Understanding Meta Strategies
A craftsman is only as powerful as the quality of the tools he uses to build. Similarly, in our work and our lives, we are only as powerful as the robustness of the mental frameworks we use to solve our problems.
I have worked as a tutor, coach, mentor, and recruiter, so not only have I been teaching and problem solving for a long time myself, but I also have the opportunity to pick the brains of my coworkers and candidates on how they approach the problems in their work. One of the things that has been very surprising to me among the candidates I speak with is a lack of clearly defined basic strategies for many of the basic skills we all use every day.
For example, I often ask candidates to walk me through their approach to their work; what steps are essential to success and what are the best practices? I ask them to dive deep on how they approach effective communication, organization, or problem solving. I am often floored by the lack of clarity around their answers. Most can give a handful of examples of what something like good communication looks like (respond to emails promptly), but rarely can they articulate the underlying principles or philosophies necessary for execution at the highest level (understand how the person you are communicating with likes to communicate to better adapt to their style).
This is a grave injustice. No matter your occupation, we all have to communicate, organize, and solve problems. And you would have thought that by now, the best practices for these basic skills would have been established, honed, and taught in every school. That graduates coming out of college would be able to clearly define the principles and philosophy for all the basic skills we all use every day.
Don’t get me wrong, that knowledge is out there. For example, take “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Written in 1936, still in print today, and widely recommended in the business work among any client facing roles, Carnegie’s book clearly defines and teaches the basic principles behind communication and relationship building. But unfortunately, while many I talk to say they have heard of the book, about one in ten sales candidates that I interview have actually read it.
So what is standing in the way of broad distribution of these best practices and powerful mental frameworks? Well, I could write a whole article on that. Lack of desire to learn as can be understood through the Dunning Kruger Effect, a college system that is no longer incentivized to teach, but prodive extended adolescence and put generations in crippling debt, and a lot of noise in common information channels from pseudo intellectuals peddling empty platitudes. But the main problem I wish to address is the lack of succinct, articulate, and powerfully conveyed information teaching these powerful mental frameworks.
My goal with Meta Strategies is not to lay claim to discovery of these ideas, but to capture and clearly convey the wisdom I have learned from great minds before me, the talented professionals I have had the privilege to work with, and my own limited experience. My meta strategy articles are meant to be comprehensive but concise. Something you could read in ten minutes and walk away with a clear understanding of the principles behind our most important skill sets and how to apply them in your everyday work and life.
Many have had to learn the hard way, after college, on the job, how to solve the problems of their work effectively, but it doesn’t have to be this way. We have the opportunity to set the next generation up for success by giving them the most powerful and universal tools they need to be successful in their work. The goal of my webpage is the distribution of knowledge. Meta Strategies is my effort to share these powerful universal frameworks in a way I think is concise, clear, and understandable.
