Author: jaylazzo

Tale of the Murderous Mantis

| jaylazzo

Steve Jobs (1955-2011) taught that innovation should not be shackled by a rigid focus on process. Organizations that have succeeded risk becoming bureaucratic at the expense of innovation. This is why some very successful companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft hire non-technical people — graphic designers, psychologists, sociologists — to work in technical design teams. They have made a treasure box out of their out-of-the-box thinking.

A process that was revolutionary in its time can still succeed again and again that it is standard. An example from athletics is the Fosbury Flop. This technique is named after Dick Fosbury (1947-2023) who introduced it in the Mexico Olympics of 1968. Before Fosbury, high jumpers primarily used the straddle or scissors techniques to clear the bar, front facing it. The Fosbury Flop, however, involves the athlete approaching the bar at an angle, then jumping with their back facing the bar, arching their body over the bar, and finally landing on their shoulders and upper back on the mat. The crowd laughed at the gangly civil engineering student, until they didn’t. Fosbury won gold and set a world record on October 20, 1968. It’s been the only way to fly since then.

Dick Fosbury died of lymphoma 18 days ago.

Efficient tweaking requires that we can trace any improvement (or lack of it) to a specific change. This is simply the scientific method: one variable at a time. And at no point do we take our eyes off the prize or off the competition.

Also, when we tweak specific parts of the system, we have to watch out that the change doesn’t crash the system.

Tiger Woods (1975- ), one of the most successful golfers in history, has tweaked his swing many times throughout his career. He has worked with various coaches to refine his technique, to improve his game, and to adjust to an aging body. Most of the changes came with winning championship, while one did little to overcome his physical injuries. Still, Woods is able to draw from a variety of technical know-how, allowing him to adjust to the circumstances in ways that can only be described as genius.

In contrast, Greg Norman (1955- ) focused too much on technique during the 1996 Masters Tournament. Norman was leading by six strokes going into the final round, but rather than relying on his natural instincts and maintaining his usual game plan, he started to focus excessively on his technique. This led to a breakdown in his swing mechanics, resulting in a disastrous final round allowing Nick Faldo (1957- ) to win in one of the most significant collapses in golf history.

I, too, had to overcome my fascination for writing techniques. I fell in love with Aristotle’s Syllogism, Minto’s Pyrmaid, Toulmin’s Diagram, in that order over the years. Only recently did I become more flexible. Now I tell my students not to think of technique except during editing, and to break “rules” when it would improve their writing. I now recommend they write their research papers in the first person just to tell the story; we edit later. When a student really has a problem with overthinking I suggest she change the text color to white and type like crazy.

Let me end with the Tale of the Murderous Mantis.

Image: https://external-preview.redd.it/xM85b-NVZ0c5iUVqt9e7yzaG_tSwyQqjH4NYSTqwgJI.jpg?auto=webp&s=7d2b3d863e8e7399538dd35069051ebf632efda7

There once lived a Murderous Mantis who had horrific reputation as an assassin without equal. He could remain motionless for days, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. One day while stalking Bodacious Butterfly, Murderous Mantis did not notice Bored Bird that happened to stop by for some much needed entertainment. “What amazing concentration!,” thought Bored Bird, and then he ate Murderous Mantis.

Alternate between looking at the forest and the trees.

Survive.

(Q.C. 230330)

I’m lazy and weak: Chekhov’s examination

| jaylazzo

The great Russian playwright Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) referring to himself once said:

If an intelligent, educated, and healthy man begins to complain of his lot and go down-hill, there is nothing for him to do but to go on down until he reaches the bottom–there is no hope for him. Where could my salvation come from? How can I save myself? I cannot drink, because it makes my head ache. I never could write bad poetry. I cannot pray for strength and see anything lofty in the languor of my soul. Laziness is laziness and weakness weakness. I can find no other names for them. I am lost, I am lost; there is no doubt of that.“

Anton Chekhov

One of the most prolific writers in the world calling himself lazy and weak. Maybe that’s why he was so successful.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904). Image: https://assets.americanliterature.com/images/author/anton-chekhov-new.jpg

Chekhov is referring to a familiar situation. People are a**holes, work is hard, the world is NOT fair. So what do we do? We rant about it. Ranting, however, if it does not lead to solving problems, invents reasons to give up. It can sound very convincing. We think of ourselves as righteous and strong, and the world doesn’t deserve us. But we ignore the obvious, that others see us as lazy and weak.

But Chekhov is also referring to a deeper situation. The devil wants us to sin. More than that, he wants us to get addicted. He does not expect this to happen overnight. Instead, the devil repeats his attacks. Sloth, pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, and wrath. Every one of these capital sins brings pleasure or kills pain, such as the pain that comes with thinking about effort and hard work. This addiction of the senses is what we refer to as the lust of the flesh.

Addicts like to say two things. First, they can stop any time. And second, they can do nothing about it. Both lies. Addicts deny the seriousness of the problem and try to justify it. Perhaps to calm their conscience. But soon they find it takes more and more sin to have any pleasure at all. In time, they become bored.

