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The Three Rules of Work

“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”

– Immanuel Kant

Hi Everyone,

There is a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein regarding his three rules for work. I’ve seen some debate if this was an actual quote from him or a paraphrase of his approach to work. Regardless, the quote has been sitting with me for a few weeks now. I’ve been thinking about how I would apply these concepts to my life and Tahzoo.
 
The Three Rules of Work –

  1. Out of clutter find simplicity
  2. From discord find harmony
  3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity

If this strategy was good enough for Einstein, one of the smartest and most accomplished persons to have ever lived, it certainly is good enough for me and each of you. I would encourage you to consider how these principles could be applied to your personal life. Just think about it and if it inspires some change in you, then great… this was a good DOB.

With respect to Tahzoo, there are some simple questions that I’d like to propose you think about, and let’s talk about them on our all-hands call.

Out of clutter find simplicity – how could we communicate more efficiently as a company? Where is our company information well organized and easy to access, and where do we need to make improvements? Do we have Tame Problems (See my DOB on Wicked and Tame Problems) that persist in the company that could easily be fixed with a policy, process, or procedure?

From discord find harmony – what relationships do you have in the company that need improvement? How could you do a better job of letting go of resentments and building bridges with your colleagues? It’s nice to be nice, so how could you brighten someone’s day? Are you proactively building strong relationships with your clients?

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity – all of our clients are struggling with business issues. Are you taking the time to understand their concerns? Are you bringing those concerns back to your team to work on developing and proposing solutions? When things aren’t going well on a project, what are you doing to diagnose this issue and work with your team to make sure it doesn’t happen again? Do you view consulting as an opportunity to help your clients make the necessary changes so that their difficulties subside?

Those are just a few questions, yet there are many more we will and should be considering as we improve the quality of our work and employee experience. If we work together, adopt these principles as an everyday approach to our work. I am not saying that we would develop “The General Theory of Relativity”, but I am saying that our work and our personal experience would improve dramatically. Look forward to chatting with all of you at our next all-hands call.

Let’s go be great!

Brad