Learning @ Morning Brew

“If something can’t be settled by experimentation or observation, it’s not worthy of debate.” We’re back with another round of Guess That Razor! If you guessed “Alder’s Razor,” you’re correct. As a business owner, it’s easy to get pulled in every direction — and difficult to determine which directions to follow. But by using Alder’s Razor, you can easily determine where to fix your focus. Alder’s Razor breaks decisions into 2 categories: 1) Those you can verify with experiments 2) Those you can’t For example: If you don’t have website visitors, is it worth optimizing your website retention? If you don’t have a product, is it worth discussing your advertising efforts? If you haven’t assessed your competition, is it worth setting your pricing? Bottom line: If you can’t verify it, don’t focus on it.

Does humor belong in the workplace? (You know how we feel at Morning Brew. Very strict. No laughs.) All jokes aside, humor in the workplace can be a tightrope walk. From a scientific perspective, humor is often broken into 4 styles: 1) Self-enhancing - Laughing at yourself - Finding humor in negative situations - Making yourself the target of good-natured jokes 2) Affiliative - Positive and inclusive jokes - Observations that create camaraderie - Relatable humor based on shared experiences 3) Aggressive - Putting people down - Sarcasm, mockery, or teasing - Laughing at the expense of others 4) Self-defeating - Making yourself the butt of jokes - Putting yourself down in an aggressive fashion - Targeting and amplifying your own weaknesses As a rule of thumb, keep your workplace yuks to self-enhancing and affiliative humor. If you’re questioning whether or not something is OK to say, it’s best to just keep it to yourself.

What do rockets, high-top sneakers, and Bridgerton season 2 have in common? They can all help you hire and retain top talent. ↓ Check out these 3 unique talent approaches from Tesla, Zappos, and Netflix: 🚀 The Two-Hands Test: SpaceX and Tesla Rather than reviewing resumes for degrees, Elon Musk’s hiring process focuses on two factors: First-hand experience and hands-on testing. First-hand experience: Do candidates have relevant experience pertaining to the job outside the classroom walls? Hands-on testing: How well do candidates perform at a “hands-on test” that resembles the role they’re interviewing for? 👟 The “Pay to Quit” Bonus: Zappos In its early days, online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos offered employees as much as $4,000 to quit. Why? Believers in the company mission were more likely to stay, while those on the fringe were more likely to take the payday and leave. 📽 The Keeper Test: Netflix The Keeper Test goes like this: “Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving for a similar job at a peer company, would I fight hard to keep at Netflix?” If you wouldn’t fight to keep an employee, they may not be the right fit.

Looking to sharpen your leadership skills? Here are 3 animal kingdom lessons you can use to become a better leader: 1️⃣ Geese: The V formation ↳ During flight, geese take turns leading the V formation to share the burden of breaking through air resistance. ↳ By admitting when they need support, leaders can avoid burnout and be more effective in the long term, opening the door for their team to do the same. 2️⃣  Ant colonies: The division of labor ↳ Ants take specialization seriously. Within the worker system alone, ants have specific roles as foragers, nurses, soldiers, construction workers, and gardeners. ↳ Leaders can build productive teams by identifying each person’s strengths and delegating appropriately. 3️⃣  Sea turtles: Trusting your purpose ↳ Before returning to their birthplace beaches, sea turtles spend their lives traveling thousands of miles in search of food. ↳ At times, they find themselves an ocean away from home, swimming in the dark. ↳ Despite this uncertainty, they move forward, driven by a sense of purpose that guides them back to their goal. ↳ When you face uncertainty as a leader, let your purpose be your guide.

Personal brand: New slang for “tattoo” or a springboard for your career? All needling aside, we thought we’d take a stab at the pros and cons of personal branding… 👍 Pro: You’ll be more visible online. 👎 Con: You’ll be more visible online. You’ll reach a larger audience. You’ll generate “free” marketing. You’ll make an impact on others. But you’ll also be exposed to criticism, disagreement, and volatility. 👍Pro: You can define and control your image. 👎Con: Future employers or clients might not care for your content. Building a personal brand allows you to dictate the material you share. As you create more content, you’ll build a clearer, stronger persona. But the more you create, the more opportunities potential clients or employers have to disagree with you. 👍 Pro: You can create more income streams. 👎 Con: You can pigeonhole yourself. Authoritative personal brands give you the opportunity to make money for consulting, joining calls, or even selling courses. But if you aren’t diligent about flexing different skills, you might limit your ability to pivot in the future. - - We want to hear your thoughts. Do the pros outweigh the cons of personal branding? ⬇

