Akcelerate Consulting

10/16/2024

Something you may not know about me - I'm a metal musician. That's something I normally keep totally separate from my professional life, but as I've gotten older, I've realized it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm proud of the fact that I've expressed myself creatively and shared my output with the world.

Being a musician, and especially being part of a band, has strongly reinforced two important lessons that helped me in my career as a manager:
1. It's ALWAYS harder to put forth ideas for criticism than to criticize other's ideas.
2. Being truly, genuinely open to others' ideas and suggestions will almost always yield a better result.

A quick story re: # 2: About a year ago, my band Shards of Narsil grew from 2 to 5 members. The first song we wrote together as a group, "Dust to Dust," almost immediately got >10x the number of plays of all our other songs on Spotify.

For you managers out there, when one of your team members offers up an idea, remember: 1) They feel strongly enough about this idea that they're willing to expose themselves to criticism. 2) There is almost certainly some value in it, even if it isn't immediately obvious.

10/07/2024

I had an amazing time speaking to students at my alma mater (THE Ohio State University) about the professional skills employers look for when hiring recent graduates.

One example: "communication skills." I hear that phrase used so often, yet I've rarely heard it explained in detail. What does it mean in a practical, concrete sense?

The students had great intuitive responses to this question, but I could tell it was their first time confronting it in depth. Which begs the question - if skills like these are so important to employers, wouldn't it be great to offer more training opportunities like this to young professionals?

Special shout-outs to Dr. Paul Berger and the IEEE Undergraduate Chapter at The Ohio State University!

07/24/2024

It takes a tremendous amount of courage to be a part of a team, and especially to lead a team. Admittedly, lack of courage held me back from being a great manager for many years.

"The Courage to be Disliked" held up a brutally honest mirror and forced me to confront these questions:
1. Is the fear of being judged holding me back from doing what needs to be done at work?
2. Is the desire for recognition distracting me from doing what’s right for my team?
3. Can everyone on my team speak freely, or is the discussion stifled by feelings of inferiority or desire to feel superior?

Full article here (5 minute read):

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the…

07/17/2024

Meetings are the *most expensive* form of communication. Before you schedule one, make sure you've considered less-expensive alternatives. Here's the arithmetic:

Total hourly pay = (N attendees) × (avg hourly rate) × (length of meeting in hours). Hourly rate should be calculated based on *total compensation,* not just base pay.

Context switching loss = ~25% × (Total hourly pay). This corresponds to the momentum loss suffered by attendees as they stop and restart the work they were doing.

Schedule disruption loss = ~25% × (Total hourly pay). This corresponds to the broader impact of the meeting on the attendees' schedules. The 25% estimate can be much larger in some cases (e.g. if it pushes other work out to the following day).

Opportunity cost = 0-100% × (Total hourly pay). This depends on the usefulness of the meeting. If the meeting is a total waste of time, every minute could have been better spent on something else (i.e., 100%).

See my most recent video, "Could this meeting have been an email?" for a more detailed look.

What do you think? Are there any terms I missed? Would love to hear from you!