👀 How to Steal from Senior Leaders

When you're in the room with senior leaders, don't think about how to impress them.

Instead, think about how to steal. Steal how they think and speak. As much as you can.

Here are some things I've stolen with pride over the years at Google.

👄 Arguing is fine. But focus on principles.

Debate is good. Arguing is healthy. But sometimes it goes nowhere.

So instead: learn how to argue and negotiate on principles.

Imagine that you're discussing with someone whether to invest a new product feature.

You both come with valid arguments. But you still can't see eye to eye.

Turns out you're trying to solve for user experience. And they're optimizing for ease of execution.

Always up-level the discussion to guiding principles. You'll figure out the impasse much faster.

🥪 Get sharper views with the McDonald's Trick.

The idea comes from figuring out where to go for lunch.

If no one has good ideas, suggest McDonald's.

Better ideas emerge instantly, in order to override the (undesirable) default.

But this isn't limited to brainstorming.

Get people to tell you how they really feel by intentionally throwing out extreme options. Figure out where they actually stand on an issue.

For instance, you can say:

"I'm going to be intentionally cheeky here: What if we dropped the bottom part of our sales portfolio? Would that really affect anything?"

You'll be pleasantly surprised at the subsequent insight you'll uncover.

👂 Be Comfortable with Silence.

Silence is awkward during discussions. Extremely uncomfortable.

But you don't need to feel compelled to fill up silence.

There's nothing wrong with thinking, digesting, then giving a thoughtful & structured response.

Sure, it'll feel awkward the first, second, and tenth time.

Then you'll get used to it. And people will get used to it.

And you'll be amazed at the improvement in the quality of your delivery.