Ctrl+V: Stuff Worth Sharing #006

Welcome back to this week’s episode of Ctrl+V: Stuff Worth Sharing. As always, I have read and listened to far too much media, but the highlights I want to share with you.

🎧 Grit Podcast with Josh Silverman, the CEO of Etsy

Josh Silverman describes the journey which took him from his beginning in the public sector over eBay to Etsy. Along this way, he also had to take many decisions, like quitting an 18-month-long project directly after becoming CEO, which was live for less than a week.

There is also a big part where he discussed his work-life balance. At the beginning of his career, a wish from his now wife was to see him in the daytime, as he worked every day and only got to see her for dinner.

This lifestyle changed with his kids so that he now tries to take some time off and combine work and private life in a less harmful way.

📄 It feels like 2004 again — Anil Dash

In this short blog post, Anil Dash (whom I never heard of before, shame on me) looks back to the disruptions in the webspace that happened in 2004. This was the time when the rise of many social networks began and open formats like podcasts were established.

Anil looks back to the time and is happy that 20 years later, “the renaissance of the open, human internet is in full swing”. We just have to make sure that the mistakes from 20 years ago are not repeated in today’s version.

📄 ”Wherever you get your podcasts” is a radical statement — Anil Dash

So now that I’ve found out about Anil Dash, here is another post where he praises the open format podcasts are based on. “Wherever you get your podcasts”, a statement you’ve presumably heard multiple times listening to podcasts, is a radical statement from Anils perspective.

Podcasts are open, not controlled by one company, and enable publishers to have full control over their audience and content. Exactly these properties are not the ones big tech or media outlets want you to have access to, as they like to control the environment where your content stays.

The article ends on a positive note, that future creators may establish similar formats to podcasts which are “unowned, uncentralized, and a little bit uncontrollable”.

📚 Management Time — Who’s Got the Monkey? — William Oncken, jr. and Donald L. Wass

This essay from HBR introduces monkeys, which cause managers to be overwhelmed. A monkey is a synonym to problems a manager has.

Think of the following scenario: A subordinate comes to the manager with an issue he or she has. At this moment, the monkey (aka the problem) sits on the subordinates shoulder and does not bother the manager. But once the subordinate asks the manager for further information, contacts or the managers’ opinion and the manager cannot answer directly, the monkey changed its place from the subordinates shoulder to the shoulder of the manager.

As there are typically many subordinates a manager has, there is a high chance of many monkeys sitting on the manager’s shoulder at the same time.

This can lead to the manager feeling overwhelmed, while the subordinates have nothing to do because they wait for the manager to solve their problem.

The article goes into detail how bosses can handle this situation by delegating effectively. But for this to work, the manager has to at first empower their subordinates and establish a trusting relationship.

To get work done and to be a good manager, I recommend reading the whole essay and visualise the monkeys in your day-to-day life.

Thank you for reading that far. I hope you’ve liked the content and find it useful. If that’s the case, please consider sharing it.