The Value of Subtraction

In this Issue:

1. Good & Bad Friction
2. Pickleball?Entrepreneurship
3. Fortune and?Misfortune
4. You on your?Worst Day,?and?Best Day
5. Visual Literacy:??A Periodic Table for your Data
6. Econ Recon

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Good & Bad Friction

Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao devoted 8 years to learning about how leaders prevent or remove organizational obstacles that undermine zeal, damage health, and throttle creativity and productivity in organizations. They called their work “The Friction Project” which resulted in the book, The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder.

Friction can be both bad and good. Skilled leaders eliminate bad friction which undermines productivity and creativity, raises costs, and frustrates employees, customers, and other stakeholders.

Bad friction happens in large part because we default to asking, “What can I add here?” instead of “What can I get rid of?”

This HBR article, Rid Your Organization of Obstacles That Infuriate Everyone, can help you figure out how to harness subtraction tools in your organization.

For more, listen to the podcast, Smart Leaders Understand Friction (40+ minutes) from Stanford University.

Pickleball Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship at its best is about satisfying unmet needs or underserved markets.?

One of best examples of this is the recent, amazing growth in popularity of pickleball, which has become particularly popular with aging boomers who no longer have the endurance or interest in the much more demanding sport of tennis. Existing tennis courts are easily redeployed into four pickleball courts and the required gear is not expensive. In short, an effective use of resources and ease of entry for the customer.

Remarkably, pickleball is not a new sport, having been invented in the 1960s…and older Americans were not the “target market.” This 4-minute video from the CBS “Sunday Morning” explores the surprising origins of this sport (including the origin of its name).

A recent article in Smithsonian shared that “as of 2023 it was?the fastest-growing sport in the United States—in large part because it’s hard to beat the sport’s inclusivity and lack of barriers to participation…With break-dancing, surfing and skateboarding all included in the 2024 Paris Olympics, pickleball might not be far behind.”

Finally, success attracts capital. If you’re looking a business opportunity, how about a pickleball franchise??

Fortune and Misfortune

I believe that much of the quality of our lives lies less in what happens to us, and more in how we choose to interpret and react to events.

Dr. Scott Galloway of the “No Mercy, No Malice” blog once remarked that his experience had taught him that “Nothing is as good or as bad as it seems.” ?

The Roman philosopher Seneca taught that “We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.

The writer and philosopher Alan Watts observed that "The whole process of nature is an integrated process of immense complexity, and it’s really impossible to tell whether anything that happens in it is good or bad - because you never know what will be the consequence of the misfortune; or, you never know what will be the consequences of good fortune."??

Watt’s comment was delightfully illustrated in a story about a series of events in a farmer’s life whose wisdom in their interpretation might be an example for us. Take 2 minutes for a video that you’ll want to share.?

You on Your Worst Day…and Best Day

“We tend to measure performance by what happens when things are going well. Yet how people, organizations, companies, leaders, and other things do on their best day isn’t all that instructive. To find the truth, we need to look at what happens on the worst day.”?

So begins an article in the Farnam Street blog that should be required reading for all leaders. When our products or services fail, when we have a PR crisis, when we turn in unexpected and unacceptable financial results, how we show up is the REAL test of leadership.

“You’re only as good as your worst day. But because what you do on your worst day is impossible to fake.”

As for creating your BEST day, Vistage Speaker Michael Allosso’s “You on Your Best Day” presentation has been a hit with Vistage members for years. Here’s a 5 minute video that captures a few key points from his half day seminar that Vistage Members and their teams have enjoyed for years.

Visual Literacy:? A Periodic Table for your Data

The many ways in which data can be shared visually has increased exponentially. That “a picture is worth a thousand words” has never had more meaning.

To help you build your “Visual Literacy,”? a critical, but often neglected skill for managers, communication experts, and analytics professionals, check out the website.?The site offers ideas to evaluate, apply, or create graphic representations of data, information and knowledge.”

There are amazing resources on this site, but start with the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods which will help you pick the most effective way to visually tell a compelling story.?

Econ Recon

No Place Like Home: ?The root of the word “economics” is the Greek ‘oikos’ which means a “household.” While the economics profession’s focus is now much broader than that, the household unit is of keen interest to economists. Economist Brian Wesbury offers an interesting one-page summary of the positive condition position of US households.

“Squeezed…but resilient.”? ITR Economics’ Brian Beaulieu looks at recent inflation data and what it suggests for Fed rate reduction. Beaulieu sees a consumer that is “somewhat squeezed...but resilient.” Learn more in his more recent Fedwatch.

Wishing you a productive week!

Sue Tinnish, PhD,?Vistage Chair, Facilitator, & Executive Coach

Find me easily at: 847.404.7325, [email protected], Twitter:?@STinnish, LinkedIn: www.dhirubhai.net/in/suetinnish, Website: https://vistage.com/chairs/sue.tinnish