Book Review: Play for the Person Next to You

VO: Get ready for your semi-regular dose of random ideas from the guys at Codelation. We like to talk about big ideas companies that are winning, and those that aren't along with current events in our crazy world of software startups. So come along with Erick and Josh, who challenge you to think big, start small and turn your ideas into something on this episode of, from idea to done.

Josh: Hey everyone, I'm Josh

Erick: I'm Erick and today's idea is playing for the person next to you. And this is actually a book written by Fargo's own Eric Hatch. And we both kind of know him. And we went to his book release party a couple of weeks ago, and like at many parties, I left pretty excited and I kind of wanted to come back and make things better for our team. Josh, how did you feel after the release party?

Josh: Uh, I really like Eric and how he's evolved his message over the years. He definitely drove home why we need to be playing for the person next to us.

Erick: And I leave a lot of those kinds of events, like really expired. And then I get back to the office and I do nothing with that information. I kind of wanted to change this. So now we have a weekly spreadsheet that I've made with all my professional and personal goals. And at the very top of this, I've listed each one of our team members. We've, we've had a few pretty big discussions lately and I was able to find out everybody. Else's why I list first on my spreadsheet, along with these questions, what can I do to help you this week? And then what I need from you this week, this puts teamwork first. And it's the first thing that I look at each week. Can we talk about some of your thoughts as our owner on how to help us play for each other?

Josh: Absolutely. There's some goals and promises that I've made to my family and they are a hundred percent tied to the performance here at the office. Those goals. Aren't something that I can achieve on my own, but I need the help from everyone else here to help me get there. And so I look at it and say, how can I flip that from an owner's perspective? And instead say, how can you help me write you a $10,000, quarterly bonus check or Eric, I know you like to travel. How can you help me send you to India? Yeah, that was

Erick: Kind of confusing, but I like it. And it makes sense. If you slowly think about it, you presented on your wild last week. And one of the parts of the presentation that you talked about that I liked the most was wanting to change our lives and help us get where we want. I think part of, about working on or the part I like most about working on a small team is our co-dependence. We all have things we want to do outside of work and explaining each other what those things are. And it helps us align for each other. That is something that you don't really get when you work for a bigger company, a

Josh: Hundred. I agree. I think that hatch has a unique perspective of how you can be a chapter in everyone else's book versus writing your own book, which I think really plays well here. Well, other than the fact, I guess he just wrote a book, so we might need to talk to him a little bit.

Speaker 4: a little bit of something to talk to him about. And I remember after his presentation, he was kind of at the back of the, or the entrance of the theater. And I went up and I said, hi. And I told him, I wasn't going to have him sign my book actually until I read it. And I, I finished it this week and I reached out to him today to have a lunch meeting and kind of get his thoughts on my takeaways from his book and how I can make our action and our team better.

Josh: I think that's great.

Erick: Since we've had our big discussions, it's really motivating for me to kind of be working for Suman and see, help him go visit his family or helping you get that extra time that you can spend with your kids or helping basically everyone except for single me pay for their upcoming way in this year. And so I think it's just a different, good feeling, knowing what everyone else is trying to do. And it really keeps me on track with my work to help get them there. And so Eric's book really kind of opened my eyes on that better way of thinking. I agree a hundred percent. Thank you for listening to this week episode, if you know a startup that could use random advice and thoughts, have them subscribe and leave a review on iTunes.