A Fresh Perspective on Perfectionism, Inspired by HBR Ideacast

A Fresh Perspective on Perfectionism, Inspired by HBR Ideacast I recently listened to a thought-provoking episode of HBR Ideacast featuring Dr. Ellen Hendriksen, which explores how to understand and manage perfectionism. The episode draws on insights from her book How to Be Enough—a read I highly recommend. For me, the conversation was eye-opening. It prompted a fundamental shift in how I approach perfectionism. Why? Because it led me to revisit the first principles behind this often misunderstood mindset. Here are a few key takeaways: -Perfectionism isn’t about wanting everything to be flawless. Rather, it stems from overvaluing performance—viewing outcomes in binary terms (success or failure) and tying one’s self-worth to results. -It’s often driven by a positive trait: conscientiousness. This includes a strong sense of responsibility, diligence, a desire for excellence—all admirable qualities. However, when unchecked, they can push us beyond the point of diminishing returns. In essence, perfectionism arises when our conscientiousness compels us to keep refining or reworking something—whether it’s a report, decision, or assessment—even when further effort no longer adds value. In other words, when we ignore the “good enough” principle. Reflecting on my own habits through this lens, I recognize that I often struggle to draw that line. More than once, I’ve spent excessive time on tasks that, in hindsight, didn’t warrant it. To address this, I’m adopting a simple rule: Before continuing to improve a piece of work, I’ll ask myself—Is this already good enough for the purpose it serves? Lastly, if a recruiter asks me about my biggest weakness, I may still say "perfectionism"—but now, I can explain it with a deeper, more nuanced understanding of what that means and how I’m working to manage it constructively. https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/hbr-ideacast/id152022135?i=1000683028403

- Pedro

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Speed, Strategy, and Talent: The Story Behind Ford’s Le Mans Victory

A film I recently watched about Ford’s bold bet and its race to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It’s a highly engaging movie that tells a fascinating story while illustrating how clear goals, a solid strategy, strong leadership support, and—above all—the right people and talent can turn the seemingly impossible into reality. As a bonus, it also highlights the role Goodyear’s technology played in making it all happen. If you’re a fan of cars, motorsport, and great storytelling, this is definitely a film worth watching. (text revised by a LLM) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950186/ https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0G0ZJRP5IMCAV5729ZXNRCIP8M/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

- Pedro

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What Must Be True: Strategic Thinking for Managing Risk

Roger Martin, former Dean of the Rotman School, has written a fascinating and insightful article about risk management, emphasizing that a robust strategic process is the only effective way to approach it. Martin argues that, in most cases, risk management conducted by corporate boards often amounts to little more than box-ticking to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (S-OX) Section 404. This requirement, enacted after scandals like Enron and WorldCom, has become a lucrative exercise for consulting firms but provides little real value to management or investors. Instead of addressing critical risks, these efforts often generate exhaustive lists of potential risks (as seen in typical 10-K filings), which serve as "safe harbor" statements for management rather than actionable insights. A more effective way to approach risk management is by applying the Rumsfeld Risk Matrix (as illustrated in the accompanying graphic). This matrix divides risks into four quadrants: 1.Known Knowns – Risks we are aware of and understand well enough to measure and manage. 2.Known Unknowns – Risks we recognize but do not fully understand. 3.Unknown Knowns – Risks we are unconsciously aware of but fail to identify as risks. 4.Unknown Unknowns – Risks we are entirely unaware of. The ultimate goal of risk management is to increase awareness, turning unknowns into knowns, and improving precision by addressing uncertainties. This involves identifying key risks that are not fully understood, assessing their material impact and likelihood, and investing in understanding them better. It also requires implementing systems to monitor risks that might not be obvious and to uncover entirely new risks. So how is this achieved? The answer lies in a strong strategic process. A well-designed strategy explicitly considers what must be true (WWHTBT) for success and potential derailment, addressing factors such as industry dynamics, customer behavior, organizational capabilities, competitor actions, vendor dependencies, and technological advancements. By conducting thorough internal (IFE) and external (EFE) factor evaluations, along with a comprehensive SWOT analysis, organizations can identify key risk factors, enhance awareness, and improve their ability to detect unknown risks early. This article offers valuable insights and is highly recommended for anyone interested in strategic risk management. (text revised by a LLM) https://rogermartin.medium.com/risk-management-strategy-59869afd3558

- Pedro

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Insights from Episode 1 of Boss Class: Essential Lessons on Leadership and Management

