Yesterday, I wrote about introspection and pending career choices. Here's a first pass list of some of the things I've noted in the process so far, about myself and work life:
- In my experience, laughter and success are almost perfectly correlated.
- I do best when working around intellectually honest people entirely commited to winning.
- I'm happiest when pushed to the max by team members better than I at what they do.
- I'm more creative than I give myself credit for.
- I get bored with routine a bit too easily.
- Trust but verify — do your homework before buying, or joining a new venture.
- When applying successful approaches from past situations, be careful to respect the differences between then and now.
- Successful businesses make money by doing hard things well; beware however the power of tides and prevailing winds — go against them only after careful consideration.
- I've learned over time not to complicate things too much. Corrolary: If you don't focus on the one or two most important things, you're dead.
- Business is mostly about those warm squishy things called people.
- There are times to look at the half full part of the glass, and others to see the empty part; know the difference.
- Mistakes can be made from arrogance, and from weakness.
- It's impossible to have too many smart people around you.
- Once a team's culture is formed, it's exceedingly tough to change (for better or worse).
- Immediately confront people problems that can corrode culture.
- Knowing when to make a business decision is often as important as how to make it; my judgement in both is pretty good.
- Fast progress is better than slow perfection.
- Winning is a great antidote to most problems; success feeds on itself. (Unfortunately, the opposite is also true.)
- I work best with people sharing a common sensibility (tests: Do they laugh at the same jokes as me? Do they care enough to get angry?)
- To be happy and successful, I must have a deep and genuine passion for what I'm doing.