Philadelphia's Process?

For three years Sam Hinkie was the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers. The team's on-the-court performance was terrible. That was okay, it was all part of a plan.

Dubbed 'The Process' by outsiders, Hinkie accumulated talented young players through the draft, signed future contracts with international players, and created a good culture in Philadelphia. 

Hinkie lost his job over this, but I think he was right. Not only that, I think we can learn from him. Hinkie's  came from the world of investing but the ideas have been and can be applied in many different domains. 

There were four BIG IDEAS with substantial evidence. 

• If you want to succeed beyond your peers you have to be different from your peers. This requires the skill and persistence to see things other miss, do things others won't, focus on long-term goals, argue well, and get comfortable with discomfort. 
  

• Focus only on the Most Important Things (MITs). Charlie Munger provides us with a model to act on things that bring more value than others and avoid the biases that confuse us.

• Have good productivity hygiene. To be different (#1) and focus on the MITs (#2) you have to be effective. Effectiveness is increased by delivering more value in less time. 

• Build good relationships. Relationships are like the wind. Good ones will push you forward, poor ones can push you back.

The suggested price is $5, but this is offered as a pay-what-you-want download. 

I start off the document quoting Theodore Levitt, "People don't want quarter-inch bits, wrote they want quarter-inch holes." That's a reminder to both me as the author and you as the reader that the value isn't the thing but the results that come from it. This is short; 11,000 words on 32 pages. The MP3 is less than an hour long. That's intentional.