Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

Posts

Questions

by 21 Comments

What is the core business? Who are the support teams? Who holds accountability, and how are they influenced?

How are the complainers dealt with? The over-analyzers? Does seniority count the same as impact?

How often is appreciation shared, and why? Are decisions justified with pragmatism? Are they justified at all?

Does your degree matter more than your impact? Does your degree matter at all?

Are there rewards to be had? If so, which types of behaviors and results need to be exhibited to get them? If those behaviors don’t align with your values, are you prepared to leave?

Is your work part of your identity? If so, how sure are you that you define it? Do you want to relinquish the definition of any part of your identity to someone else?

These are good questions to ask yourself, right after you ask this one:

What am I doing, and why?

The Roots and Growth of Decisions

by 47 Comments

They’re cutting down a tree on the corner of my block. A big tree. There are 3 big trucks and 6 guys with chainsaws. The tree is outnumbered, but it still seems like it’s winning.

This one’s major offense is that its roots have completely upended the sidewalk. It’s dangerous. I know because I’ve tripped on it more than once.

Cutting this tree down has done nothing to fix the sidewalk. And putting a sidewalk next to this kind of tree in the first place is a short-sighted idea – but whoever made that decision is at least retired and maybe dead.

So if the decisions people make have consequences, and if they’re hard to undo, and if there’s even a remote possibility that 6 men with chainsaws will have to undo it – maybe it makes sense to think more about the roots and growth of our decisions in the first place.

Friction and Opportunity

by Leave a Comment

Yesterday I bought a beer at a movie theatre. The bottom of the cup is smaller than the cup holder on the theatre seats, and the cup turns sideways and spills if you try to use the holder.

When a UPS driver couldn’t find my father-in-law’s house, I was prompted to change the address of my delivery and forced to ‘update’ a correct address because the driver was lost. My delivery date went from 1 day to 2 weeks, and I had to spend an hour on the phone to sort it out.

A new printer installed seamlessly for a new Mac. But for an old PC, the only solution is to upgrade the entire operating system, even though HP forces you to install all of their proprietary software.

My pre-booked, 25km Uber ride cost me $57 – the driver got $21. You can tell me about willingness-to-pay and value, and then I’ll tell you that I was served ads the entire time using the app.

It’s not easy to stay passionate about cup holders, shipping and printers, but that’s not the point. Passion can be found in elegantly solving problems that would otherwise create friction in the lives of your customers.

If you need a business idea, companies show their hands everyday; just go about your life and wait until you have to talk to customer service for a large brand or buy a product off the shelf that disappoints you. The friction is where the opportunity is.