If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Though the internet permits more solo, distanced, and online work, we still have to work with others. Other people are the best, and worst, parts of life.

Two ideas to think about today.

It’s good to ask, Would you bottle service?, and the likely answer of ‘yes’ means to control the conditions to encourage your best behavior, whatever that might be. It’s easy to look at the more beautiful, more rich, more talented, etc. and say ‘I would never do that’. But, given the conditions we might.

“We all have character flaws and life sometimes turns on whether you end up in a situation in which your flaws are on full display. We all have flaws and some of us just get lucky and our flaws aren't pulled out and highlighted, and other people just stumble into situations where their flaws become the pivot on which all else turns." Bethany McLean

Place, process, and people tinge our behavior.

This coloring happens to us, but also by us. In his post Prophets of Rage, Ben Horowitz writes about how high performers can be hard to work with. “If you are not them or not on their team, you are very likely ‘a lazy idiot’ or worse.”

However Horowitz hints at how to change the conditions. If he snaps at someone, pull him aside and tell him how his communication sucks. “He will initially bristle at the criticism, but when he thinks it through, he will realize that you were right and he will work extremely hard to fix it, because he is, after all, a perfectionist.”

Let’s amend the big idea: If you want to go fast, go alone and under the best conditions for you. If you want to go far, go together and under the best conditions for everyone. That’s less potent, but more correct.

😡 Hiding flaws and controlling rage

Sign up to like post

Create your profile

Only paying subscribers can comment on this post

Check your email