My feed is bombarded with open positions from Finland and abroad. Let's see how many matches we'll be able to find through my network.
All the companies and people behind these companies are familiar and have left a big or a huge positive impact in the past.
Finnchat
Let's start from Germany but with a Finnish company. Roope has worked his ass off for the past couple of years to build a great company that creates a lot of value for big and small companies.
Next up we have one of the most promising startups from Finland in the shape of Flashnode. Great team with ex-collagues and friends. But most importantly a huge challenge to solve in Finland and abroad.
As some of you may know is my current company. Great solution with a huge opportunity to grow and learn about digital marketing and the future of content automation.
Junior Content Manager (Part-time)
- In Helsinki
- Finnish and English are must. Bonus points for other languages
- Understanding of content marketing
- Good project management skills
- Teamplayer
- Eager to understand about digital marketing and the possibilities
- Armed with a can-do attitude
Contact person: me
Send me an email with answers to these 3 questions and your CV to vili@natify.io
- What makes you a great person to hire?
- Why are you interested in digital marketing?
- What company you wish to work after Natify?
Is a quote often heard in the military. If a business where success or failure is measured in lives of real human beings thinks this way about plans. Yet "normal" business industries where the price of failure is only counted with stock prices or lost money are in most cases build on plans after plans after plans.
I've thought about some aspects of plans most people and businesses do and work by today. I've also asked myself what sort of plans have worked best for me and have upsides compared to the "old" plans.
After going through the differences of the plan 1.0 and 2.0 I'll share my ideas on why do we plan in the first place. But before that: Let's get mouldy:
1. "The good olde plan"
Looks most of the time like this
Plan 1.0:
Is long
Written by a single person
Has not been worked by a team
Defines how things should be done
Is heavily text based with some tables and/or diagrams to base the text on facts
Builds a single scenario to which the plan is the only truth
Assumes a lot. From the competition, markets, planners company and customers
Top-to-down given
Bonus points!
Is written poorly (grammar errors and really really dry read as a document)
Has factual errors (due to overworked and stressed author)
References and/or demands you to lookup an another plan or document
Everyone has at least once read and most propably written one of these plans at one point. I know I've had. So what can we learn from this way of planning to get ahead of the competition or the enemy.
2. Lean, mean, planning machine
Quarterback Tom Brady of New England Patriots giving out orders and information.
Plan 2.0
Is short and well summarized
Planned and composed with a team
Makes you want to read it
Doesn't assume anything
Gives clear action points
Has short list of multiple possiible scenarios
Does not creat strict long term guidelines
Is goal focused
Is clear
Is based on needs not wants
How many of you have had the feeling after hearing a plan that I can't wait to work by that plan. The defining moment comes when you actually realize that the plan 1.0 can't be given vocally. Or if someone does nobody gets that it's a plan.
3. Why do we plan?
"10 minutes of planning saves you 20 minutes of work" - Everyone
Of course we have to plan. A bad plan is still most of the time better than a no plan at all. But if the plan is focused on creating and fabricating reality to suit you ideas you won't be very successfull. Most people plan to shake their fears and ready themselves for the future. And of course you have to plan if you have a certain goal. But the difference between these versions is that the first one you make for yourself to feel comfy and in control. The 2.0 you create to move forward towards your goals in the evershifting timeline we call life.
So next time you start to plan something think how will I form the plan and why do you do it in the first place.
As some of you might notice I've gone back to the drawing board with my blog. And most importantly come back with a clear plan. Which is funny because the first blog post of the new and "improved" blog will be about plans and why they do not work.
I'll start with a tweet of mine a couple of days back:
Why plans fail? The same reason behind most failures: assumptions. Assume less, ask more. #starup#business#sales
— Vili Urpilainen (@vonelone) April 10, 2014
So next post will be all about assumptions and failures. Until then I'll leave you with this great idea filled with assumptions...
Welcome back to my thoughts form NBF 2013. Ending of year 2013 drove and pushed me finally to blog the remaining talks for me (and hopefully you) to learn from. These will be a lot shorter than the previous ones but one must sacrifice somewhere.
10-10-10 is a lovely concept and mostly for me it opened up as a form of evaluation process to help people with the choices that we all must and get to make.