The phrase “I am bored” is very common among young people.

What comes after boredom? Despair. And what comes after despair? Numerous authors and psychologists have the answer: suicide, given enough time.

The solution? The virtues. But one has to begin with examining one’s conscience.

A second set of sins are those caused by the lust of the eyes. These are also addictive through the pleasure that comes from having: knowledge, fame, beauty, power, money. Applause. I admire Michael Corleone and his real-life equivalent Michael Franceze for their decisiveness and professionalism, and this is reasonable. Expertise and professionalism, wealth and power, beauty are good. In the examination of conscience, we distill what’s good, condemn what’s bad. We seek morally good options to have these goods.

Then there’s a third group of sins, the pride of life. They bring about addiction for the self as the center of the universe. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. You don’t have to be Xi Xinping to know this. Some people say there are today in China millions of “little emperors”, children of wealthier Chinese families who gain excessive amounts of attention from their parents and grandparents. I don’t quite buy that: what do children know? More serious is that self-centered colleague, who drives a Hyundai that runs on liquid arrogance, he believes he is better than everyone else. He makes no mistakes, listens to no opposition. He doesn’t see the cancer eating him right under his nose.

Chekhov saw that the solution to this cancer is LOVE. He said:

“I understood that when you love you must either, in your reasonings about that love, start from what is highest, from what is more important than just the issue of happiness versus unhappiness, than just the issue of sin versus virtue, or you must not reason at all.”

Anton Chekhov

What brings us back is Love, with a capital L. Love for God leading to sorrow for sins, kills the cancer.

God loves us so much that He will not hide the facts about the disease that’s eating our souls. But He does not force His medicine on us. An addict to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life might be in a continual state of denial, but God is God and will not be deterred. Though He won’t force us, he will use people, events, trends, and circumstances to send us warning signs. As we inch closer to our graves, the warning signs may in fact include a painful, physical cancer.

God will readily grant us the grace of humility to see our faults and sins if we ask for it.

Let’s not wait to stand at the edge of our graves to convert back to God. Let’s ask forgiveness now. And let’s count on the strength of God to do what it takes right now to get back on our feet and to stay up.

(Q.C. 230326)

Failure is my superpower

| jaylazzo

I heard this quote from Evy Poumpouras, author of Becoming Bulletproof, in an interview.

Evy Poumpouras is a former Secret Service agent, author, and television personality. In her book, she shares insights, strategies, and techniques for building mental and emotional resilience, staying safe, and improving overall well-being.

Image: https://www.columbiaclub.org/event/becoming-bulletproof-a-conversation-with-evy-poumpouras/

I’ve been fascinated with intrigue since I was a kid. Robert Ludlum was one of my favorite authors in high school, especially the Jason Bourne series. Although I owe some part of my discretion and reserve to the characters I idolized, I knew that their skills were hard to master, and that those who did not succeed far outnumbered those who did.

Ms. Poumpouras testifies to why the few succeeded. “Failure is my superpower”: she failed many times, mostly in training, and as a result she succeeded more. Luck, too, was on her side, and in her line of work it meant she got to tell her story.

I’m no spy or secret agent, but like most ordinary people I’ve had my ordinary horror stories.

What have I learned?

Develop situational awareness: I remember my first encounter with a pickpocket. I was in a crowded train, slinging a bag on my shoulder and carrying another object in one hand. I remember feeling something brushing against my pants pocket, but my thoughts were mostly elsewhere. As I was stepping out, I realized my Palm Pilot had been stolen. I remember looking back at the crowd just as the doors were closing, and making eye contact with the person I knew did it. She just stared at me, no reaction on her face.

Cultivate mental resilience: Once when I was a teenager, I organized a party in our subdivision. The food was ready, the lights were on, and the first of about 200 people were to arrive within about 2 hours. At that moment we received news that the group we contracted for the “sounds” backed out. Everyone in my team became furious; we knew it was a sabotage. But I told them: “One thing at a time.” We calmed down. One of the team said he would try to contact another friend. Within half an hour, we got confirmation. The group put their equipment together hastily, arrived, and we pulled it off. “One thing at a time” has been my mantra ever since.

Enhance communication skills: Once, as an undergraduate, me and my group had to make a presentation during ecology class. Our teacher was known to be a “terror” and everyone was afraid of her. While my teammate was delivering her part of the presentation she made a mistake that ticked our teacher off, who then went into an increasingly aggressive line of questioning. My teammate started to stutter. “One thing at a time”. I held her firmly on the elbow and told her quietly, “It’s OK, I’ll handle this.” The aggressive questioning continued, but I tried to stay calm. It worked: our teacher responded by gradually toning down. To cut the long story short, that teacher became a good friend.

