Who is a touron? /  by Alexander Lyadov

The term “touron” is a combination of the words “tourist” and “moron. It refers to a person committing an act of pure stupidity while on vacation in the wilderness or in a zoo. There’s even an Instagram feed of Tourons of Yellowstone, where a stream of cautionary videos makes it impossible to look away. One tries to scare a mother bear as she walks by with her cubs. A second jumps over the Bryce Canyon fence, stumbles, and miraculously doesn’t fall from a great height. A third gets her baby’s feet wet by having a picnic on a wet rock, at a steep angle going into a mountain stream. A fourth strolls carelessly among the geysers of the sea, as if they were city fountains and not jets shooting down everything in their path. The fifth decides to take selfies with an African elephant, for which he and his 2-year-old child climb a double fence. What drives them all? Idiocy bordering on suicide. I wonder who they vote for in elections.

Although, perhaps, the cause is not so much a craving for self-destruction or a low IQ, but a disconnection from reality. Life in the city is like walking along smooth paths in a well-kept garden, from which dangerous animals have been banished and weeds uprooted. Wild dogs don’t attack passersby, and the claws of cats don’t scratch children. Garbage is removed, hot water flows from the faucet, the streets are lit at night, and all this happens automatically, unnoticed, by itself. A person has the illusion that safety and comfort are the norm, a given, the original state of things. It does not even occur to him that a colossal amount of resources has been invested to clear and ennoble this “Garden of Eden.

In addition, thousands of people-military, firefighters, police, janitors, doctors, elevators, electricians, etc. — make significant, often heroic efforts every day to keep entropy from destroying this status quo. Moreover, this infrastructure saves people from their foolishness like a safety net. No matter what happens, a professional will be there to warn, protect, heal or bring back to life in time. So, just like on the children’s trampoline, you can bounce around and have great fun, without regard to the solid ground and sharp corners. But once in the wild, the citizen naively continues to believe that he still has the safety rope with him. And so he exposes himself to exorbitant risks - he feeds a bear cub, takes pictures over a boiling spring or turns his back on a moose.

It’s funny that the same phenomenon can be observed in business. For example, when a “terry” top manager tries to launch a startup. Or a large corporation decides to rejuvenate itself radically by pompously launching a venture capital fund or R&D department. They forget that their skills are only good for “civilization”, where 1 scales to 100. But in “Wild West” territory, where 1 is born from 0, not everyone can survive, much less thrive, but only the entrepreneur.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Strategy and personality /  by Alexander Lyadov

John Danaher, Gordon Ryan and Garry Tonon

When there are discussions of strategy, it is often presented as having some ideal plan of action, without regard to who will carry it out. Like, do this and you’re guaranteed a reward. Maybe in primitive games like Jenga or Tic-tac-toe, there really is only one right way. But in complex games like business, politics, or sports, the strategy must take into account the participant’s personality and, broadly speaking, his resource. This is often forgotten after reading some clever books or taking an MBA course.

Legendary trainer John Danaher explained it this way: “There are two broad ways you can go in jiujitsu — you can either focus on promoting your own movement to create opportunity or by restricting the other person’s movement. If you are a slower, less athletic opponent, then you should definitely focus on the ideas of restricting the other fellow’s movement. That’s how slow unathletic people win in jiujitsu. If you are quick with the ability to change the direction and stand up quickly, go down quickly and move like a leopard, then you are almost always better off generate movement in order to create opportunity. So one is based more on movement as a source of opportunity, one is based more on pressure as a source of opportunity.” John’s two students, Garry Tonon and Gordon Ryan, who dominate the grappling Olympus, illustrate the difference of such different strategies as best they can.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor or CEO, I suggest you try John’s insight on yourself. If speed is your middle name, you’re bursting with excess vitality, and you feel like a pike in a river in the chaos, then yanking the competition, or even shaking up a market segment, is the winningest strategy. While others are snapping their beaks in the confusion, you’ll have time to rip and cash out the super prize. But if your tag cloud is systematic, judicious and controlling, then your strategic priority is to deprive your opponent of mobility, nullifying his degrees of freedom. In combat, this is accomplished by creating an asymmetrical advantage through knowledge of human anatomy, angles of attack, leverage mechanics, etc., to which the adversary is forced to respond reactively by falling into the traps-dilemmas you set. Similarly, in business, you create a systemic premise in which any choice your opponent makes only strengthens your position, one way or another.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Warming expertise /  by Alexander Lyadov

