one minute blog

OK here’s a challenge. I’m going to try and write a VERY useful and entertaining blog post - that takes exactly 1 minute to read.

I’m calling it the One Minute Blog (OMG).

According to ChatGPT, the average adult can read 238 words per minute.

Shieeet, I’ve only got 194 words left! 

OK - here’s a short story that will make you a better leader/CEO.

I just hired a new CEO for one of my companies.

On Day 1 - he started doing what most CEO’s would do: 

• Meet & greet the team

• Get access/permission to our tools 

• Start coming up with a Big Picture plan/vision to present to the team. 

I pulled him aside and told him about a different way that I learned from Nat Friedman.

Nat was named CEO of Github, and what he did on Day 1 was amazing.

[8 am: everyone in the company gets on a call].

Instead of sharing the vision & multi-year plan. Nat screen-shared and displayed a giant list of 100+ issues & complaints from customers. 

He said: “Today, we’re going to find one item on here, and fix it”

“And tomorrow, we’re going to pick another one, and fix that”

“And the next day.. And the next.. Until we’ve nailed 20+ of these” 

This did 3 big things:

• Shock Therapy. The team used to “think in quarters and years”. Suddenly the timeline shrinks to “ship something today”. 

• Taught Him The Business, Bottoms Up. Where are the problems? Where’s the tech debt? Which teams are good at getting shit done? 

• Action Speaks Louder. Customers were worried when Microsoft bought GitHub. Will they ruin it? Should we leave? But immediately seeing the product improve built faith that things will be OK. 

I call this the ‘Broken Shelf Approach’. 

Every home has broken shelves. The people living in the house have learned to ignore it, and just live with it.

If you want to make an impression when you move in. Find the broken shelves, and fix them first. 

-Uncle Shaan

331 words (93 words over budget!) 

Want more OMG (one minute blogs)? - hit reply and let me know!

(I read every email)