Every few weeks, I ask one question to a founder, CEO, manager, or business owner I respectâŚ
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The Heartbeat Podcast: A chat with Jason Fried
This is a special episode đ For our 50th Heartbeat podcast episode, we have back on the show Jason Fried, CEO, and co-founder of Basecamp â one of the worldâs most popular project management tools. Two and a half years ago, Jason was the very first guest I invited on The Heartbeat. To celebrate our 50th episode, I invited him back to the show. We turn the tables a bit during this conversation â Jason asks me some questions, and I ask a few tough ones of him. We talk about what Iâve learned in running this podcast for 2.5 years, and what heâs learned in running Basecamp for now 20 years.
Watch or listen to the full conversation belowâŚ
Listen to the podcast and read the transcript of the interview here.
â¤ď¸ If youâve been enjoying The Heartbeat podcast, itâd mean the world to me if you wrote us a review on iTunes. The more reviews we have, the more weâre able to share all our lessons from leaders. Thank you! đ
What Iâve been writing lately
5 essential expectations of a good manager that you should have of yourself
“You can only be as good as what you expect of yourself, as a leader.â
What Iâve been reading lately
The mindsets and practices of excellent CEOs
âThe best go one step further and reframe the reference point for success. For example, instead of a manufacturer aspiring to be number one in the industry, the CEO can broaden the objective to be in the top quartile among all industrials. Such a reframing acknowledges that companies compete for talent, capital, and influence on a bigger stage than their industry. It casts key performance measures such as margin, cash flow, and organizational health in a different light, thereby cutting through the biases and social dynamics that can lead to complacency.â Written by Carolyn Dewar, Martin Hirt, Scott Keller, McKinsey Quarterly
Employee Emotions Arenât Noise â Theyâre Data
âWhen we generally speak about organizational culture, we speak about a recognized and acknowledged set of cognitions viewed as important for the group to enact to meet its goals. However, emotional culture is the set of emotions necessary for a group to enact to meet its goals. But the importance of emotional culture is not just definitional. The type of emotional culture an organization or a department has â for example, whether itâs based on caring, optimism, or anxiety â predicts many important work outcomes, including employee absenteeism, teamwork, burnout, satisfaction, psychological safety, and objective performance outcomes like operating costs.â Sigal Barsade, interviewed by Frieda Klotz, MIT Sloan Management Review
Why Groups Struggle to Solve Problems Together
âYou might assume that we move through these stages sequentially to solve problems. But in the past several decades, psychologists have discovered the opposite to be true. Rather than advance through the stages in order, we tend to do so in a manner that is rather unsystematic.â Written by Al Pittampalli, Harvard Business Review
Why You Should Skip the Easy Wins and Tackle the Hard Task First
âBreaking down complex projects into small milestones can help give workers the completion high they get from easy tasks while still supplying the challenge and opportunities for development.â Based on the research of KC Diwas, Bradley R. Staats, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Kellogg Insight
A handy leadership tip
From our online leadership community of 1,000+ managers in The Watercooler in Know Your TeamâŚ
Favorite books on leadership read this year so far:
- The CEO Next Door
- The Courage To Be Disliked
- The Effective Executive
- The War of Art
- Powerful
- Never Split the Difference
- Peak
- It Doesnât Have to Be Crazy at Work
- Extreme Ownership
An interesting read
Donât Heed the Haters: Albert Einsteinâs Wonderful Letter of Support to Marie Curie in the Midst of Scandal
Maria Popova of Brain Pickings has a wealth of gems, but this is one of my favorites.