The African Enterprise (22/11/2021)
Talent Density, The 4A Feedback Format, and the Honesty of Errors.
Hi friends,
Greetings from Abuja.
Here's what I have to share this week:
Our Strong-Features bias: Features, especially strong ones, have been the basic rubric of Identification. Whether in classifying creatures, assessing people, or making product decisions, strong features provide a conceptual framework to ease decision-making.
We use strong features because they're reliable. Until they're not. Like the Black Swan sighting described in Nassim Talab's Black Swan, the problem with relying on strong features is that it forces us to decide, conclude, based on the things we know with little regard for those we don't.
Strong features encourage, force us even, to decide based on preconceived biases. They propagate exclusionary behavior that can cause bad, maybe expensive, decision-making.
So, Why do we have a bias for strong features? What do we do about it?
Coolest things I learned this week
Talent Density
A widely held, traditional, belief is that individual members of a team conform to group values and norms. The concept of Groupthink or The Crowd is that an individual will most likely melt into the crowd, contort and follow in the direction of the collective. But at Netflix, they adopted an approach to employee management that flew in the face of this belief backed by decades of research.
They believed that “high performers especially thrive in environments where the overall talent density is high.” To them, it's not about the number of employees, but the talent that each one possesses. So, it's acceptable, even preferable, to have few talented people increasing the talent density than to saturate the talent with "adequate" employees.
Beyond employee management, in managing groups, when every member is excellent, collaborative, and talented, performance spirals upward as people learn from and motivate one another. I have personally found that the most productive groups are not always the largest.
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The 4A feedback format
Still on Netflix, I came across an interesting feedback model that first seemed mundane but, understanding how amusingly nuanced giving and receiving feedback can be, I found them insightful.
The feedback framework at Netflix is based on four A's (4A) divided into giving and receiving:
Aim to Assist: Feedback must be given with positive intent. It should be focused on, and only on, helping the recipient improve. It should clearly explain how a specific change would help them improve.
Actionable: The feedback should focus on what the recipient can do differently
Appreciate (Receiving): While the natural inclination is to switch to a defensive stance while receiving feedback, it's important to be welcoming and open-minded. It's also important to show appreciation whether or not you choose to accept it.
Accept or Discard: Ultimately, while it is important to listen to and consider all feedback received, it's your decision whether to accept or discard a piece of feedback
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The Honesty of Errors
Errors will usually be honest, reflecting only the human tendency to take an optimistic view of one's commitments. - Warren Buffet
I would love to explore this further in a future essay, putting this here to get what you think of it.
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13 biggest mistakes in History
I stumbled upon a page from 2016 that summarized the 13 biggest mistakes in history. I found them interesting because they showed how immense hindsight can be. It's a bit long so check the link for the summaries of these mistakes, but here are some of my favorite:
Turning down JK Rowling: It's just amazing to know that twelve publishing houses rejected Harry Potter. I mean, who rejects Harry Potter? Hindsight is indeed powerful.
Throwing away that Bitcoin Portfolio: A certain James Howells bought 7500 bitcoins in 2009, but in 2013 when the price had shot up, he discovered he'd thrown away all of it. Today that portfolio is worth billions.
Selling 610,000 shares instead of one: Now called the fat finger trade, a Japanese trader once mistakenly sold 615,000 shares for 1 yen instead of 1 share for 615,000 yen.
Check out the others.
That’s it for this week.
If you have any thoughts or questions, hit reply and we can have a chat. And if you enjoyed it, share it with friends.
Till next week,
Kelvin