Because of the regular power outages in Kyiv and the fact that Winter Is Coming, I decided to buy a gas stove just in case. Mind said: “Pick an easier, cheaper, and quicker option.” But, judging by my behavior, my body labeled the task as super important. For a few days now, I've been scrupulously studying reviews that compare the pros and cons of different systems to the exact seconds and grams. There are gas, liquid, solid and multi-fuel stoves. Separate or integrated into a single mechanism. There are good quality things from China or inventive wonders from Japan. And that's just the stove, but there are also mugs, flashlights and other tools that greatly facilitate the life of a citizen who found himself without light, water or heat. In short, another rabbit hole opened up, the bottom of which is not visible.

And so it is everywhere. Whether it's choosing a CRM-system for business, sneakers for jogging or carbine for self-defense, every time you expect to see a couple of options, but it turns out that they have no end in sight. You wouldn't know it, but there's a community of passionate people who have been collecting knowledge about this subject for years, bit by bit. A naive person would cringe, "All these nuances are superfluous." Not at all, it's just that their significance is truly realized through personal negative experiences.

They say that the instructions for skydiving are written in blood. But you could say that about anything. In yesterday's video review, a Finnish blogger seriously warned: "And please don't try to put alcohol in a working stove." That wouldn’t have occurred to you. But apparently, there are enough people in the world who don't mind throwing wood on the fire, so to speak. One stove you can’t break, another folds up into a thimble, the third holds a flame in any wind. There is an optimum solution for every type of force majeure.

When you do something long and thoroughly, you're bound to notice patterns that aren't obvious to everyone else. This knowledge protects against hidden risks and increases the return on investment of time, effort or money. The one who assembles valuable patterns into a coherent system is an expert. One tip from an expert can propel you along the learning curve into turbo mode.

And in what area are you an expert? Or perhaps even a Master?

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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The Perfect Partnership /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

The most productive alliance in business is when one of the partners is obsessed with learning new things as quickly as possible, and the other is inclined to master what is already there in a measured way. This kind of thrust is not something a person can choose on his own. On the contrary, the urge possesses him since childhood. On the surface, the two businessmen are as similar as two value systems, but with different philosophies, like Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar. In terms of BigFive's personality typology, one has a pronounced openness to experience - curiosity, adventurism, creativity, and challenging authority. The other is dominated by conscientiousness - caution, thoroughness, deliberation, and discipline. When openness to new ideas is coupled with reliability in implementing them, such a tandem leaves competitors behind coughing up dust.

Despite the obvious benefits, examples of long-term partnerships of this kind are not as common as one might expect. The fact is that the difference in the firmware of the worldview is so great that it is difficult, not only to accept, but even to assume that such dissimilarity is normal. Rather, there is confusion, irritation and aversion to the partner’s “perpendicular” position on any issue. Therefore, friction often arises, easily turning into disputes, and then, lo and behold, a shareholder conflict breaks out. The dissimilarity of personalities forms a fuel mixture, the energy of combustion of which can either be transformed into fruitful mechanical work, or blow up the engine to hell.

Such an alliance is not so much a science as an art. One cannot read a manual and immediately mold a partnership, symbolically, of light and darkness. To realize the value of someone principled Other, a person must grow and mature. It is possible and even necessary to make mistakes in this process. But only on the condition that an analysis of past false starts is made in order to learn an invaluable lesson from them.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of your partnership?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexande

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Life as error /  by Alexander Lyadov

The French philosopher, mathematician, and naturalist René Descartes (1596-1650) is often quoted: “I think, therefore I exist.” Less frequently recalled are the words a thousand years older: “I err therefore I am.” They were said by the philosopher, theologian and bishop in Roman North Africa, Aurelius Augustine (354-430). Seemingly similar phrases in form, but what a difference in meaning.

