This is never productive

I made the trek from east to west today and had a relatively pleasant experience on Untied Airlines. However, upon arrival in San Francisco, my post-flight e-mail and twitter check was interrupted by someone who was clearly not having the same luck and who had become completely undone by their travel situation. Apparently there was a delay in a flight leaving San Francisco significant enough to make a planned international connection in Chicago impossible. The gate agent’s explanation that “air traffic control” had caused the delay and that she would do her best to get the man on the next flights to his planned destination apparently translated to “I have control over your life today and have decided in my sole discretion to delay your vacation because I feel like it.”

Needless to say the man went ballistic and demanded to make his original flight out of Chicago. Equally needless to say, this was not going to happen. We have all been frustrated by the airlines, and it has been bad enough for Brad Feld that he has decided a month of no air travel is required to recover his sanity.

I admire Brad’s approach because it reflects an acceptance of the reality of air travel today and a clear understanding of solutions that he has control over. When confronted with frustrating situations, maintaining a clear sense of your sphere of influence and restricting your sphere of concern to the things you can control is a powerful skill. I have seen this approach work in countless negotiations and lead to highly positive outcomes in situations that started out headed for obvious disaster. To me, the most important thing is to recognize that you ALWAYS have control over your actions and to take a long-term view. Avoid arrogance and the draw of short-term gains in the form of small, emotional or financial victories and always be willing to admit that you are wrong as soon as you recognize a weakness in your position. The next verse in the Start-Up I Ching describes an approach to conflict that has worked well for me:

WHEN FACED WITH CONFLICT SEEK BALANCE. Every conflict is an opportunity for growth because conflict is only ended with mutually beneficial solutions. Make every effort to find balance when conflict arises. Your first action should be to join with others. If you cannot find support, recognize you may be wrong and that aggressive action will not lead to success but to deeper failure. You must act on your convictions but also within your means. Never negotiate on pride because you are certain to lose more than your pride is worth. Try to be strong enough to recognize when a situation is impossible and have the awareness to withdraw gracefully.

The key to being fully present

When I was fund-raising for my fitness video game company there was nothing more frustrating than talking into the vacuum of the mute button or hearing a keyboard in the background. Other than being late, there is nothing more disrespectful than not being present. My solution to being present in each meeting of the day is to mind the gaps between meetings and protect them by starting and ending on-time every time.

With so much in-bound information and the reality of needing to prepare and re-focus for each entrepreneur that I speak with I have started creating 15 minute gaps between meetings. Without these gaps, I find it difficult to properly prepare and make the most out of the time I have with an entrepreneur. First, I am unable to spend the 5-10 minutes needed to digest the conversation from the previous meeting and second, I am unable to re-acquaint myself with the material that will be covered in the upcoming meeting. The result is that both end up taking place during my next meeting instead of on my time. This is a dis-service to the entrepreneur and to First Round as it makes me less effective in my efforts to learn about the business and to understand the investment opportunity.

With this in mind, and with the goal of being fully present in each moment of the work day, I am going to try to be very strict about my calendar and the time allowed for each task throughout the day. It may mean that I look at the clock more while listening to a new investment pitch or that I schedule time in the future to continue a conversation rather than extending a call for 10 or 15 minutes, but I think it will make time that others choose to share with me more valuable to them and ultimately to me as well.

This new effort is inspired by another verse in the start-up I Ching and I think it applies to both sides of the investment table.

FOCUS. FOLLOW EACH TASK TO COMPLETION. The urge to do many things at once is very strong. The danger is the partial completion of many tasks at the expense of completing any one. There is no value in this approach. You will be faced with complex situations that do not have a simple solution. You must be willing to break large challenges into manageable pieces to avoid indecision and a loss of self-control. Confusion will not last if you are able to recognize reality and visualize your goal. You must identify each integral part of the solution and focus on each one until it is complete to realize the broader victory.

Recently, one of the experienced investors I was speaking to suggested that it is important to form your own view and to express it because if, “two people always have the same opinion, one of them is not necessary.” He reminded me of a verse in the Start-up I Ching and I have included it below:

LEARN, GROW, BUT DO NOT CONFORM. You must maintain an open-mind and cultivate a genuine respect for the people around you. Act within this context, with inner-strength and outward self-restraint, and you will experience cooperation and acceptance. Learning will follow. In your efforts, beware of emulating others as this is a shallow illustration of respect and is deeply disrespectful to the self. You must discover ways to show your respect for others while protecting your individuality. If you become conditioned to conform you will not be able to take risks nor experience the consequences, positive or negative that lead to the most effective learning.

Domestique Armstrong?

