Join 📚 Favorites And Reflection Questions
A batch of the best highlights from what Todd's read, .
Shifting elevation, a few thoughts about Directors and VPs operating in these modes, which I’ll lump together using the term “executives” for ease of use:
• Curator executives are judged by their execution against a rotating spotlight of emergencies. Hypergrowth executives are judged by the outcomes of their diversified portfolio of bets
• Curator executives know that their ultimate impact is derived from systemic changes to culture and durable investments, but that they’ll be judged almost entirely on managing emergencies: real success comes from successfully managing both dimensions. Hypergrowth executives know that there will be emergencies constantly, that they’ll burn out quickly if they personally address each one, and focus instead on managing their portfolio of bets: success comes from maintaining altitude as emergencies try to pull you in
• Curator executives work with their teams to fully resolve fires. Hypergrowth executives mitigate fires until they can be handed off to newly hired managers for resolution
• Curator executives generally solve problems directly. Hypergrowth executives generally work via programs. Both prefer to [work the policy rather than solve via exceptions](https://lethain.com/work-policy-not-exceptions/)
• Curator executives anchor on reality as perceived by their engineers. Hypergrowth executives anchor on reality as perceived by their engineering managers
• Curator executives are deep in the margin profile and revenue plan. Hypergrowth executives maximize revenue growth [without deteriorating margin much](https://infraeng.dev/efficiency/)
• Curator executives design organizations that are steady-state durable. Hypergrowth executives design organizations that minimize the impact of frequent expansions
Good Hypergrowth/Curator Manager.
lethain.com
“When something goes wrong, we ask ‘what caused the problem,’ not ‘who.’ We commit to doing what it takes to make tomorrow better than today.
The Unicorn Project
Gene Kim
Jesus is not telling us to submit to evil, but to refuse to oppose it on its own terms. We are not to let the opponent dictate the methods of our opposition. He is urging us to transcend both passivity and violence by finding a third way, one that is at once assertive and yet nonviolent. The correct translation would be the one still preserved in the earliest renditions of this saying found in the New Testament epistles: “Do not repay evil for evil” (Rom. 12:17; 1 Thes. 5:15; 1 Pet. 3:9). The Scholars Version of Matt. 5:39a is superb: “Don’t react violently against the one who is evil.”
The Powers That Be
Walter Wink
...catch up on these, and many more highlights
Readwise