Leader's Digest #3 - Five years, building a culture, and handing it off.

This is an archived issue of the now-discontinued Leader’s Digest newsletter. See the archive for an overview of all issues

Hi everyone & Welcome to Leader’s Digest #3!

Five years, building a culture, and handing it off.
http://laughingmeme.org/2015/08/31/five-years-building-a-culture-and-handing-it-off/

As you might already know from last week’s digest, I think it’s very important to be aware of the “why am I doing this?” of your work. And just recently Kellan Elliott-McCrea, when he stepped down as Etsy’s CTO, wrote a fantastic article, that puts quite a different spin on the “why” of your job. He states that he joined Etsy in part because he wanted to test some theories of how he thought about engineering. And those theories are great, they’re really, really thoughtful; be sure to read them.

But taking a step beyond those specific theories, I thought that it’s very worthwhile to take the time, think about your own theories and make them explicit. If only to yourself. I can imagine that many if not most people reading this newsletter, have some theories about their specific work, their organization or industry they’re operating in. Theories about how things should actually be in contrast to how they currently are. Theories about how circumstances for our work and collaboration can be better for all involved and even lead to better outcomes.

So, take the time and think about what theory you’re trying to prove in your daily work. And maybe use this process of thinking, for talking about the theories with your team and colleagues.

Happy reading!

And if you enjoyed this short burst of inspiration, let others know by sharing this mail or http://leaders-dige.st.

Cheers, Benjamin