Trade-offs
tl;dr: You can’t always get what you want. Thoughts on deciding.
I’ve been thinking about trade-offs recently.
One of the challenging parts of aging is the undeniable reality that things for which we hoped in our younger years are just not going to happen.
Whether it’s playing in the NBA, being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, President, or a firefighter, we realize those dreams of yesteryear are going to remain unfulfilled.
Then, we look down the road and we start asking ourselves about what we intend or hope to do with the time we have left.
Plus, we have the burdens and responsibilities that we have picked up along the way and the reality, for most of us, that it would be simply wrong to toss them aside.
That brings us to trade off land.
The Principle Stack
Ben Thompson of Stratechery introduced me in his Exponent podcast to the concept of “Principle Stacks.”
In that context, he said that companies needed to have a clear set of principles by which they operate, but, and here’s the key difference, that all of these principles could not be created equal.
Instead, there had to be a “stack” and if Principle #2 collided with Principle #1, then Principle #1 would win and the issue facing the company needed to be decided accordingly.
Without a stack, a company is bound to lose its way.
The Personal Principle Stack
It seems to me that I should do the same and it may be helpful for others.
Trade-offs are tough because they feel like they are equally weighted.
There may be two issues in a campaign that you care about, but each candidate may be better on one of them.
The agony of having to decide can be immense.
However, if you have a Principle Stack of your own, the pain can be bearable.
At the end of the day, we’re all “one-issue” voters, but sometimes we’re just not forced into a situation where we have to decide based on the one issue.
Having a personal principle stack, documented and outlined, even if it’s not published, might be the thing that helps avoid turmoil, pain, and suffering when the day of trade-offs invariably arrives.
Distilling Behavioral Economics into Bold Sales Engagement
4 年Great article. As a Ray Dalio disciple, principles beat rules, but the point of making sure you prioritize your principles - is key. I did however first read it as "Pringles Stack." I guess I need to have second breakfast. Cheers Jeremy Epstein and Eric Marterella and the entire Gtmhub | OKR software for the committed - team.