Understand human behavior: This is one of the scariest things that every happened to me: I forged a signature. It was for the benefit of a classmate who played hooky, and I wrote a “parent’s excuse letter”. While talking about the “project” with him, I did not realize that the person I defeated in an election was within earshot. Later that afternoon, one of his friends came to me and said, “We know what you did.” I was deeply agitated at first: I could be expelled. I had only one option: turn myself in to the prefect of discipline before they did. I gathered my nerves, I went to the office, and long story short, nothing came of the threat.

Master self-defense: So far, I haven’t been involved in a life-threatening encounter and pray I never will. But I took up krav maga just the same. I only aimed to learn two or three krav moves, but well. Then I learned something else, a mentality: strike and run. This is similar to a non-contact technique from karate that I learned when I took it up in elementary school: the kiai!. I saw in real life what it could do. We were in the middle of a corridor packed with students. I was telling a friend that there’s this technique in karate where one could project power — and suddenly I cried kiai! at full force. Perhaps it was the violence, the suddenness of it, the fact that I paid no thought to the university population all around us. My friend was paralyzed for about a second. Had he been an aggressor I could have knocked him out with one palm strike on the chin.

Embrace fear: I routinely face fears, it’s never easy. Fortunately, I learned it early, in a public elocution contest in elementary school. My teacher enrolled me. All contestants were given the same poem. To train, I see my uncle, a professional theater actor and director, the late great Freddie Santos. He takes a look at the poem, then says matter-of-factly “I don’t like it.” So he edits it. I wanted to protest, but no way I was going to do that to Freddie Santos. The day of the competition arrives. My turn comes up. Between the stage lights and the sweat I could see the judges in first row. I delivered my “mangled” piece. I remember seeing very very clearly the look of shock going around the front row, and even the mumbling from the large audience. Of course, I lost. But guess what: I was proud. I knew I had just delivered a much better piece. It has been easier for me from that moment to “break the rules” when it was the best thing to do so. “Report to work each day ready to be fired” is another mantra.

Cultivate a strong sense of purpose: What’s scarier than public speaking? Taking a PhD. I had numerous doubts, sometimes I cried at the string of failed experiments. Two steps forward, one step backward, that kind of defined my day. I even got in fights with people in the lab. At one point I had no idea where I was even going to get samples or where to publish. To top it all, I had to defend my dissertation in a foreign language, French. I wanted not just to quit, I wanted God to strike me with an asteroid many times. But I had already decided QUITTING WAS NOT AN OPTION. Since I had only one option, all my energies went into finding solutions. I got my PhD.

Practice self-care: This part of bulletproof came only around the later part of college. I owe it to friends who played various sports and who knew a lot more than peanut butter and spaghetti. I’m not athletic, but I can lift a respectable load in the powerlifts; I’m one of a handful of people at my gym who know how to execute the Olympic lifts, and with a respectable weight at that. Stress at work poisons my blood, but 2 hours of gym work 3 times a week keeps my spirits up and my body running. Sleep is still a problem most of the time because I love to stay up to read or write. My only rule with food is not to overeat: I’ve reached my goal of 180 lbs (80 kg) lbs and I’m keeping it there. I stick to three cups of strong coffee a day.

Am I more successful because of these? Maybe, because I am able to fail more. I’m sure that if I tried to snatch 60 kg tomorrow would fail. But I had already broken 55 kg with just a slight change in technique. It’s these things, the controlled changes and seeing their effects, that I find fun.

I’m clear about one thing, though: bulletproof may keep me from dying too early, but I am under no illusion it will increase my lifespan.

(Q.C. 230325)

Love life, meditate on death

| jaylazzo

Acceptance of and preparedness for death is one of the most beautiful mindsets I learned from my study of Japanese culture. The Japanese love the cherry blossoms or sakura. The samurai in particular reminded themselves of how they wanted to live by contemplating these flowers — a short, colorful existence, falling to the ground at the peak of their beauty.

Samurai and cherry blossoms. Image: https://www.whats-your-sign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/SamuraiCherryBlossom.jpg

One of the central tenets of the warrior code, Bushido, was the acceptance of death as an inevitable part of life. The samurai embraced their mortality and accepted that death could come at any time. This mindset cultivated fearlessness in battle and allowed the warrior to focus on his duty without being paralyzed by the fear of death.

Bushido permeated the whole of Japanese culture, bequeathing to it this mindset as well as a sense of duty and honor in one’s fight. It seems that fighting and death were two sides of the same coin. For us who are not samurai, that fight is work.

The Japanese word that we translate to “work” or “job” is insightful. Shigoto (仕事), consists of two characters. The first, shi (仕 ), “to serve”, implies performing an act or duty. The second, goto (事), “thing”, “matter”, “affair”, “business”, represents a situation, event, or subject. Shigoto captures the concept of performing tasks, duties, or services related to one’s occupation or work. In other words, work is service or duty. Art, especially, served. Hence, the pride the Japanese have in their work, and the shame they feel when they don’t do them well. In the old days, the supreme way to expunge shame was through ritual suicide, seppuku.

Ritual suicide is no longer practiced. Still, it helps underline this whole idea of death/work dynamic, which leads to this other idea: I want to die working. I want death to catch me working at my art.

