Play the game on your turf where you're gonna win

The vast majority of folks in larger companies are playing a game that they are destined to lose and will leave them frustrated and probably job-less.

So this is honestly one of the biggest realizations for me the past four years and I think when people ‘get’ it… it will change how they look at things a lot.

And they will never be able to go back to the old way of thinking.

But first let’s set some context as I was reminded of this last week when I was at a barbecue with some friends of my wife.

There was one guy who was clearly a smart and outspoken dude. And had a very loud voice. Especially as he got a bit drunk.

He was also pretty funny. I honestly liked him. haha

But at the same time it almost felt like i was back in the office years ago. There was a group of us playing a bunch of board games and he used this combination of voice and charisma to direct the group into his way of thinking.

So even though I didn’t agree a couple of times.. I ended up just going with the flow.

I’d seen it a thousand times in the office during physical meetings and have developed a natural sort of negative reaction to it. Because it feels like it’s not my turf. And I don’t like not being on my turf anymore.

I prefer to fight where i know i’m gonna whip some ass. And where people like him do not have the advantage.

What is my turf?

By my turf I mean operating the way I operate for the past four years.

I work fully remote.

I do almost no meetings. Especially recurring ones.

And operate by my ‘everything is a task’ method where everything is a clickup task and all work is represented by an update to a task.

Plus the team clears clickup notifications every few hours allowing for rapid communication and iteration.

When I operate like this I find consistently that I run circles around a guy like this. It almost doesn’t matter how smart he is.

The system just allows you to do 2-3x more shit and typically do it faster and more accurately.

How alignment happens on my turf

When we operate by these rules we align mainly via Clickup tasks.

Major decisions are documented in a clear way on a clickup card and then the relevant stakeholders are added as followers.

We all start commenting and responding to each others’ comments till finally we align on a decision before the due date that is set on the card.

Then the person that is responsible for the decision takes the decision using those inputs.

This is not group think.

This is not the louder, more charismatic person swaying the others.

This is one clearly responsible person taking the decision while taking into account others’ opinions, which have been documented in writing.

My turf vs. the traditional rules of the game

I am honestly sick and tired of decisions being made due to anything other than logic.

And when you break down what happens in most physical meetings, it is very far from logic. Because you have lots of other factors at play… how loud you are, your charisma, etc.

And my experience is that these factors often play a huge role in the final decision.

Plus they completely change who has the most influence.

Maybe if i was naturally advantaged in those things I’d love the ‘traditional’ way. But as I am not, i prefer not to play by those rules at all.

So i don’t.

I try to always set up teams such that it operates by my rules.

And for about four years now that is what i’ve done. And I love it.

I can’t even imagine going back. You’d literally have to handcuff me and drag me kicking and screaming.

But since I run my own business for nearly four years now and have gotten the hang of how to do it… I don’t think there’s much chance of that ever happening.

People generally split out into two camps

I see friends that are stuck in companies playing by the traditional rules of the game and they generally clearly split into two camps.

Camp one is good at those rules. They are often more charismatic, good at forming upward relationships, and they tend to have careers that progress steadily up.

Camp two is not very good at these traditional rules. And this tends to be the vast majority of people.

These folks often plateau somewhere in middle management and are left frustrated. Plus they go from company to company hoping that things change… but for most of them nothing does.

And in recent years they’ve also probably been laid off once or several times.

They don’t see the reality of their situation from my vantage point.

They are essentially getting their butts kicked over and over again playing a game that they are destined to lose.

Why I think this is so revolutionary?

Well think about it… i’m basically saying the vast majority of people out there in companies are playing a game that is destined to leave them frustrated and probably job-less at the end.

Whereas there are new rules that would set them free.

Rules that would even the playing field and give them upward mobility again.

They would enjoy working again. And thus probably enjoy life a lot more.

I know it has had that effect on me.

When I look at people meeting in a traditional office setting according to the traditional rules of the game it just feels like an old world to me.

A highly inefficient one where the rules are heavily weighted towards a specific archetype of person winning.

A persuasive person with great ‘soft skills’ who might actually have shitty logic or be very unorganized in execution.

And I think to myself… “Have fun. I ain’t playing that game. But you come over to my turf… and i’ll hand your ass to you on a silver platter.” :)