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Incentives: Irresistible, Effective, and Likely to Backfire

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A good article by Chip and Dan Heath on incentives. Here’s the first paragraph:

Ken O’Brien was an NFL quarterback in the 1980s and 1990s. Early in his career, he threw a lot of interceptions, so one clever team lawyer wrote a clause into O’Brien’s contract penalizing him for each one he threw. The incentive worked as intended: His interceptions plummeted. But that’s because he stopped throwing the ball.

(And for a bonus, you’ll also learn why the really cold upper-Midwestern winters don’t make the people here less happy overall.)

The Longevity of the Temporary

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Here’s an important point for decision-making from Drucker’s The Effective Executive (129):

One of the most obvious facts of social and political life is the longevity of the temporary. British licensing hours for taverns, for instance, French rent controls, or Washington “temporary” government buildings, all three hastily developed in World War I to last “a few months of temporary emergency” are still with us fifty years later.

The effective decision-maker knows this. He too improvises, of course. But he asks himself every time, “If I had to live with this for a long time, would I be willing to?” And if the answer is “no,” he keeps on working to find a more general, a more conceptual, a more comprehensive solution–one which establishes the right principle.

3 Questions to Ask in any Job Interview

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In this down economy, a lot of people are looking for jobs. Part of the interviewing process is asking good questions of the interviewer.

Marcus Buckingham lists three questions you should always ask, and I think he’s right:

  1. What are the three top priorities for the person in this position during the next ninety days?
  2. What are the key strengths you’re looking for in the person you select for this position? How do these strengths relate to what this position is responsible for?
  3. How would you describe the company culture? Would you give me some examples of the culture in action?

First, you ask about top priorities so you can know what’s expected, especially at the start, and so you can identify if the employer has sufficiently thought through the position. If they don’t know what to expect, you won’t know what to expect. (And one of the three priorities they list will hopefully be: learn the position well.)

Second, you ask about strengths because the purpose of any organization is to make strength productive and because you will be at your best when you are in a role that calls upon your strengths. If the organization does not have this mindset, it’s a yellow flag and it may not serve you to work there. So you want to know if they think in terms of maximizing strengths. Also, you want to know if the position matches your strengths and thus if you truly are a good fit.

Third, you ask about the culture because this is fundamental to knowing your “fit” and because you want to work for organizations with a healthy culture. One of the best answers a potential employer could give to this question is: “Trust.”

And one last thing: Present your true self. First, this is right. Second, the interview will go better. Third, it won’t serve you or the company if you get the job on the basis of an inaccurate understanding of your fit for the position.

Get Out There and Try Something!

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A good word from Tom Peters and Robert Waterman’s In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies:

Just as you don’t learn anything in science without experimenting, you don’t learn anything in business without trying, failing, and trying again. The trick, and it’s a tough one, is a common cultural understanding of what kind of failure is okay and what kind leads to disaster. But don’t kid yourself. No amount of analysis, especially market research, will lead to true innovation.

Or, as Jim Collins puts it, “try a lot of stuff and keep what works.” That is, branch and prune:

The idea is simple: If you add enough branches to a tree (variation) and intelligently prune the deadwood (selection), then you’ll likely evolve into a collection of healthy branches well positioned to prosper in an ever-changing environment. (Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, 146).

And this doesn’t just apply to your business or organization. It applies to the rest of your life as well. Try stuff. Make things happen. Build on what works.

Lifehacker's Complete Guide to Windows 7

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Windows 7 launches today, and Lifehacker has produced a guide that will tell you everything you need to know. They write:

This guide will take you straight through from system requirements and upgrading your PC to highlighting Windows 7’s best new features to help you hit the ground running with all of the awesome tweaks Windows 7 has in store for you.

The Rest of the Room: How to Set Up Your Office

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Post 8 in the series: How to Set Up Your Desk

Having discussed how to set up your desk, now it is time to close this series by looking at the rest of the room.

(FYI: Originally this was the third post in the series because I thought it would be helpful to see the whole context of the room in general before discussing the desk in particular. But that seemed to interrupt the flow of the posts. So this post is now at the end to close out the series.)

The Components of An Office/Workspace
There are six components of your broader work area:

  1. The desk, of course
  2. Reference area
  3. Storage area
  4. Project shelf
  5. Meeting area
  6. Brainstorming area
  7. Lounge area (maybe)

In other words, you need to have a place to actually do your work (the desk), a place to keep reference materials, a place to keep extra supplies and equipment, a place to meet with visitors and, perhaps, a place to take a break.

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What to Put in Your Desk Drawers and How to Use Them

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Post 7 in the series: How to Set Up Your Desk

For your desk drawers, I recommend having two of the three-drawer units. These three-drawer units have two normal drawers on top and then a larger file drawer on bottom. Here’s an example:

You can get by with just one if you need to, but I recommend two. One goes on your right and the other goes on your left.

Here’s how to set them up.

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