As promised a couple of months ago (see my previous note below), I’m beginning to share the key insights from each episode (7 episodes + 5 interviews) of The Economist's podcast series Boss Class. Episode 1 - "Weed it and Reap" 1-Management Over Leadership: Management includes leadership but goes beyond it to encompass planning, organizing, and controlling—all equally essential to success. 2-Leading by Example: Pep talks have limited impact outside the meeting room. True inspiration comes from leading by example. 3-Systems and Processes are Essential: Successful leadership requires setting up systems and processes, with clear rules and checkpoints to measure progress and direction. 4-Leadership Myths: Most popularized leadership traits are an idealized collection of traits selectively attributed to successful leaders of the moment. 5-Decision-Making Pitfalls: Avoid the "planning fallacy" and the fallibility of internal perspectives. Get an external view to temper optimistic projections. Kahneman’s example of curriculum development, which took seven years despite an internal projection of 1.5–2 years, highlights the importance of external perspectives. 6-Structured Decision-Making: Develop and adhere to a structured decision-making process. For more, see How to Decide by Annie Duke https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6661838603. 7-Intuition is Overrated: While intuition may feel reassuring, it often lacks accuracy. 8-Effective Meetings: a)Define the meeting's purpose clearly. b)Classify the meeting type: Decision (identify decision-maker), Input, or Awareness (if Awareness, consider an email instead). 9-Be Explicit with Your Team: a)Clarify goals. b) Outline processes, systems, and expectations. c)Communicate your personal preferences transparently. 10-Timely, Candid Feedback: Give constructive feedback promptly. For insights on managing tough conversations, see my post on https://equityriskpremium.substack.com/p/finalized-training-tackle-the-hard?r=13q5fd. 11-Maintaining Organizational Momentum: Establish routines that set and sustain the team’s pace. All this in just 30 minutes—testament to the high quality of the series. I highly recommend investing the time to listen! https://substack.com/@pedrosantospinto/note/c-65095266

- Pedro

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O-Ring Theory of Development and its importance on a company organization, HR, output & wages

Came across this economic theory by chance (on the Marginal Revolution Blog - Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok) and it was surprisingly insightful, simple and helped to structure my line of thought on the areas of: Management, Organization setup and the importance of Areas of Excellence within an organization. 

Additionally, it also explains the pay gap between excellent (A-players) and very good & below associates (B/C/D - Players).

I strongly advise you to see the video of 19 minutes that provides a great overview of this theory (so you can also understand the math).

So the O-Ring Theory of Development (Michael Kremer, 1993) is underpinned by the following assumptions:

1. Production (broad sense) depends on completing a number of tasks;
2. Failure or quality curtailment of any task reduces the entire product (weakest link problem);
3. Quantity cannot substitute quality (2 mediocre Finance Directors will not do a better job than a great Finance Director)

If you take a broad approach to this production function you have a company or even an entire economy.

Main practical deliverables of such theory:

• Quality matching - you should put your high quality workers together (preferentially allocated to the company areas of excellence, based on its value chain) and the other workers (B/C) also together, instead of mixing them up, as the results will be significantly better;
• Higher quality it will imply better results (i.e. better outputs)
• Higher outputs/results will result in better wages (macroeconomics 101) for any organization & that the function Output/Wages is not linear

• The wage distribution is severely skewed to the right and the talent distribution follows a normal distribution (that is why small incremental talent on the top decile can have a significant impact on the associates wages);

• Workers performing in high-skill firms will have higher wages than low-skill firms (look at the wage gap of tech/pharma companies compared with other industries);
• Talent attracts Talent - High quality worker will want to work with other of the same standards (virtuous cycle)
• There is an tremendous incentive to invest in skills/quality of the workers (company and and associates)
• This theory has several "equilibria", meaning that if your are surrounded by high quality workers it pays-off to invest in becoming one, but if you are within a non-high quality organization it does not pay-off to invest, as your higher potential output will be severely curtailed by the others;
• Capital will be allocated to high quality organizations or within the organization to the areas with the highest quality potential - so if you are investing within your organization make sure you have your A-team on that area.

You can think your organization is performing several activities throughout your value chain, thus applying this theory you can identify bottlenecks, linkages and complementarities and don't forget where are your areas of excellence based on the Value Proposition so you can have your A-players on it!

Ideas on solving the Pricing Puzzle - Based on a BCG article

Excellent BCG article on Pricing based on a Wealth management example, although in my opinion applicable to any industry.

