Author: Jeremie Averous

How to overcome the 5/ 15/ 80 rule

The 5/ 15/ 80 rule states that “we enter any given assignment knowing 5 % of the relevant information. A further 15% of the information is that which we know we don’t know. And the 80 represents the 80% of the relevant information that we don’t even know we don’t know” (from Jon Steel in ‘Perfect Pitch‘).

pixelization
Much information is missing, we can still see the overall picture!

While the first 5+15=20% of the issue is not so scary (we always enter a new assignment with information we know we must seek), the remaining 80% is probably much scarier. This “black matter” will have to be uncovered, piece by piece – that is, if we manage to realize that there is stuff our there we don’t even know we don’t know.

It is similar to the usual cycle of learning: the transition from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence is probably the toughest because it sometimes requires us to overcome our filters and beliefs.

Does it really matter? We can recognize patterns even with only a little bit of information, such as the enclosed picture shows. Thus, provided there is a pattern we can recognize, poor information is not an issue. That is, if our experience and the patterns we have formed over time are relevant.

The issue is maybe not the quantity of information, but to seek if there is any that contradicts the pattern we would expect. If that is the case, it is a sure indicator that there is some stuff out there we don’t know. And then we need to search.

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How Holacracy responds to the challenges of the Fourth Revolution organization

Breaking news in January: Zappos, the famous online shoe store, gets away from traditional management organization to embrace Holacracy, a new organizational model without middle managers! This experiment is noted in many press articles as an experimental transformation.

holacracylogoHolacracy is an organizational framework for organizations with a strong purpose and that can be described as working in loose project teams, with distributed authority. This new experiment will be very interesting to follow, as Zappos has already a very strong, decentralized company culture that might make this model successful in that particular context. Read (or at least consider) the (very long and comprehensive) constitution of holacracy!

What is extremely interesting is how many companies do experiment more and more with new organizational models that promote self-responsibility of the employees and encourage creativity. At the same time, these models get rid of the middle-class of intermediate management, or at least sort-of (in holacracy there are still some people more in charge than others apparently: ‘partners’, ‘lead links’, ‘core members’, but it is not linked to direct power and authority).

Let’s observe this experiment and learn further how the organizations will change in the Collaborative Age!

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If You’re not Scared a Lot You’re Not Doing Very Much

This is a quote from Robin Sharma. I feel it is true – although one can debate the “a lot”. There is probably a limit to fear beyond which it becomes improductive.

FEAR - False Evidence Appearing RealAnyway, the truth holds that if you are not scared enough, you probably are not sufficiently outside of your comfort zone. Pushing further the approach, Robin Sharma continue: “Your excuses are nothing more than the lies your fears have sold you“.

When you’ll start doing something that counts, your environment will resist and you will feel, dee within you, that feeling of fear. That’s fine. It means you are starting to move things.

As one of our grand masters said, “Named must your fear be before banish it you can” (Yoda). Name your fear. Look in its face. Defy it. Acknowledge it.

And then move on. Continue what you have been doing.

How scared are you today? If you are too comfortable, it is time to change things around here. When do you start?

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Wish More Luck? Go and Meet People!

“If you never meet anybody you won’t have Luck” says Philippe Gabilliet, an eclectic French business school professor who lately specialized about researching about luck.

You-Make-Your-Own-LuckHis point is that luck is a choice; and that luck is created, or triggered, through more or less random meetings with other people. If you don’t go out and meet other people, you won’t have any luck. Ever.

Think about how powerful this assertion actually is. Luck created by encounters – just like creativity.

Isn’t luck some form or some result of creativity?

Anyway, don’t stay stuck in your comfort zone of people. Go out and meet others – as many as you can. And you will create tremendous luck for yourself. Ready to start?

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How Mobile Ubiquity Changes Radically Business Models, Right Now

Calling a taxi has always been a nightmare in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: operators that did not understand my english, drivers that couldn’t find the address or got lost on the way, negotiation with those that do not want to use their taxi meter… Last time I went friends made me discover a mobile app, “MyTeksi”.

