From Quartz:

The tyranny of the urgent refers to the tendency of little things that have to be done right now to get in the way of what really matters. This creates a huge problem as urgent actions often have little impact.

Via Christine Porath in the New York Times:

Bosses produce demoralized employees through a string of actions: walking away from a conversation because they lose interest; answering calls in the middle of meetings without leaving the room; openly mocking people by pointing out their flaws or personality quirks in front of others; reminding their subordinates of their “role” in the organization and “title”; taking credit for wins, but pointing the finger at others when problems arise. Employees who are harmed by this behavior, instead of sharing ideas or asking for help, hold back.

Susan Cain who wrote the amazing Quiet has launched an online resource for introverts. Take the test to understand your introversion:

Given the choice, you’ll devote your social energy to a small group of people you care about most, preferring a glass of wine with a close friend to a party full of strangers. You think before you speak, have a more deliberate approach to risk, and enjoy solitude. You feel energized when focusing deeply on a subject or activity that really interests you. When you’re in overly stimulating environments (too loud, too crowded, etc.) you tend to feel overwhelmed. You seek out environments of peace, sanctuary, and beauty; you have an active inner life and are at your best when you tap into its riches.

The final count of respondents to the Rands Leadership Survey was 1274. Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey. I’ve called in volunteers to help scrub and normalize the survey data and will have a detailed report published here. It will also be sent to the inboxes of those who requested a copy.

Here’s the breakdown of answers to the question: “Where would you be willing to invest your time?”

Four of the top five answers involve us getting together in some fashion and discussing the craft and/or bitching. This resonates, so in what might be a horrible mistake, I’ve created a public Slack channel where we can do just that thing. I was originally thinking a mailing list would be the move here, but email is a blight and you don’t need more email.

This Slack channel is a low risk and low commitment experiment and is not the only consequence of this survey – simply the first. If you’d like to productively join the conversation, please send your email address to [email protected] and we’ll get you in an invite as quickly as possible.

Roughly a year and a half ago, I wrote a post about my ongoing rage regarding the removal of the Gotham filter from Instagram. I’ve calmed down a lot since then and I’m still manually constructing my own version of Gotham:

More importantly, the #ripgotham hashtag is alive and well in Instagram and perusing the work there remains one of my Instagram pastimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYJgCp_9h48

The authors identify two types of simple rules: Those that can help you make decisions and those that can help you do things.

Decision rules set boundaries, prioritize alternatives, and establish stopping points. The disastrous ascent of Mount Everest that resulted in eight deaths in 1996, chronicled in Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book Into Thin Air, was precipitated by the violation of a single rule that had been set by Scott Fischer, an expedition leader: “If you aren’t on the top by 2:00, it’s time to turn around.” (Any later and the risks were exponentially greater because the exhausted climbers would have to make the descent to their camp in the dark.) After unexpected delays, Fischer and most of the party ignored the rule and kept climbing. Fischer himself didn’t summit until 3:45 p.m. Unfortunately, his body is still on the mountain.

(From Theodore Kinni on Quartz)