Various authors have expressed similar thoughts.

Og Mandino, the author of “The Greatest Salesman in the World,” and other famous authors have emphasized the importance, not so much of death, but of living each day as if it were your last. These authors encourage individuals to cherish each moment, pursue their passions, and treat others with kindness and respect.

Mandino writes, “Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find ‘tomorrow’ on the calendars of fools.” He urges readers to seize the day and make the most of it, as the future is uncertain and not guaranteed.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American essayist and poet wrote, “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” Emerson taught us to treat each day as a fresh start.

Henry David Thoreau, in “Walden,” wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Thoreau encourages readers to live intentionally and fully experience life, rather than merely existing.

Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher wrote, “Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.” By treating each day as a complete life, we can focus on living in the present moment and making the most of the time we have.

Steve Jobs, in his famous commencement address at Stanford University, said, “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.” Jobs said not wasting time on pursuits that don’t bring fulfillment or happiness.

I could die any time; this is a fact. I love life, this is a fact, too. If I reflect on life, then I must meditate on death. This is how I do it.

Before I sleep at night I think “I might not wake up tomorrow”. When I do wake up, I think “I might not make it through the day”. I thank God for giving me another day, my talents, my opportunities, and help in time of need. He will call me to Himself, and I will give an account of my life up to the moment of death. It would be a terrible moment to meet Him unprepared.

I reflect on the fragility of life, how unpredictable it is, how one day we feel great, next week we’re diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and next year we’re gone. Just knowing that fragility is a sign of life makes me grateful to be alive now and to go out and proclaim it. It saddens me a little, however, to see others who have also experienced deaths in their families (e.g., from COVID) instead become obsessed with avoiding sickness. I know relatively young people, not many, thank God, who until now rarely leave the house for fear of COVID.

The thought of death helps me clarify my priorities and informs the choices I make. To balance the danger that thinking about death can make one passive, I tell myself that I would rather regret the things I do than the things I do not do. This means that I must take risks to get what I value, risk that makes a fight a fight. I won’t be sitting around doing nothing while waiting for death. Well, I’m not seeking it either. But it will come, don’t cha worry.

And when it comes, what do I want engraved on my tombstone? If I don’t die in my sleep tonight, it means I’ll get one more day to add credibility to those future engravings. And so between those two moments when I think most especially about death — before sleeping and upon waking — lies a world of surprises.

Life is surprising, because impermanent. For this reason, it has become easier for me, especially over the years, to let go of attachments to material possessions, relationships, and personal achievements. This helps me have compassion and empathy towards others, especially those who have suffered a great loss. Detachment also gives me more freedom to take risks.

Which reminds me: I need to erase all my browser search histories.

Some would say that the thought of death could lead to fatalism, a condition where one remains passive, thinking that nothing can be done and everything is all the same anyway. Cowards are not afraid of death; they’re afraid of life. They neither win nor lose, because they do nothing. At least a loser fought but was bested.

I would rather dream big. I believe everyone should dream big. Even if execution will always be hard, and sometimes I find it very very hard to the point that I would cut corners on my dreams.

I believe everyone is in this world for an unrepeatable reason. We’re all part of an orchestra where every piece, even the tiniest triangle, is important. Only YOU can play your instrument. So play it. And play it with all your heart even if it’s just a triangle, and you strike it but once.

Certainly, we’re not all geniuses. But does it matter? A big cup filled to the brim is just as filled as a tiny cup filled to the brim.

Does this mean I should make 200 cold calls today? It’s not about quantity. Every day has its own demands. If God wants me to spend the last day of my life doing nothing other than to accompany my brother for a hospital check up, or to enjoy a game of basketball with old friends, then that’s what I wish to be doing at the moment of my death.

I might appreciate it though if my spotter immediately added 80 kilos to my bar after I get a fatal heart attack in the middle of a dead lift.

(Q.C. 230322)

Bear difficulties with Patience, Poise, and Purpose (gaman)

| jaylazzo

The concept of “gaman” (我慢) is characteristic of the Japanese ethos. It translates roughly to “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” Gaman is a mindset of self-discipline, perseverance, restraint, and the ability to withstand difficulties without complaining or giving up. It is seen as a source of strength and resilience in the face of adversity.

Gaman is like stoicism in the West. Stoicism is a philosophy of self-control, rationality, and emotional resilience that lead to a virtuous life, regardless of external circumstances. One of the best known Stoic philosophers was the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 121-180), who is known for his personal writings, the “Meditations,” a key reference for Stoics.

Marcus Aurelius as he might have looked in real life, based on his statue. Photo by Billy Farrell/BFA/REX/Shutterstock (6824819et) Kathy Bates ELLE Women in Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA – 24 Oct 2016. Image: https://www.royaltynowstudios.com/blog/blog-post-title-one-pxydc-3e4k2-lwr6a.