The first habitually reflects the rationalistic approach, the purpose of which is to increase knowledge about the material world. At its best, it is the scientific method of cognition that gave us technology, in particular the Internet and the computer on which I am writing these lines. At its worst, it is a distortion, where the developed intellect is so fanatically fascinated by the process of knowledge that it scornfully rejects everything that cannot be held in its hands, put in a chromatograph or treated with acid. Only that which can be comprehended makes sense, they say. The rest is lyricism, fantasy, nonsense. But since the world around us is much more complex, dynamic and unpredictable than any of its most sophisticated representations, man, limited only by his intellect, is doomed to regularly fall face down, suffering from his own imperfection. Sooner or later reality will emasculate a mind that claims omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.

Augustine’s words make an important correction that can bring harmony within. To truly be alive, it is of course important to think critically. But it is even more important to recognize the existence of something that the mind can never fully comprehend. Which, however, does not deny, but rather encourages relentless exploration of unknown territories. And it is this factory defect, this fundamental vulnerability, this inexorable imperfection of the human being that creates the difference of potentialities between what is and what can be. It is as if reality invites us to make a leap from point A to point B. That is, life is the endless correction of past mistakes and the generation of future mistakes. For without imperfection there is no being.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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Protect yourself from yourself /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

In business, and in life in general, the main thing is to protect yourself from yourself. You heard right — not from some villains or natural disasters, but from those forces that rage within each of us. “I am in complete control of my life,” as either an enlightened Buddha or a hopelessly naïve person might claim. Obeying an inner impulse, one makes fateful decisions, hunts for a particular deal, clings to a relationship, or gets caught up in another mess. And then, if he has the desire and strength, he rationalizes after the fact how and why it happened. This is evidenced by the negative pattern that has stubbornly emerged over the years. The pattern is one, but its forms are different, which makes it not so easy to catch its tail.

One entrepreneur has been fatally unlucky with partners. Each time, after the initial intensive growth of the company, disagreements arise between the partners and the joint business goes into a tailspin. Everyone — employees, investors and customers — is convinced of the genius of the other founder. But the constantly introduced advanced approaches and scrupulously described processes create a pseudo-order in the company, as the key decisions are delayed, the blurred zones of responsibility lead to conflicts, and the best employees burn out trying to improve anything. The third owner turns almost any project he touches into gold. But then he just as easily loses one valuable opportunity after another. The fourth, the fifteenth, the hundredth — each founder has his own signature move, and he regularly puts himself put on the blades.

When a systemic failure occurs for the first time, a person blames it on bad luck or the malicious intent of people. On the third or fifth time, a hunch comes in that it may be his own fault. And only by analyzing many of his decisions and their consequences, and then acting differently, is there a chance to neutralize the next impending failure. All founders go through this transformation. The only difference is the speed: for one of them each cycle takes six months, and for others it lasts ten or even twenty years.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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A meaningless group /  by Alexander Lyadov

Most group training, brainstorming and strategy sessions are a waste of money. Why? Too often they are ersatz, that is, a desperate attempt to compensate for what the company really lacks.

For example, a tangible budget is allocated annually for team building, but everyone turns a blind eye to the confusing organizational structure, favoritism and hidden shareholder conflict. Or the gathered brains are already boiling at the eleventh hour of searching for a breakthrough idea, but only because the company has again agreed to a vague and urgent client assignment in the spirit of “Guess It Yourself”. Or, say, once again all the top managers are gathered for a strategy session to identify new opportunities for business growth. But the shareholders never bother to describe their vision of what the business should be in 5-10 years.

When the wrong problem is attempted to be solved by over-zealous effort, then, while it looks epic in the moment, it always ends up worsening P&L. In other words, it’s always the shareholders who pay for this “entertainment”. And okay they would do it consciously — after all, the owner has the right to ruin his business. But no, the shareholders suffer sincerely, seeing that the desired increase in capitalization is absent. Everyone else — employees, customers, contractors, and investors — is also exhausted. Regular company fires also scorch them, forcing them to either become firefighters or go to the first-aid post.

