#52: PSA on your emails, mediocrity, a guide to influence, and leading from curiosity
Hello friends - and happy December.
Big shout out to Erin, who not only just got engaged (!!) but has agreed to train with me this morning at Martine's famous boxing class. Get ready to sweat, girl.
FYI: My wife Martine is a fantastic personal trainer, a profession that makes her somewhere between a therapist, bar tender, and a drill sergeant. She's accepting clients for personalized training programs, both here in the Boston area and remotely. Get in touch!
In edition #52 of The World's Best Newsletter:
1. Hemingway on writing
2. Pivot like Pinterest
3. Leading from a place of curiosity and empathy
4. Purpose-driven content
5. PSA on shorter emails
6. A roundup of pieces on mediocre men in charge* (pick of the week)
7. Nobody Wants to See your D*ck - a Guide to Handling your Newfound Wealth and Influence
8. Quote of the Week: David Bowie
1. Hemingway on writing
Every writer will appreciate this insight into Hemingway, including his advice:
"The first draft of anything is shit. When you first start to write you get all the kick and the reader gets none, but after you learn to work it’s your object to convey everything to the reader so that he remembers it not as a story he had read but something that happened to himself. "
2. Pivot like Pinterest
I didn't know this anecdote about Pinterest's history - a great lesson for the importance of being agile (from this article.)
"In 2009, the founders of Pinterest initially attempted to launch the very first mobile-enabled shopping application called Tote. Despite strong customer demand, retailer support, and adequate seed funding, the idea never took off because of the relative immaturity of mobile payment technologies. Instead of doubling down and waiting for payment technologies catch up, Tote switched gears and relaunched a much simpler application that kick started a new visual social network phenomenon. It turns out that Pinterest may be on the path to an IPO with an anticipated $11 billion valuation."
Wow.
3. Leading from a place of curiosity and empathy
This Entrepreneur piece has some great advice for leaders
Evolve your role into advising and guiding, not doing
Learn to lead from a place of curiosity and empathy (shoutout to Ashley Lucas!)
Reward learning as you would any other achievement
4. Purpose-Driven Content
I came across this line of thinking from content pro Carla Johnson. Content (beyond product-related pieces) services one of four purposes.
It sells.
It teaches.
It evangelizes.
Or, it creates an emotional connection.
One archetype isn't better than another, they're just different. Read more.
5. PSA: Write Shorter Emails
I realize the irony of sharing this within an email that is consistently 800-1000 words each weekend... But let's all agree day-to-day emails are meant to be short and direct.
This FastCo piece advises "instead of typing something like: I’d love to pick your brain and find out more about pursuing a career in engineering. Can we schedule a time to chat?
You would write: I’m working on finding out more about the career field and I’d love to hear from you: What’s the one key skill you think someone needs in order to be successful in engineering?"
I also agree with this piece by The Muse. Get rid of words like "I think" and "just" and "needless to say..."
Thank you for listening to this public service announcement.
6. A roundup of pieces on mediocre men in charge******* pick of the week
We (the collective 'we' of the media, business community, etc) have actually begun talking about the plague of mediocre men. File this under "narratives in the media I never thought would see the light of day."
I first noticed it in The Atlantic's piece "The Confidence Gap," something to which every single person reading this can relate. Consider the following:
This video from Elisa Kreisinger helps to expose the problem - men overrate their competence by 30%.
While this piece in HBR asks "why do so many incompetent men become leaders?" (Answer: Our inability to discern between confidence and competence.)
Forbes featured advice from Madeline Albright on this topic - "women want to be liked. There will be those who perceive you're [a b*tch]. But you have to interrupt. At a certain stage you realize it doesn't matter what they call you."
This one shows we choose leaders based on qualities that make them incompetent. And we all suffer as a result.
This study proves that gender quotas - while controversial in theory - actually lead to progress. "Quotas actually increased the competence of politicians by leading to the displacement of mediocre men whether as candidates or leaders."
Fascinating stuff. I hope this topic remains very much part of the public discourse.
7. Nobody Wants to See your D*ck - a Guide to Handling your Newfound Wealth and Influence
Self explanatory and hilarious piece - and timely given the recent influx of revelations about men abusing their positions of power.
Quote of the week: David Bowie
"All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it." - David Bowie
THIS.
Trust your gut, and make the thing you really want to make. I'm taking this advice to heart and I hope you do, too.
Have a great weekend,
Katie
PS: Make sure to connect with me on LinkedIn if you're not already - some potential cool news coming there soon!
Tell your friends, your growth hacker Slack channel, your knitting group, your enemies -- here's a Tweet and a LinkedIn post to make you the most popular member of your book club this week.