The Curious Leader
By Aaron Bieber, Executive Coach
The Curious LeaderJun 15, 2023
Challenge expectations
Sometimes a new perspective reveals the foolishness in an activity that we carry out with great seriousness and zeal. What can a very funny comic strip poking fun at AI tools teach us about this?
Read and subscribe to the text version of this episode here: https://thecuriousleader.work/posts/on-the-importance-of-writing/
Find out more about coaching on my website: https://aaronbieber.coach
How to agree on something
The foundation of a healthy working relationship is agreement. Even when people have differences of opinion—and they always will—getting everyone on the same page about broader goals and individual motivations produces better outcomes.
Read and subscribe to the newsletter version of this show here: https://thecuriousleader.work/posts/how-to-agree-on-something/
Learn more about my coaching at https://aaronbieber.coach
"Do more reorgs" with Brian Guthrie
Instead of bringing you another analysis of a leadership topic laced through and through with my opinions, I thought it would be fun to share a new perspective. This time, from my old friend and former start-up colleague Brian Guthrie.
Brian recently started a company to help tech leaders visualize and execute smooth re-orgs, so we talked about that. What makes re-orgs hard? What would
make them easier?
Brian's company, OrgSpace, can be found here: https://orgspace.io/
Learn more about Daniel Terhorst-North here: https://dannorth.net/about/
The book "Dynamic Reteaming" by Heidi Helfand can be found here: https://amzn.to/3p8BAd5
Read and subscribe to the newsletter version of this show here: https://thecuriousleader.work/posts/do-more-reorgs-with-brian-guthrie/
Find out more about my coaching work here: https://aaronbieber.coach
On the importance of writing
Can you think of any other skill that is required, crucial, has a wide breadth of mastery with a direct impact on the operations of a business, and which nobody is ever trained to do? Read and subscribe to the text version of this episode here: https://thecuriousleader.work/posts/on-the-importance-of-writing/
Find out more about coaching on my website: https://aaronbieber.coach
Simpler isn't actually better
History has taught us that seeking simplicity, while often well-intentioned, can be disastrous. To be the nimble and effective leader who can manage through complexity with ease, you’ll need to do one thing that many leaders never learn to do: let go.
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The live debugger for any situation
When a program doesn’t work and you don’t know why, the first thing you reach for is a debugger. Whether that’s a process-attached tool like GDB, the Dev Tools panel of your browser, or just a series of logger.log("now I'm here (3)"); statements littered through the code (my preferred method), you’ll soon have it figured out.
What if there was a way to apply the same deliberate, iterative approach to management challenges? Surprise, there is!
Read this episode and subscribe via email right here!
Learn more about how coaching can help you reach YOUR full potential.
Innovation isn't an accident
The pandemic forced a global, unexpected, non-consensual remote work experiment and the results are still being analyzed. But one thing that has become abundantly clear over the past three years is that many leaders don’t believe that remote workers can innovate. I hope you're not one of them!
Read and subscribe to the newsletter version! (The post contains a few useful footnotes not cited here)
Great leaders humanize
Your highest calling as a leader is to remember that your company requires employees in order to function, that employees are humans, and that the only thing that differentiates your company from an “immortal paperclip-maximizing artificial intelligence” is how you treat them.
Read online and subscribe to the email version: https://blog.aaronbieber.coach/posts/great-leaders-humanize/
See the above web post for footnotes and links to other resources!
Ensure your happiness with a pre-mortem
A post-mortem, when done correctly, is almost magical in its effectiveness, which is why they have become so common. But when it comes to figuring out what you really want, and what will give you lasting happiness in work and life, well… Waiting until it’s over is too late!
Read online or subscribe to the email version: https://blog.aaronbieber.coach/posts/ensure-your-success-with-a-pre-mortem/
Dan Milstein's talk "How to Run a 5 Whys (With Humans, Not Robots)" at Lean Startup Conference 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78qzrXIPn5Q
To improve productivity do nothing
Let’s say you want your workers to be more productive. As the leader of a large and complex organization, there are numerous levers that you could pull… But which ones will improve the work output?
Read on the web or subscribe to an email version: https://blog.aaronbieber.coach/posts/to-improve-productivity-do-nothing/
A short clip from James Burke's "Connections 2" miniseries is played; it is from episode 20, "Flexible Response." https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985792/?ref_=ttep_ep20
What's your cathedral?
Part of your job as a leader is to create the culture by aligning values, incentives, and your own behavior. But when it comes to getting the day-to-day work done, ordinary incentives aren’t always enough.
Read or subscribe to a newsletter format: https://blog.aaronbieber.coach/posts/what-s-your-cathedral/
Simon Sinek, "Start With Why": https://amzn.to/3J360F3