MyTeksi home screen
The home screen of the app. Remark the “+RM 0” field which allows you to raise the stakes if you can’t get a taxi through an additional tip

It is actually a pair of apps: one for clients, one for drivers. Both figure out the location of the devices, and you can book a taxi instantly, as well as see whether available taxis are around on the map. The economic model is that the drivers pay a small sum of money (less than 50 cents USD) for each successful booking, while the client pay the normal additional booking fee to the driver, who commits to use the taximeter. The app gives you the name of the driver, tracks the actual journey, and send you a summary email, which is a great selling point for lone women’s safety.

The feature I like particularly is the possibility to add a “tip” if you can’t get a taxi in the midst of peak hour (or raining). You can actually raise the stakes live until you get a taxi happy to pick you up! Real time bargaining in action!

This app business model is completely disruptive, by-passing the traditional centralized taxi booking systems and companies. It is based on the widespread availability of smart-phones even for taxi-drivers. Actually, it was brainstormed as part of a Harvard MBA homework business case by two Malaysian students (here is a good link to the story). In addition, the interface is simple and very well thought.

The app is now spreading to neighbouring countries, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. It will be interesting to see how successful it will be in developing countries, and not just in emerging countries.

What I find particularly interesting is that it pushes back the decision to the drivers instead of the centralized taxi booking system, leaving them with the choice to adhere to the system or not, or even to have several booking systems working for them.

Once again, the Fourth Revolution gets rid of centralized institutions. It also shows how widespread smartphones are (would all taxi drivers have one in developed countries? really?). Expect to see many more ground-breaking mobile applications coming up that will shake established business models!

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Why You Should Respect Yourself and What You Are

“Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.” – Clint Eastwood.

Clint-EastwoodI like the thought that only by respecting yourself and what you are, you can release the power that is within you. And that only by respecting yourself you can have self-discipline.

It is so true that people that lack self-discipline generally, inwardly, lack a deep sense of self-respect. And that, as a coach, a nice way to improve the situation (i.e. the symptoms of poor self-discipline) is to work on the self-respect first.

Even if the world around you – especially if the world around you – resists, it probably means you are creating great stuff. Self-discipline and self-respect are the fuel for this creation. Don’t let ever anyone influence your self-respect. Don’t let your self-respect be taken hostage by anyone!

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How to Better Understand the Hardware Movement Through a Novel: Read ‘Makers’ by Cory Doctorow

I had an excellent read with ‘Makers’ by Cory Doctorow. Cory Doctorow hovers generally somewhere between science-fiction author and defender of free collaborative work over internet. His fiction books are never too far from what could happen in our societies.

makers-cory-doctorowIn this semi-fiction book, Cory Doctorow imagines what will happen in the world when the capability of 3D-printing and of toying around with all the available electronics will allow decentralized goods production. This leads to severe battles between large companies that can be regarded as real institutions and a loose network of creators.

Of course as always Cory Doctorow tends to support the idea of networks of disinterested creators in the vein of open-source. Still this book explains very well what could happen in a few years’ time if the hardware movement continues its development up to the point of upending significant existing organizations.

Apart from its entertaining aspect I recommend this book to better understand the current transformations of the world. And amazingly this book was originally published in 2009!

I also strongly recommend “Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow, his best seller so far, about how the state could implement a deep surveillance bordering to a police state. Quite premonitory in view of the NSA scandals.

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How to Overcome the Lies we all tell Ourselves

“It turns out that we lie to ourselves about three things: we view ourselves in implausibly positive ways, we think we have far more control over our lives than we actually do, and we believe that the future will be better than the evidence of the present can possibly justify.” – Tom Asacker in a Business of Belief.

self-deceitThis statement has been proven repeatedly by many studies – like for example, studies that show that 90% of the population believe they are better-than-average drivers. We also generally think we have more control on our future than we really have, forgetting how unpredictable external events can shape our lives and change significantly our destinies – as we often discover looking at how our past life unfolded.

The issue is then, how to get people to still take appropriate action and have the right behaviors while their beliefs do not represent reality? How can we overcome these wrong beliefs?