The process goes as follows:
First 10 represents the next 10 minutes after making the decision (I'd also like to add to the first ten minutes the minutes leading to the decision because it raises the idea to an another deeper level in leadership also.)
Are you looking for a fast or quick pleasure? Or are you ready to postpone it for a positive impact on the next level...
Second 10 stands for next 10 months you'll have after the decision.
Are you willing to put the extra effort to reach this years goal or making a difference in one of your relationships in the near future.
The last (but the most important, at least in my opinion) is the next 10 years in your life.
This might take some thinking to start actually do but in the long run it'll make the biggest impact. The people we want to be or want to spend time with are most importantly reflected with the decisions we've made a while ago. Trust takes a lot of time to build. As does all the other really important things in life such as, health, wisdom and balance with different areas of life.
As a knowledge worker myself (and most propably many of you) I've found often pondering about the term "working hard". Luckily I noticed a tweet about the issue a while back and we had a quick but an interesting bouncing of ideas and opinions.
Also the blog of @klakhani raises valid points: to the blog!
Are Your Programmers Working Hard, Or Are They Lazy? In other words it's hard to measure knowledge workers http://t.co/V7QMRxtjck
— Karim R. Lakhani (@klakhani) December 12, 2013
@klakhani No it's not. Knowledge workers are working hard if they offer and bring to the table more than they are asked for.
— Vili Urpilainen (@vonelone) December 12, 2013
@klakhani Because if they are doing only what they are asked for they are not using their capacity to the fullest.
— Vili Urpilainen (@vonelone) December 12, 2013
@klakhani Of course. But that's leadership. We were talking about lazy vs. hard if I recall right. 1/2
— Vili Urpilainen (@vonelone) December 13, 2013
@klakhani If someone wants to bring more to the table than just whats required means (most of the time) that they want their company to win.
— Vili Urpilainen (@vonelone) December 13, 2013
I've thought about the different things that make you a "hard worker" as in you being an investement to the company rather than a cost.
If you're evaluating someone do note that these questions should work as a guideline more than a black and white truth by number. Answers can be either yes/no or go from "never" to "always".
1. Is an employee doing the things what he/she is paid to do?
2. Is an employee sucking energy and time from co-workers or from his or her boss?
3. Does an employee charge others with energy?
4. Does an employee raise difficult issues to the discussion even if it wouldn't be good for him or her?
5. Does an employee spread and enhance trust around his or herself?
I hope that I could dig deeper into these questions right now but not tonight. I'll try my best to get back to these tomorrow.
Vijay's example is simple. If a normal western EKG machine weighs 250 pounds, needs electricity to work, needs an expert to operate and costs 25 000 euros. How many Indians have the luxury of getting EKG scans in the rural parts of India where there is none of the things needed for the machine?
The answer is of course very few. Are there still heart related health issues in the rural parts of India where a EKG machine would be of great help. The answer is of course yes. How did we innovate ourselves out of this problem?
With this. This is a portable EKG system that is easy to use and the cost of a single scans price drops to a mere 2 cents. Something every Indian can afford if experiencing chest pain. And the biggest beauty is that this is still profitable and most importantly (you won't believe this but) the quality is as good as that of an "western" model. To answer the question of the title we'll dive in to the next paragraphs.
Reversing is not about lowering quality
This is one of the biggest ideas of the speech. The way do most of our decisions are actually based on a lot of other factors than common sense.
All businesses aren't evil. They pay taxes (at least the good ones) and make the world go around on many many levels. A businesses goal is to make profit. Some argue why, but Jack Welch gave a great insight (not really an insight. More of a common sense approach, but what can you do when you're not as smart as you think): "Our social responsibility strategy is to win! Because that makes it possible to have be socially responsible." It's true due to the fact that a bankrupt company has very little to share.
The challenge that this profit-to-be-made approach does not lend it's hand most of the time to the best possible answer in innovation. Another example of reverse innovation is in the form of an artifial leg designed by a thailandish M.D.
Why are the western/first world artificial proesthethics made of hard to come by materials that are so costly? The problem is the amount of resources given to different professionals today. Resources are not bad per se. But the problem lies with the unconstrained resources. Let's say you're perfecting a car design. How long would you design the perfect car it if you would have no constrains of time or money?
