The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky

Chapter: ENDURE

LEADING THROUGH THE ANGUISH AND THE UNKNOWN

• Short-circuit your reward system:
• DO: Redefine what success means to you and take pleasure in small, real achievements.
• DON'T: Reward yourself prematurely or celebrate progress that isn't backed by substantial results.

• Don't seek positive feedback or celebrate fake wins at the expense of hard truths:
• DO: Seek honest and constructive criticism to understand where improvement is needed.
• DON'T: Surround yourself with 'yes' people who only reinforce your existing views without challenging them.

• Accept the burden of processing uncertainty:
• DO: Embrace uncertainty as an inevitable part of leadership and find ways to navigate through it.
• DON'T: Ignore or downplay uncertainties.

• Fight resistance with a commitment to suffering:
• DO: Embrace difficult tasks and situations, realizing that they often lead to growth.
• DON'T: Avoid challenging situations or tasks simply because they are uncomfortable.

• Friction brings us closer:
• DO: Encourage healthy debates and confrontations within your team, they often lead to better results.
• DON'T: Stifle disagreements or avoid confrontations.

• Be the steward of perspective:
• DO: Maintain a balanced perspective and encourage others to see things from different angles.
• DON'T: Get stuck in a single viewpoint and ignore others' perspectives.

• Leave every conversation with energy:
• DO: Be mindful about the energy you bring into and take away from conversations.
• DON'T: Allow negative discussions to drain your energy and motivation.

• If you don't like the way government is being run, cross party lines:
• DO: Be willing to step out of your comfort zone and question the status quo.
• DON'T: Stick rigidly to your own views without considering alternatives.

• DYFJ. Do your fucking job:
• DO: Fulfill your responsibilities, even when the tasks are challenging.
• DON'T: Avoid tasks or responsibilities that are a part of your role.

STRENGTHENING YOUR RESOLVE

• The only "sustainable competitive advantage" in business is self-awareness:
• DO: Regularly reflect on your strengths, weaknesses, and values.
• DON'T: Neglect the importance of self-awareness in your professional growth.

• Nobody remembers, or is inspired by, anything that fits in:
• DO: Be unique and unafraid to stand out.
• DON'T: Dilute your uniqueness to blend into the crowd.

• Take a dose of 0BECALP and suspend your disbeliefs in yourself:
• DO: Believe in your abilities and potential.
• DON'T: Allow self-doubt to hinder your progress.

• Attempt a new perspective of it before you quit it:
• DO: Seek fresh perspectives when facing difficulties instead of giving up.
• DON'T: Quitwithout exploring all possible solutions and perspectives.

• To create what will be, you must remove yourself from the constant concern for what already is:
• DO: Focus on creating the future rather than dwelling on the present or past.
• DON'T: Let the fear of losing what you have now prevent you from achieving what could be.

• Prompt clarity with questions:
• DO: Ask questions to clear up any confusion or uncertainties.
• DON'T: Assume you have all the answers or avoid asking questions out of fear.

• Sometimes a reset is the only way forward:
• DO: Be willing to start anew when necessary for progress.
• DON'T: Hang on to strategies or ideas that are not working just because of the effort put into them.

EMBRACING THE LONG GAME

• Playing the long game requires moves that don't map to traditional measures of productivity:
• DO: Make decisions that contribute to your long-term goals, even if they may not bring immediate results.
• DON'T: Focus solely on short-term productivity at the expense of long-term goals.

• Strategy is nourished by patience:
• DO: Exercise patience in implementing and seeing the results of your strategy.
• DON'T: Expect immediate results and abandon strategies too quickly.

• Break the long game down into chapters:
• DO: Divide long-term plans into manageable stages or "chapters".
• DON'T: Get overwhelmed by the totality of your long-term goals.

• Just stay alive long enough to become an expert:
• DO: Persevere in your field to gain expertise over time.
• DON'T: Give up prematurely or jump from one field to another without gaining depth.

• Do the work regardless of whose work it is:
• DO: Take responsibility and complete tasks necessary for success, irrespective of job descriptions.
• DON'T: Limit yourself strictly to your assigned responsibilities and miss opportunities to contribute more.

Chapter: OPTIMIZE

OPTIMIZING YOUR TEAM

BUILDING, HIRING, AND FIRING

• Resourcefulness > Resources:
• DO: Value and seek out resourcefulness in your team members over their available resources.
• DON'T: Base hiring decisions solely on the resources a candidate can bring to the table.

• Initiative > Experience:
• DO: Look for individuals who show initiative, even if they may lack experience.
• DON'T: Overemphasize past experience at the expense of potential for future growth and initiative.

• Diversity drives differentiation:
• DO: Cultivate a diverse team to drive innovation and creativity.
• DON'T: Stick with a homogenous team and miss out on the benefits of diversity.

• Hire people who have endured adversity:
• DO: Value resilience and the ability to handle adversity when making hiring decisions.
• DON'T: Discount candidates who have faced challenges or adversities in their lives.

• Seek people with whom discussions evolve by a step function:
• DO: Look for team members who can bring fresh insights and perspectives that elevate discussions.
• DON'T: Settle for individuals who don't contribute significantly to discussions or problem-solving sessions.

• If you avoid folks who are polarizing, you avoid bold outcomes:
• DO: Be open to hiring individuals who may have polarizing opinions, as they could lead to innovative outcomes.
• DON'T: Avoid hiring individuals with strong or controversial opinions just to maintain status quo.

• Cultivate your team's immune system, and occasionally suppress it:
• DO: Encourage your team to develop resilience but also know when to provide support and protection.
• DON'T: Overprotect your team from challenges, preventing them from developing resilience.

