded over the long term.

The problem at most companies is that “failure is not an option”. Imagine if the Coronavirus never changed. It would never have mutations that made it worse. It would also never become more lethal or more infectious. It would be a sitting duck for our vaccine programs. It certainly would not have produced the recent variants that appear to be at least somewhat resistant to a couple of our vaccines.

It’s ironic that a company that tries avoiding failure at all cost is essentially locking in failure in the long run. Jeff Bezos explains in one of his annual letters to shareholders how Amazon used what they learned from failing with the Fire to build the successful Echo and Alexa product lines.

In the long run, there is no success without failure. And there is no failure without experimentation. At Amazon, “failure is not an option” has a completely different meaning. For them, it means that experimentation and the resulting failures are not optional. It is essential to their ability to grow and change and succeed over the longer term.

It must be noted that Jeff himself emphasises they want to be as smart about their bets as they can. That is a key advantage businesses have over the Coronavirus. They can run controlled experiments. Amazon’s products, service models and business processes are not randomly mutating from one day to the next. They can apply their minds and learnings from recent successes and failures to their next “mutations”.

But mutate they must. And mutate they do. The question for you is: Does my business have any failed experiments I can point to as evidence that we are taking the kind of risks that will help us succeed in the long term? If not, we may have to take a fresh look at COVID and Amazon and remind ourselves just how critical failure is to success.

My new contact lenses allowed me to see how fast technology is moving

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 06:31:00 +0000

I recently got new contact lenses. Turns out the astigmatism in my right eye has now reached a point where using a proper astigmatism lens will make a big difference. So said my optometrist. I was skeptical. I’d seen this movie before - pun intended as usual - and the ending was as bad as the one from La La Land.

I’d tried these special astigmatism lenses about 5 years before and boy was it uncomfortable. I’m talking impossible-to-get-used-to levels of discomfort. It was harder to put in, felt scratchy and weird, and made no discernible difference to my eyesight. After trying multiple brands for several days each, I gave up and returned to my familiar and comfortable lenses. I would have to settle for 20:18 vision.

Fast forward to a month ago and my optometrist insisting we try again. Apparently lens technology had improved. There were more options available. And besides, my astigmatism was not getting any better as I got older. So, I reluctantly bought the tickets to the sequel.

We tried one lens which made me feel like I was having an out of body experience. Uncomfortable, weird and importantly not really an improvement in my eyesight. La La Land 2 was following a familiar script.

Then it happened.

She ordered one more trial lens and I came back to give it a try. I put the lens in and… voilà. My vision was crystal clear. And importantly, it was completely comfortable. We did the usual checks and I departed a happy man. It was like magic. We found the right lens and my eyesight was back to being near perfect.

There is a key life lesson hidden in this story. Even a technophile like myself can behave like a luddite when they have a closed mind. Specifically, when we underestimate the progress that engineering, science and technology can make over time. Technology years are more like dog years. 5 years is almost half a lifetime.

Corporate e-mail is like a mine dump

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 06:39:51 +0000

When I was in grade 3 my dad got a promotion that came with a transfer. So, we packed up and moved from Brixton to Klerksdorp. There were several mines in the area and where there are mines there are mine dumps. I soon discovered that some mine dumps are reprocessed. Turns out they are not all worthless. If you have the right technology, process and a favorable market price for the material being extracted, you are in business.

E-mail in the corporate world is like a mine dump to me.

It’s not the primary engine of value. It’s the leftovers.

Most of the time it’s the distribution of notes or confirmation of actions after the real thinking and discussions have taken place. It’s the escalation as a last resort or someone’s desperate attempt at getting your attention after normal channels have not worked out. It’s the reminder after the reminder after the reminder. The mail about the blog post about the announcement. The endless copying in someone’s boss or a massive distribution group.

Like any decent mine dump, e-mail is not completely devoid of value though. It can still add value to your personal day to day work and the company’s overall productivity. But only if approached carefully. Just imagine, instead of using the correct tools and processes, the mining company hired a bunch of people and told them to climb up the mine dump with buckets and spades and come back with something valuable at the end of the day.

That’s kind of what we do in the corporate world.

I’m sorry, but I can’t be a part of that system. So, I’ve developed my own little mining operation. The processing plant consists of mail rules that ruthlessly filter out noisy subject lines, noisy e-mail bodies and almost everything where I’m on the CC line. On top of this are some exception rules. For instance, there is a rule to bypass those filters for the colleagues that I want to see every mail from. This is how all mails from my direct reports come straight to my inbox.

