Dan Cullum

There is always a bit of Steve Jobs folklore floating about. One that I read a few years ago, but has always stuck with me, is the story of Job and the janitor.

I’m pasting it below as it’s a short read. It always makes me think about the importance of infusing responsibility and accountability as close as possible to the people doing the work.

Steve Jobs told employees a short story when they were promoted to vice president at Apple. Jobs would tell the VP that if the garbage in his office was not being emptied, Jobs would naturally demand an explanation from the janitor. “Well, the lock on the door was changed,’ the janitor could reasonably respond. “And I couldn’t get a key.”

The janitor’s response is reasonable. It’s an understandable excuse. The janitor can’t do his job without a key. As a janitor, he’s allowed to have excuses.

“When you’re the janitor, reasons matter,” Jobs told his newly-minted VPs. “Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering.”

“In other words,’ (Jobs continued,) “when the employee becomes a vice president, he or she must vacate all excuses for failure. A vice president is responsible for any mistakes that happen, and it doesn’t matter what you say.”

A few days ago I came across a great clip that supposedly marked the moment Norway announced its switch to colour TV in 1972.

The scene, deliberately crafted for the reveal, has a man unsuccessfully attempting to cut a large ribbon. In the end, two men end up pulling the ribbon tug-of-war style until it breaks. And when it does, the screen flips to colour and the panels on the back wall that previously looked like all different shades of grey can now be seen as a wild array of colours.

I tried to do a little more research on the background behind this moment, but there seems to be scant information available online. Regardless, there’s no interesting insight or reflection today, just a unique and fun clip for you to check out!

A little more…

Patience.

Persistence.

Discipline.

Calm.

Perspective.

Empathy.

With just a little more, what’s possible?

Courage to begin.

Discipline to keep going.

Tony Fadell talks says “there’s always a crisis” in his book ‘Build’. It may be a company, career, or personal crisis, but the point is that there is always one happening.

This idea didn’t sit right with me. Sure, I get that a crisis can help increase focus, but I’m unconvinced that we need to live in a constant state of moving from one problem to the next. I think that diminishes the urgency when there is a legitimate crisis.

A simple example is we need periods of rest, sometimes extended periods, to give us the space and freedom to creatively explore what the future holds. We can’t do that work in a crisis.

The idea is only heresy until it’s proven right.

The classic start-up examples are Uber and Airbnb. The fact that my dictionary just auto-corrected both these names from uncapitalised to capitalised demonstrates how these brands have become mainstream parts of our culture. But, at one point, they were deemed crazy ideas.

The smartphone and geolocation enabled anyone to call a cab. Before Uber, taxi industries around the world were entrenched, expensive markets to play in. Now, anyone could be a driver if they wanted.

Hotels once had the monopoly on “where I stay when I’m away from home”. However, Airbnb provided an efficient and trusted marketplace to help people find vacant rooms, flats, and houses around the world.

20 years ago, no one would’ve thought these sprawling industries could be upended.

The idea is only heresy until it’s proven right.

Touch Rugby is a game built on honesty.

It’s a fast game, and because there is no crunching tackles like in its contact equivalent, the “touch” can often be difficult for the referee to see.

Players will often shout out “touch” to signal to both the referee and their team that they successfully caught a player on the opposing team.

I love how the game relies on honesty for it to work well. When people admit when they miss a touch it builds good will between teams and players.

However, the mood of a game quickly goes south when one team suspects the other team is stretching the truth, or in some cases, flat out lying. Teams turn to bickering with each other and complaining to the referee. It can sometimes feel like kids on a playground.

My team had one of those bickering-type games today. And it made me think about how not just touch teams, but how teams in the workplace are built on this kind of mutual trust. When everyone is honest, the collaboration and goodwill created is impressive. When there is a lack of trust, almost nothing can get done without a complaint.

If you reflect on the people you’ve worked with over the years, what proportion defaulted to blaming someone else—or something else—when something went wrong? What proportion took ownership of a problem even if it wasn’t their fault?

Taking this one step further, of these people, who was quick to take personal credit for a win? And who was quick credit the efforts of the broader team?

