If you’ve talked to me in recent weeks, I will quote something from “The Hard Thing about Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz. It’s a book for start-up CEOs, but I’m finding so much of this applies to my field, journalism, and daily management.
One choice quote: “A healthy company culture encourages people to share bad news. A company that discusses its problems freely and openly can quickly solve them. A company that covers up its problems frustrates everyone involved.”
It has been a really shitty week. I mean really shitty. The world has been shitty, there has been shitty news of every kind.
It means something to manage when things are bad. There’s an art to managing when things at your company are bad. There’s a separate art to managing when the world is bad.
A great read by Lara Hogan tackles this more broadly and there are lots of things you can do for individuals and teams.
The best thing you can do? Create a culture of honesty.
Covering problems up, whether your company’s or the world’s, isn’t smart. Address them. But don’t push. Let people know you’re there, share a tiny piece yourself, and watch the seed grow.
Don’t just do that today. Do it next time we have a bad week. Do it next time some bad news comes to your department. Do it next time you hear your direct report is going through something tough personally.
Seeds take awhile to germinate sometimes, but we have to keep planting or we’ll all starve.
Recommendations
I’m exploring workout apps, and so far BodBot is a favorite. You can list equipment at the gym and at home and exercises recalibrate every set, depending on how hard it was. It’s also free. I’m trying a bunch of others, but i keep coming back to BodBot.
Great things I’ve read lately
“At AP, we have taken the position that the term “alt-right” should be avoided because it is meant as a euphemism to disguise racist aims” (AP). A syllabus for white people to educate themselves (GDocs). I do not like the Kardashians but this is a great read on how they have become such huge names so quickly (Hollywood Reporter).
Jobs jobs jobs
Instead of jobs, I present to you the idea of hiring one of these Mic staffers who lost their jobs today.
Adorableness
