March 20, 2024 | Read Online
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The Middle from GrowthCurve.io
Three ideas to level up your week.
Hey Reader,
Welcome to The Middle, your midweek rundown of the most interesting things we've read this week.
We're here to help SaaS Leaders level up to become better business leaders.
It's Wednesday, so let's jump into The Middle...
LEADERSHIP Chart the course, set the pace, hold the line
David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) and Jason Fried of 37Signals have built a reputation around the industry -- they often think differently than most and aren't afraid to write those beliefs down.
DHH recently penned an article about the responsibilities of a company executive. It's beautifully simple:
DHH goes on to conclude:F
Do all these three things well, do them consistently, do them when it's hard, do them when it doesn't look like it's working, and regardless of what happens, you'll have done your best with what was there. Whether that's enough for success or sustainability is usually out of your hands anyway.
CULTURE The most important document to come out of the Valley
Netflix co-founders Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph built a strong culture - one that became revered for clear guardrails, fast decisions and innovation.
Their culture deck is over 100 slides (linked here if you choose that path), but I came across Kyle Hagge who shared 10 of his favorite slides (more of my speed).
My favorite concept was "Rapid Recovery". Why is this my favorite?
Their ability to establish the rules of the game for their team.
AI CORNER
We're in on the AI hype.
Here's one way to use AI within your day-to-day work.
This week: Call Prep
You always hate being caught off-guard on a call with a customer.
Maybe they add a new stakeholder to the call, someone you've never met.
I've started to use AI to prepare for a different persona that may be coming in to examine our solution. AI can help me view our solution through their lens.
Prompt:
"I work for [Company], where we are focused on providing [X Solution]. Our typical stakeholder Is [Y Persona]. I am preparing for an upcoming customer call - we will cover an agenda with [Items].
They have added a new persona to the call, someone we haven't worked with. This persona is [Blank]. Could you do your best to help me think like [New Persona] and how they would evaluate our solution? What types of questions and topics should I be prepared for?"
BUSINESS OPS Is Net Promoter Score the Ozempic of metrics?
NPS is widely debated (and will be until the end of time).
What once was the darling of metrics, has not evolved with the advances in business models and technology. Yet it feels like NPS just lingers as part of every leadership team's last bonus criteria.
CJ Gustafson backs up his dazzling headline with a real punch of what businesses can do to evolve. His leadoff is dynamite:
Net Promoter Score (NPS) may be the Ozempic of metrics. Both offer:
- The illusion of progress
- Addictive simplicity
- A measure; not a long term solution
- Diminishing returns
- Vanity
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