The first episode of The Mystic Adventures of Bejoy Bobble and Steve has arrived. Steve takes a taxi ride that changes his life forever.
Category Archives: Blog Syndication
The Mystic Adventures of Bejoy Bobble: The End of the Beginning
Steve Presents: Happy Birthday Bejoy Bobble
Bejoy Bobble Introduction
Steve Speaks #20: Race Against Time
Steve talks about the race against time. Check it out and then “Like” our Facebook page to see future episodes: http://www.facebook.com/fgsquared
Steve Speaks #20 Transcript: If there’s one thing I’ve obsessed about my whole life it’s time. You know, am I on time? How long will it take to get somewhere? When will that be done? I can drive people crazy with that actually. I’m so obsessive around time and it’s funny that at the end of the day that when it came to, you know, solving our number one problem that we’ve had in our business over the past 10 years it came down to a prioritization of time. We’re still learning but being able to be more clear about our strategy and area of specialization means that we’re able to organize the way we spend our time more clearly.
Steve Speaks #19: The GoLab, Part 05
Coworking’s gone Hollywood. “Like” our Facebook page to see future episodes…come on, just do it! http://www.facebook.com/fgsquared
Steve Speaks #19 Transcript: The federated coworking model is kind of like the Hollywood model about how businesses come together to create movies, right? So as a movie is produced you bring all these people together and then when the movie is over you’ll disband the team. It’s a very efficient model and proven at getting things done and creating innovation and efficiency. We see that as being the model the way that web design and creative media are produced in the world going forward. We see the coworking facility as a real sort of key center, it’s the center for that.
Kitchen Sink Game Theory
Every company has people who avoid responsibility. Just look at the kitchen sink. There are probably cups in there that should be in the washer. Some people think that their one cup won’t bother anyone. But, then everyone follows suit and someone gets stuck with the responsibility of doing the dishes.
Game Theory is Alive and Well in the Kitchen
It’s a modified version of the prisoner’s dilemma. For those not familiar with this experiment, let me explain by using a classic example.
Two criminals are caught and brought into a police station, where they are separated for questioning. The criminals are given two choices; rat out their accomplice, or remain silent.
- If both criminals work together and remain silent, they each get one year in jail.
- If criminal A rats out criminal B, and criminal B remains silent, criminal B goes to jail for 5 years and criminal A gets off free.
- If both criminals rat each other out, they both go to jail for 3 years.
Kitchen Sink Game Theory is as Follows
Employee A and employee B are separated by time and must decide whether to leave dishes in the sink or in the washer. Their decisions, together, decide who has to put in the most effort to keeping the sink clean.
- If both employees put their dishes in the washer, it’s easy and you have a clean sink for all to enjoy.
- If employee A leaves dishes in the sink, and employee B does not, you have a messy sink and employee B is stuck doing the dishes.
- If both employees leave their dishes in the sink, you have a messy sink.
What’s worse is that if employees see they’re the only ones putting dishes in the sink, they’ll stop, because they’re sick of being the sucker.
Keeping a Clean Sink
Using the stick won’t work. Fear is temporary, and the behavior you want to eliminate reappears as soon as people are left unobserved. Instead, you have to build a culture of working together. This is community building. And the kitchen sink can be a good indicator of the health of your group.
- Lead by example. Put your dishes in the washer. Every now and then put all the dishes in the washer.
- Give positive feedback to those who take responsibility for their own dishes.
- Communicate your desired behavior through different mediums. Sometimes very responsible people simply aren’t aware of the cultural norms you’re trying to achieve. Educate them.
- Measure behavior and make results visible. It’s amazing how much something changes as soon as it is measured.
Of course, you could always do what my friend’s firms did, eliminate glass altogether and making people use styrofoam cups and paper plates.
Feel free to respond with your kitchen sink stories.
The Tough Life of a Business Idea
Steve Speaks 18: Happy Holidays
Steve Speaks #17: The GoLab, Part 04
It’s all about making the team. “Like” our Facebook page to see future episodes…come on, just do it! http://www.facebook.com/fgsquared
Steve Speaks #17 Transcript: It matters how you go about educating different members of what other members are doing and helping people understand what the various gifts are of the various businesses and individuals who work inside of that space so that they can kind of federate and organize around projects as they come into the space. For instance, you know, FG SQUARED might get an opportunity that requires that we develop some sort of mobile application and rather than turn the business away we say no, we actually have a mobile developer here in house. While they don’t actually work for FG SQUARED but they’re inside of the GoLab community.
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.fg2.com/squaredroot/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.fg2.com/squaredroot/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://www.fg2.com/squaredroot/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[Twitter]](http://www.fg2.com/squaredroot/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Email]](http://www.fg2.com/squaredroot/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)



GoLab Austin