Today I'm sharing a hard truth about our industry. I wanted to reject this for the longest time. But I finally had to change my mind.

Companies don't actually focus on their users. They focus on their buyers.

Their resources are limited, so companies spend them on the folks who matter most. (If you've used it, this is why workday was so painful)

It sucks but many companies have no choice

In this essay I show:

  • Who does this
  • How they benefit
  • How to avoid this fate
  • A 6 step plan to help you choose exactly what to focus on

Read the full essay here: Never Focus on the User

And now your nuggets for the week:

  1. Authentic networking in a covid-world
  2. The journey beats the destination
  3. Define your culture by asking questions

#1 Authentic networking in a covid-world

Via Network of Peers by Will Larson

Don't be afraid to ask strangers for help. People are often happy to do it, and counter-intuitively, it makes them like you more.

Benjamin Franklin used a similar technique to turn enemies into allies.

How can you do this? Will Larson explains:

Excerpt: Ask for help

#2 The journey beats the destination

If Paul Graham hasn't figured out his career goals yet, I feel better about not know mine yet either 😅

The benefit of focus, excerpt from

#3 Define your culture by asking questions

Regular questions can nudge your culture.

Amazon practices this regularly. When something goes wrong, managers know exactly what questions their superiors will be asking them about the failure and they prepare accordingly.

This is one of the many management techniques that applies to both building teams and raising kids.

At home, these parents asked their kids the same questions every day, and expected an answer, to get them to actively live their lives that way.

"What's a story that happened today?" - Microsoft Distinguished Engineer James Whittaker, teaching his kids to think in narratives

"What did you fail at today?", Spanx CEO/founder Sara Blakely's parents asked her this, teaching her to not be afraid to take on difficult challenges

"What have you done today that was altruistic, creative, or educational?" JCR Licklider, founder of computing, kicked it up a notch and gave his kids three things to focus on. The excerpt below shows his kid's response

The questions Licklider would ask

Your Turn 👊

If you could ask your kids a question every day to nudge their behavior, what would it be? Reply back and share it, I read every message

For me, I'd probably want to ask "What did you discover or figure out today?"