johnmaconline

Somehow it all got away.

Have you ever, if even just for a second, stepped out of yourself, out of your existential presence, looked around and realized, “this is not as I planned it” or, “this is not how I imagined it” or, “I don’t think I recognize any of this?”

Yeah, OK, I realize that probably sounds crazy. But if you know, you know.

Somehow it all got away.

It’s jarring. It’s odd. It feels kinda destabilizing. Like vertigo, but in your soul.

Maybe that’s the point. Maybe that’s God telling you that it’s not about planning and control and exactly as you pictured it. It’s about sowing and watching it bloom. Once it’s bloomed, to continually reshape, weed, tend, untangle, or retangle.

Maybe the point is to notice and to stay long enough to see what it becomes.

Earth’s current population is ~ 8.2 billion.

Walmart has the highest revenue of all companies on this planet at $681 billion in the last year.

So, each person on the planet spends approximately $83 per year at Walmart. But, of course, we know that’s not true. Even Walmart isn’t for everybody. Not even close.

Perplexity estimates about 600 million shopped at Walmart last year. That’s about 7% of earth’s people. Which means each Walmart shopper spent about $1135 last year.

So what?

You’re not Walmart. You (probably) won’t have 7% of the earth’s population as your customer.

Yet again, though, Walmart doesn’t build its business around the average of 600 million customers. They break it down further.

The average Walmart shopper makes 67 trips per year and the average spend is about $54 per trip. That’s $3618. But they’re still not done. Now they dive into geography and demographics to further understand their customers. They know what a middle-income, older adult in West Virginia will spend versus a lower-income, young mother in southern California.

Your product or service isn’t for everyone.

Who’s it for?

Building a great product or service is a bit like cooking dinner for someone you don’t know.

There are some things you know, however.

They expect it hot.
They desire something delicious.
They (believe they) deserve a great experience.

That’s product design.

They expect it to meet the basic requirements.
They desire it to meet their personal requirements.
They deserve to feel valued, heard, and respected.

If you build a washing machine, your customer expects it to clean the clothes, they desire that the features work as advertised, and they deserve to feel like they received value.

If you’re an airline, your customer expects to arrive at their destination, they desire to sit in the seat they paid for (or upgraded), and deserve to be treated with respect.

Expectations and desires are easy and concrete. Talk to your customers. Survey the market.

But it’s that last one that sets you apart.

Finally, I’m excited about a new car and car company. 

We have a saying in 4TLAS: “Make the right thing to do the easy thing to do.”

One thing I’ve learned in over 30 years of making stuff for people to use is that they generally do the easy thing. We wax eloquent about doing the right thing and doing the hard thing, but mostly we do the easy thing. 

We like it easy.

Therefore, if you want people to behave in a particular way, make it easy to do.

How does this relate to the Slate EV?

Most people don’t care about EV’s. At least not in the way that The News portrays it, or that we might argue about at a serene, rooftop cocktail party or a loud BBQ picnic bash in the infield at Daytona. 

Slate is showing us the very essence of making the right thing to do the easy thing to do. 

EVs will become dominant when they make practical financial sense. 

You go, Slate. 

Smart can be measured.

Test scores. Speed. Memory. Pattern recognition.
Smart is right. Smart is efficient. Smart gets there quickly.

You know the smart ones. 

But wisdom plays a different game.
Wisdom doesn’t rush. It watches. Waits.

Wisdom requires experiences. Wisdom has felt consequences. It doesn’t just answer the question, it asks new ones like, “What happens if we’re right?” and “Do we want to be right?”

Wisdon isn’t always interested in the right answer. 

Smart will build it.
Wise asks if it should be built at all.

Smart wins the argument.
Wise wins the trust.

Smart and wise aren’t the same, but the Venn Diagram shows an intersection. It doesn’t have to be or. It can be and. 

That’s where you want to stand. It takes effort, generosity, empathy, skills, observation, confidence, awareness, and history to stand there.

Not IQ or credentials. 

It depends on where you start and what you mean by “learn how to use.”

If you’re a novice at construction, a hammer will take you less than a minute to learn how to use. Same with the saw. But how long will it take you to learn how to use those tools to build a house or the cabinets for your kitchen?

If you’re a novice at software, GitLab might take you years to learn how to create an automated build pipeline (because what does that even mean?). However, if you’re a pro developer, it will only take you a couple of hours.

Tools help us get from here to somewhere. But context matters. Not every tool needs to be easy for a novice.

Mastery takes context. It takes reps and commitment.

More impotantly it takes intent.

The best tools aren’t magic. They reveal the craft.

When I started working at GE right out of college in 1992, they offered me an opportunity to join the Christmas Club.

Choose an amount. Usually small. A few bucks a week automatically deducted from my paycheck and sent directly to the Christmas Club account. I couldn’t touch it till it matured in November.

Save first, spend later.

Today, we usually do the opposite. Swipe now, pay later.

As a system, neither is right or wrong. Neither is good or bad. This isn’t a post about how our culture and ourselves have become greedy, impatient, or entitled.

It’s about systems.

The Christmas Club system baked in the save first, spend later behavior. We followed the system. Today’s system encourages the spend now, pay later behavior. We follow the system.

If you want different behavior, design a different system.

The market wants faster. Productivity gains help the system go faster.

But productivity gains can be (should be?) about giving you, the human, more.

More space. More time. More energy. More room to breathe. More ability to innovate. More collaboration. More creativity.

And also less.

Less pressure. Less stress. Less repetition. Less focus on metrics. Less worry about margins. Less energy suck.

And also the right amount.

The right amount of quality. The right amount of output. The right amount of profit. The right amount of work. The right amount of people. The right amount of balance.

In theory, if we’re able to build a system that enhances productivity through thoughtful requirements, collaboration, and tools, it’s not just the executive, owner, or shareholder that wins. We, the people, win.

One useful way to look at productivity is that when done right, we all win.

We’re all on a journey of becoming.

But there’s a big difference between growth and drift. Growth stretches you. Drift pulls you away from yourself.

Sometimes it’s subtle. You admire someone else’s role. You want their results. You think, “I can do that.” You (try to) take on their path.

And suddenly, you’re chasing a set of results that was never meant for you, nor could you ever hope to achieve. Yeah, I’ve done this. Or tried to.

Growth comes from knowing who you are and working toward becoming who you can be. Drift comes from trying to become who you’re not supposed to be.

It’s OK to become who you’re supposed to be. We need that version of you.