Below are some practices of gaman and stoicism that I do:

Embrace difficulties: Life is filled with challenges and setbacks, and I try to see them as opportunities to grow and develop my inner strength. I’m training myself to face hardships with poise, patience, and purpose. I distinguish between what is in my control and what is not. My thoughts, actions, and reactions are within my control; external events and other people’s actions are not, so I let go of them. I challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone to get used pain. And it’s fun.

Practice self-discipline: I try to cultivate self-control in all aspects of my life. I stick to a few routines, I resist most temptations, and I set boundaries for spending. I do what I can to live a life of virtue (good habits). Virtue makes it easier and more pleasurable to face life’s challenges. I support my efforts with gym work, meditation, and journaling, which help me make rational decisions, and help me see how my mindset shapes my actions and emotions. I eat well, and try to get 7.5 to 8 h of sleep.

Cultivate gratitude: I focus on the positives in my life and appreciate what I have, even in bad times. Everything is temporary and changing. Life itself is transitory; I’ve learned to accept loss and change as a natural part of existence. I think of death every time I hit the sack. Sometimes I imagine facing adverse situations or losing what I value. This exercise helps shift my focus from what I lack to what I have, fostering contentment and emotional well-being. This helps me develop gratitude, decrease attachment to material possessions, and build emotional resilience.

Develop patience: I try to wait calmly and without complaint, even when things don’t go as planned. Very hard. Patience is a skill that comes with much practice and mindfulness. I try not to live in the past or in the future, but in the moment. I try to help others when I can. This helps me contribute to a good outside myself. This also helps maintain harmonious relationships. try my best to keep promises.

Seek support: I reach out to friends, family, or support groups to share my experiences and to gain strength from others. I study the lives of role models, applying their experiences and teachings to my own life.

Practice humility: I try to embrace my limitations, and I am open to learning from my mistakes and incompetencies. Investing time and energy into something can make me short-sighted, and so I take a deep breath and pull back to see the big picture. I don’t know a ton of things, so I try to learn and grow, through reading, attending lectures, or engaging in thoughtful conversations.

Gaman and stoicism are far from being philosophies of “resignation”. I do not find that word to be a generous one. Rather, I think of these philosophies as fostering a mindset that focuses mental, physical and emotional resources into what is important. The detachment they foster at the same time prevents too much focus and avoids ills like anxiety, depression, and burnout.

Gaman and stoicism for me are not cold ways of being. They can be enjoyed with cold beer and chips, like good company.

(Q.C. 230322)

Put your skin in the game

| jaylazzo

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (1960 – ) is a Lebanese-American essayist, mathematical statistician, former option trader and risk analyst, whose work concerns problems of randomness, probability, and uncertainty. The Sunday Times called his 2007 book The Black Swan one of the 12 most influential books since World War II.

Taleb that explores the concept of “Skin in the Game” in his book of the same name. He argues that individuals who have something to lose, or “skin in the game,” are more likely to act ethically, make better decisions, and be held accountable for their actions. He criticizes those who make decisions without any personal consequences, such as politicians, academics, and corporate executives.

Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/W/IMAGERENDERING_521856-T1/images/I/71cIFCAb6LL.jpg

Taleb suggests several ways in which individuals can have skin in the game. One way is through entrepreneurship, where individuals invest their own money and reputation in a business venture. This ensures that they have a personal stake in the success of the venture, and they are motivated to make the right decisions. In one interview, Taleb talked about putting up your own business, any size, even as a side hustle, as a platform for personal growth and success in life.

Another way to have skin in the game is through decentralization, where decision-making is moved closer to the individuals affected by the decisions. He argues that individuals who have a direct stake in the outcomes and are accountable for their actions are more likely to succeed in the long run. Decentralization and local decision-making, as opposed to centralized authority and bureaucracy, enable this situation.

Taleb also writes about reputation. Individuals who have a good reputation have something to lose if they act unethically or make poor decisions. Reputation can motivate individuals to act in the best interest of others.

The book covers a wide range of topics, including economics, politics, religion, and ethics. In these examples, Taleb argues that complex systems are often unpredictable and that unexpected events, or “black swans,” can have a significant impact on society.

What about those individuals — ordinary folks, not the ones he criticized above — who did not take on personal stakes, through financial, reputational, or other means? Without calling them such, I think Taleb refers to bums, lazy cowards with soft spines, none of whom never started out that way but started with big dreams. In one talk about the definition of success, Taleb says to take a mirror and look at your 18-year-old self. If you don’t feel ashamed, you’re successful.

“Skin in the Game” is a thought-provoking book that encourages readers to value the role of personal responsibility and accountability. This is especially true today, where trends like social media, and increasingly AI, hide, dilute, or eliminate personal accountability in various aspects of life.

(Q.C. 230321)

Good Strategy vs Bad Strategy: Know the Difference

| jaylazzo

Richard Post Rumelt (1942 – ) is an American professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management. He has made several key contributions to the study of business and corporate strategy. One of his books is “Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters” (2011). I read with with great pleasure about 3 years ago.