Now think for a while how fast and cheap could you design a working and good-enough car if your life depended on it?
What do you really have to do for your product?
The real cost of you designing a car is not limited of course to only the designing process. A big amount of all products cost comes from non-production costs associated with business. Administrative costs, taxes and marketing play a big role in the cost of any product. Have you ever studied where non-branded and cheaper products come from. Especially in Finland there is a trend of big chains creating their own lines of everyday items such as groceries and clothing "brands". The idea is simple. Get the stuff out of the same factory that makes their branded and marketed bacon and just pack it and sell it cheaper due to the fact of cutting the need and cost of marketing in the process.
Same meat - Costly Price
Same meat - Cheap Price
Why did chicken take over this post? Because there are numerous costs with most products that can actually be "outsourced" to the users or the people in general. A great way to market a proesthetic limb is to have people actually use it. This beats every other form of marketing when you are actually making profit and gaining marketing potential at the same time.
Cost of use vs. Cost of product
The closing argument of reversing innovation is the everlong argument between the cost of use versus the cost of product.
Do we count the right way?
Having a 25 000 € EKG machine standing unused for 90% of the time. Most of the time with a multi million MRI machine. Just because they are too costly to use. Why is it a costly to use these machines? Because a "smart" MBA has calculated that the "cost" of the device is 25 000 euros divided by the times it's been used in it's life time. Instead of counting the cost by the cost of use if it would be used as much as possible.
This same thing applies to a lot of things. For example in Finland the public transportation in most of Finland is costly because of this ill-adviced equation. Of course you have to be profitable with a business but the most parts of Finland it's actually cheaper to drive your own car from city to city than to take the train. And at the same time trains are running half of the time empty due to the small amount of people who see to get their moneys worth by taking the train.
I would love to get the data from VR on how much more fuel consumption does a single passenger add. If someone knows please let me know.
The example that Vijay used for the use of cost vs. use of product is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvz2JGI-L6Q (Sorry for not being able to embed it. Blogger bugs)
Most of the time as you can see. It's not about product innovation. It's about process innovation.
Ideas that sprung into my mind from the presentation and while blogging
What are good materials to recycle and to what products?
What could I or my company "outsource" to the customers and/or supply chain?
How could I get into a reverse innovation mode from "just" innovating?
Once again thanks for reading this far and comments are highly appreciated!
You can read more about "cheap" innovations from here
As you can see I did not manage to get them all done yet. These take some time but I must say that I'm super happy for taking proper notes (for once!)
Also feel free to comment of course. Especially those who were present at the event.
3 Box Innovation
Is actually a term coined to give a person a different focus point to look at innovation in all of its possible forms related to time. In the end we all know that time is the deciding factor in innovation. It would not pose a huge effect to the world if you were to come up with a new way to build a light up an oil lamp.
With his example Vijay brought up high jump and it's four different styles/ways of jumping in olympics. I won't go into much detail to the example because you'll come up with many of your own once you see what the 3 box thinking is about.
1 Box - Operational Excellence
When most people are given a task their first idea is to see how it is done around them. This is common sense after all. It is of human nature to look examples. This is what some people call: monkey see - monkey do. I've got nothing against monkeys but the truth is that most of the time this way of working won't get you far in business or in life for that matter.
How many of you have trained the high jump sciccor style?
But this is the way hundreds and thousands of companies work everyday. They think that they must work in a certain way only because it's the industry standard. Too bad that most of the time common sense is not common practise. Which leads us to the second box...
2 Box - Best Practise
In this box we can "find" the way the current industry leaders operate. They have found out the best ways to get stuff done for their company and their industry.
These things can be ways of leaderhip or use of the best tools for the job and trade. Sometimes it just means being more stubborn and hardworking than the competitors. Other times it can be just a great "innovative" use of other industrys way of work that suits to you and gives you the advantage over your competition.
The biggest challenge with the "Box 2 company" is that they have the highest fall to fall. To be the industry leader and having blind faith in the ways of your (present) success might actually be the reason for you downfall (This wouldn't be a blog about innovation without a reference to Nokia...) Which leads us to the "last" box.
3 Box - Tomorrow
Now we step into the most complex of the boxes with out of the box thinking (lovely word play isn't it?)
