THE LEAFLET

January 02 2025

write a local lexicon, mvps vs 11-star reviews, solve a squishy problem with a 50-person list

WRITE A LOCAL LEXICON

A favorite recent read has been Consolations I and II by David Whyte. Both volumes are lexicons - he defines everyday words using his own philosophy and poetry. Each chapter is a short essay on that meaning and implications of the titular word.

Often organizations that are serious about their culture and their onboarding will write something like this for their core values. But it usually stops there. 

Whyte has reminded me that it’s useful to do this beyond a handful of core concepts. What do we really mean around here when we say, for example, “promotion” or “feedback” or “manager” or “crisis”? What story do we want our people telling themselves when they encounter these concepts?

You might be surprised by the staying power of a document like this, if you write it with care and keep it concise. You might be even more surprised by how your individual voice, perspective, and idiosyncrasies increase the value of such a lexicon. (No one likes corporate boilerplate.)

-eric

Read the rest here.

MVPS VS 11-STAR REVIEWS

It’s easy to get stymied in the early going because you want a shiny impressive product. “Shiny and impressive” often means expensive and time consuming, though. You can delay the vital feedback from your customers / community and drain your resources before you have a chance to edit and improve upon your first attempt. This is where Eric Ries’ minimum viable product idea is so potent and liberating. Make the cheapest workable version of the thing and put it front of people. Doing this, you get that feedback quickly and cheaply. You buy yourself multiple, maybe many, rounds of improvement and adjustment.

MVPs can be too humble though. You elude the risk of blowing your budget on a shiny unwanted thing. But you may instead make a bunch of shabby, modestly desired things that don’t lead far beyond their shabby origins.

A tonic for this is Brian Chesky’s 11-star experience - the Airbnb founder asked his team what would lead to an 11-star review from a guest. An experience so memorable and mind-blowing it shoots right off the scale. What they came up with was wild and infeasible - but that’s kind of the point. You turn the dial hard to the right and you hear things in the mix that might have been subtle or silent before. You can discover in the 11-star exercise an element or approach that really lights your audience up - this element might be the thing, the value, they’re really coming to you for in the first place. And there may be a way to build that element into your shabby MVP without breaking the bank. 

-eric

Read the rest here.

USE A 50-PERSON LIST FOR SQUISHY PROBLEMS

A thing to try if you’re looking at a squishy and opaque problem : make a list of the 50 people who have sway in this problem area. If these people took action, or at least shared your view, the problem would probably be solved. Next make a list of how you can “get” or at least “get to” each of those people. Then start getting them.

I’ve seen this work for communications, policy, and fundraising - all areas that can feel mystical, areas where expensive consultants may mystify things further (in their own interest - it’s easier to seek rent from a realm of magic than a teachable curriculum). If you’ve got a messaging problem, if you’re confronting an asphyxiating regulation - distill that problem into 50 human ingredients. (50 is an arbitrarily chosen number - big enough to force you to think beyond the people who work for you and who you already talk to all the time; shouldn’t be so long a list that the problem feels intractable all over again; should be long enough that you don’t need a perfect hit rate to succeed). 

Getting or just getting to your 50 isn’t guaranteed - that probably takes some skill and persistence. But counting votes is a way more legible, trackable strategy than « build a movement » or « raise awareness » or « coordinate structural change » or [takes a stiff drink, rubs back of neck, blows smoke toward the ceiling]. 

-eric

Read the rest here.

COMPELLING QUOTES

Diplomat and Soviet specialist George Kennan on consensus:

I want to hear your opinion. We’ll talk these things out as long as we need to. But, in the end, the opinion of this Staff is what you can make me understand, and what I can state.

Poet and memoirist Hanif Abdurraqib on who we are:

I propose that above all, you are a reflection of who loves you.

Jungian James Hollis on the best:

Consciousness is the gift, and that is the best it gets.

Keep going, keep growing,

Ben & Eric