Happy Saturday! Here are your 5 things from the mind of Miles for this week.
Split the Pie. Yale SOM professor Barry Nalebuff is an innovative thinker. Now, he has a new way to think about negotiating. The core of it is equally sharing the value created above the sum of the parties' individual BATNAs. In other words, despite differing contributions to the deal, share equally the value created by doing a deal. Because without any party that value is never created. When I read the article, I wondered about iterative expectation effects. Apparently he covers that in the forthcoming book. While you’re waiting, you can catch up on his other books like Mission in a Bottle, Why Not? Thinking Strategically and Co-opetition.
Lean vs Disciplined. Speaking of famous Yale business thinkers, my guess is that many of you know Eric Ries’ Lean Startup. But have you read the MIT Professors Bill Aulet’s Disciplined Entrepreneurship? My sense is that if you have tech looking for a customer/business then you want DE. If you are starting more from the problem/customer end and working towards a solution then you want Lean. Do you agree?
Recruiting Research. In that vein, I’m researching the recruiting and hiring space to understand challenges and barriers. Looking to understand the space better and find opportunities to start companies. If you know someone who is a hiring manager or HR professional involved in recruiting, please let me know.
The Edison Method. In learning about venture studios, I’ve wondered who started the first one? One guess is Thomas Edison. I tried to read a recent biography but the clever method of starting with the end of his life and going backwards was too confusing for me. Do you know a good alternative Edison biography that focuses on his work process? Some of the themes that interest me: It appears he worked insanely long hours and expected others to do the same. Was that the optimal process? He was unbelievably prolific. Also, would his businesses have been more successful if he stayed focused on ideation and innovation and others ran the companies?
Social Discount Rate. Which problems do we solve now and which do we leave for future generations? If we save, invest and innovate, we will be better able to solve problems in the future. If we spend money on the “wrong” problems today then future generations will have less money to spend on solving the right ones. How do we make trade offs across generations? What is the moral standing of people who do not yet exist? It is not obvious. Who are the best thinkers about intergenerational discounting and morality?
Until next week,
Miles