This is something where you cannot still exist but you should be thinking and designing for. So actually you are designing something for a market or a customer that doesn't know about the place yet. Enter Mr. Ford:
So instead of just trying to perfect and lubricate the thing you are currently doing is never enough in the long run. Here lies the best thing about innovation. It is not going to remain the same. There will always be ways to improve the current world and ways of working. Mostly because we still haven't even realized or created the problems that we will be facing in the future.
The biggest learning point for me was the idea to segment innovation related to time. There is a right place and time for (almost) everything.
Ideas that popped into my mind with this talk?
Where do I or my company use energy and focus?
How am I tracking the weak signals to base my innovations about?
What sort of adjecant fields can I find next to myself or my business? Is there something I could add or learn from those businesses (box 2 & 3)?
I've also added here the wonderful visualized notes from Linda Saukko-Rauta.
Malcolm Gladwell on innovation and innovation leadership
My notes and thoughts on Malcolms talks in Nordic Business Forum 2013
As I promised on my earlier post I'm going to go over all the talks of NBF and share the great insights (at least the ones that I was able to find) of the event. If you feel that these posts are not long enough or do not go deeply enough to the matter I'd love for you to let me know. I'll be coming back to these topics on a later notice.
Why is it good to be the third one to innovate?
In the first talk Malcolm dove head first in to innovation via an example from the year 1982. Example was taken from a battle in the 82 Lebanon war. In the battle Israelian air forces took apart the opposing air and anti-air forces through innovation.
1. Innovation order
In Malcolms example there were three distinctive innovations put to an effective use against the opposing forces by the Israelians. These innovations were in no particular order: AEW&C Aircrafts, Homing missiles and a modern aerial combat doctrine. Also you have to take in to consideration the fact that any of these innovations were not made by the Israelians and both forces had the same kind of possibilities to be the "Innovative" one.
Another example was the mouse and graphic user interface by Xerox, Douglas Engelbart and Steve Jobs.
Malcolm gave us three different levels of innovation based on the amount of resources the innovator has:
Early innovator or Inventer. This is most of the time the one who comes up with the idea or invention in the first place. It helps also if you have "unlimited" resources as did the soviets aerial doctrine inventors or Douglas Engelbart.
Fixer or Tweaker. These are the ones who see the first inventions and use them most of the time for their own uses. With the tweakers we see many high-tech guys and companies still with vast amounts of resources but mostly used very decentralized or without a common goal. Here we have Xerox who made a 300 $ mouse to be used with their already expensive products or Americans tweaking their missiles uncoordinated with the AEW&C planes in battle.
Implementer & Perfecter. Are the Isrealians and Jobs of the world. They do not have resources to waste. They have an goal oriented mind and attitude that needs to solve the challenges. What made the battle and Apple's case so uneven was the way they implemented and most importantly coordinated their innovations.
2. Strategic Innovation = Coordinated Innovation
So the thing that matters here is the question why weren't both of the forces familiar with these technologies. And as it is mostly with innovation why did the other one take such a beating. A single innovation rarely wins a war. I'm sure that Syrian forces had made quite a few innovations on their own. What then is the innovation that matters.
In my opinion the term coordinated gives you the answer. A singular innovation, man, woman or say a player in a sports team rarely wins you the challenge. With innovation you need the same amount of coordination and leadership as with any other facet in business. You have to be able to see the different innovations complimentary. When you think innovations more as a single building blocks to a bigger combination than breakthroughs that make all the difference by themselves you'll be able to coordinate and lead your innovations yo your and your company's advantage.
3. Innovators social challenge
In his other talk Malcolm gave a really detailed trip to the discovery of chemotherapy for childhood leukemia.
Here we had a young US doctor who made it possible to cure earlier a 100% mortal disease by the combination of different poisons and so fathered chemotherapy. The challenge that lies with these kinds of innovations is the moral side of the story. When you are truly doing something others have no idea of you always run in to other peoples opinions and morals. So there is most of the time not only economical "risks" that you take when innovating.
To take a lighter example for this we have Henry Fords words
To be an innovator is to try to truly change the world. Not only how the world works but also how the world thinks.
Things that came to me after the speech:
What was the last innovation that I've taken into everyday use and does its value rise when coordinate with an another innovation?