At the end of this process over 90% of my incoming mail go directly to the archive folder.

There are several automated mails that IT systems send me as reminders that someone has applied for leave or an invoice needs to be approved etc. These get marked as read and go to a special folder labelled “weekly approvals”. On Fridays I have an appointment in my diary to go through that folder and batch process all those actions.

The wonderful knock on effect of all this filtering and batching is that the signal to noise ratio in my inbox is much, much better than it would be for most people. As a result of that, I don’t need to check my e-mail every 2 minutes. The chances of me falling behind or missing important things are reduced. This in turn reduces stress and increases my focus.

This whole idea flows from one of my values: Live deliberately.

If e-mail is driving you nuts, take the time to conquer it. Show your inbox who is in charge. It takes some thinking, it takes some setting up, but those are largely once off costs. In fact, they are not really costs. They are investments in your sanity, productivity and ability to add value. And adding value is a million times better than just being busy.

A promotion should cause you to change

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 06:36:05 +0000

“They’ve really changed since they got that promotion”. I’m sure you’ve heard those words spoken around the office. I certainly have. Maybe you have even said it yourself. When we say that, we usually don’t mean change as in good, healthy personal growth. We usually mean we no longer like the way that person behaves at work.

This begs an important question: Should a step up at work cause you to change? The answer is obvious but complex. Yes, of course career growth should be a catalyst for personal change. A new position brings new challenges and opportunities that often require you to develop and employ new skills and understanding.

A step up also typically gives you a new perspective. Seeing things from a different angle can change the way you think and feel about those things. And when those new ways of thinking and feeling begin to sink in, guess what. It changes you.

I could argue that you will only flourish in a new role if you adapt to it. In other words, saying that someone who has taken on greater responsibility has changed should be a compliment not an inditement.

Now I know what you are thinking: “But they’ve become so unfriendly, high and mighty, arrogant etc.” In this you would be justified. Career growth should be a catalyst for personal growth and leadership development. Developing a chip on your shoulder is not the kind of change I was talking about earlier.

But I will say this from personal experience: Be careful not to judge someone in a new role too harshly or too quickly. What looks like arrogance or a newfound sharp edge can be rooted in a sense of frustration or from feeling overwhelmed. The new behavior may be just a cover for stock standard imposter syndrome. Before you write someone off, give them a little bit of time for their personal growth engine to catch up to the demands of their new role. As much as leadership development is critical, it also takes time.

Speaking of personal growth. This article would be incomplete if I failed to point out that you don’t need a new title or a promotion before you grow. If you have a growth mindset and a bias toward action, then you will be putting yourself in situations that demand growth on a regular basis. This approach to life is essentially a way of giving yourself regular promotions!

Remember this: You don’t need other people’s permission to grow and learn. It’s especially important in a corporate world ruled by the rhythms of reporting lines and performance appraisals. I’ll put it another way: You don’t need someone else’s permission to be awesome. You’re not just working for your boss, you’re working principally for yourself. Don’t always be waiting. Go out there, show up and do your thing!

Your colleagues often face personal challenges you are unaware of

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 06:32:27 +0000

I’ll never forget the day one of my direct reports walked into the office and apologized for being late. He casually said it was because he had to shoot an intruder in the early hours of the morning. I was at a complete loss for words, but I heard myself say “are you okay?”. He smiled and said he’s fine and explained this wasn't his first time.

I will admit this is an extreme example. But the truth is everyone goes through things in their personal lives that may affect their work.

I did a counseling course in my late 20’s and found out over the next 10 years that we only see the tip of the iceberg when looking at people from the outside. From friends to family and colleagues, the reality is the true extent of their challenges are usually hidden beneath the surface.

If you knew a team member had been sleeping on the couch for the last 3 months due to a difficult situation at home, would you feel differently about them arriving 10 minutes late for a meeting? If you knew someone’s extended sick leave was because they were recovering from being stabbed at an ATM, would you still be tempted to view them as a slacker? If you knew that the reason that colleague snuck out early every second Friday afternoon was so they could fetch their kids for the weekend, would you still think they don’t work as hard as you?

Not everyone is in the same boat.

Some are nervous and excited because they are about to get married. Some are nervous and stressed because they are about to get divorced. Some are a shadow of themselves because they just received a worrying diagnoses and others are happy and relieved because it turned out to be nothing. Some are waking up every 2-3 hours with a newborn, others are going through fertility treatment and yet others are bracing themselves for a looming empty nest.

