"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people" E Roosevelt
"and the truly brilliant keep their mouths shut"
Give it five minutes
71–74 of 74 posts
Re: Give it five minutes
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
At my previous job I had this problem. It was intensified by, what I perceived to be, conversation that was more flawed than accurate. I heard so many statements I couldn't agree with, I didn't know where to start commenting on anything. In other worlds, the whole idea or conversation that was being discussed was wrong. Very often I had nothing to say, because how do you tell a team of co-workers that everything they…
> Very often I had nothing to say, because how do you tell a team of co-workers that everything they're saying is wrong? Yup. I (think I) have four buckets: 1) Awesome! I'm stealing it! 2) Worse than wrong (h/t Murray Gell-Mann) aka not good enough to criticize. 3) Hmmm, worth chewing over. 4) I have absolutely no idea (please talk more). I'm more like Jason F, where I felt I had a moral obligation to fix things, and…
> "Sometimes you just have to let people fail. It's quicker than opposing them."
Yes, that seems to be the case more often than not… As a consultant I see it almost as a guarantee for success in projects that come after/are replacing failed ones. I think it’s all about ego at the end of the day… people have to have their say and pursue it even if they’re not experts in the field (while they certainly think they are experts - hence the ego thing). I wonder - how can this thinking be undone?
Re: Give it five minutes
#73That's solid advice. AND it JUST happened to me. Another entrepreneur with ZERO credibility in the space that I'm operating in flat out told me that another company is ALWAYS going to deliver a feature better than we are. My knee-jerk thought was "Who do you think you are? Jeff Bezos?" I disagreed and later said I would think about options.
I should get into the habit of stepping back and absorbing what just happened or what was just said. Although I still disagree with the delivery of the message, I do see some insightful gems from the casual conversation. And you always have to have thick skin in the startup game. Nay-sayers are everywhere but there is wisdom all around you. You always need to listen for it.
Re: Give it five minutes
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've observed that engineer-driven conversations are very, very fast and dynamic, whereas business and managing conversations are quite slow. My guess is that the key here is empaty. Engineers discuss ideas, where managers usually evaluate people. Of course, ideas belong to people (at least when they're conceived), but that quickly dilutes. In order to evaluate people, you need a lot of empaty and some time. My manag…
The wisest people I have ever known spoke very little however they always asked great questions that cut through the crap once they had all of the facts.
Are you talking about the Socratic method?