In the 1900s, it was writer’s block. Today, it’s content creator’s block. Either way, it’s frustrating. Here are 5 ways to beat it:  ↓ 1. Go for a walk. ✅ A person’s creative output increases by an average of 60% when walking.   2. Study the work of your favorite creators. ✅ Content creation is simply a riff on what’s already been done. 3. Speak out loud and record yourself. ✅ We never hear about talker’s block. 4. Grab a book, open to a random page, and note what stands out. ✅ Take your noteworthy passage and connect it to your industry or audience. 5. Create constraints. ✅ Having too much freedom can be stifling. Set parameters like length, subject matter, or deadlines to kickstart your brain. - - P.S. How do you beat content creator’s block? Let us know in the comments below.

Since the construction of the cubicle, office politics have been seen as a necessary evil for building influence at work. But if you ask us? You can build credibility without being a desk diplomat. Here’s how: 💡 Emphasize inclusivity. Self-promotion can feel slimy. But building up colleagues shows that you’re comfortable enough with your own talents to defer praise to others. 💡 Ask for advice from tenured colleagues. Don’t want to play the game? Don’t worry. Plenty of people already have. Check in with experienced colleagues to get insights on navigating specific situations, people, or events. 💡 Don’t limit your interactions to when you need something. Only reaching out to colleagues to ask for a favor can feel manipulative. Instead, focus on day-to-day authenticity and genuine interactions. Build relationships for the sake of building relationships. You’ll gain trust and respect in the process.

The team at Morning Brew has been up to something and I'm thrilled to say it has just come out of stealth mode! Let me set the stage: Professional development is more than just watching videos (sometimes videos are ok, true...) and it is far more than talking slide decks (ugh). To develop yourself or your team, embrace the fact that learning is a social process, an interactive process, a process that is truly dynamic. Drumroll Please.... 🥁 🥁 🥁 It's why Learning @ Morning Brew just launched All-Access. All-Access is professional development that actually makes you better at your job. Link in the comments. Get access to continual live virtual learning experiences including week long courses, toolkits, and workshops with master class experts. Not to mention a community of learners across industries that allows you to learn from peers, make connections, and grow with a team. And our launch price? $649 for a year ($54 a month to supercharge your career by becoming a better leader and strategist, to get stronger at using data to make decisions, and to skill up on a whole bunch of basic business topics like negotiation, communication, and financial forecasting among others). And for those moments when you can't make a live experience, we've got that covered too - we have on-demand versions of our most popular courses. I know I said professional development was more than videos and it is - but I also know sometimes a video does the trick. If you or your team want... Live virtual courses ✅ Workshops with experts ✅ Toolkits ✅ On-demand learning ✅ Networking and thought partnership with peers ✅ The signature Morning Brew "tone" - we make learning fun and we're proud of it ✅ Check out All-Access by Morning Brew Learning (link in comments!). And if you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to me directly.

In 1995, Stanford professor John Perry wrote about procrastination. His findings might not cure your procrastination—but they will make it work for you. Perry coined the term “structured procrastination.” His idea was simple: “Procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing.” Perry suggested finding ways to make procrastination work in your favor. How? Try these 5 tips: 1. Create a to-do list. 2. Organize your workspace. 3. Read up on your industry’s news. 4. Break your work into bite-sized pieces. 5. Do the easiest work-related tasks you can. Rome wasn’t built in a day. And maybe that slide deck doesn’t need to be, either. Start small. Build momentum. Dare we say… procrastinate?

🚨BREAKING: After 3 years perfecting our product, we're launching something big... Introducing All Access, the one-stop shop to accelerate your career. Get unlimited access to all of our courses, content, and community: - Learn from one-week live and on-demand Sprints across data, leadership, strategy, and business core topics. - Build connections and confidence through live events with expert operators, facilitated 1:1 and group networking sessions, and members-only events & panels. - Gain access to tips, toolkits, and templates that help you solve professional challenges and accelerate your career in the moment. We’re offering early access into the membership at a discounted price. Interested in learning more? Check out the link in the comments.