The Cyb3rSyn Kaleidoscope - Episode 1

Welcome to the very first episode of the The Cyb3rSyn Kaleidoscope - these posts will touch multiple topics along with some commentary on contemporary stories including updates to Cyb3rSyn Newsletter/Labs, if any. Here is what we’ll cover in this episode:

A cool update for all the subscribers of this newsletter - the Cyb3rSyn Newsletter App.

You can now enable mobile app installation for the Cyb3rSyn Newsletter. This will allow you to download a mobile app directly onto your Home Screen and thereby benefit from features like longer login sessions, push notifications, and more. Just follow the instructions here: www.Cyb3rSyn.com

(For the geeks: Yep, this is a PWA - the good folks at Beehiiv know what they are doing! I’m thoroughly impressed with their PWA implementation as a creator!)

I’ve been traveling a lot lately and meeting with so many people across the United States and India. Many folks were curious about what is that I do professionally and what I’m most excited about… I’ve structured these as conversations between X (a fictitious CXO level executive - not related to the social networking service of the same name), Y(a fictitious entrepreneur) and myself.

X: So, what is it that you do?
Me: Well, I would like to think of my work as something that’s on the frontier - not in the mainstream. But, it maybe best explained as the opposite of what you already know and are familiar with it.

X: Hmm… That’s mildly interesting. Say more?
Me: “Management consulting” is the norm today. The “bringing in” of some consultants that know how best to improve productivity or profit margin or whatever it is that they do. But, that can be viewed as outsourcing of thinking by management. The primary job of management is to think - from strategy to prevailing management systems. This core function has historically been outsourced to MBA-type kids out of college with some “training”, reusable templates and a “cheatsheet”.

X: Alright, enough! I get your point. But, what can be the opposite of that?
Me: The first step of any transformation is the transformation of the individual. I’m in the business of perturbing leaders/executives (who are sincere about their transformation) with well-crafted questions. I’m in the business of giving them a new way to think about their own organizations - a no-methods, no-frameworks, no-nonsense approach. Getting leaders to think, unlearn and transform themselves first and then go drive the transformation of their organizations - that’s the opposite. Having said that, I’d like to pay attention to and take pride in the second order implications of my work - the transformations that will be driven by these transformed individuals.

Y: I’m jumping into entrepreneurship.
Me: Congrats! I wish you the best! But, be careful - you are most likely going to FAIL!

Y: I already know that >90% of startups fail. Don’t be such a pessimist.
Me: Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m talking about the remaining ~10% that are “successful”.

Y: Wait, What?
Me: Let’s step back. Why are you becoming an entrepreneur in the first place?

Y: Well, in my corporate job, I had an amazing idea for a new product. But, it went nowhere - I just ran in circles and it never got funded. Now, I have secured funding and am going to build it myself.
Me: Ah! That’s how Zoom was born! The story is very similar to what many other entrepreneurs have told me. Now, think about the founders of many medium to large corporations today. They were once frustrated like you and now their own creation has become the bureaucracy they ran away from. That’s how you are most likely to fail.

Y: Well, I don’t want to repeat their mistakes.
Me: Awesome! After working in the industry as an employee for 23 years and studying how to tame this type of entropy, I became an entrepreneur to help entrepreneurs like you build a new type of workplace where people are entitled to joy! It is the next-gen that excites me the most - the ones that want to escape from the mainstream and are ready to experiment with new approaches to management….

If this resonates with you, start your journey and escape the mainstream 👇🏾(I love connecting with folks that hit the “reply” button to my newsletter 🙂 ):

The most dangerous acronym in a corporate setting: TLDR 🤯

It has a twin: BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)

As the saying goes (often attributed to Mark Twain), “

You might already know that Jeff Bezos banned PowerPoint and mandated long-form written text which is now the famous Amazon six pager.

Here is the backstory of why he did it. It started with him reading the paper, “Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within” by Edward Tufte, a Yale professor.

Tufte identified in one sentence the problem Amazon leadership team (S-Team) was experiencing:

“As analysis becomes more causal, multivariate, comparative, evidence based, and resolution-intense… the more damaging the bullet list becomes.”

That resonated well with the discussions at the S-Team meetings: complex, interconnected, requiring plenty of information to explore, with greater and greater consequences connected to decisions.

They understood that instead of making things clear and simple the bullets of PowerPoint can strip the discussion of important nuance.

While Tufte’s inputs wasn’t the sole reason for banning PowerPoint, it certainly crystallized the path forward.

Another point to be noted in this story is the fact that Bezos kept reading different books and papers and brought those insights into how he led Amazon.

Leaders must be readers.

One starts when someone becomes a manager for the first time. But, the self-aware and self-reflective ones cure themselves with something like a ‘golden rule’: 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝.

They can think about their past managers who showed them that they had agency and autonomy, gave them guidance, encouragement and enabled them to learn from their mistakes. They can reflect on how it helped them develop in their career.

The other kind of micromanagement can go all the way up to a CXO and still go unnoticed.

It is the kind which says: I know how this problem needs to be solved. I know exactly how to divide it into different parts like marketing, sales, product, engineering, etc. They underestimate the internal & external complexity and overestimate their silo farming skills.

But, the reality is that their “strategy” is superfluous. Once you create silos and hierarchies, fundamental human nature kicks in.

Each silo and their managers have their own priorities, incentives and motivations that conflict with others.

The result is chaos - a loosely functioning disaster.

I started my professional life in a small company and was able to wear multiple hats - engineering, marketing, consulting, customer support, etc. It allowed me to see the full context of the problem - not a narrow sliver of it as defined by hierarchies.

As an entrepreneur today, I have the full context again. It is very easy for me to make decisions based on my values and principles.

For example, in my newsletter business (yes, this one 😀), I get ad offers for certain cybersecurity companies that pay close to $3 per click (no sale needed). But, I don’t believe that their product will add any value to my customers. So, I can stand by my principles and avoid the temptation to make a quick buck.

But, if a sales organization had a quota to meet, I can imagine how things can go awry. Those corporations can call themselves “product led” or “design led” - but in reality, the powerful sales organization wins when it comes to feature requests. They become “sales led”.

The second kind of micromanagement is the worst - it creates an unaccountability machine where people blame each other and are blind to the systemic forces at play.

If you are a manager in such a bureaucratic organization where decisions are made by escalations, shouting matches and arm wrestling, become a premium member of this newsletter and get multidisciplinary insights intended to help you survive and thrive in the post-ZIRP era.

I’ll start this section with a quote from Charlie Munger as he explains the concept of inversion:

I recently travelled to India and spent over 4 weeks there. I met with several people from diverse backgrounds in five different cities/states. Here are some of my reflections from a multidisciplinary lens.