As my classmates and I leave school and re-enter the real world, many of us will be joining new teams and taking on new roles. We will be expected to apply what we learned in school to the goals and aspirations of a new firm. We will report to new leaders, have new collegues and some will manage new groups. In almost every case, we entered school at the top of our respective games and will now be emerging from a two year hiatus with more potential than ability. Much like an athlete emerging from retirement, we must choose to seek past glory or look to the future for new achievement. We have all changed over the past two years, but our opportunity to grow will come as we begin on our new path, and will depend on our ability to understand our circumstances and recognize our limitations as well as our abilities.

On the second page of the Sports Section in Monday’s New York Times, there was a short article about the Giro d’Italia and Lance Armstrong’s role as a support rider. The article mentions Armstrong fetching water bottles for his teammates and riding out in front in mountain stages. It is clear to most that Armstrong will not likely play the support role in July, but his willingness to re-enter the sport as a domestique on a world stage shows his capacity for self-evaluation and commitment to a long-term view of success. His teammates see his efforts as a chance for Armstrong to payback for all the support he had during his push for 7 Tour titles. I see the true spirit of a champion in his efforts and a deep respect for the meritocracy of (clean) cycling, the institution that has given him so much. Lance is once again showing the world how to accept change and grow from it rather than fighting to return to a past that is no longer reality.

Armstrong has a well-documented history of moving forward and growing in the face of adversity. However, I find his role at the Giro to be equally inspiring and to offer a much more tangible lesson in personal growth. My interpretation of the 4th verse in the I Ching tries to capture what Lance is currently teaching with his actions:

CHANGE IS PASSIVE. GROWTH IS ACTIVE. Change will occur but growth must be actively pursued. To grow you must move forward and evolve with awareness of self and of your environment. You must be observant and able to identify sources of trouble disguised by their unfamiliarity. When change causes confusion, grow by delegating responsibility and accepting help but do not neglect your duty to learn from these situations and those who help you. If you do this, you will remain sure of yourself and you will not only change, you will grow.

Lance has ridden a similar route before and I would not be surprised to see him grow into the Maillot Jaune by the time he reaches Paris this year. My hope is that my classmates and I can find inspiration in this example and make the choices that lead to growth and our own Yellow Jersey.

“DISCOVER WHAT YOU LOVE, WORK AT IT. SUCCESS WILL FOLLOW. When you are engaged in a labor of love, your efforts are extremely efficient and your natural abilities are utilized to the fullest. You are engaged by the work and the love of the product, not ego and the love of self. This confidence results in the power to lead while appearing to follow and the service and devotion of your team.”

Traditionally, the MBA is a degree that helps you mitigate risk and the process of acquiring the degree pushes you to become increasingly risk averse as the recruiting waves wash over each class. Professors have told me that every year they hear about students who are determined to “do a start-up” and “make it work” before they are “forced” to report to their job at a consulting firm or a bank. Inevitably, after calculating the expected NPV of each option, the newly minted MBA spends their signing bonus on travel and new suites not incorporation documents and rent-a-coder. This year is different because many of us do not have jobs (or the signing bonus) and are choosing between a passion project and a job search that may continue well beyond the summer. I hope most of these highly capable people are able to see the opportunity in the economy and feel the freedom of following a passion. I respect anyone who decides to pursue the most interesting thing they can imagine and I think long-term success lies in making this type of decision multiple times in a career.

It was typical for us to exchange small gifts with our partners (books, plaques and other trinkets with meaning, but little monetary value) around holidays and business achievements. At some point along the way I was given a copy of the I Ching as a token of appreciation. This book sat on a shelf in my apartment for months as I was hardly ever home and used my flights primarily for sleeping rather than reading. Upon leaving AND 1, I started a company and sepnt three years dealing with legal and other challenges that ultimately resulted in failure. In one of many moments of duress I began to read the I Ching and while I am not a believer in the hexagrams as a system of divination, I do believe the writing describes an approach that echos the lessons I learned in Asia and can serve as a framework to support better decision making in a start-up environment.

There are 64 verses in the I Ching and over the next couple months I am going to try to publish my interpretation of how each verse would have been written if it had been written for entrepreneurs. I will tag each new verse with “I Ching” and have created a sub-catagory to Launch Code called Start-Up I Ching where I will file all 64 verses as they are written.

With that, the first verse:

RESPOND. DO NOT REACT. You always have more time to make a decision than you think. Do not allow decision points to be forced upon you. When a decision is required, use your strength as a leader to create the time and space you need to gain perspective, to be thoughtful. Make a habit of consulting with people you respect and admire. Be a conscientious observer and a student of your craft. Take time to recall the advice of your mentors, to draw out your insight and evaluate your position. When you have settled on a decision, respond with confidence.