Summary of Scott Belsky's The Messy Middle

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 When you have no customers, no press, and nobody knows or cares about what you’re making, the only way to get any sort of motivation is through manufactured milestones.
#2 The great void of feedback and reward that early-stage start-ups must endure is especially apparent at start-up conferences like Web Summit. anonymity means you can make mistakes and drastic changes to your product without disappointing anyone, but only because nobody cares.
#3 To hack your reward system, lower the bar for what constitutes a win. Milestones that are directly correlated with progress are more effective motivators than anything else.
#4 It’s important to celebrate and manufacture wins early on, but make sure they’re not fake wins. You’ll find them at the expense of more important truths. To objectively observe the performance of your new creation or product, put yourself in others’ shoes.

Sujets

• Entrepreneuriat
• Entrepreneurship

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 13 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669353201
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Scott Belsky's The Messy Middle
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14 Insights from Chapter 15 Insights from Chapter 16 Insights from Chapter 17 Insights from Chapter 18 Insights from Chapter 19 Insights from Chapter 20 Insights from Chapter 21
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The middle years of a venture are full of ambiguity, uncertainty, fear, runarounds, crises, disagreements, and endless bouts of the mundane. Every time you untangle yourself and find your way out of a jam, you’ll fall into another one sooner than you think.

#2

Endurance is about more than just surviving late nights and laboring without reward. It’s about developing a source of renewable energy and tolerance that is not innate. Without any customers or evidence of progress, the validation and encouragement that motivates teams will be absent.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

When you have no customers, no press, and nobody knows or cares about what you’re making, the only way to get any sort of motivation is through manufactured milestones.

#2

The great void of feedback and reward that early-stage start-ups must endure is especially apparent at start-up conferences like Web Summit. anonymity means you can make mistakes and drastic changes to your product without disappointing anyone, but only because nobody cares.

#3

To hack your reward system, lower the bar for what constitutes a win. Milestones that are directly correlated with progress are more effective motivators than anything else.

#4

It’s important to celebrate and manufacture wins early on, but make sure they’re not fake wins. You’ll find them at the expense of more important truths. To objectively observe the performance of your new creation or product, put yourself in others’ shoes.

#5

When delivering bad news, do not focus on good news at the expense of what’s going south. In a journey that is so reliant on positive energy and hope, it is vitally important to make space where people can focus on what isn’t working.

#6

We crave certainty, but we must learn to function without it. We want to be told that a glass of wine a day is good for us, but life isn’t that simple. We must tolerate uncertainty and allow processes to play out and experiments to unfold.

#7

You must learn to deal with uncertainty and the anxiety it causes you and your team members. You can’t avoid it, but you can learn to process it and accept it.

#8

It takes a lot of passion and empathy to combat the resistance that society puts up against new ideas. You’ll need to commit to suffering for the years required to push your idea to fruition.

#9

Friction not only reveals character, but it also creates it. By avoiding conflict, we don’t smooth out the rough edges of our ideas and plans. In order to advance both individually and societally, we need more friction in our lives.

#10

The more complex an animal is, the more social groups are used to enhance survival. Humans band together for physical and psychological protection. We instinctively look for groups, for comfort and restoration.

#11

The middle of a venture is like a lengthy road trip without windows. It is psychologically torturous to travel without any sense of where you are along the way, and without a sense for how many miles remain. Your concept of time becomes warped, and impatience stews.

#12

You must carry your team through failures and setbacks, and do so with as much conviction as possible. This comes down to the people you hire, how you communicate, and decisiveness.

#13

You should lure new employees with your mission, rather than with flashy titles or the best compensation package. You'll build a more durable team that is willing to try different paths to achieve the mission they signed up for.

#14

Conversations that don’t have an outcome are extremely draining. You can’t always provide answers, but you can always add energy to a conversation. This ability to turn negative conversations into positive ones is a trait I’ve always admired in leaders.

#15

Your job is to be an energy giver rather than a taker, which is common among founders and leaders I admire. Acknowledge the trials and uncertainties you’re facing, followed by reiterating your plan of how to climb out, what you’re aiming to achieve, and then add your own enthusiasm and confidence.

#16

Large companies have a difficult time making a global impact. The more weight you have, the more you struggle to move. Big companies typically gain weight disproportionately, and they tend to trip over themselves.

#17

Change in an organization, if it is allowed to take place, should be done so with as little disruption as possible. If not, big companies become couch potatoes while the future of their industry passes them by.

#18

Team members will express doubt and air their hopeless moments, but you must keep the pace by keeping the faith. When you have to make difficult decisions, you must do your job.

#19

The possibilities are endless if you just keep going and, at your most difficult and trying moments, push yourself to do your job.
Insights from Chapter 3

#1

Self-awareness means recognizing your own feelings and emotions, and recognizing how those feelings affect your decisions. It means being permeable, and it helps you absorb and selectively integrate what you hear.

#2

Self-awareness comes from chronicling your patterns. The insecurities, brash reactions, and self-doubts that arise in difficult times are reflexes that began long ago. The only way to obtain reliable self-awareness during times of stress is to understand your own psychology and unpacking your past.

#3

When you pursue something on the fringe that uniquely interests you, you'll repel those who don't relate. You may be shunned. But the future always starts as fringe. When front-running the future, you must aspire for a small audience that loves your product rather than trying to please the masses.