Where do I look for more innovations to take myself or my company to an another level?
When was the last time I thought about innovations that my competitors use and how to counter them?
I've been trying to attend this wonderful (from what I've heard) seminar for the last two years. After having experience this year's program I do feel that I've missed something for missing the earlier Forums. But at the same time I'm super happy that I actually made it this year. A lot of ideas and most importantly talks that really made your brain twist (In the most positive ways imaginable)
Here's a video from last year and their website for those who might not know what's NBF about.
What's next?
I've for once made proper notes (for the first time in my life). Better to start later than never!
I'm planning to go over the talks I found the best and most ideasprouting and write about them to here. I just have to be sure to editor myself and not get carried away. Or how do you feel? Would it be better to try to keep the posts short and focused or go all out and post them as long as they ever might come? You can comment, tweet or send me an email to let me know. After all I'm here (mostly) for you :)
Updated blog
For those who have already been here before have most propably noticed something different about the blog. I've chosen to update the blog to express more about where I'm coming and thinking about right now.
Quickies are a mini blog series which I'm starting to get going as fast as possible. Here you will find a short opener for a tweet of mine. This weeks quickie is about the real need of customers.
#Customer does not care about your execution. They care about how you deliver your execution for them. #business#success
First of all I'd like everyone to take a sec and think about who your customer is. As in who do you provide velue to. It isn't about who is paying to you. For example a teachers customer is not the school. School is a "secondary customer" in terms of value.
Now once you have your ideal and or worst case scenario customer in mind think again. Do you deliver. This is an easy question when you think about it for a while. If the customers you serve seem to be confused or ask a lot of questions it's usually a sign of not delivering. Also note that some times the customer is blinded by the execution of your work that they don't care about delivery. But in the long run they'll start to think about it also.
So next time you are with a client/customer ask this question: "Did I tell you clearly what we are delivering to you?" If the customer can't give you a good answer you could've done better. But if they give you a good answer you've reached the point below...
Pyrin ottamaan osaa "julkiseen" keskusteluun ehkä toista tai kolmatta kertaa elämässäni. Jos muistan oikein olen kirjoittanut kerran tai kaksi jonkin lehden mielipidepalstalle.
Joten pyydän anteeksi jo etukäteen. Älä pahastu kielioppivirheistä tai mielipiteistäni. Tarkoituksena ei ole käännyttää ketään mihinkään suuntaan, mutta toivon, että onnistun herättämään ajatuksia johonkin suuntaan. Onhan kaiken keskustelun pohjimmainen tarkoitus pyrkiä opettamaan, laajentamaan maailmankuvaa tai kertoa virheistä, jotta kuulija ei astuisi samoihin ansoihin omilla retkillään.
Ensin konteksti eli muutama lause itsestäni. Olen 26-vuotias alemman korkeakoulun käynyt ihmisen alku, jonka tavoitteena on hämmästyttää ihmisiä. Olipa kyseessä arkinen tai erikoinen asia. Poliittinen suuntaukseni on kääntynyt vasemmalta jatkuvasti oikealle. En halua puhua politiikka, mutta ikävä kyllä monia asioita voidaan pitää politiikkana tai siihen sidottuna. Tällä hetkellä toimin yrittäjänä omassa yrityksessäni. Tähän asti olen halunnut pitää mielipiteeni pienen piirin tietona mutta toivon uskomattoman kovasti, että tämän tekstin lukisi muutama muukin ihminen perheen ja kolmen kaverin lisäksi...
Sitten asiaan: Sain kimmokkeen kirjoittaa jotain näinkin syväluotaavaa (ainakin omasta mielestäni) asiaa huomattuani kaksi peräkkäistä keskustelua Facebookin uutisvirrassani. Molemmat käsittelivät Aino Kopran Helsingin Sanomissa julkaistua mielipidekirjoitusta opintotuesta. En ota tässä kirjoituksessa kantaa siihen kuka on oikeassa tai miten pääomatulot vaikuttavat ihmisen maailmankatsomukseen tai kykyyn argumentoida asiasta tai toisesta.
Keskustelemmeko?