• Grafting talent is just as important as recruiting talent:
• DO: Invest in training and developing the skills of your existing team.
• DON'T: Rely solely on recruitment to meet your talent needs.

• Foster apprenticeship:
• DO: Encourage experienced team members to mentor newer or less experienced ones.
• DON'T: Ignore the benefits of mentorship and peer learning.

• Shed the bad to keep the good:
• DO: Let go of bad practices, strategies, or even team members to maintain the overall health of the team.
• DON'T: Hold onto bad elements out of habit or fear of change.

• A steady state is unsustainable; keep people moving:
• DO: Encourage growth, learning, and movement within your team.
• DON'T: Allow stagnation to set in within your team.

CULTURE, TOOLS, AND SPACE

CULTURE, TOOLS, AND SPACE

• Culture is created through the stories your team tells:
• DO: Foster a culture where everyone's story matters and can be heard.
• DON'T: Ignore the stories that your team members have to tell.

• Accommodate free radicals:
• DO: Allow room for innovative and radical ideas to flourish.
• DON'T: Suppress or discourage out-of-the-box thinking.

• Be frugal with everything except your bed, your chair, your space, and your team:
• DO: Invest in a good workspace and team, as these are areas where quality matters.
• DON'T: Waste resources on non-essential elements.

• The products you use to create impact the products you create:
• DO: Choose your tools wisely, as they can significantly affect the outcome of your work.
• DON'T: Underestimate the impact of your work tools on your final products.

• Attribute the right amount of credit to the right people:
• DO: Ensure fair credit distribution among your team members.
• DON'T: Fail to acknowledge the contributions of each team member.

STRUCTURE AND COMMUNICATION

STRUCTURE AND COMMUNICATION

• When you have the right people, there are no rules for structure:
• DO: Trust in the abilities of your team members and allow flexibility in how they organize their work.
• DON'T: Force rigid structures onto high-performing teams.

• Process is the excretion of misalignment:
• DO: Use processes to realign your team when necessary.
• DON'T: Ignore signs of misalignment within your team.

• Don't rob people of their process:
• DO: Respect the individual processes of your team members.
• DON'T: Disregard or belittle the unique workflows of your team members.

• Merchandise to capture and keep your team's attention:
• DO: Use creative means to keep your team engaged.
• DON'T: Underestimate the value of presentation in maintaining your team's interest.

• A mock-up > Any other method of sharing your vision:
• DO: Use mock-ups or prototypes to effectively convey your vision.
• DON'T: Rely solely on verbal or written communication to share your vision.

• Present your ideas, don't promote them:
• DO: Present your ideas in an objective and clear manner.
• DON'T: Force your ideas onto others.

• Delegate, entrust, debrief, and repeat:
• DO: Follow this cycle for effective team management and to foster a sense of ownership among your team members.
• DON'T: Micromanage or withhold trust from your team.

• Know how and when to say it:
• DO: Understand the importance of timing and delivery in communication.
• DON'T: Overlook the significance of context in communication.

• Nothing beats explicitness. Aspire to say it like it is:
• DO: Be clear and explicit in your communication.
• DON'T: Leave room for assumptions or misunderstandings.

• There is power in brevity:
• DO: Communicate your ideas concisely and clearly.
• DON'T: Overcomplicate your messages with unnecessary details or jargon.

• Make communication frequent and informal:
• DO: Encourage regular and casual communication within the team.
• DON'T: Create an environment where communication is infrequent and overly formal.

• Use technology as an enabler, not a crutch:
• DO: Leverage technology to enhance your team's performance and communication.
• DON'T: Depend on technology to the point where it hinders human interaction and creativity.
 

THE FINAL MILE

APPROACHING THE FINISH LINE

• The "final mile" is a different sport:
• DO: Adapt your strategy as you approach the end of a project, as the dynamics often change.
• DON'T: Assume that what worked at the beginning of the project will work at the end.

• Stay in the early innings:
• DO: Maintain the mindset of being in the early stages of a project to ensure continuous improvement and attention to detail.
• DON'T: Become complacent or lose focus as the project nears its completion.

• Overcome your resistance to a great outcome:
• DO: Recognize and address any personal resistance or fear of success.
• DON'T: Allow fear of success or change to hinder your progress or the project's outcome.

• Don't underestimate the value of adding a brick:
• DO: Appreciate the value of every small contribution to the project.
• DON'T: Overlook the smaller tasks or contributions, as they are essential to building the larger structure.

PASSING THE BATON

• If you can't end wonderfully, end gracefully:
• DO: Strive to end a project on a positive note, but if that's not possible, ensure a graceful and respectful conclusion.
• DON'T: Leave projects or tasks unfinished or concluded in a negative manner.

• You are not your work:
• DO: Maintain a healthy separation between your personal identity and your work.
• DON'T: Define your self-worth or identity solely based on your work or professional success.

• Aspire to finish on your own terms:
• DO: Aim to complete projects in a way that aligns with your values and goals.
• DON'T: Allow external pressures to dictate the terms of your project's completion.

NEVER BEING FINISHED

• Continuing to learn is an elixir to life:
• DO: Embrace lifelong learning as a key to personal and professional growth.
• DON'T: Cease learning or become complacent in your knowledge.

• You're either part of the living or the dying:
• DO: Stay active, engaged, and involved in your work and life.
• DON'T: Become stagnant or disengaged, as this leads to a lack of growth.

• We are so willing to trade time for money when we are young, and money for time as we age:
• DO: Recognize and balance the value of time and money at different stages of your life.
• DON'T: Overvalue money at the expense of time, especially as you grow older.

• To be done is to die:
• DO: Stay engaged, active, and always have something that you're working on or towards.
• DON'T: Allow yourself to fall into a state of inactivity or disengagement.