If you’re a founder or CEO, before you succumb to the impulse to gather people into a group, ask yourself: “What problem am I really trying to solve?”.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Different /  by Alexander Lyadov

Jeff Dabe is a famous arm wrestler from Minnesota, who has won many awards during his long sports career. For his giant hands he was nicknamed Popeye, like the character of the cartoon “Popeye the Sailor”. It’s no wonder, because at 1 meter 75 cm in height, his forearm circumference is 49 centimeters. For comparison, Arnold Schwarzeneger’s bicep size in his prime years was 54-57 centimeters. Envious people even suspected Jeff of gigantism or elephantiasis, but experts at the University of Minnesota ruled it out. That’s the kind of Atlantean the American soil gave birth to. Judging by the photos, Jeff’s classmates didn’t bully him as a child.

If Jeff ended up being a violinist, that would be unusual. And he probably would have had to overcome a lot of obstacles along the way. But a successful career as an arm wrestler — that’s just natural and normal. The unique anatomy of his body practically challenges the whole world: “Who’s the most daring one? Come out and fight!”. To ignore such an asset would be as sinful as to leave uncut the Cullinan, the world’s largest diamond.

But life would have turned out differently if Jeff had rejected his gift. It’s easy to imagine an alternate scenario where a boy grows up deeply depressed over the belief that he’s a monster, a beast, a freak. This, by the way, is what happens when a child’s peculiarity causes horror, shame, or disgust in some of his parents. Then Jeff would dream passionately of changing himself, trying to become like everyone else. But, of course, it would be in vain.

Apparently, Jeff was lucky — his parents loved and accepted him for who he was. The attitude of significant Others toward him is eventually internalized by the child, becoming one of the voices within. But Jeff’s caption to his childhood photo on Instagram reads, “Born this way 😜 Different and unashamed 👊🏼”.

What about you? Have you figured out your superpower?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Values and suffering /  by Alexander Lyadov

All values are crystallized through their opposite. It takes hunger to discover the true taste of food. You have to go crazy in solitude in order to reach out with your soul to the people you love. To be a jaded slave to truly want freedom. To stay in a city without police for a month to realize how quickly the civilized world collapses. Without living in extremes, what is already there is taken for granted. And therefore either overlooked or devalued: “Yuck, it’s only X.” Thus, an infant is sure that his mother’s breast is always available, if only he cries out.

By the way, the highest pleasure arises only if one has previously felt an acute need for something, but without guarantees of getting it. Why then do people not rush to immerse themselves in a state with a minus sign? The answer is, “I don’t have the energy for this extra discomfort. Not surprisingly, it’s rare that anyone would admit that extreme contentment regularly fills their life. Rather, on the contrary, if there is any consistency, it is only with respect to troubles and setbacks. And sometimes all difficulties pour out at once, as from an overturned bucket. When, after exhaustion, one eventually manages to overcome them all, there is no jubilation. Why?

The living out of the extremes happened under duress. Fate tried to drag a man to the bottom of the river like an alligator drags a calf. But, having played enough, it allowed him to come ashore almost unharmed. What kind of holiday is this, when all the energy went to the fight. Yes, there is a new value now. How about some more? “Oh no, at that price, never!”

Fortunately, there is an alternative. You can buy a ticket for a hundred times less if you act, first, well in advance, second, willingly, and third, on the terms you choose. Yes, there will be sweat, tears, and blood, too, but their volume will be disproportionately small. In business, it’s called an investment — exchanging a small value today for a much larger value tomorrow.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

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Threads of Order /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

When one's familiar life is scratched by the sandpaper side of Chaos, even though one is alive, nothing is the same anymore. Not immediately, but the experience of what has happened catches up, which is expressed in distracted attention, gloomy perception, and loss of strength. The last thing one wants to do is to do chores like farming, sports, or business tasks. One thinks: "Eh, maybe skip today." But that's exactly what you can't do.