Image: https://kbimages1-a.akamaihd.net/62bc151f-56dc-4730-9171-a4f49d6a80c1/353/569/90/False/good-strategy-bad-strategy-the-difference-and-why-it-matters.jpg

In this book, Rumelt highlights the importance of crafting a coherent and effective strategy and emphasizes the distinction between good and bad strategies.

The book is structured around three main components of a good strategy: diagnosis, guiding policy, and coherent actions.

1. Diagnosis: A good strategy starts with a clear understanding of the challenges and obstacles the organization faces. We look at the current situation, identify critical issues that need to be addressed, and try to understand the underlying causes.

2. Guiding Policy: A guiding policy sets the direction for overcoming the challenges. It sets the framework for decision-making and serves as a bridge between the diagnosis and the actions required to address the problems.

3. Coherent Actions: A good strategy includes a set of coherent actions that are designed to work together to achieve the guiding policy’s objectives. These actions should be focused and tailored to the organization’s resources and capabilities.

Bad strategies often stem from a lack of clarity, overly ambitious goals without a clear plan, or a failure to address the organization’s core challenges. Some common characteristics of bad strategies include fluff (vague and meaningless language), failure to face the challenge, mistaking goals for strategy, failing to identify what goals NOT to pursue, and creating a list of unrelated actions.

To do good strategy and avoid bad strategy, it is important to simplify complex issues, focus on the organization’s unique strengths, and create a clear, actionable plan to achieve objectives. Rumelt provides several case studies and examples from various industries to illustrate the principles of good and bad strategies, demonstrating how effective strategic thinking can lead to success and competitive advantage.

The cases also illustrate how good strategy can fail, nonetheless. Some of the reasons associated with failures in diagnosis, guiding policy, and coherent actions include:

1. Complexity and uncertainty: Organizations face complex and uncertain situations, making it difficult to accurately diagnose problems and predict trends, making it hard to make an effective guiding policy and launch coherent actions.

2. Cognitive biases: Cognitive biases can distort perceptions and judgments, leading to flawed diagnoses and misguided policies. Overcoming biases requires self-awareness, critical thinking, and objective analysis.

3. Resistance to change: Implementing a new guiding policy and coherent actions often involves changes that can be met with resistance from stakeholders. Focus, for example, can be politically challenging. Resistance can stem from fear of the unknown, comfort with the status quo, or concerns about personal interests.

4. Lack of alignment: A good strategy requires alignment among the organization’s goals, resources, and capabilities. Achieving this alignment can be challenging especially in large or complex organizations with diverse interests and priorities.

5. Communication and coordination: Implementing a guiding policy and coherent actions requires clear communication and effective coordination among various departments, teams, and individuals. This can be difficult especially in large or geographically dispersed organizations.

6. Resource constraints: Organizations often face limits in time, money, and human resources. These limits can make it challenging to develop and execute an effective guiding policy and coherent actions.

7. Competing interests and politics: Internal politics and competing interests within an organization can hamper the development and implementation of a good strategy. Gaining consensus and support from key stakeholders is crucial for the success of a guiding policy and coherent actions.

8. Execution challenges: Even with a well-formulated strategy, execution can be difficult. Organizations need to be agile and adaptable to respond to unforeseen challenges or changes in the environment while maintaining focus on their strategic objectives.

To overcome these challenges, Rumelt emphasizes the importance of clear thinking, simplification, and focus. Organizations should invest in building strong leadership, fostering a culture of collaboration and learning, and promoting effective communication to ensure successful strategy implementation.

I note some specific points I found most interesting to me:

  1. A good strategy should also try to impose huge costs on the competition.
  2. Leverage: The changes we implement should also create opportunities.
  3. Competition also happens over insights and opportunities.
  4. Underperformance is a result, not a challenge or cause.
  5. An organization will have pockets of outstanding competence and luck.
  6. A good cause need not be a major one, it just has to be addressable.
  7. Policy should also indicate what NOT to pursue.
  8. Seek a strength that magnifies the effects of action and resources.
  9. Necessity is the mother of strategy.
  10. Leverage: focus minds, energy, action to create insight into the pivotal issue.
  11. Identify the limiting factors, weak links.
  12. The linking of skills, e.g., value chain, should be irreplicable by the competition.
  13. Most successes are fruits of seeds sowed long in the past.
  14. Focus: apply the most power at the right target. Put the most value to a niche.
  15. Profits in a commodity are an illusion unless one has a clear competitive advantage that reels in profits after overall demand slows. Growth itself does not create value.
  16. Don’t wrestle with the gorilla.
  17. Isolate mechanisms and network effects.
  18. Signs that you need to change something: escalating fixed costs; deregulation; predictable biases with forecasting; incumbent response to change; attractor state.
  19. Beware of inertia: routine; culture; inertia by proxy. To break inertia: simplify, fragment, triage.

(Q.C. 230320)

Live Like a Gamesman

| jaylazzo

Michael Maccoby (1933-2022) was an American psychoanalyst and anthropologist known for his research, writing and projects on leadership, organizations, and work. He authored or co-authored fourteen books and consulted to companies, governments, and other organizations. One of these books is “The Gamesman“, first published in 1976. It was one of my favorite readings in college many years ago. One can borrow it at https://archive.org/.

