New Phaistos

Is society a zero sum game? I am convinced that deep down, whether they realize it or not, people can be divided to two camps: those that believe that life is a zero sum game and those who don't. So lets begin with definitions. A zero sum game is any type of game where the total "points" accumulated by all players at any given time always add up to zero (or a constant number). The concept is very intuitive, its like a pizza! There is a specific amount of pieces per pizza and no matter how you divide them, they will always add up to one pizza (assuming nobody ate a slice 😉). To put it bluntly, there is only one way to "win" more and that is by having somebody else "lose" more. There is only one earth with so many resources after all and there is no efficient way to make more. Non-zero sum games are thus the opposite. Depending on how the players of a game act, the total amount of points could also decrease or increase. Think for example of win-win deal...

Wait; is getting promoted a bad thing now? Since we are born, we are constantly being taught that progress is natural. Society expects everyone from countries and corporations to the average person to constantly grow. The growth itself can be linear or exponential but lack of growth is seen as a type of failure. Translating the imperative of constant growth to the workplace means that workers expect to be promoted. This of course applies also in R&D and adjacent fields. The problem is that promotion is often linked to a transition to management. But not everybody wants to or should be a manager. Some engineers' dream is just to develop solutions. I often hear senior or lower management colleagues complain that they only get to do so little of what they love after their promotion. Instead they feel they are bogged down by bureaucracy, trivial meetings and technical reviews. Given that their alternative was to face career stagnation, something that our society has taught us to co...

Christakis' insights on leadership I often have mixed feelings when finishing a good book: a mix of inspiration and clarity with some nostalgia and sadness that the little adventure ended. A very good way to cope with the nostalgia part is to talk about the lessons learned from a book. And I would very much like to share with you my takeaways on the topic of leadership from the phenomenal book of human relations professor, MD Nicholas Christakis "Blueprint". I will focus on two insights: 1) The effect of network mobility, 2) The two types of leaders 1) Effective leadership is often linked to how collaborative the team members are. It turns out network mobility, or how big of a say team members have to stay or leave their team, is inherently linked to how collaboratively they act. Furthermore, there is a goldilocks network mobility to maximize members' "Cooperativeness", after which selfishness increases. In other words, leaders need to make sure that all mem...

From Strategy to Reality: Why Execution Matters More Than Perfect Plans I have been part of many conversations on vision, strategy, ideology and similar all so important topics in varying context. Endless discussions on finding the perfect answer for the problem in question. Time that was definitely well spent because the direction of an organization is essential; we can't run like headless chicken following the latest trend just because. But we have to be aware of what actually matters. And that is how are plans are going to be executed. Even the most well thought plan can utterly fail to meet expectations if improperly executed - the same applies for poor plans that were enthusiastically carried out. Often, obsessing over the optimal plan can be counter-productive. The impact of execution can be witnessed in a variety of settings from the very mundane and simple to the elaborate and complex. A non optimal workout schedule can bring impressive results if followed consistently. A w...