Pidän puhumisesta. Mutta vielä enemmän pidän kuuntelemisesta. (Tämä on yksi suurimmista kehittämiskohteistani ja olen tietoinen asiasta. Älä huolehdi. Teen parhaani ollakseni parempi ihminen ja kuuntelija.) Tämä johtunee mitä luultavammin tavastani puhua erittäin paljon ja joka paikassa. Tällöin kuuntelusta on tullut itselleni huomattavasti harvinaisempaa kuin kuuntelemisesta. Kuitenkin jokainen tietää, että kuunteleminen on huomattavasti mielekkäämpää puuhaa lopputuloksen kannalta kuin puhuminen. Aikuisen ihmisen mielipidettä on lähes mahdotonta kääntää yhden keskustelun aikana. Varsinkin silloin, kun kyseessä on julkinen tilaisuus/tilanne. Kun puhuminen ja kuuntelu yhdistyy harmoniaksi saadaan aikaan keskustelu. Keskusteluja, kuten kaikkia muitankin maailman asioita on säälittävän ja surkuhupaisan sekä ihmeellisen ja mullistavanlaisia kuin kaikkea näiden väliltä.
Kaiken keskustelun tavoitteena pitäisi olla oppiminen. On surullista huomata, että tällä hetkellä Suomessa ei saa sanoa mielipidettään monestakaan asiasta, ellei se ole tietyn konsensuksen mukainen. Ajattelemme usein, että joku ei saa sanoa mielipidetään (oli se "väärin" tai huonosti argumentoitu), jos ei ole "kokemusta". Kokemuksella tarkoitan: tohtorin hattua, poliittista tai taloudellista auktoriteettiä tai julkisuuden tuomaa arvovaltaa.
Hyvin usein keskustelut ovatkin tyhjänpäiväistä small-talkia, joka ei vie mihinkään tulokseen eikä kehitä keskustelijoita mihinkään suuntaan. Olemme kaikki varmasti osallistuneet useisiin tälläisiin keskusteluihin. Ja myönnän, että aina ei jaksa tai ajatukset ovat muualla. Mutta voisinko silti olla enemmän kiinnostunut kuuntelemaan keskustelukumppanini sanomaa. Yritänhän edes ymmärtää...
Eli mitä yritän sanoa: Sen sijaan, että kyseiselle henkilölle yritettäisiin kertoa miten asiat "oikeasti" ovat tai häntä yritettäisiin muulla tavalla opettaa, tartutaan heti verbaaliseen kiveen ja aloitetaan julkinen kivitys (myös Facebook on julkinen monella mittarilla mitattuna) ja käsketään nurkkaan häpeämään, koska vain opiskelijat saavat ottaa osaa tähän keskusteluun. Kaikki muut ovat väärässä tai eivät ymmärrä mistä on kyse.
Olen erittäin paljon "ilmaisen" koulutuksen kannalla. ("Ilmaisen", koska moni osallistuu tähänkin talkooseen maksamalla esim. veroja.) Mahdollisimman tasavertainen mahdollisuus kouluttautua luo tasa-arvoa parhaalla mahdollisella tavalla ja mahdollistaa monia positiivisia kerrannaisvaikutuksia yhteiskunnassa. Mutta olemmeko me oikeasti niin kyynisiä ja oikeassa, että joku nuori ihminen ei saa tuoda julki mielipidettään (huom. kyse on mielipiteestä. Ei mistään poliittisesta päätöksestä.) Tai kertokaa minulle kuinka paljon kyseinen henkilö pystyy oikeasti vaikuttamaan tähän käsiteltävään opintotuki-asiaan. Lisäksi ymmärrän kyllä Hesarin kyseenalaisen suhtautumisen mielenosoitukseen ja mielestäni Helsingin Sanomat asettivat itsensä erittäin hankalaa osaan tässä koko keskustelussa. Valinta sekin. Paljolta mielipahalta selviää maailmassa, kun ymmärtää mahdollisimman aikaisin, että jokainen ajaa tässä maailmassa omaa tai oman eturyhmänsä asiaa.
Eli annetaan kaikkien kukkien kukkia ja mikä tärkeintä opastetaan ja ohjataan. Erehdysten kautta oppiminen on paljon nopeampaa kuin onnistumisten. Ja onhan suomessa vielä mielipiteenvapauskin... Onhan?
ps. 28% 300 00 eurosta on 84 000 euroa. Kuinka paljon sinä maksoit veroja viime vuonna? (Ei tarvitse kertoa. Tämä oli provo ja trolli ja kaikkea muuta. Ruoskin itseäni näin alhaisestaa tempusta...)