The Gamesman, 1976. Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/W/IMAGERENDERING_521856-T1/images/I/81zJ9+F1qWS.AC_UF1000,1000_QL80.jpg

“The Gamesman” explores different personality types and their roles in organizations, particularly in the context of management and leadership. Maccoby identifies four main types: the Craftsman, the Jungle Fighter, the Company Man, and the Gamesman.

The Craftsman is puts a strong focus on technical expertise and quality of work. He is dedicated to his craft and takes pride in his skills. He is usually introverted, detail-oriented, and has a strong work ethic.

Strengths: The Craftsman is valuable for his deep expertise and the high quality of his work. He can be counted on to deliver reliable and consistent results.

Weaknesses: The Craftsman can be inflexible, resistant to change, and have difficulty adapting to new situations. He may also struggle with communication and teamwork, as he tends to focus more on the task at hand than on interpersonal relationships.

The Jungle Fighter is a highly competitive and aggressive individual, constantly striving for success and power. He is a natural risk-taker and thrives in high-pressure environments.

Strengths: The Jungle Fighter is highly motivated and can drive his team to achieve ambitious goals. He is great at identifying opportunities and at seizing them, and he often excels in crisis situations.

Weaknesses: The Jungle Fighter can be overly aggressive, creating conflict and tension in the workplace. His relentless pursuit of success can lead to burnout, both for himself and his team members.

The Company Man: The Company Man is loyal, dedicated, and committed to the organization. His is generally risk-averse, preferring stability and security. He values hierarchy and structure and works hard to fit in and maintain the status quo.

Strengths: The Company Man is dependable and reliable, providing stability to organizations. He excels at maintaining established protocols, ensuring that operations run smoothly.

Weaknesses: The Company Man can be resistant to change and may struggle with innovation. He can become complacent and may lack the drive to pursue new opportunities or improve upon existing systems.

The Gamesman: The Gamesman is a strategic thinker and problem solver who enjoys the challenge of finding creative solutions to complex issues. He is flexible, adaptable, and often have a charismatic personality. Maccoby focused on him because of the Gamesman’s increasing importance with the rise of high tech industries since the 1960’s.

Strengths: The Gamesman excel at navigating complex situations and finding innovative solutions. He is skilled at motivating and inspiring others, making them effective leaders in rapidly changing environments.

Weaknesses: The Gamesman can sometimes prioritize winning over the well-being of his team members, and his focus on strategy can lead to a neglect of interpersonal relationships. He may also become overly focused on short-term success at the expense of long-term stability.

I identified myself with the Gamesman when I was reading this book. Although I do not consider myself to be representative of the type, since I have strong aspects of the others as well, I used the Gamesman as my basis and inspiration for practices that have served me well to this day. My goal was to become a strategic leader.

What are some of these practices?

Develop strategic thinking: I have consistently sought to enhance my ability to think several steps ahead and consider the potential outcomes of various decisions. I studied Rational Management (Kepner and Tregoe) whose methods I practice to this day. And Sun Tzu. With the latter, my other favorite book on strategy is “Good Strategy/Bad Strategy” by Richard P. Rumelt from whom I learned that it was as important to decide what you do NOT want to do, as what you want to do. I’ve learned from Steve Magness how important it is to toggle between “looking at the forest and looking at the trees” and to never stay focused on only one of them for a long time. I’ve learned from Franklin Covey how important it is to distinguish between lead measures and lag measures, and ways to improve execution. I’ve learned techniques like scenario planning, making roadmaps, and methods for analyzing case studies.

Embrace change and adaptability: I’ve had to learn to be comfortable with uncertainty and change. It is not easy. Although I consider myself open to new ideas, innovation, and opportunities to learn from different situations, I retain the anxieties of the Company Man and the impatience of the Jungle Fighter and Craftsman. I became a scientist, a job where innovation is key. But it is also a job with a high rate of failure. The ups and downs of my profession are just part of the adventure.

Cultivate problem-solving skills: I’ve learned various ways to solve problems, beginning with Kepner and Tregoe, and passing through the scientific method. I’ve learned techniques for managing problem solving in groups, such as brainstorming and using graphical methods like PERT. I’ve learned also that the hardest part about problem solving is execution. And staying power.

Develop charisma and influence: I have been an active member of the Toastmasters for many years, and I joined an improv class for about a year to work on my communication and persuasion skills. I’m also a professional teacher who includes technical writing in his portfolio of courses. However, I also struggle with one of the Gamesman’s defects, which is to prioritize short-term success over long-term stability. I have always been myopic, and I’m quite blind without the help of collaborators.

