I’m super excited to announce my new book, “Mistakes of Mainstream Management: Essays for Silicon Valley” is now available to order online.
If you are already a member of the Cyb3rSyn Community, this is available to download for free from the community portal or the Mobile App.
Mistakes of Mainstream Management
The book offers a provocative critique of the industrial-era management practices that continue to stifle innovation in Silicon Valley. Drawing on over 23 years of experience and scar tissues exper...
The book offers a provocative critique of the industrial-era management practices that continue to stifle innovation in Silicon Valley. Drawing on over 23 years of experience and scar tissues experimenting with the ideas in the book, I offer the "red pill" of systems thinking, challenging leaders to stop viewing their organizations as predictable machines and instead recognize them as complex socio-technical systems with purposeful actors.
Rather than providing a standard checklist of "how-to" tips (what to do), this book focuses on ‘negative advice’ (what NOT to do), identifying the mainstream mistakes that must be avoided and unlearned - seeking solutions instead of understanding, the blind pursuit of efficiency, chasing growth instead of development, the ritualistic "rain dance" of traditional corporate planning and more.
By integrating multidisciplinary insights from cybernetics, complexity science, and psychology, the book provides executives, managers, and entrepreneurs with a new worldview to help them dissolve underlying problems rather than just masking symptoms, ultimately aiming to build human-centric businesses that can truly thrive in the 21st century.
Read on for a quick introduction about the book and how it was written.
Introduction
Age is better understood in reverse!
It was Nassim Taleb who drove home to me that aging should not be seen using the distance from birth, but rather through the estimated distance from death.
There is also the quote that Steve Jobs popularized in his Stanford commencement speech:
“𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.”
The first time I read it, I laughed out loud and thought it was funny. But it was actually profound when I read it in full context:
“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 17, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦: “𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.” 𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 33 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧: “𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺?” 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 “𝘕𝘰” 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘸, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.
𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 —- 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 —- 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵. 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵.”
I like to visit and walk around cemeteries whenever I’m in a new city to remind myself of this eventuality and give me the courage to speak truth to power.
I recently went back to Japan after 20 years. Here is me walking through a cemetery in Kyoto:
This is a book I wrote knowing that I’m going to be dead one day and that I must come clean about the mistakes I made. The amount of creativity and productivity gains that could be unleashed in Silicon Valley through innovations in psychology is SO MUCH MORE than through innovations in technology alone.
Failed executives don’t write books about their failures. They just go on to make millions and fail elsewhere. They may be a success if you look at quantifiable metrics like their net worth or the share price of their company. But they are miserable failures if you look closely at what they did to the lives of their employees.
So I decided to write a book that catalogs and details many of my mistakes. On thinking deeper, they are not just my mistakes, but the mistakes of mainstream management in general - I simply took them for granted without questioning their validity and effectiveness.
I must explicitly say that all of this happens despite our best intentions. None of the executives I worked with or under had any malicious intent - they truly wanted to make the company and its people better.
As much as I have become skeptical of anything prescriptive (what to do) that ignores the unique context in front of us, I think it is important to talk about what NOT to do. So, I made sure this book is full of negative advice (what NOT to do)- traps and pitfalls you must avoid.
Why negative advice? I go back to Nassim Taleb, who explains the why elegantly:
“I have used all my life a wonderfully simple heuristic: charlatans are recognizable in that they will give you positive advice, and only positive advice, exploiting our gullibility and sucker-proneness for recipes that hit you in a flash as just obvious, then evaporate later as you forget them. Just look at the “how to” books with, in their title, “Ten Steps for ——” (fill in: enrichment, weight loss, making friends, innovation, getting elected, building muscles, finding a husband, running an orphanage, etc.). Yet in practice it is the negative that’s used by the pros, those selected by evolution: chess grandmasters usually win by not losing; people become rich by not going bust (particularly when others do); religions are mostly about interdicts; the learning of life is about what to avoid.”
How Was This Book Written?
This book has been in the making for over 23 years and written over the past six years.
All of my mistakes were written down only in my personal journal for several years. During the middle of the pandemic lock down in 2020, I felt a strong compulsion to publicly write about my mistakes so that I could error-correct my understanding and learn from feedback. I started posting on private WhatsApp groups and on Twitter.
Those messages and tweets over time became short-form plain-text posts on LinkedIn, which offered some terrific feedback loops. Then they became rich-text articles on LinkedIn with more feedback.
I started my systems thinking journey with Deming (hard systems/process thinking), but over time I realized how deep and wide the rabbit hole goes- this might be evident in a few chapters. I met some amazing people along the way from whom I continue to learn to this day.
This has been going on for the past few years and is continuing now after I became an entrepreneur in 2024. Many of these articles (and more) then became newsletter posts for the Cyb3rSyn Newsletter as I received more feedback. Some of the people I learned from and who inspired me have appeared on the Cyb3rSyn Labs Podcast. More will appear in the future.
Eventually, those newsletter posts have now become chapters in this book.
I hope you learn from my mistakes… Grab a copy now!