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We were developing empathy and the ability to be aware of what was happening in the mind of another person. This, we realized, is the key, the fundamental ingredient without which real communication can’t happen. Developing empathy and learning to recognize what the other person is thinking are both essential to good communication, and are what this book is about.
If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?
Alan Alda
It was this sugar-sauced Burley tobacco that R. J. Reynolds blended into Camels, a decision that the SRF report called either an act of “necessity [they had mainly stocks of air-cured tobaccos used in the manufacture of plug] or the stroke of genius anticipating future trends in demand and consumption.” Either way, if the explicit goal had been to maximize the delivery of nicotine—and so, regrettably, carcinogens with it—to the human lungs, they may not have been able to find a better way to do it. American cigarette manufacturers all followed suit. By 1929, U.S. tobacco growers were saucing Burley tobacco with fifty million pounds of sugar a year and using it in over 120 billion cigarettes.*3 The sugar balanced out the tobacco’s naturally alkaline smoke, maximizing its inhalability and delivering even more nicotine into the lungs. The sugars in the tobacco also “caramelize” as they burn (technically, during the process of pyrolysis) and the caramelization of the smoke provides a sweet flavor and an agreeable smell that made cigarettes more attractive to women smokers and to adolescents as well. (“This [caramelization] process adds as much to the flavor and smoking enjoyment of cigarettes as it does to the arena of confectionary and bakery products,” notes the SRF report.)
The Case Against Sugar
Gary Taubes
The questions that typically follow a presentation of the ideas in this book are, “How do I start? Where do I start? What do I actually do to bring some of the aspects of being Amazonian into my business?” Here are a few suggestions: Ban PowerPoint as a tool to discuss complicated topics and start using six-page narratives and PR/FAQ documents in your leadership team meetings. This can be implemented almost instantly. There will be pushback and grumbling, but we’ve found it produces results swiftly, and eventually your leaders will say to themselves, “We can never go back to the old way.” Establish the Bar Raiser hiring process. This approach is no longer unique to Amazon and we have seen it work in many companies. It too can be established relatively quickly, once a training process is in place. It also delivers short-term results by improving the quality of the process and enabling learning for everyone involved in the loop. It should reduce the number of poor hires and, in the long run, improve the overall quality of thinking and performance in each team, and in the company as a whole. Focus on controllable input metrics. Amazon is relentless about identifying metrics that can be controlled and have the greatest impact on outputs such as free cash flow per share. This is not an easy process, because it requires patient trial and error as you seek the input metrics that best allow you to assume control of your desired results. Note too that this is not an argument for abandoning output metrics. Amazon does care a great deal about free cash flow per share. Move to an organizational structure that accommodates autonomous teams with single-threaded leaders. As noted in chapter three, this takes time and requires careful management, as it invariably raises questions about authority and power, jurisdiction, and “turf.” You’ll also have to be on the lookout for dependencies and roadblocks that are preventing autonomy in your organization. But it can be done. Start with your product development group, and then see what other areas, if any, work better in teams. Revise the compensation structure for leaders so that it encourages long-term commitment and long-term decision-making. Avoid making too many exceptions for “special cases.” Make sure that leaders in all areas of the company are compensated with the same basic approach. Articulate the core elements of…
Working Backwards
Colin Bryar and Bill Carr
...catch up on these, and many more highlights
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