success Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Organizational Physics by Lex Sisney

Beyond the Traditional “Moral” Code, or How To Know You’re Making the Right Decision

Imagine that one of your clients, who is also a good friend of yours, owes you a good amount of money. You have sent multiple bills, have casually reminded him, and even had an earnest conversation. From your perspective, he seems well off and able to honor his debt. What’s the right or moral thing to do?

Morality is a complex and challenging thing to understand. On the one hand, a society or family can’t function long without a shared moral code. We all support the social norms we believe to be right or just. On the other, we often fight against norms that silence our individual expression. In other words, no one likes to be on the other end of a sermon they didn’t request. In addition, what’s understood as right and wrong actually shifts over time and with changing conditions. Just ask your grandparents.

While the world loves to judge the rightness and wrongness of everything, most of us don’t think about morality too much, nor do we reflect on the nature of our decisions. When we do so, it’s usually motivated by a sense that our life is falling apart. Then we tale a step back, reflect, and seek to make a change. Whatever the change is, it usually involves the development of a new moral code or compass – a set of beliefs, actions, and choices that feel more in alignment with who we want to be – in the hope that our life becomes congruent once again.

If you do a quick scan around the world, you’ll find as […]

By Lex Sisney|2021-05-18T05:41:36-07:00March 21st, 2011|

What Warren Buffett Can Teach You About Hiring

Warren Buffett’s 2010 Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders was recently released. It’s as outstanding as ever and worth a read. There’s a footnote in the report about their hiring a new business manager that I really loved:

“When we issued a press release about Todd’s joining us, a number of commentators pointed out that he was ‘little-known’ and expressed puzzlement that we didn’t seek a ‘big-name.’ I wonder how many of them would have known of Lou in 1979, Ajit in 1985, or, for that matter, Charlie in 1959. Our goal was to find a 2-year-old Secretariat, not a 10-year-old Seabiscuit. (Whoops – that may not be the smartest metaphor for an 80-year-old CEO to use).”

The reason I loved this footnote is that I believe too many businesses make the mistake of consistently valuing past direct experience over transferable skills and upside potential.

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By Lex Sisney|2021-05-18T05:43:00-07:00February 28th, 2011|

How to Keep Everyone on the Same Page – The Rule of Three

I met with the CEO of a fast-growing high tech company this week. This company (we’ll call it Company X) has grown from $100M to $400M over the past three years and plans to be a billion dollar business within the next three. We got together to discuss the challenges of keeping everyone in the company focused on the most important things. It’s a classic challenge. In fact, if you ask any leader of a fast-growing organization what are his or her three biggest challenges, you’ll hear “keeping everyone on the same page” as one of the top responses. How you help to do that is the subject of this article. And a powerful answer lies in the rule of three.

In the 4th century BC, Aristotle spoke about the rule of three – how the human mind tends to easily remember three things but forgets four or more. Every great communicator through the centuries has recognized and used the rule of three:

“Veni, Vidi, Vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered) – Julius Ceasar

“Friends, Romans, Countrymen” – William Shakespeare

“Life, liberty, happiness” – Thomas Jefferson

“Blood, sweat, and tears” – Winston Churchill

Notice too how common sayings are also often structured by the Rule of 3:

“Body, mind spirit”

“Tall, grande, venti”

“Learn your ABCs and 123s”

“Reduce, reuse, recycle”

“The 3 Rs – reading, writing, arithmetic”

Similarly, Company X has used the rule of three to help its staff focus on the most important things, as well as to recognize and stop work that isn’t focused on those things. Here’s how they did it.

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By Lex Sisney|2021-05-18T05:44:27-07:00February 21st, 2011|

The Last Question (the answer to entropy)

By Isaac Asimov

This is by far my favorite story of all those I have written.

After all, I undertook to tell several trillion years of human history in the space of a short story and I leave it to you as to how well I succeeded. I also undertook another task, but I won’t tell you what that was lest l spoil the story for you.

It is a curious fact that innumerable readers have asked me if I wrote this story. They seem never to remember the title of the story or (for sure) the author, except for the vague thought it might be me. But, of course, they never forget the story itself especially the ending. The idea seems to drown out everything — and I’m satisfied that it should. Read the Story.

PS. The Physics of Success shows that success is really a function of how entropy impacts a system. I love this story by Asimov because it puts “success” in the grandest and most far reaching terms possible while making it clear that entropy always wins. Choose your definition of success wisely.

By Lex|2019-12-13T13:46:36-08:00December 26th, 2010|

Who’s On Your Team?

A Winning Model for Human Resource Management

“I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.”
– Oliver Wendell Holmes

The CEO stood at the podium and declared once again to the staff gathered for the annual all-company meeting: “Our people are our greatest asset.” And the audience sighed inwardly because they knew it was bullshit. A worn-out cliché that becomes more hypocritical with each use. They think, “If people are indeed our greatest asset, then why have training budgets been slashed again? And if I’m truly valued here, why am I working longer than ever but for less pay? And what about Frank in accounting? He’s not an asset – that jerk is a liability!” or some variation. Rarely do companies back up their “our people are #1” rhetoric with demonstrable, consistent actions.

Perhaps there’s no better way to mask a self-evident truth like “value your people because ultimately your value comes from them” than through over-worn clichés and empty rhetoric. It’s a shame because if you’re going to build a thriving organization, you’re not going to do it through strategy, systems, branding, sales, market share and efficient use of capital – you’re going to do it by building and re-building a winning team. Everything in your organization traces itself back to the people involved. It’s the people who define the strategy, design and implement the systems, conduct the branding, engage in sales, capture market share, and deploy capital. People are indeed your most important asset.

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By Lex|2021-05-18T05:46:19-07:00December 26th, 2010|