Your boat might be different, but we are all out at sea.

We face similar waves, winds and storms. There are differences but we all recognize the rhythms of life’s challenges.

Two keys to healthy long-term work relationships are empathy and compassion. And those will elude you if you lack understanding. Not of the details but of a general sense that everyone is going through something.

Sometimes it’s a challenge we are familiar with and feel up to facing. Other times it might be new or overwhelming. You just don’t know if this was the first time a colleague has had to shoot someone in self-defense. So as both a leader and a team member, the right question is always “are you okay”.

A lesson about candor and kindness from David Greybeard the chimpanzee

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 06:04:28 +0000

My family and I enjoy watching a couple of MasterClass lessons after dinner on weekday evenings. We’re currently going through Walter Moseley’s writing and Jane Goodall’s conservation courses. These two each have a passion for their craft that is both intoxicating and illuminating.

I’ll spare you the Google search and just give you the Wikipedia intro to Jane Goodall. She is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees and is best known for her 60-year study of their social and family interactions in the wild.

One of her earliest encounters was with a chimp she named David Greybeard. It’s one of her many stories that has blown my mind wide open. This one was so powerful in fact, that it instantaneously raised my expectations of myself and all human society.

She was following David Greybeard through the forest when she entered a clearing and found him sitting. It was like he was waiting for her to catch up. She picked up a nut that she knew was part of their diet. Then, she slowly stretched out her arm towards him and opened her hand.

David looked at her but then turned his head away. He was not too keen on the offering.

But Jane inched her way towards him and gently tried one more time. Now the chimp came closer. He took the nut and dropped it on the ground. He really didn’t want the nut. And then something amazing took place.

He placed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze.

Jane had seen this behavior many times while studying chimp societies and knew exactly what it meant. It was a sign of reassurance. She truly communicated with the animal. That alone would be astonishing, but the nature of the communication is what takes my breath away.

He wasn’t in the mood to eat the nut. But he understood that her intentions were good! And he wanted her to know that he knew! He wanted to reassure her.

This isn’t fantasy, fiction or a scene from beauty and the beast. This is a real-life woman experiencing deep, complex and emotional communication with an animal. An interaction filled with empathy, understanding and meaning.

I hope you can see now why this instantaneously raised my expectations of myself and all human society. If not, allow me to spell it out…

David Greybeard – a chimpanzee – was able to draw a personal boundary and say no to something he did not want at the time. He not only asserted himself, but he did so with grace. He acted with empathy and understanding. He was not merely assertive but constructive.

If a chimp can behave with candor and kindness, then surely, so can we?

I mentioned in yesterday’s article that the top performers in my department usually get along reasonably with their colleagues. I think it’s time we expect that to be the norm, not the exception.

The last few minutes of an interview are critical

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 06:18:04 +0000

Almost every job interview ends in the same way. The panel leader asks the candidate if they have any questions of their own. After hundreds of interviews spanning more than 20 years, I’ve noticed three main groups of job hunters…

The first group has no questions for the panel. Not one question. Nothing. Unless they have already knocked my socks off or have been weaving their questions and clarifying statements in the dialogue all along, this person goes down several notches in my estimation.

Changing where you work or what you do is a big deal. And 99% of the time there is a huge amount of uncertainty. I struggle to understand how a candidate can get to this part of the interview and have literally no questions. I worry that if they have nothing that they are unsure or even curious about in this critical situation, how are they going to approach the inevitable ambiguity they face as a knowledge worker? Are they also going to ask no questions? That’s not the recipe for success, growth or good performance.

The second group asks a couple of questions, but the questions are so bad they would have been better off not asking them. You can see they are just asking questions in order to avoid being in the first group.

I’m struggling to come up with good examples of “bad” questions, but I think you kind of know it when you hear it. Sometimes the question reflects badly because it doesn’t make sense. You sit there and start worrying that they don’t have half a clue which job they are applying for. A terrible question can sometimes tell you more about how a candidate is going to perform on the job than any of the answers they gave earlier.

The third group asks good questions and they ask them well. Good questions are the ones that build on what is already known and understood. They use the job description, the publicly available information about the company and the dialogue from the interview itself as a launchpad for further clarification and detail.