When the amount of Chaos around, and therefore within, is increasing, the only defense against it is to preserve Order at all costs. I have heard that even in the most difficult circumstances it is important to take care of one’s body and appearance, and not to wave: “It doesn’t matter now. Down-to-earth rituals, besides their hygienic meaning, have a symbolic meaning. After all, what separates a man from an animal is the smallest thing-the ability to realize who he is and what kind of filth he is in. Even if he is immersed up to his ears, the very fact of being conscious of “me-in-itself” does not allow the dirt to stain his soul.

Otherwise, one can sink, get hurt, get infected, or go crazy pretty quickly. Chaos’ strike is like the fall of the first domino knuckle in a (supposedly) stable chain of being. One failure pulls another, and soon one finds oneself at the very bottom of the well. The Matthew effect is interpreted in terms of class inequality, but it also applies to the individual-environment relationship: “To those who have everything, more will be given; from those who have nothing, everything will be taken.” This effect works for good when rebalancing occurs so that the excess of chaos does not burn up the fuse and the excess of order does not suffocate.

But that’s for later. In the meantime, it is necessary to lean on something. Fortunately, there is something at hand. You just have to keep your habitual ritual from disintegrating, saving one “little thing”, another “trifle”, and a third “nonsense”.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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Turbo Learning /  by Alexander Lyadov

Whichever new field you take, you immediately find yourself in the Library of Alexandria. Endless stacks of multi-volume books of knowledge open up to your eyes. Perhaps you are interested in the field of psychotherapy, say, CPT, or you need to find the answer to the prosaic question: “How to choose a gas burner (because winter is coming)? At that moment, you feel like Alice falling into an Internet rabbit hole of videos, diagrams, and texts. As amazed as a child who discovers the world in a drop of water under a microscope, so are you, amazed at how many varieties of burners there are and the nuances about each. And if you’re a novelty-hungry person by nature, you risk getting stuck in this enchanted kingdom.

To make sure life is not wasted, you need to master the skill of turbo-learning anything. My approach is based on three pillars — clarifying your goals, singling out the main thing, and finding the expert. Clarifying one’s goals is necessary because the value of anything is a purely personal choice. Every hammer is meant to strike, but agree that a neurologist’s hammer and a blacksmith’s sledgehammer are different tools. Often we are looking for the perfect or best thing, but we end up with the Japanese proverb: “Ten men are ten shades of color.” Knowing yourself saves a lot of time.

Next, every object has a backbone or engine, as my jiu-jitsu coach used to say. Once you know this part, of course, you won't become a professional, but the necessary 80% of knowledge will be gained through 20% effort. Although I tend to observe rather than talk to people, I must admit that the fastest way to gain knowledge in an unfamiliar area is to ask questions of an expert. Well, if you are dealing with a Master, he will not only give you a comprehensive answer, but he will clarify your true goals beforehand in order to impart the essence of knowledge. That way you can get 99% of the results you personally want, investing just 1% of your precious resource.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

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Creating a gap /  by Alexander Lyadov

I will not speak for others, but analyzing many cases from my life, I have to admit that the greatest harm to me was not so much caused by sudden negative events as by my reaction to them. Whenever a force majeure occurred, I was plunged into chaos, albeit briefly. Panic, stupor or, on the contrary, haste, the desire to run somewhere and do something. I had to pay for my impulsiveness with a waste of time, money, nerves, or energy. Moreover, it was not only me who suffered, but those around me as well.

For example, a novice biker, when he sees a truck suddenly pulling out across the highway, in horror, puts the bike on its side. As a result of inertia, he slides on the asphalt and at high speed hits a hard obstacle, which he was so eager to avoid. The experienced biker continues toward the truck, but presses hard on the rear and then the front brake, as well as firmly squeezing the tank with his knees. The bike is likely to stop within inches of the truck. But even if the impact does happen, there will be no health consequences because of the low speed. When practicing extreme braking on a motorcycle track, the mind doesn’t immediately believe this counterintuitive insight. The problem doesn’t turn into a tragedy if you don’t let your brain panic.