The idea is still simple. I try to open a tweet or two of mine to a deeper analysis of life.
"Perfection is to weather imperfection."
The biggest problem with a lot of people is that they're always searching and aiming for the 100% solution. What I like to call the unattainable goal. Dont get me wrong I'm all for going for perfection but the truth is that people are imperfect. Also life is imperfect. I'm also not saying that you shouldn't thrive and go for perfection but instead that you should take into account the imperfections surrounding you.
This can be seen best with politics. A lot of time people in politics are searching for the flaws of plans and legistlation instead oftrying to look the positive effects of the law or decisions. You can always see problems or possible side effects with every choise. Even by doing nothing you harm something or someone somewhere.
To get this blog post to a more positive side I would like to return to the tweet itself:
Perfection as I see it is taking the most out of the current situation. If you can do that your quite far ahead of most people who are trying to come up with a perfect plan...
Happy new year to everyone!
My year changes in Tallinn. Hope you get to change yours with many awesome people!
First lesson learned from blogging: It's bloody hard. Not hard as in way hard to do. More importantly it's hard to start.
So here's my revival for the blog:
I (prodly) present: Quickie I (as in quickie one, not quickie I)
The idea is simple: I pick few different tweets I've tweeted during the week and I try to open more of the ideas and thoughts behind them. This way I'll be writing this on a aweekly basis and habit myself for this new habit.
Here we go! Let's start with an easy one:
"Simple doesn't mean easy. It never did. Greatest things are simple but require a lot of work. #success#leadership"
Simplicity is something what a lot of people see as easy. The more I learn it seems to be the other way around. If you really want to create something truly and amazingly simple it takes a lot of time and most importantly effort. It's simple to train and run a marathon. The big difference is who actually makes it. The more you do in life the more you realize that the simpler the path is the harder it seems.
For something to be simple yet well designed, it needs a lot of chaos and creativity.
At least that's my take. How do you see simpilicity?
ps. big thanks for this post go out to Kaisa. Have fun in the north!
What are limits and who is responsible for them. Especially during last week due to Red Bull Stratos and the accomplishments of Felix Baumgartner I've been thinking limits even more than normal. Limitlesness is something many people dream of in one from or another. It can be ones freedom from financial limits or from a medical condition.
The most important thing about all limits is usually the most simple question: Who is the one who is limiting or creating your limits. It can be someone else, a parent, a co-worker, a boss or even your spouse. Limit is something you are aware of that hinders you. But the one thing you have to take into an account while considering these outside limits is noteworthy. 99% of the time these "limits" are words. And words as a rule of thumb weigh nothing. Don't get me wrong. Words can create or destroy many things. But the words that matter are also always followed by actions.
So in short actions are the things that matter. So the next time someone is telling you that you won't be able to do this or that pay no heed. Nod politely and let their comments either leave freely from your mind or better yet make those words act as fuel for your dreams and goals. Nothing like showing someone who is using only words with your actions.
"I did it!" Holds two great perspectives: I as in me. Most of the time you need others to support you but also you are the driving force. (We did it is also magnificent for the same reasons.) The other one is doing is actually in tense form. The deed is done and no one can take it away from you till the end of time. Savior it.
"What would you be if you could be anyone or anything you could?"
"Leadership at it's core is motivation realized into a tangible result." Part 1
Last week I wrote about the fact that when the going gets tough the leaders who have the will and motivation will be the ones seen victorious. This week is time for more motivational pictures and videos.
It is in human nature to see only the good times and things. It protects us in our everyday life. Who would want to remember every failure we've come across. Still in each of those failures is a thing to learn or a new point of view to be seen.
Arnold has achieved much more than talk funny. If you've never heard him talk this is the time.
Bruce Lee has been introduced earlier in my blog. And there is a big reason for it. If you have the ability to listen this with your eyes and mind open you'll find things that matter. No matter even if you've never even punched a bag. "Become water, my friend."
For last I've saved the best.
Things said in his speech should be the goals of every leader and human on earth. The grand plan has to be a big and epic. Without epic meaning all motivation is lost. No one wants to be part of anything easy and unrewarding.
