Brewed From Within

Echoes

The echo of an idea is always fading. How can we extend ideation long enough to activate early moves, blow through barriers, and maintain enrollment?

This is clearly a loaded question. Much goes into enabling ideas into reality, and the rate of an idea’s degradation depends on a kabillion factors. Still, let’s sip on the artistry of pushing without being pushy.

Start easy. Personally think through the various angles that might make an idea interesting. This private contemplation requires thought and time. Time is precious, and yet we waste it. The ease of your own thoughts will soon meet the hardships that await those who don’t let ideas breathe. This makes stealth mode precarious and early moves confusing, which makes ongoing customer discovery more important.

Extra Shot

Will you spend time or money?

When we share a new idea with someone else, the situation becomes complicated and complex. That is the moment we put our idea on a hook. It’s also when leaders push past fear and invite doubt. Connecting dots within such complexity is difficult, takes time, and is never straightforward. When the sacrifice is made, research builds confidence and adds clarity to how opportunities are articulated.

As thought through in the Isochronal riff, this makes the efficiency of blunt repetition tempting but ineffective. More of the same without execution—whether by co-founders, mentors, early adopters, or investors—only chases interest.

To avoid the fade, find diverse ways to motivate movement. For a fun visualization, imagine a glass pond. If one pebble drops in, the lonely ripple is loud and obvious but also fades fast. It makes a splash and is soon forgotten. Now, imagine many pebbles thrown in different ways, all around the pond, from every angle, and over time. The pond is now alive! The echo of each pebble is magnified, and the abundance of rippled collisions leaves a more lasting song.

Like a pond of pebbles singing together, leaders can nudge progress long enough to activate action. Conversation in different environments, inquisitive questioning, active listening, creative analogies, talking about anything else, releasing reluctance, and letting others lead are all ways you can keep building without getting too frantic. Intentional diversity allows each different echo of one idea to feel distinct and yet all bounce on a shared wavelength.

Brewed From Within
#27 📖 Entrepreneurship

By Ben McDougal, ago

Winds of Outrage

Outrage is a waste of time.

Anger is instinctive, and there’s purpose in standing up for what we believe, but little is accomplished when the two are combined. Lashing out rarely makes us feel better, so why is abusive fury so common?

The winds of outrage get stronger as isolation increases. We live in a connected, but lonely time. Anything is a click away but a thoughtful conversation is increasingly rare. As we age, we spend more time alone, which further reduces diversity of thought. This social isolation causes the overproduction of neural chemicals in the brain, which increases fear and aggression. The mental instability swings us away from center. Instead of curiosity, empathy, and patience, a hardened state feels like the only way to be heard.

Extra Shot

Why must humans unite against things we don’t like so much faster and louder than rallying around those we do?

Without an intrinsic appreciation for the complexity of constant change, simplification is natural. This polarizes any position. When the answer must be yes or no, there’s no room for maybe. If one’s identity is defined by unconscious polarization, it is innate to assume that a threat must be met with force.

When leaders get loud in an aggressive way, does it strengthen their position? No. It looks desperate and detracts from the debate. The increased volume may attract attention, but more of the same only deepens close mindedness. When truth becomes personalized, it shortens the fuse that ignites outrage. How then can we calm, even harness the winds of outrage?

Imagine the serenity of a sailboat. Next time it gets windy with outrage, let your mainsail catch the gusts to move forward. Stay connected to the centering mast by leaning into your understanding, but invite pure wonder by allowing the jib to wave in appreciation for the intensity that comes with outrage. It can feel like strengthening the storm, but a thoughtful question can reduce tension. Our goodwill of active listening creates space for outrageous energy to dissolve. Even when there is little to agree on, as people feel heard they are more willing to listen, and when storms blow over, common ground can be found.

Brewed From Within
#44 📖 Leadership

By Ben McDougal, ago

Playforce Principles

People within a startup community and organizations throughout an entrepreneurial ecosystem often discuss the “future of work” together. As leaders transition today’s workforce into tomorrow’s playforce, the CIRKA equation helps us talk less and do more.

