Hot Topic Friday: Sept. 20

Happy Friday! Here are my Sept. 20 Hot Topics and how they relate to advancing culture or leadership.

Hot Topic 1:

What’s WFA and What Should You Know About It?

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What It’s About: Smart organizations with thoughtful leaders, fully support WFH (working from home). This article introduces the benefit of WFA, or working from anywhere—any city, any state/province, and in some cases any country (so long as it has reliable internet). The concept has been adopted by leading companies and leading organizations like GitHub, ATB Financial, and NASA. The article emphasizes that the benefits of working from home have been well established, (according to a 2015 study, employees are 13 percent more productive when they work from home). It turns out that working from anywhere leads to even greater productivity.

Why It’s Important: While there is now ample research to support the policy of working from home, we still have armies of restrictive, command and control managers, who believe they have to see you to trust you’re working and getting things done. Organizations that have work that can be done from home need to make it so, and learn how to lead in that environment. It is a cop-out to let individual managers decide. Furthermore, it is time to build on WFH to allow for WFA. I know a partner at a top consulting firm that worked from the south of France this summer. The last company I was at, supported people working in all parts of the globe for many reasons. Although some work in organizations is dependent on people being connected to a specific time and place, many workers can fully contribute from anywhere. Make WFH and WFA part of your organization. No more phony excuses as to why you can’t.

Hot Topic 2:

Even Giants Start Small.

Source: Inc.

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What It’s About: This article captures parts of an interview with Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph, who recently published a memoir entitled “That Will Never Work.” The book chronicles the early days of Netflix, leading up to its IPO in 2002,. According to Inc, “it’s less of a business how-to manual than an occasionally wry look back at a lark that grew into a massive company.” The article however captures pithy learnings and insights from Randolph.

Why It’s Important: There is much to learn from the memoirs and biographies of creators. People who build things inspire and inform us. The following are a few Randolph insights:

“1. Epiphanies are rare… The truth is, for every good idea, there are a thousand bad ones.

2. I kept a little notebook of ideas in my backpack and carried it with me everywhere I went.”

3. Culture isn’t what you say. It’s what you do.

4. When an opportunity comes knocking, you don’t necessarily have to open your door. But you owe it to yourself to at least look through the keyhole.

5. You’ll learn more in one hour of doing something than in a lifetime of thinking about it.”

I particularly want to emphasize Randolph’s statement about doing versus thinking. So many people get stuck at “think,” and procrastinate until an idea finally fizzles or completely dissolves. It is amazing what happens when you just start something. One never knows. It could become a Netflix?

Think Big, Act Now, and even giants Start Small!

My Weekly Wine Recommendation (Thanks to Vivino):

Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon 2010.

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[Picture and ratings provided by Vivino].

And finally! Here’s Cecil’s Bleat of the Week!

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“It’s not always easy to convince someone a need exists, if they don’t have that need for themselves.” – Caroline Criado Perez.

Bye for now!

— Lorne Rubis

Incase you Missed It:

My latest Lead In podcast.

My latest blog.

Season 3 of Culture Cast.

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