First Forty

    • About

  • Index: The first 40 days of leadership

    Table of contents – start here for an overview of articles

    June 14, 2023

    ·

    Leadership
  • 🇳🇴 Norwegian blog started

    If you read Norwegian, check out www.andreasmarstad.no

    August 31, 2024

    ·

    Leadership
  • Don’t be blind to the downsides of incentives

    Think through the unintended negative downsides of what you reward.

    May 25, 2024

    ·

    Improving, Leadership
  • Learn how to learn

    Sign up for Learning How to Learn. Just do it.

    May 13, 2024

    ·

    Improving
  • Be a white-belt at work

    Set up a system of apprenticeship at work.

    April 29, 2024

    ·

    Improving, Leadership, Psychological safety
  • Write a team charter

    Either you write the group’s norms, or someone will do it for you.

    February 21, 2024

    ·

    Leadership, Meetings, Psychological safety
  • Cut waiting time – increase speed

    The key to increasing speed in a project is not to work faster, but to remove the waste of waiting between each step.

    December 7, 2023

    ·

    Improving, Leadership
  • Allot two thirds of the planning time to your team

    When planning a major project, try to spend less than one third of the available time yourself, so that the next level below you has sufficient planning time.

    November 27, 2023

    ·

    First 40 days, Leadership
  • A better way to ask for input on your strategy

    Don’t be afraid to show your thinking and talk about potential down-sides in your strategy.

    November 22, 2023

    ·

    Leadership, Strategy
  • Have a task management system

    Everyone needs an organizational system to track goals, priorities, and tasks.

    October 17, 2023

    ·

    Improving, Miscellaneous
  • Come up with more alternatives

    Avoid an either/or-mindset by coming up with a range of ideas.

    October 2, 2023

    ·

    Leadership, Strategy
  • Have a decision-making process

    Use a predictable method for how to prepare, make and execute difficult decisions in your leadership team.

    September 27, 2023

    ·

    Leadership, Meetings
  • Think two levels up

    Put yourself in the shoes of your boss’ boss. It will give you the bigger picture, and help your manager.

    September 12, 2023

    ·

    Handbook, Leadership
  • Commander’s intent – the antidote to micromanagement

    Make sure everyone (including you) knows the overarching purpose of what you are doing.

    September 1, 2023

    ·

    Leadership
  • Give people information, not instructions

    You empower people by sharing information, not detailed instructions.

    August 29, 2023

    ·

    Handbook, Leadership, Psychological safety
  • Give people time to think during the meeting

    Ask people to write down their own thoughts on paper before discussing an agenda item.

    August 24, 2023

    ·

    Meetings, Psychological safety
  • Is this a short-, or long-term strategy?

    Make sure you have a mix of short-term projects, and long-term, less certain, strategic projects.

    August 23, 2023

    ·

    Leadership, Strategy
  • Strategy is saying no

    To focus your strategy, be clear on what you are saying no to.

    August 18, 2023

    ·

    Leadership, Strategy
  • Beware of Goodhart’s Law

    Any measure stops being useful if you make it into a target.

    July 30, 2023

    ·

    Improving, Leadership
  • Visual workplace 2: Create a compelling scoreboard

    Create a scoreboard that will tell you at a glance whether you are winning.

    July 13, 2023

    ·

    Improving, Leadership
  • Make your workplace visual (part 1)

    Whenever possible, use visual aids to improve the work.

    July 11, 2023

    ·

    Improving, Leadership
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