Next weeks I'll be sharing my ideas on team building and situational leadeship.
Leadership at it's core is motivation realized into a tangible result.
The fact is that every single time the going gets ruff every last persons eyes will be on the leader. And everything that a leader does from that second on will affect the way things will work. So make sure you feel and look motivated when no one else does. That is a first mark of a great leader.
So here are some videos (have to save some for part 2) which I think work as great motivational guidance. Don't take it too seriously. Every day shouldn't feel like a war. But there is something for everyone in everyone of these videos. If you're in a hurry I've summarized each video as handy reminders which are good to have in mind when making decisions.
Hard work pays off. In the end.
No one is anything without others. Also when you're willing to fail you'll stand victorious. So don't hold back.
When you want to do something else than the thing you want to success in. You won't success. Succeeding is a game of all or nothing.
If you have some really motivational videos please do share them.
How to build all the processes needed in a startup.
If you want to read general stuff about startups you have a
problem.
The problem with general is that it is actually pretty much
general. General is easy. General is as the word describes all that is generally
known. So why would you spend your time with general? Of course if you are just
starting or getting into the “startup” mindset you have to know the basics.
For many people many thigns look this complex or even more...
You can’t play football right away. First you have to learn how to walk, run and preferably change directions while doing so. Also you will need a certain skill set with the ball and lastly you will have to play by the rules. You don’t have to know the rules but it will help a lot.
So if this article isn’t about general startuppy stuff then
what is it about you may ask.
Process is the driving force behind everything and everyone.
So we should develop great processes. And here comes the best part. These
things apply to every company there is. Although a lot of people make big
differences between different company sizes and business models the hard truth
is that the differences are pretty slim. Process wise. Bruce Lee talked about
the styles and the problems they bring up. If you confine yourself as something
you will be trapped in to the descriptions and terms. So if you are a “startup”
company you will need to transform yourself when you will become a “real”
company. Isn’t it just easier to call yourself a company.
Wise words
So keep this also in mind when founding and working with
processes.
Everything is simple. If something isn’t simple you are not
good at it and you should improve. The same thing applies to all the processes
in a company. If you have to think about the process you’re in trouble. If the
used process is wasting any resources it’s not needed. You should just get on
by doing things. But as we all know there will always be need for different
processes whether for sales or for employee recruitment. So we must have them.
So my advice is simple. Whenever you do something and you feel that you
succeeded write the one thing that lead you or your team to the result. It can
be something big or small or totally unrelated. And then throw the paper you
wrote the thing away. This way you will remember the thing if you need to. If
your mind lets it slip away it wasn’t that important to start with. Also this way
your archives will stay clean and your dropbox folder won’t clog with
never-to-be-read documents of “how to do stuff”. Admit it. You never read them
anyway.
The way to success is easy: Do, learn and repeat if
necessary.
While spending every waking moment pondering on and of everything startuppy, one cannot start to wonder why, how and most importantly with who.
I've come to realize that a start up is actually and pretty much the equivalent of forming a band. Although the reasons for starting up a band might vary to a great extent. I'm pretty sure that everyone joining a band has that fleeting thought even if it's just for a second. How cool it would be to play on a huge arena surrounded by tens of thousands of fans screaming your name. And I don't think that the jet set life of rich and famous wouldn't feel that bad either.
With the startups the goal is quite near that of a start-up band. We are looking for the best talent to complement ours and of course the idea is that everyone in the team will also share the idea, plans and responsibility. When you are creating something new with people on your all sides ready to go the extra mile you feel invincible to many things.
Reality check! The most important thing is actually the people who you work or play (your ideas) with. Although you will feel invincible whilst on that 48h flow trip with the swashbuckling team of yours do make the mental note that you actually aren't invincible, indestructible or even unbreakable. You are actually pretty much the same hardiness as those who you are working with, for and against. So make sure that you're not surrounded by the likes of you. When you're all built differently it will make it so much easier to share and weather the real world.
So find the band of your dreams. And when you find them hold on. In the world of start-ups and bands that's the only thing that will (hopefully) stay with you till the end.
After that all you have to do is work hard. And make the end is as close as the one you were hoping for at the start.
