Subscriptions; We're so busy; Growth vs profitability
💡Think
I had a good chat with a former colleague this weekend who received some really bad performance review feedback from a colleague.
It hurt particularly hard because the feedback came as a surprise, which is the first red flag whenever it comes to feedback of any kind.
The best part of feedback is that you can address is and become better incrementally over time, and this is prevented when you aren't aware what to "fix". If someone keeps feedback away from you until the point of an official company review, you're both in trouble.
If you need to provide feedback to someone, do it as soon as possible so that it doesn't stew into something richer.
Have a great week everyone 🍜
📷 Look
📖 Read
❶ Why subscriptions are hard to cancel
I love the phrasing in here, where they state that we end up with "subscription guilt" from all the ones we have – Netflix, Amazon Prime, Substacks etc – that kind of accumulate in our TVs/inboxes making us feel bad that we're paying for something we don't use. My inbox is currently overflowing from this exact reason.
❷ If we’re all so busy, why isn’t anything getting done?
Are you busy? Likelihood is that you're busier than ever, at least that's how I feel and I'm sure I'm not alone. This article (from McKinsey of all places) jumps head first into the problem, and offers a 3 part solution to actually...getting...things...done: 1) decision making 2) Creative solutions and coordination 3) Information sharing.
❸ What's better, growth or profitability?
It might seem like an obvious answer, but we are living in a world whereby profits can actually come after growth. Wild, but true. Where do you stand on it? I guess the perfect spot is somewhere in between, but you need to start somewhere. Being heavily driven by investment would allow you to focus on growth, but there are clear downsides to this not least from an ownership problem.
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Bonus round
Article: knowledge flows at the speed of trust
🎧 Listen
Breaking up with perfectionism
Sound familiar? We're all seemingly on a path to try and be the best, but we really don't need to be. One of my (many) mottos is that "80% is often good enough" and I happily stop working on the job at that point. The reason for me is that the final minor details really don't matter all that much most of the time. Anyway, this podcast isn't about me, but about how we can all stop trying to be so perfect 😃
Listen to this podcast (43 minutes)
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p.s. if you like Milk, No Sugar, a coffee support would be amazing ☕️