My guess is there’s a correlation between these actions.

I had an eye check-up today because I’d been experiencing some increasing discomfort due to allergies. Thankfully, all looks OK.

However, as part of the visit, I had my pupils dilated for the ophthalmologist to perform a scan. They warned me I’d have slightly blurry vision for the remainder of the day.

For about 4 hours, everything within arm’s reach was blurry. My WhatsApp messages, the labels at the supermarket, and the time on my watch.

Despite being short lived, the experience made me pause and be grateful for consistent clarity of vision.

Asking “so what?” was a core part of the problem solving training at my first job.

It goes a bit like this: whenever a new piece of information or data is presented, the appropriate next question is “so what?”

A former colleague described the question as having two functions:

1. Meaning: How do we need to look at it (differently)?
2. Action: What do we need to do or decide?

The first challenges us to reconsider our opinions and change our mind. The second says that unless we do something different as a result, we’ll be no better off than if we ignored the new information.

Thinking of “so what?” in terms of meaning and action makes the tool much more useful.

Earlier this year I posted about my sleep experiments. I was only getting 6 hours per night—sometimes less—and was feeling frustrated with my lack of shut eye.

I made 3 changes: reduced my caffeine consumption, imposed a consistent bedtime, and started a “wind down” routine.

After 5 months of adding in and subtracting these variables, I’m reasonably confident that excess caffeine consumption was the culprit all along.

I’ve dropped my caffeine intake down from 6-8 cups of coffee to 1 cup per day, and I can now reliably hit 7 hours sleep per night. When I give myself enough runway, 8+ hours is achievable.

A consistent bedtime and “wind down” routine, although helpful, don’t have a nearly as much impact compared to my level of caffeine consumption.

This change may seem obvious, but when I was consuming 6-8 cups of coffee per day, I didn’t even think about the effects it could have.

Here’s to better sleep and the benefits of consistent experimentation.

I’ve got an idea.

I can bring it clasped in a closed fist. Keeping it idea hidden with a tight grasp. Protective.

Or I can bring it in an open hand. Letting others try it for themselves. Allowing it to transform and take new shapes as new people add their own ideas.

All ideas need their space to breathe.

How much more effective would each team be if they got to the harder questions faster?

It’s really easy to put off the hard questions.

If they’re tomorrow’s problem, then life today will be a bit easier.

But a consistent habit of tackling the hardest questions immediately, calling out the elephant in the room whenever there is one, and not delaying the decision until tomorrow, pays off in the long run.

Zane Lowe is one of the hosts on Apple Music 1. In this role he has access to an amazing array of artists, and his laid back style puts them at ease; allowing them to open up not only about their music, but their lives.

Lowe recently put out a video saying the album ‘Calico’ by Ryan Beatty is “one of those rare albums that, after the first listen, you know will stay with you for your life’s journey”.

This stood out to me because I’ve never listened to an album, thought it was so good, and subsequently decided that it would “stay with me for life”.

So on the way back from the airport the other night—when I had at least an hour’s commute in front of me—I put on Calico, pulled up the lyrics to each song, and let Ryan Beatty take me on a journey.

I love the songs ‘Ribbons’, ’Bruises of the Peach’, and ‘White Teeth’. Beatty has Frank Ocean-esque style vocals, with unpredictable and fresh melodies. His chord progressions and the ensemble of instruments chosen for each track are thoughtful and nuanced. It’s just a great album, and one I’ve been playing all week.

If you give it a try, let me know what you think!

I was profoundly moved by this 2-minute snippet from Stephen Colbert’s interview with Anderson Cooper on grief and gratitude.

Cooper asks, “You said, ‘I have learned to love the thing that I most wish had not happened… what punishments of God are not gifts?’ You really believe that?”

Colbert replies, “Yes. It’s a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering; there’s no escaping that… But if you’re grateful for you life, then you need to be grateful for all of it. You can’t pick and choose what you’re grateful for.”

I could go on and quote extensively, but there’s a tonne of nuance and thoughtfulness in this short interaction, and I’m sure it’ll be a good use of your time to take 2 minutes out of your day to have a listen.