Introduction
Welcome to The ContraMind Code.
The ContraMind Code provides you with the system of principles, signals, and ideas to aid you in your pursuit of excellence.
The Newsletter shares the source code, through quick snapshots, for a systems thinking approach to be the best in what you do.
The Code helps you reboot and reimagine your thinking by learning from the best and helps you draw a blueprint on what it takes to get great things done.
Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation
by Anton Howes
Anton Howes is the Head of Innovation Research at The Entrepreneurs Network, a UK-based think tank focused on encouraging Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He is also Historian-in-Residence at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, having written its latest history.
in this book, Anton talks about why Innovation accelerated in Britain during the Eighteenth Century, which in turn led to the Industrial Revolution. He writes that Innovation is a Practice that spreads from Person to Person. He argues that people became Innovators because they adopted an Improving Mentality - and that Britain experienced an acceleration of Innovation because its Innovators were committed to evangelising that mentality further.
Prof. Vidita Vaidya is an Indian neuroscientist and Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. Her primary areas of research are neuroscience and molecular psychiatry.
She is the recipient of the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2015) for her work on the field of Medical Sciences.
In this episode Prof. Vaidya talks about the being inspired by Diane Fossey and Jane Goodall, her study of emotions and research interests, impact of early life experiences on the brain related growth, and how stress response pathways are built, among many fascinating things.
Listen to the full episode here:
This is an interesting conversation from Y Combinator that we were listening to and it has some great perspectives on co-founder mistakes including co-founder skill match expectations and how to deal with it, the importance of writing things down clearly, how to handle arguments and conflicts, avoidance of critical discussions between Co-Founders etc.
As we listened to conversation on co-founder mistakes, it took us back to the discussions that Ashwin Damera had with us on the importance of “Co-Founder fit”. Some of the most important questions to consider are:
Is there a value-systems match? This is an extremely important question that is never asked or considered. Most often competency, expertise, knowledge, experience gets discussed but rarely do value systems match get discussed or evaluated. In a crisis, or in most important trying situations, value-systems come to the fore. What one co-founder may think is acceptable as a decision, may not be acceptable to the other person. Here’s a great article from HBR on how to make values mean something.
Working style compatibility. Working styles differ and does not seem to be a big problem when ideas are discussed in coffee shops, restaurants, etc. When the idea needs to be executed, one founder may have a collaborative style, other may have an authoritative style and this affects how the people below them start to respond to them. It will not always be perfect alignment of styles but deeper understanding of where to use the styles for best outcomes without hurting egos is very important.
Impulsive vs Time-deferred Choice. Some co-founders simply like the one other the first time they meet or get introduced. They go with biases of who introduced them, what they have heard about them from others, etc. As they get to work together, they realise they have different views on the same topic. It is always good to take time-deferred decision on the choice to be a co-founder, best done over several meetings and discussions. Things may look a little open, being unsure of what you are doing or thinking but it helps to understand each other better on various aspects of doing business.
Knowing the negative side or weakness is important. Often things look good when you are about to start and one tends to look at the positive side of each other. But, being mindful of the negative side or weakness of the other person is very important. Consider questions such as, ‘Is the person open enough to accepting certain personal quality as a weakness?’, ‘Are they being transparent of the need to work on it or are they finding it difficult to work on that?’ Questions such as these say a lot about how the person will react and behave in crisis situations.
Long-term vs. Short-term Alignment. Most of co-founders don’t have a clear view of what this is all about. What may be a long-term strategic view of how to run the company, product strategy to be followed in phases, funding decisions etc. may not fit with the other person because their time horizons will be different from the other person. What may be short-term to one person, may look tactical for the other person and what may be long term to the other person may look too risky and not fitting the time horizon of the other person as their personal goals and financial goals timeline will be very different.
It may be worthwhile to read this article which brings out these facts very well.
Some lessons we learnt from this week’s missions:
History teaches us many interesting facts about how society evolved and growth unfolded across centuries. Most often, we get enamoured by futurists, studying predictions of what shape things will take when it comes to technology, new industries that may emerge or disrupt existing businesses etc. But, when you go back to study history, it actually teaches us a lot on how certain events, how far-thinking visionaries brought about change in a society which left an indelible mark on how new industries got created, how old institutions adapted to changes that happened around that time, what leading inventors faced and how they overcame resistance from old guards, how incremental changes in innovation in different industries when aggregated over time had a profound impact- is a great way to think about innovation; how it must be done and how can one make it successful. It cannot be seen from a point in time of an individual’s lifetime but the downstream impact the thinking created in the subsequent generation and new inventions that it drove in the society across a longer time horizon. That’s the only way true innovation can be measured for impact.
It is now fashionable to see a designation like Co-Founder in many people’s profiles. The question to ask ourselves is how many of the Co-Founders were really aligned in their purpose, mission and values. The best co-founders find a way to understand a deeper meaning of such relationships. They best ones know what their strengths and weaknesses of each other are. Thereby, they play their roles to perfection - in some cases they lead, in some cases they follow, in some cases they are stubborn, in a few other cases they are collaborative in decision making. It important to know this to make the start-up or any company successful.