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The most energetic person I know is also the most infuriating to work with. I like him, but he can only listen to one point at a time. He gets very frustrated w
by csours 5y ago
The most energetic person I know is also the most infuriating to work with. I like him, but he can only listen to one point at a time. He gets very frustrated when the one thing he wants to fix doesn't make the system work. He does not take the time to comprehend how details fit into the larger picture. He does not onboard mental or software tools that would be a force multiplier.
Energy alone is not a good predictor.
- DiggyJohnson 5y agoYes, I think many can relate to this. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a top predictor for talent. Can you think of a better proxy that this might have been about?
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago> Energy alone is not a good predictor. I hope that much is obvious to everyone. The podcast isn't literally suggesting that we discard all metrics aside from energy, or that energy automatically results in success. They talk about a lot of different values, the difficulties in measuring them, susceptibility to interviewer bias, and so on.
- eloff 5y agoThere's an exception to every rule. I think the point is that energy may be a good signal. Are there better signals? Spotting talent is hard.
- marcosdumay 5y agoI'm not the GP, but every high-energy person I've met is like this. When people want to get it done right now, they don't tend to make good decisions.
- borski 5y agoI understand your point, but mediocre decisions made quickly are sometimes better than no decisions made ever; there is a spectrum, and being on either extreme is not good.
- drewcoo 5y agoThat plus all the 1x engineers can clean up the messes made by snap decisions by 10x-ers. Not my personal philosophy but I've seen it used.
- nouveaux 5y agoGetting something done right now is more related to impulsiveness. You can be low energy and impulsive. You can be high energy and a planner. Maybe you're thinking hyper activity?
- csours 5y agoEnergy is a good signal. Patience is a good signal. Spotting talent is hard! I would say that energy is an X factor. If you have two candidates and both demonstrate similar system comprehension, go with the one with more energy. Energy is great for short term success, contemplation is great for long term progress. Maybe hire a mix of tactical and strategic thinkers? And then get them to work together somehow? It's easy to say and hard to do! Writing about failure is easy, because you get to do it after the fact when everything is obvious. Writing about your own successes is fun, because you get to talk about something that turned out well. Trying to tell someone else how to be successful by following what you did is often a fool's errand, because you can never convey all the things you did to be successful; and in the case that you were VERY successful, you have changed the marketplace of products and ideas!
- crispyambulance 5y agoAgree, and even if someone has "talent" it doesn't mean that they or their workgroup and larger organization can actually USE that talent effectively.
- foobarian 5y agoI mean, there aren't any contradictions between the title and OP. A best of X is not necessarily very good. It's OK! Sharing stories is fun too.