Beyond making sure people become aware that their view of the world is skewed, the only way to move people is to create emotion (same root!) and desire so that these beliefs can be overcome. Rational explanations backed up by statistics won’t work. Create instead those strong emotions related to fear of loss or emotions related to positive expectations. Speaking to the heart, taking into account these wrong beliefs, is the only way to overcome these artifacts of the mind.

When you come across a situation where these lies are visibly expressed and impede proper action by the person, speak to the Heart!

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Why You Should Better be a Big Fish in a Small Bowl

In his latest book David and Goliath, bestseller author Malcolm Gladwell makes a dramatic point about the fact that we’d better be a big fish in a small bowl than a small fish in a large bowl.

fish_jumping_bowlHe expands this thought through the story of people who choose their universities: “We spend a lot of time thinking about the ways that prestige and resources and belonging to elite institution makes us better off. We don’t spend enough time thinking about the ways in which those kinds of advantages limit out options“. And indeed his examples in the book show that people would probably have been better off in smaller, less known institutions than failing (relatively) in large and more elite institutions.

This thought can of course expand to many areas of life beyond education: the organization in which you work, and even the social community groups you join.

I do fully agree with this statement, which is also at the basis of the concept of niche when it comes to entrepreneurship: better be widely recognized in your specific niche than try to get known in a too wide and crowded segment!

When it comes to you, what choices can you make to be a bigger fish in a smaller bowl?

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Welcome to the Era of the Hardware Movement

The Hardware Movement – creating hardware in a decentralized, low risk and low series way, is starting to get some real grip. This post “The Long Tail of Hardware” exposes some latest thoughts on this topic.

self_replicating_printer
This printer is able to produce most of its own parts and replicate!

While funding for hardware startups does increase significantly, it has not yet reached the point where it becomes a global sensation and where former manufacturing institutions get in trouble from the competition. Still, 3D printing redefines our world quicker than we imagine. I have seen 3D printer in the offices of most of my engineering clients for prototyping. It seems that an ecosystem of garage hardware developers is developing. The tipping point could be close.

There are some legal implications of course, and open-source hardware is a concept that is maturing with a variety of licensing arrangements.

This movement needs to be watched as it may take the world by storm, although it might take a few additional years.

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Why we Should Not Try to Understand the World Too Much

One of the most profound quotes I have stumbled upon recently is from Umberto Eco: “I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.”

theorizing the worldIsn’t that profound wisdom about living in a complex world? Because a complex world is by nature unpredictable, it is not useful to try to theorize what will happen or what lies below. Still, because of our pattern-seeking build, we tend to try to do so. While it is useful to do that at a small scale, it is ineffective to try to do it at a large scale.

Theorizing the world will never work. And it is becoming worst as the world becomes more complex every day, with increased interconnections between an increasing number of people.

Umberto Eco goes further by ascribing a lot of the harm around us to this attempt to theorize and make the world predictable. And indeed it is often this attempt that draws crowds to believe in certain things.

It is natural and reassuring to believe that the world is predictable and can be theorized. Unfortunately that’s impossible. This is scary and full of opportunities at the same time. Above all let’s not try to find the underlying truth, let’s let go and the world will be a better place.

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Why we Need to Become Used to Failing

Following up from our previous post “Why We Should Stop Treating Our Organizations Like Machines“, let us consider for a moment the consequence of looking at organizations like living systems: Darwinian evolution.

frog catches prey
Another victim of natural evolution!

Darwin has shown that progress and adaptation in living systems come from the evolution of species, whereby the most adapted individuals transmit their genes more effectively than others. In actual terms, in nature, there are a lot of fatal failures. Those who don’t make it through their lifecycle can’t reproduce. Many adapted creatures don’t make it either, possibly through tough luck.

Natural evolution is all about lots of failures and only a few successes. It is tough. That is scary thought for our societies and for us as individuals. Yet successful companies of the internet know how to nurture many initiatives even if a majority will turn out to be failures. Many other organizations don’t know how to do that, leading to people not taking initiatives at all.

The only way to be successful in the Collaborative Age is to expect failure, or at least lack of success, in the majority of our endeavors. This requires a significant mind-shift. Are you ready for it?

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