“Well, how can you not freak out when X is happening!” - one inner voice asks irritably. To which another voice replies with a sobering quote from the movie Bridge of Spies: “Would it help?” For any dangerous situation, there is a path, if not a complete and quick release, then at least a path of minimal loss, after which recovery and counterattack are possible. And for a salvific solution to seep from space into the mind, one must create a gap between the negative event and one’s reaction to it. Amazingly, sometimes a pause of a second is enough. Unfortunately, I don’t always manage to do such a trick. But so far, I haven’t found a better way to react to novelty with a minus sign. Have you? Please share.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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Protection from disaster /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" can be read in the Book of Proverbs (16:18). You don't have to be a religious person to appreciate the validity of this thought with respect to all people, including ourselves.

It is human nature to go to extremes. When the mind finds itself in impasse, it usually blames not itself for earlier decisions, but some higher power that has unjustly turned against it. On the contrary, if circumstances are strikingly lucky and with one touch he turns banal metals into gold, the mind is inclined to attribute all laurels exclusively to itself in a narcissistic impulse. To get away with any responsibility, preserving all the privileges - this is the ideal of the arrogant mind. Curiously, the higher the IQ, the more likely this behavior is.

And that would be all right, but in both extremes, the mind becomes more and more withdrawn into its fantasy world, distancing itself from reality as it is. No matter how brilliant the mind may be, it cannot foresee all the scenarios of a changing environment. Moreover, as established in physics, the very act of observing a system inevitably changes it. And anything that violates the desired picture of the world, the mind ignores, rejects or even tries to eradicate. The skyscraper of the intellect grows taller and more complex, but there is no cornerstone in the foundation. So the more often the statement, "I know it all myself," comes closer to disaster in every sphere — business, sports, family, and life in general.

The wise Solomon indicates the direction of the solution in the following verse: "It is better to humble oneself in spirit with the meek, than to divide the spoils with the proud." So, to survive and thrive, it is important not only to tame your pride, but to seek out partners to keep a strong connection to reality.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

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The plasticity of speed /  by Alexander Lyadov

Speed is an amazing thing. You can tell how fast you are, for example, by looking at the dashboard or beating someone at a traffic light. However, outside of such laboratory conditions, speed behaves like a heated caramel, which is shaped into a candy by the hands of a master. It is known that in seconds of extreme situation or hours of psychedelic ceremony a person manages to live a whole life. And when there is a working alliance with the client, the 12-hour session flies by in the same breath: “That’s it? Wow! Thought it was still morning.”

The plasticity of speed is useful to remember when it comes to the transformation of an individual, an organization, or a society. Its numerator and denominator live mysterious lives, either shrinking into a point or stretching into infinity. From the outside, it may seem to the observer that nothing is happening. But in reality there is an intense process of cell division going on under the static shell. The quantity is preparing to change into a new quality. It takes both the mother’s patience to radiate heat and the father’s push for autonomous life. And if in the animal world the timing of the transformation is regulated by an algorithm of instinct, for an individual, a group or a nation, there seems to be no simple instruction. It is not the template and prêt-à-porter that is more appropriate, but the bespoke and haute couture.

However, if this complexity of transformation does not frighten you, you will be rewarded with both the process and the result. When you know that each stage is meaningful, patience and determination emerge on their own. Most importantly, trust in the wisdom of the Process grows, that everything happens just as it should. Then gratitude for what you have naturally arises. This, in turn, helps to put together all the “useless” elements, previously scattered and trampled in the dirt. When literally everything turns out to be the building material, the construction of a skyscraper, observatory or temple takes place at the third cosmic speed.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

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Entrepreneur vs top manager /  by Alexander Lyadov

medieval merchants

Unknown author

 

What is the fundamental difference between the work of a hired manager in a corporation and the work of a self-employed entrepreneur? Here and there one can earn commensurate remuneration, manage similar assets, and have the same power. Whatever parameter you take for a top manager, there is an equivalent for a founder. And yet there is a difference, and it is so colossal that it is even embarrassing to put these two activities side by side.