Curiosity is what drives us to appreciate what goes into the answers. It keeps us asking how and why. Curiosity has always driven ingenuity, but as knowledge and solutions become so easy to find, it will be the curious who avoid mediocrity by exploring the edges.

Initiative is a signal that shows you care. It’s showing up, raising our hand, keeping a promise, and sticking with it. The earlier initiative is shown, the faster trust builds. This allows initiative to stack, which increases impact over time.

Real Skills help us all connect, communicate, and collaborate. First curated by Seth Godin, this evolving encyclopedia is an expansive list of modern credentials that go beyond our natural talents. Real skills shine through self control, productivity, wisdom, perception, and influence.

Knowledge is foundational, specific proficiency required to do the work. For example, DJs need to know what knobs to turn, while doctors must understand human anatomy. Vocational knowledge may require formal education, but autodidacticism (being self-taught) is also an assessable path to transform anyone’s personal interests into know-how.

Adaptability is knowing how to learn. It keeps us nimble, even when systems try to force rigidity. When change is constant, adaptability is what helps leaders remain versatile and relevant while also avoiding the pull toward mediocre.

EXTRA SHOT

Life is too short not to enjoy our time.

Unquantifiable depth in each of these variables power the simplicity of the CIRKA equation. Energy guided by these playforce principles move us beyond loops that limit progress and ignite action on the timeline of now.

Brewed From Within
#57 📖 Leadership

By Ben McDougal, ago

Linear

We default to linear thinking in an exponential universe. If linear thinking is status quo, opportunity awaits those who augment their work through an exponential perspective.

When signals of traction, product-market-fit, and lasting momentum emerge, seek to understand how each part of your business affects the overall system. This awareness helps us to understand and optimize what must continue to work. This alertness also leads to stability that tempts most to coast along a linear path, but the goal is not more of the same. While it’s important to respect past success, such nostalgia does not guarantee the same results within a neon future characterized by constant change.

As discussed in the Community chapter of You Don’t Need This Book, the most accessible way to go beyond our own linear capabilities is through community. The collisions of so much unknown capacity is how community allows us all to do more with less. As we invest time into accelerating others, our generosity, curiosity, initiative, and adaptability activate diversified trust channels. Fresh feedback from more perspectives then rewards a willingness to experiment.

When we apply integrity long-term, the combination of new variables formulates an exponential equation. New opportunities emerge, with less activities that trade time for money. As we rent less time to others, our capacity grows. Each time we find a new gear, the system unfolds to release personal bandwidth, and the rising slope of impact, sense of peace, and happiness is set free to rapidly ascend.

Converting a slope of work from linear to exponential is not done all at once. Fortunately, we play for 80 hours to avoid working 40, and the creative spirit is nourished by a peculiar lack of routine. As we find more ways to earn with our mind and not our time, The Headline Trap will remain a distraction. This makes it easy to assume it takes luck, but we make our own luck with every action.

Extra Shot

Work Hard = Get Smarter

Learn to maintain what works, then build non-linear lines betwixt time and revenue by feeding new ideas, talent, collisions, and experiences into the system.

Brewed From Within
#63 📖 Leadership

By Ben McDougal, ago

Decisions

When questions linger, they get heavier. Paralysis can even set in, especially when a decision feels important.

Ambition fades and holding desire invites unhappiness until a future state is achieved. Thinking through the idea maze, strategic planning, and talking tactics is wise, but mental jams are usually not from a lack of choices, but instead, too many. Thoroughly consider the options, then maintain momentum by simply making each decision.

Extra Shot

The best decision is the one you make.

This is not as easy as it sounds. Big or small, a fear of making the wrong decision is ever present. Fortunately, while life or death decisions do occur, most of the time, a wrong decision only requires resources to make it right. Poor decision-making adds up, but if it’s just one decision that’s part of a longer sequence, even slight missteps can move us closer to where we want to be.

Brewed From Within
#50 📖 Leadership

By Ben McDougal, ago