What are my main conclusions:

1. Pricing (in all its dimensions) is a key component of a company strategy, not just a tactic lever one should/could use;
2. The top quartile pricing performers have significant better overall results
3. Smart pricing has 4 main components:
• Proper client segmentation (avoid broad-based segmentation on external characteristics easy to define, but on customer behavior and required service levels) ;
• Have a clear value proposition for each segment;
• Optimize the price structure for each segment
• Constantly reassess the above, making it a process and not a 1 time yearly event
• have a clear pricing strategy;
• favor quality over quantity - start small, test, pivot (if needed) and only then deploy. Each company, division, product has its own story;
• Obtain sponsorship within the organization and buy-in (quick wins are important)
• Pricing is a core strategic competence not just a tactic one within marketing
• Embrace Data Analytics - target pricing algorithms, pricing intelligence, etc
4. The Exhibit 6. is self-explanatory and is a great infographic over the key roles and responsibilities of any Pricing team.

Solving the Pricing Puzzle (aWealth management example)

Do managers add value?

The usefulness of managers

Interesting article from the Economist over the value that managers can bring into organizations, based on a study performed by Stephan Billinger and Stephen Rosenbaum*.

Based on the study:

• Managers bring value into an organization, as they promoted the collaboration within a group / achieved better results than a randomized control groups without managers;
• Manager incentives matter both for managers and for workers:
• Workers become suspicious of managers when incentives are included;
• Managers react positively to incentives, however incentives might exacerbate the agency problem and promote short-term behaviors (with the company and with its associates).

My conclusions:

• Managers within a proper framework add value to any organization;
• The incentives/rewards drive culture and behaviors, thus quintessential to a company success.

*Discretionary mechanisms and co-operation in hierarchies: An experimental study, Journal of Economic Psychology 74

Study on the reading list

Storytelling With Data

An interesting HBR video on how to put in practice storytelling with good examples, you just have to go through the first 30 seconds of the video and then it is worthwhile.
3 stages:

1. Setup
2. Conflict
3. Resolution (it does not mean to get it solved, but what was the outcome of the problem/conflict)

Afterwards, you can present your hypothesis and propose a solution

Storytelling With Data: A Good Charts Workbook Tool

How to make your arguments stronger

"...stick to their strongest points; resist the temptation to try besting others with brute force. ..."

"...it’s important to note that the delivery of your message is every bit as important as its content ..."

"...You cannot increase the quality of an argument by simply increasing the quantity of your argument ..."

James E. Schrager on GE and “the end of history”

Review: Négocier avec succès : Préparer, piloter et réussir ses négociations

Négocier avec succès : Préparer, piloter et réussir ses négociations by Maurice Hamon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cette livre m’a été recommandée pour un ami et il fut une très agréable surprise. Il aborde la thématique de la négociation seulement en 167 pages y m’a enseigné 3/4 concepts pratique y méthodes de facile utilisation pendant tout le procès de négociation.

De touts les concepts présentée je devrais souligner pour su applicabilité et pertinence los suivants:
- La grille de analyse stratégique où en un simple graph nous pouvons définie y délimiter le contexte de une négociation. Néanmoins, je croix que il serait mais visuelle si la dimension Attitudes a été réfléchi en cette grille de la façon inverse (i.e. Combatif, Diplomate, Conciliant), donc le area de négociation augmenterait dans une négociation Conciliant et Convergent, cela me semble plus adapté a la réalité et a los concepts de la géométrie;
- La grille de analyses per se où se identifie pour chacun Objectif las Position Affichée Initiales, les Point de Rupture et son Utilités (la dernière notion en effet trés important) et les graphs que quelqu’un peut dessiner,

Pour moi la principale difficulté a été le français, c'est un idiome que je ne maitrise pas, donc un obstacle tout cette exercice.


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Review: Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Easy and nice read on behavior economics (specially for non-economists), with good takeaways, insights and useful advice ...from 2/3 of the book onwards slightly repetitive as the thesis, associated concepts were already duly presented and explained.

Do recommend its reading if interested on the subject!

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Review: Thinking Strategically

Thinking Strategically by Avinash K. Dixit
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good introduction to the game theory topic (my rating would be 3.5)

You can clearly date the book based on the examples given, but nonetheless worthwhile Reading. Sometimes the cases are too simple and sometimes, in a couple of exemples, the rationale is not presented clearly that obliges the reader to go back and forth in the books pages to grasp it.

For all interested in the subject (that should be at least every economist, financier or manager), opens the door to this important topic that will allow you to make better and more informed strategic or even tactic decisions.

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