The Manager - Edition 37 - from Rob Lambert
Cultivated Management Newsletter
Howdy Cultivated Managers,
Sorry for the radio silence over the last few weeks.
It’s been the summer holiday season here, I’ve been consulting my backside off and I’m also trying to do too much. It’s burning me out at the same time as I should be chilling out. I should follow my own advice.
The kids all go back to school this week! And my youngest starts school for the first time. How exciting for him - he’s well looking forward to it. He's itching to get learning and socialising - it's remarkable how much kids want to learn and soak up.
But alas, as much as I value the school system and am grateful for access to education, I can’t help but feel this is the start of my kids’ indoctrination to the world of standards and mass conformity - I already see it with my elder two - they have lost a little of the curiosity and desire for learning :(
Alan Watts summed up school nicely when he said that “school is where you send your kids to be educated by other kids”. And Seth Godin has it right - let school be where your children learn some basics and learn to work with others - but fill the gaps between school with more learning and development.
How do you all feel about your school systems?
On other exciting news - I’ve pretty much stopped using Twitter now and cut back on my LinkedIn usage. I feel much better! Social Media has without a doubt been a great catalyst for my career and put me in front of a wider audience, but it has a dark side. It’s addictive, it’s soul crushing if you compare yourselves to others and it’s got a lot more shouty than it ever was. I recommend a detox or removal if you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed with it.
I’ve got plenty of new content for you too - all geared towards solving the endemic problem we have in the tech community - the dearth of terrible management. I mean, I have literally seen some appalling behaviours, dysfunctional teams and management that borders on being illegal and abusive. It’s shocking - and talented people are working for these people (and scarily - they think it's normal)!
So, thank you for being part of the community, helping me to improve, helping to improve the world of management and for taking what you learn back to the workplace - our community needs more of it.
Upcoming Events
If you’re in Hungary in October, I’ll be at HUSTEF.
If you’re in Berlin in November, I’ll be at Agile Testing Days. You can get a discount with code RobLam_015.
Stuff To Click On :
1 - If you're a Product Owner or thinking of becoming one - then this great post on Product Owner mental models should be right up your street.
2 - Yes. Yes they do. Tech companies use “persuasive design” to get us hooked.
3 - Free lunches at tech companies sounds all positive. I mean, really, what could be the downside of that? Well, as it happens - local businesses are being dramatically affected by the lack of business.
4 - The great Seth Godin on the internet and learning. "The internet is the greatest self-teaching resource ever developed. But few take advantage of it, because it doesn’t come with a motor. No tests, no certificates, no cruise control."
5 - Stop telling people to find their passion. It really is quite mad advice.
6 - Do your business need a Chief Storyteller - and how do you get a job like that?
7 - I used to work with someone who called himself the Fearless Leader and Entrepreneur. I wont tell you what I called him. Being fearless is a myth anyway, but believing that being fearless is the only way to achieve greatness is an straight out lie.
8 - Great post on fostering inclusivity in your organisation.
9 - What is the purpose of life? To be happy? No. To be useful? Maybe.
10 - How to overcome the optimistic belief we're going to get lots done.
11 - Get serious about inclusivity.
12 - Inclusivity and diversity don't just happen. Behaviours, language and opportunities must also be there. This is a good article exploring inclusivity.
13 - Empathy can be a secret weapon. I just get annoyed that so many people expect everyone to be empathetic. The reality is that some people have to work extraordinarily hard to be empathetic.
14 - I use Mailchimp for this newsletter and they're pretty cool. But they just got way cooler because they released a game called Post Haste. For those roughly the same age as me, you may notice this is very similar to Paperboy - the classic C64 game!
Thanks for reading this week's edition of The Manager.
Thanks
Rob..