One example of a good question would be: “I know from your website that you sell product lines A and B in region X and Y. And the job description said this position will be focusing on a subset of the business. But it didn’t specify if the sales team members divide their focus by product or region?” Unless you have already bombed the interview, you just jumped to the top of my list!

I did an interview this week and really liked one of the questions the candidate asked. They said: “What are the common traits among top performers in your department?”. This question told me a lot about the candidate. It was relevant and articulate but also revealed a desire to excel. This is an invaluable character trait in any team member. If you are interested, below are the 3 things I told them are common among the members of my staff that are setting the example:

They all approach their work in a way that blurs the lines between business and IT.
They all contribute to the performance of their team (not lone rangers).
They all get along at least reasonably well with their colleagues.

Why leaders should hack their familiarity loop

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 06:16:44 +0000

I’m currently reading a book that explores the science behind habit creation and reformation. There is a section that deals with the power that familiar things have over us. The brain craves the familiar and this phenomenon effects what we think we like and prefer. It even plays a role in what we think is the best thing or the best course of action.

As someone who makes decisions, leads people and is involved in innovation, this is a phenomenon that gives me pause and I believe the implications are worth thinking about. Is that really the right course of action for our team, department or business? Or is it just the one I’m most familiar with? Is this really the right person to hire or promote? Or is it just the person whose characteristics I’m personally most familiar with?

Being aware of the tricks that familiarity, routine and habits play on our brain is just the beginning though. The real question is what do we do about this awareness? How do we go beyond autopilot and make better business and life decisions? I’m not going to even try to answer that in a blog post. But I will say I’m personally challenged to use this new found understanding to fuel my growth and performance.

Some ideas that already spring to mind is just going back to doing proper analysis and research and to allow the process to lead you to insights and then decisions. Throw in some robust debate and thoughtful disagreement for good measure.

This is not to discard intuition which is powerful and invaluable, but rather to ensure we do a healthy amount of work before jumping to conclusions. In this way I see research and analysis as complementary to intuition, not opposed to it. I see debate and open mindedness as lenses that help focus our intuition over time.

In fact, your intuition is very much influenced by past experience. So why not sharpen my current experience through analysis, research and debate so that my future intuition becomes more powerful. In a sense, knowing the impact that what I’m familiar with has on my leadership and decision making, it makes me more determine to ensure I familiarize myself currently with a wide variety of subject matter, perspectives and disciplines. It's future proofing my intuition.

I’m am also determined to keep reading both contemporary and classic literature so that I’m familiar with both discreet current knowledge and the wisdom that evolves and emerges over centuries. Last year for instance I really enjoyed reading The Art of War and The Lessons of History by historians Will Durant and Ariel Durant.

If you are interested in the book I’m currently reading, it’s called The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. I’ve enjoyed reading it so far and can safely recommend it.

What you know and isn't true can hurt you

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 06:35:36 +0000

It has been said that what you don’t know can’t hurt you. This is obviously not entirely true. Being ignorant of an underlying medical condition does not give you immunity to its eventual negative impact on your life.

The classic counter is that knowing is half the battle. Again, not entirely true. Imagine a person who just found out that someone they care about has died of COVID. Try telling them that now that they know the person has passed away they should be halfway through their battle with grief.

At least the sentiment resonates more with me. It is true that you can't begin to “get over something” if you don’t know about it. And its hard to take remedial action if you don’t know about a problem. I get it. And broadly speaking I prefer working with people who want to know the truth, so that they can deal with reality as it really is, not as they hope it to be.

But what about those things that lie somewhere between ignorance and knowing. I’m talking about the things we believe that are not true. It’s a sort of "false knowing" if you will. These things are the things you should really be scared of. Not knowing at least brings with it a bit of healthy fear and tentativeness.

I remember standing at the top of Birling Gap on the English south coast. We have all seen those beautiful pictures of the famous white cliffs of Dover. And having stood there I can testify to their magnificence. But I can also tell you, not knowing exactly how close I could safely go to the edge scared the pants off me. I probably stopped a good 2 meters short of where I could have gone. But I just wasn’t sure.

Now contrast this with things you are sure of.

You are sure that when your child has a fever you should try to bring it down. Only, scientifically speaking, that will make them more comfortable but will hinder their body’s ability to fight off any infection they are dealing with.

You are sure that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Only, scientifically speaking, it’s not. The idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day comes from John Kellogg, the co-inventor of flaked cereal. Any meal is important in the sense that we all need to eat to survive.