To use the legendary investor Benjamin Graham’s metaphor, they both make deals with Mr. Market, taking risk and creating value in the process. But while the entrepreneur receives an objective reward directly from Mr. Market, the top manager never does. The latter has a layer between him and Mr. Market in the form of a CEO, board and/or shareholders who subjectively decide whether the top manager deserves the reward or not. Even if he has tamed the Cretan bull and cleaned out the Augean stables, not the gods, but the people will give the verdict: “He’s a hero” or “Lucky. Anyone could have done it.” Thus, in addition to pure market risk, the hired manager has the additional risk of human bliss. Such uncertainty changes everything.

It is enough for a manager to get burned a couple of times without getting what he thinks is a well-deserved bonus from the owners, and he will no longer want to look for the crane in the sky in this company. The best managers will go to a competitor or set up their own business. Many of them will stay, but will try to get a bigger bird in the hand. Some managers will start to cynically fight for power, to become the de facto beneficiary of the business, but to leave the risks to shareholders.

The conclusion? If you are a top manager, work for those shareholders whose main goal is to grow the market capitalization of the company, not to have fun in the spirit of Game of Thrones. If you’re a founder, create the most transparent connection possible for your managers between their efforts and the reward for the value they create.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
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Strength without injury /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

One of the strongest climbers in history, Wolfgang Gullich, said: “Getting strong is easy, getting strong without getting injured is hard.” Intense development occurs at the edge of the zone of competence, when one undertakes ambitious experiments. But it is enough to lose focus or be careless for a moment, and a sprain, tear, or fracture occurs. The recovery period inevitably sets the athlete back, atrophying not only muscles and ligaments. Much worse, the previously knurled neural pathways become overgrown with weeds. Then you have to speed up your way to the master from a beginner again. This is how time is lost. Windows of opportunity are closed forever.

In addition, after serious injuries, functionality is not always fully restored. After all, the scar is different from the smooth and supple skin it was before the cut. Now there is another point of vulnerability on the body, or in the brain. For example, when an athlete subconsciously takes care of a previously dislocated arm and does not risk going for a record. By the way, old age can be considered an excess of the consequences of all kinds of traumas - physical, psychological, mental - which result in such a super-vulnerability that it is simply impossible to live with.

Knowing all this, a seasoned athlete, especially one with a wise coach, arranges the training process so as to have rapid growth, but to make the risk fee feasible. Putting yourself to the point of vomiting at every workout is, of course, epic. But it’s not an option for someone who has an ambitious long-term goal. In fact, true mastery is not only about knowing a particular activity, but above all about the ability to avoid catastrophic injury. It is no coincidence that Warren Buffett reminds us, “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1”. He who has preserved capital (money, health, time) is able to earn income. As opposed to someone who doesn’t value what he has and ends up rightly left with nothing.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

The Clue Train /  by Alexander Lyadov

In 1999 The Cluetrain Manifesto was published, describing the tectonic impact of the Internet on marketing in the future. The title of the manifesto came from a quote from a veteran of a Fortune 500 firm that was in free fall at the time: “The clue train stopped there four times a day for ten years and they never took delivery.” The clue train is a delightful metaphor, isn’t it?

By and large, nothing in life just happens out of the blue. Any fundamental change begins to accumulate critical mass long before the decisive hour. The growth of a new phenomenon, even if quietly, causes a certain tension and discomfort in the environment. Therefore there are always harbingers of revolutionary change, but most people do not notice the clues. Why?

The main reason is pride and fear of the mind. By diligently drawing a map of the world for many years, the mind narcissistically falls in love with its product. So in the end it willingly substitutes a static map for a dynamic reality. Now there is no way to allow even a small crack in the familiar picture of the world. After all, if a tiny corner of the worldview is a lie, chances are that everything else is a mistake, too. It is a disgusting feeling, when the ground falls from under one’s feet, because it is impossible to live in the hell that is unfolding.