Focus on collaboration: My current job as a scientist involves a lot of collaborative work, within my team and with other labs. I teach an ethics class where one of the challenges we take up is how to collaborate across teams with different values. It’s still a challenge, but along the way I’ve learned to be supportive of others, give and receive feedback, and develop emotional intelligence. True to what Maccoby said, however, I have found it hard at times to be warm; I also find it hard sometimes to avoid being judgmental. The upside is that warmth is not necessary most of the time, but the downside is that I sometimes ignore warning signs of burnout in people and so fail to give them support.

Cultivate ethical leadership: Developing my ethical compass has been one of my top priorities. I’ve also acquired what my friends call a “juridical mind”, or “thinking like a lawyer”. I know my values, I considering the impact of my decisions on stakeholders, and I seek guidance from mentors. But I also recognize that other people will have different values, and so I have learned to be comfortable about not getting what I want, and especially, how to be comfortable when I am contradicted — that is, when I must accept a reality supported by fact and consensus that may well go directly against my wishes.

Continuously learn and grow: I incorporate continuous learning, growth and development in my schedule; this blog is one of its outcomes. I’ve sought advanced degrees, opportunities to expand my knowledge. I’ve learned specific techniques like the dialectic to challenge my assumptions, and to learn from experience. A central tenet of mine is “I would rather regret the things I’ve done than the things I did not do.”

Whenever I think of the 18-year-old version of myself who read Maccoby, I feel that the Gamesman part of me becomes a little more loud. And I like it, almost as much as I do the Craftsman. I look in the mirror and tell that 18 year old self: Let’s Have Some Fun Today. Let’s Do Something Scary.

Now to get up and do something scary.

(Q.C. 230320)

Adopt these study techniques

| jaylazzo

The reward of a work is to have produced it; the reward of effort is to have grown by it.

Antonin Sertillanges

Antonin-Dalmace Sertillanges (1863-1948), was a French Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian; he is known for his work, “The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods.” In this little book, he shows the importance of cultivating an intellectual life through the discipline of study. We focus on the necessity of developing habits, and the role of reflection and creativity in the process.

Antonin Sertillanges (1863-1948). Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Antonin-Dalmace_Sertillanges.jpg

Sertillanges’ basic idea is that seeking truth with a small t is an expression of our innate desire to connect with the Truth with a big T. The act of seeking truth is itself prayer. The intellectual life is not just about acquiring knowledge but also about personal growth and transformation. The intellectual life is an ongoing journey that requires dedication, discipline, and a genuine passion for learning.

Study is an essential aspect of the intellectual life. Through it, one cultivates a deeper understanding of the world and the self, leading to wisdom and insight.

What did Sertillanges suggest we do? Here are 8 study practices.

  1. Choose the right subject: Select a subject or discipline that genuinely interests you and aligns with your aptitudes and passions. This choice will help keep you motivated and dedicated throughout the intellectual journey.
  2. Organize and prioritize: Create a plan, set goals, and break down complex tasks into manageable parts. He described how to take notes, a subject beyond the scope of this talk. Briefly, I recommend you check out zettelkasten. This note-taking technique was invented by a German sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998). It has been growing more and more popular recently among the productivity sector thanks to software. I recommend Obsidian, a free software designed around the zettelkasten method.
  3. Practice a daily routine: Make an intellectual plan of life. Set aside specific times for three basic activities: reading, writing, and contemplation.
  4. Read actively: take notes, ask questions. Read with a pencil. Read anything at least three times. Mortimer Adler in How to Read a Book said first skim, second read the whole, and third read specific parts deeply. Jean Guitton in the New Art of Thinking suggests first get the essence, second outline, and third contradict. I do the same for articles, novels, movies, and Youtube content that I find very significant. I’ve seen Margin Call 3 times, and specific parts of it maybe 20 times over the last year.
  5. Write: Write to clarify thoughts, to memorize, to refine understanding, to find patterns, to synthesize, to make connections, to explore new ideas and to articulate and solidify existing knowledge. Write regularly. Bring a small notebook at all times. I once forgot my notebook and ended up filling up the whole backside of a paper placemat. The smart phone is fine. Composing an email and texting can be a way to reach insight and understanding if done reflectively. I suggest for reference The Lucas Journaling Method by Samantha Gail Lucas, a UAP graduate.
  6. Dialogue: Converse with peers and mentors to test and develop your ideas. Fun references on the subject include The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione and The Art of Cross Examination by Francis Wellman. Guitton said it was good to attend conferences, but only a very few.
  7. Reflect and contemplate: Set aside time for contemplation and meditation alone. Sertillanges saw this a time to converse with God. It’s not the same as mental prayer by the way.
  8. Finally, tend to your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Get some sun. Walk. Healthy body, healthy mind. Intellectual work is more tiring than manual work said Guitton, who recommends any manual work as a break. Knitting was once considered a gentleman’s activity that required scrutiny, design, and a study of materials. It seems knitting originated from knotting, what fishermen do. Many monks and men practice knitting even today. You can find them on Youtube.

Turn these practices into habits. Read, write, reflect. Converse. Rest. Pray. The mind is a muscle that grows with exercise, and the spirit grows with it.

(Q.C. 230319)