You are sure you could never be a person who exercises. Only, scientifically speaking, you could. Humans are well able to develop new routines and habits, and you are no exception. You think you don’t have the willpower, but you are wrong. It’s true you might not have the willpower right now, but once it’s a habit – something that can happen surprisingly quickly – you will soon realize you don’t need so much willpower to sustain your new routine.

The point is not get you to skip breakfast or deny your child Panado. It is that not everything you believe to be true is true.

Think about how much you’ve learned and discovered in the last 5-10 years. A lot of that learning has been refining misconceptions and unlearning. And this is the point: If I was wrong about a ton of stuff 10 years ago, then surely I am wrong about a ton of stuff right now.

So how do we respond to this realization? By becoming intellectually humble. Developing our ability to think critically. Looking for ways to understand things from first principle. Thinking in probabilities instead of absolutes. Doing the hard work required to have an opinion. And then having thoughtful opinions that we hold loosely.

Someone tells you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Okay – our response should be: “That’s interesting. Who said that? What did they base it on? Was it based on peer reviewed and published research? Have the experiments been reproduced? Did the research say why it’s more important than other meals? Did it say what happens when you skip breakfast? Did they indicate any benefits of skipping breakfast?”

You so you become someone who looks for nuance, looks for cause and effect and looks for understanding... not just knowing.

Back in the habit

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 06:39:20 +0000

Habit stacking is so freaking powerful. It’s helped me start and stick to everything from my morning stretches to my daily meditation ritual. I've used it to run or walk every morning for the last few years and it helped me to start doing 10 minutes of strength training on weekday mornings.

“Have you done your exercise for the day sweetie?”

“Oops, no! Dad, can I quickly do it now?”

“Sure, I don’t mind. Go for it.”

This is not an uncommon exchange between myself and either of my daughters. It typically takes place after dinner and before we sit down as a family to watch an episode of Downton Abbey or a movie together before bed.

At this point in the blog post you might be getting ready to judge my parenting style. What kind of man forces his 11 and 13-year-old daughters to exercise? Fortunately, they are more than welcome not to exercise.

All I did was explain the scientifically proven benefits of regularly moving your body. I bought them an exercise bike and said they can get an extra block of Lindt 85% dark chocolate – which they love - every day on which they did 10 minutes of cycling.

I haven’t used any of the technical terms in the paragraphs above. But there are a few cool things at play here:

Intentionally crafting your environment (buying a bike)
Incentives & gamification (chocolate)
Coaching and accountability (me)

Habits also play a part in this little story. Both positively and negatively. Doing it daily helps it become a habit, and so does getting the reward at the same time each day. But the reason they get all the way to dinner without exercise on many days is because there is something missing. They would find it so, so much easier to stick to the habit if they attached it to something else that they do at the same time each day.

This is called habit stacking. It’s the thing that helped me start and stick to everything from my morning stretches to my daily meditation ritual. It’s a tool I used to run or walk every morning for the last few years and what I used to start doing 10 minutes of strength training on weekday mornings.

Even writing this post is another attempt at me using the power of habit stacking. I stopped writing in September 2020 when I took a two-week vacation. I was - quite frankly - quite tired of writing at that time. I had written over 200 articles by then and was trying to also finish my MBA which requires a heck of a lot of research and writing in its own right.

But I feel ready to get cracking with the help of the power of habits. I am trying to “stack” my writing habit on top of my most well established and unshakeable habits. My morning cup of coffee.

Your todo list might be hurting more than helping

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 07:10:29 +0100

I used to put about 10 items on my todo list every morning. Keep in mind this was over and above meetings. Or those urgent things that inevitably pop up as a day unfolds.

Talk about biting off more than you can chew. Its not surprising that I would never complete all 10. In fact, I rarely got halfway through.

Maybe that’s no big deal though? Maybe it’s better to shoot for the stars and hit the moon?

Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. Even the moon was in no danger. It was actually more like shooting myself in the foot.

I felt overwhelmed and demotivated. I’d look at my list in between meetings and feel unsure of myself. What should I try to do? What should I not do? Those are too many questions. Even looking at the list was exhausting.

So this year I tried a different approach: I limited myself to a maximum of 5 things per day.

It took me a couple of weeks to get used to it. At times it felt odd. Like I was lazy or not being ambitious enough. But then I got into the swing of it... and everything changed.

I felt focused. I felt motivated. 5 things? This I could do! It energized me like never before. It also forced me to decide upfront which 5 things were truly worth doing.

Do less to do more.

