Thinking about the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ of an organization

This week we have two podcasts for your listening pleasure.

There is a lot of interesting takeaways from this first a16z podcast. To me the systematic approach Chris Power takes to how he thinks about his company is a valuable framework as one moves out of the individual contributor or even front line manager role into an executive.

The next podcast thinks about things in a totally different way. Michael Lewis’ podcast Against the rules has an episode: Six Levels Down, which reminds us that sometimes the ‘bottom’ of the organization is where the real authority lies. Here we see some examples of the highest paid, most visible members of an organization fully incapable of getting it unstuck. To me it’s an important reminder of where I came from and who is really getting work done.

The goals of these homework assignments isn’t to provide any sort of answer. It’s an opportunity to discuss with your peers, or team members and see how these discussions affect your current efforts.

Take care,

Nathan