Still, the fact that the train with clues regularly comes inspires optimism. So, then the question is only in our skill to catch its specific smell, notice the smoke and hear the noise. It only takes a change of attitude of the mind. Then valuable parcels will reach the addressees, updating our map of the world in time, and, consequently, our life.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

Ideal trajectory /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

Every action has a perfect trajectory when it is directed toward some goal. The criterion? Achieving the desired result with a resource expenditure tending toward zero. Deviation from the ideal trajectory is a sin because energy is wasted. It is as dangerous as a schooner going out to sea if there is a hole in the bottom.

However, only a professional, who knows by experience what it means to act on the edge when every joule counts, can appreciate such an insight. An uninformed layman is irritated by the “excessive” frugality and discipline of a professional. And a beginner carelessly warms up the atmosphere with his energy, not realizing in which areas it is necessary to push and in which to relax. Moreover, the baggage of past knowledge can be useless. Transferring assets from one area to another is not a quick or obvious process. For example, the endurance of a marathon runner is of little use in wrestling, and the strength of a javelin thrower in butterfly swimming. First we need to understand what is the optimal path, trampled by past generations of professionals.

What is the conclusion? First, in any new activity, immediately look for a medium of expertise to speed up the download. Second, keep the criterion in mind - ideally, energy consumption is close to zero. Third, be sure to be clear, this whole enterprise is for what purpose?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

Founder's illusions /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

“Of course I know what I want my business to be in a few years.” That’s roughly what the founders’ initial statement sounds like, to summarize a lot of our meetings. Over the course of the conversation, however, it became apparent to both of us that this statement was false. What was internally felt as clarity by the founder suddenly turned out to be vague when trying to express aspects of the vision in numbers and words. To my clarifying questions, I often heard: “Hmm, good question. I have to think about it. I can’t answer right away. I could see that the founder himself was surprised as his confidence turned to confusion.

This insight explains a number of negative symptoms that the company has long suffered from. Co-founder conflicts, suspension of important decisions, squandering of resources, CEO turnover, declining profits and more are happening because all the stakeholders, including the founder himself, are convinced: “Whoever, but he knows exactly where we’re going.” The inevitable contradictions between what was asserted just a month ago and today are interpreted in the spirit of, “I guess I just don’t know something. But, of course, the owner knows best.”

The irony is that the founder’s vision is both present and absent. I realized this phenomenon when I studied the psychotherapeutic technique of “Focusing,” discovered by Professor Eugene Jendlin of the University of Chicago. Although the technique is effective in and of itself, it was important for me to learn its basis, which Eugene called the Philosophy of Implicit. Before something can be expressed in words, images, concepts, structures and other explicit forms, it necessarily exists in the human body in an implicit form. The latter arises as a result of the constant connection of any organism with its environment. Transformation of implicit into explicit does not always happen by itself quickly and easily. In such cases it takes time, a push of fate or someone who knows how to listen in a special way.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

Founder's Questions /  by Alexander Lyadov

If you’re a founder and you’re reading this text, you probably can’t say that the state of your business makes you extremely happy. Some aspect of it is causing you confusion, irritation, or anxiety. Things used to be different, but then something happened and a snowball of problems began to grow that are strikingly resistant to the usual “remedies”.

Although your situation is specific, it probably falls into one of three categories of typical problems. First, it is a lack of resources, from financial capital and talent to your personal time and energy. Second, it is a lack of or missing opportunities to develop your business and you as an individual. Third, it is disorientation, stupor and defocus in you as a leader as well as the rest of the company’s managers.

It looks like the rate of change in the world will increase exponentially every year. Customer needs will change faster. The familiar models and competitive advantages of companies will become obsolete more rapidly, and formerly blue oceans will turn to red ones. The range of competitors’ specialization will expand, and the boundaries between industries will blur. The volume of produced content will increase in an avalanche, worsening the Signal to Noise ratio. At the same time, more opportunities will open up. But they will also close faster.

Every founder will be more and more concerned with the following questions:
1) Where do I find the resources (money, talents, energy, time) to make my business survive and grow ahead of the competition?
2) Which of the opportunities will take my company to the next level?
3) What should be a priority for me and the team today and in the future?

I’m convinced that all the answers are in an unexpected place. More details later.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.