Wes Kao — Blog

How to get an enthusiastic yes: A framework and exercise

You and I rarely have enough leverage to get something done all by ourselves.

I know, I know. Sometimes, it would be a lot easier if you could use your sheer willpower to push things through. (Believe me, I’ve tried.) But the reality is, we live in an interconnected world and we need other people's cooperation to make change happen.

Having cooperation and support from stakeholders is a game-changer. It means more momentum for your project. More confidence and speed. More energy spent doing great work you're proud of. And a lot less worrying.

How to attract high performers

Competing to get high performers on your team can make or break your growth. To gain an edge, shift from a passive approach to actively marketing and selling why a role will help a high performer become even stronger.

"Is this making me smarter?"

Here’s a litmus test for whether you should continue reading (or scrolling or watching a video).

Leveling upWes KaoJanuary 18, 2019Levelling up, Rigorous thinking

Unconventional career paths and taking risks [PermissionLESS podcast]

You might think your career arc should be a straight upward line. Maybe you’ve noticed by now it’s more of a non-linear squiggle.

I used to have a strict plan for what I wanted to do in my career and how it would look. Over the years, though, I’ve changed my thinking of what it means to take risk. It’s opened the door for lots of opportunities I never would have found otherwise.

Leveling upWes KaoDecember 12, 2018Podcast, Career advice, Levelling up

A framework for ignoring sunk costs: "New situation, new decision"

Ah, sunk costs. We all know we should ignore them. It's harder said than done, like most things in life.

I want to share a framework/mental model I've found helpful to think differently about sunk costs:

It's called: "new situation, new decision."

Leveling upWes KaoDecember 12, 2018Framework, Sunk costs, Levelling up

Why you should use bad grammar—and stop being a stickler about useless things

Influence and PersuasionWes KaoNovember 19, 2018Leadership and Management

Rigorous thinking: No lazy thinking

If you're a leader, you got to where you are because you think strategically and are killer at execution. You simply can't get very far without being good at both.

Now that you're in charge of people, though, your ability to increase impact depends on how well you manage OTHER people. You need your team to become smarter, sharper A-players.

Unfortunately, sometimes smart people (like you) accidentally traumatize their teams...

Leadership and ManagementWes KaoNovember 12, 2018Rigorous thinking, Leadership and Management, Experiments

How to design engagement triggers for your new community

Increasing engagement is a big deal for most startups and brands. You might have a presence on a channel—Instagram, Facebook, Slack, email, or your own internal platform—but do people want to show up?

The more engaged people are, the stickier your product is, and the more reason they want to stay. The longer a customer stays, the more chances you have to ultimately make a sale. But without a strategy for increasing engagement, digital communities can easily fizzle out. This leaves you panicking for ways to get people to come back, which is not a fun spot to be in.

If you're a co-founders or marketer, here are the key elements of maintaining (and growing) community participation.

Leadership and ManagementWes KaoNovember 4, 2018Leadership and Management, Engagement, Community, Product

How to upgrade your career with marketing strategies [YouTube]

I want to share a Facebook Live recording I did recently that might be relevant if you want to increase your personal credibility.

What we’ll cover:

Why it's a mistake to save your questions until the end of an interview
How to use marketing concepts (FOMO, turning bugs into features, social proof) to get people excited about your ideas
How to even out the power dynamic during an interview

MarketingWes KaoOctober 27, 2018Marketing

How to grow a community from 0 to 2,000+ active alumni

Digital communities... Everyone seems to be talking about them.

At the altMBA, I had the privilege of building our community from scratch to 2,000+ alumni. You might have read that a community can increase engagement, build a moat around your product, and lower your cost of customer acquisition over time. All of that can be true.

You might be thinking, I'm sold. Can I skip the strategy and go straight to building my community? I want to start sending out Slack invites!

But wait:

First, having a Slack room does not equal a community. (That’s a topic for another post...) Second, you can skip straight to execution, but you might end up building the wrong thing. You could invest several months and thousands of dollars into a digital community that no one wants to be part of.

Leadership and ManagementWes KaoOctober 16, 2018Leadership and Management, Product, Community