TWH#S8: What I Read This Week

The Sunday Edition #8

Welcome to another TWH Sunday Edition. 👋

Kick back and enjoy these 5 good reads. ☕️

And if you like what you read, please consider hitting the ❤️ button and sharing it.

(Total reading time: 26 min)

✍️ How Adaptive Strategy Happens

(Rodney Evans • 9 min read)

One thing I like about the folks at The Ready is how sharp and witty they are. This article is no exception, equal parts scathing criticism of the performative arts of “strategy & planning”, and an alternative way forward that is considerably more pragmatic and realistic. As I wrote before, startups are complex, not complicated—and the practices detailed in Rodney’s article are a lot more suited to deal with the uncertainty that stems from that complexity.

✍️ The 7 Types of Rest That Every Person Needs

(Saundra Dalton-Smith MD • 4 min read)

Rest and recovery must be regarded not as a reward for hard work, but as a precondition for smart work to be possible. Yet, what other types of rest beyond sleep can you think of? If you’re like me, probably a couple, with some effort. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith neatly describes no less than 7 types of essential rest that go well beyond “just” sleeping. Hopefully this’ll make you think of how to intentionally incorporate better—and more diverse—rest into your routine.

✍️ All Together Now

(Morgan Housel • 4 min read)

It’s been a while since I read a Morgan Housel article, but it never disappoints, always making me think and wonder. In this short piece, he highlights how social and emotional contagion leads to highly irrational behavior, drawing an interesting comparison between two events separated by more than a century. It reminded me also of all the layoffs happening in recent months. Two things are for sure: human nature has not changed; and who you surround yourself with matters.

✍️ The Decentralisation Paradox Of Flat Companies

(Corporate Rebels • 5 min read)

In case you haven’t noticed, I love to learn about how organizations can best handle complexity and uncertainty. Org design is a big piece of that. In this article, Joost Minnaar digs into some network science to explore the importance of both weak and strong ties within and between teams. I have many questions while reading it, but that’s what I want this newsletter to be: thought-provoking, rather than full of certainties and platitudes. Brave new work, indeed.

✍️ Pull the Andon Cord

(Taylor Pearson • 6 min read)

Toyota and its famous “Toyota Product System” fascinates me for multiple reasons. One is the deep respect for people embedded in it. Another is the deep focus on quality. The “Andon Cord” practice described here wonderfully marries the two. As Taylor Pearson writes (emphasis mine):

A third important cultural aspect of the Andon Cord process at Toyota was that when the team leader arrived at the workstation, he or she thanked the team member who pulled the cord. This was an unconditional behavior reinforcement. The team member did not, or would never be, in a position of feeling fear or retribution for stopping the line. Quite the contrary, the team member was always rewarded verbally. What Toyota was saying to the team member was, “We thank you and your CEO thanks you. You have saved a customer from receiving a defect.” Moreover, they were saying, “You have given us (Toyota) an opportunity to improve for that we really thank you.”

I absolutely love this. Toyota is the best example I know where an uncompromising “people-positive” approach leads to unbelievable business results over decades. We have a lot to learn from their mindset and practices.

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That’s it for this week’s Sunday Edition. Thanks for reading The Weekly Hagakure! And if you liked this, please consider hitting the ❤️ button and sharing the post.

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