by Brice Hogan
July 28, 2022 | bricehogan.com
Hello Everyone,
Here is your weekly dose of improvement ideas. This is the stuff I have been thinking about and exploring this week.
This week I decided to dedicate this issue to startups, venture capital, and growth. Many of my subscribers are working towards starting a company or want to get better at the roles they are in so I decided to tackle those in this week's issue.
As always if you have any feedback or suggestions about the newsletter reach out to me at bricejhogan@hotmail.com
Brice
What I Listened To
The 20 Minute Venture Capitalist (VC20) Hosted by Harry Stebbings
Take a few minutes out of your day to listen to this podcast. The guest is Tony Fadell who many call the father of the iPhone.
But he has so much to share in this episode from how organizations should have an open idea culture to how every founder should have a co-founder.
He brought up an idea that I really liked and that was a leader has to be a parent sometimes, a coach sometimes, then they have to be a CEO sometimes.
Here is what he meant by that there is a spectrum of emotion that has to be displayed in each situation.
CEO Leader - have to hire and fire - they should be the least emotional
Coach Leader - Will push you and believe in you - but they may have to sit someone on the bench or remove someone but that can take a while.
Parent Leader - your pushing the individual to be better - cannot remove anyone - this is usually the most emotional type of leadership.
Just from Tony's insight, you learn a lot about approaches you might take in your current roles.
What I Watched
Luck and Taking Risks with Doug Leone Partner at Sequoia Capital
I have to disagree with Doug on one point that he made in his talk and that was on Luck.
And I think what he meant was that Luck is the function of the surface area of work you put into getting to your goals.
Increasing your surface area where you are putting in the work to get noticed is an example of creating luck. Obviously its not luck its the work you put in proportion to the right person, the right timing.
Doug said he wanted to be a VC so bad and wanted to learn what that was so he sent over 80 letter to different VC's all of them rejected him 1 accepted him.
That's all it takes is just the one.
He also mentioned "Do your best to keep you ego and insecurities in check don't let them get the best of you.
That is 100% true for all of us. At one point or another we all struggle with those insecurities that chip away. But if we keep them in check and focus on what we can control we can end up anywhere we want to be.
Something I'm Reading
The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
One of the reasons I love this book is how visual it is. Not that books without pictures aren't interesting.
But every part of this book will help you whether you are an entrepreneur or have a 9-5 job.
What the book does is forces you to think through the problems and ask important questions.
Why now?
What am I trying to accomplish?
What problem am I trying to solve?
What is the thing I am building or working towards
But it guides you through each part of the pitch deck to answer these questions because once you can answer the questions it's easier to walk into an interview or a pitch meeting and be able to answer the questions confidently.
I think the most important part about this book is that it helps you to craft your story so you know exactly how to tell it.
Interesting Articles -
The Future of Remote Work By Rani Molla
This is a pretty hot topic lately because companies, managers, and employees are trying to walk a delicate line so that the company succeeds while the employee feels valued.
With the pandemic, we all got very comfortable working from home and now that companies are wanting workers to come back they are trying to create the proper balance.
Here is what I think hybrid work has helped do, expose a need for employees to be recognized and valued, and instead of work/life balance, it's more about life/work balance.
I don't think every company should be fully remote or fully in the office, the most workable solution revolves around the hybrid model.
Each company needs to take a look at it on its own merit and find out what fits them.
I would be interested in your thoughts feel free to email them to me at bricejhogan@hotmail.com
Quote I'm Pondering
Successful people change in ways that allow them to continue to take advantage of their strengths while compensating for their weaknesses.
- Ray Dailo -