It’s not flattery if you mean it

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 06:56:00 +0100

This week I reached out to someone I respect and rate highly. I wanted to see if there was a chance he might want to come work with me at some point.

I told him straight up I think he is brilliant. He half-jokingly replied that I must be desperate if I’m resorting to flattery.

I knew where he was coming from but I also knew he was wrong. I’m not desperate at all, but more importantly, that is not what the word flattery means.

I’ve been driving my wife a little nuts over the last few weeks. Apparently I’ve developed a new habit of spotting incorrect uses of English words.

That alone would be an acceptable habit. Unfortunately I also correct whichever family member dared to use the wrong word. Or use the right word in the wrong way.

Back to flattery and why this person was wrong. Flattery is excessive and insincere praise, given especially to further one's own interests.

If I think you’re good and I tell you, it’s a compliment not flattery. Even well known and widely used sayings get it wrong:

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

So imitation is the sincerest form of excessive and insincere praise? Is a square the roundest form of rectangle? I suppose so. But what’s the point? As my 13 year old daughter would say: “Oxymoron much?”

High performers beware: You are likely to run out of virtue before time

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 06:54:00 +0100

Diligence is a powerful word. It encapsulates being active, incisive and determined. Diligent people often grow in efficiency and effectiveness over time.

From the outside it looks like they are creating extra minutes or even hours where it does not exist. The line between diligence and pure magic becomes blurred.

They typically use these pockets of time for more personal development, to invest in their team or for networking. They create virtuous circles of productivity.

It sounds like productivity heaven. I know many engineers, executives and entrepreneurs who want nothing more than to walk through those pearly gates.

Real Life™️ has taught me something important though: The more effective and efficient I become, the more likely I am to run out of virtue long before I run out of time.

But why? Because we underestimate the human body and mind’s immense need for rest and reflection. Without these key elements our so called virtuous circle becomes a straight line to burnout.

In seasons of peak performance I feel like I’m flying. I’m unstoppable. Then my physiology puts me on the ground. Turns out I’m very stoppable.

It’s better to weave rest and reflection into the fabric of daily and annual life than to suffer the pain of regular crash landings.

Travel back in time using Eskom and these 6 easy steps

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 06:55:00 +0100

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night because someone just switched on all the lights in your house. Now imagine realizing that someone was you. This happened to me two weeks ago.

Could I have switched the lights on while sleepwalking? Maybe. Although to the best of my knowledge I hadn’t taken a slumbering stroll since childhood.

What actually happened was much stranger. Turns out I went back in time and did it before going to bed! I have a healthy growth mindset, but I never dreamed I would learn how to time travel.

Marty McFly had a Delorean. All I needed was an Eskom. If you have an Eskom near you, then you can try this at home following these simple steps:

1. Wait for the sun to disappear. At my house this usually happens in the evenings but check your local patterns.

2. Double check that your house is now in fact dark. If you’re not sure, try reading a book with very small print. If you’re struggling, odds are you’re good to go.

3. This step is crucial. Carefully switch on every single light in your house. Don’t forget your bedroom.

4. Wait for Eskom to do a 4.5 hour load shedding that will end after any reasonable person would have gone to sleep.

5. Go to sleep.

6. Now wake yourself up with the lights you switched on in the past!

“I was there” and remain proudly African. Forever.

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 08:17:00 +0100

A particular type of goosebump covers your body when you and 94,736 people experience history unfold in front of your eyes. It was a magical night in 2010 which sadly ended in tears.

Ghana were on fire and the FNB Stadium a cauldron. An African team was on the verge of a historic first: Qualifying for a World Cup Semi Final.

Uruguay caved under the pressure right at the end of extra time and the ball flew past their goalkeeper towards the back of the net.

Enter the villain. One Luis Suarez.

Time stood still as he raised a hand into the air. It was blatant. It was illegal. And unfortunately, it was very effective.

The World Cup was well acquainted with the hand of god. But this felt like the work of the devil.

Ghana earned a penalty and Suarez a red card. Asamoah Gyan ran towards the ball and the pulsating atmosphere turned into a hush.

His strike was crisp. 94,736 people inhaled as it sailed towards history. And hit the crossbar. I discovered that night there is something quieter than a hush. 10 years later and I still haven’t exhaled.

We lost the game on penalties. My goosebumps replaced with the quiet numbness of what could have been.

But defeat cannot erase memories of unity and passion. “I was there” and remain proudly African. Forever.