The Right 3 Things
November 10, 2008 · Print this post
When I interviewed for my initial job as Director of Planning at Wizards of the Coast, I had a long talk with Peter Adkison, the founder and president of Wizards.
Peter’s focus and commitment were already legendary: his emails to staff began at 5:00 AM, and he often didn’t leave his desk until 11:00 PM. I was a little nervous about this: I wanted the job very much, but I had been to the Burnout Zone before, and a return visit wasn’t part of my career plan.
Peter said, “I work hard, and I expect all my direct reports to work hard too. I expect that kind of commitment. Can you give me that?”
I took a breath and said, “Peter, I have a partner, a writing career, and a life. I can’t put in 80-hour weeks for you. If you give me a list of 10 things every day, I can’t promise to do everything on the list. But here’s what I will promise: I will always do the right 3 things.”
We sat in silence for a moment. And then he smiled and said, “Okay.”
The Right 3 Things are a moving target. It can be especially hard in turbulent times to stay in sync with them. But if you can — if you can know every day what your Right 3 Things are — you’re a huge step down the road of making your work life, and your team, much more effective.
How do you identify The Right 3 Things? You get clear on your team’s accountabilities, and then line up your priorities accordingly. You can find specific suggestions on this, including how to identify your team’s basic accountabilities and a model for how to prioritize, in Humans At WorkSM Session 4, section 4.5 (download the PDF file).
I did some writing for WotC, but not as an employee. I wouldn’t want to be an employee, even though writing for them for a living should be my dream job.
As for my current job, my boss is fine, it’s the company that blows donkey. They don’t even care that you know they’re lying to your face. They’re HR philosophy is – The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.
I’m not sure I’d want to work there again either — much has changed, I believe. I would approach it as a whole new company if I were to go back, and I have a pretty rigorous set of criteria for what I’m looking for in a workplace.
I’m sorry to hear about your current company. “Insisting” on good morale, and punishing people for not having it, is deeply stupid and ultimately self-destructive — but that’s small consolation to the people that suffer in the meantime.
The skills in the HAW program are presented as management skills, but I’m convinced they can make a difference to anyone practicing them in the workplace. But I’ve realized here that although I believe this, I’m not sure how to articulate it in this context. What kind of help can the HAW ideas offer you? I’ll be thinking more about that. So thanks for commenting, I appreciate it. I hope you’ll come back again.