A Billion Dollars Isn't Gratifying. You Know What's Gratifying? Helping Humanity Thrive.

My business partner Dustin Moskovitz and I have been astoundingly fortunate: after helping build Facebook, we have more than enough money to provide for ourselves and our families for the rest of our lives. Instead of retiring on a beach, we're building another company called Asana. Some people ask us why we're still working so hard. The answer is that, for us, building technology was never about personal wealth in the first place. Work is a way to contribute to making the world a better place. Facebook was always about making the world more open and connected. And now Asana is, to our knowledge, the best contribution we are capable of making.

In my experience, contributing to the world is vastly more important than wealth, even to my personal happiness.

Dustin and I started Asana in 2009 because we saw a huge untapped opportunity to help humanity thrive -- by using technology to radically improve the ability for teams to work together with less effort.

Asana builds software that enables teamwork without email. Philanthropy probably conjures images of non-profits and soup kitchens, not communication software. But at Asana, we are making work less painful, which not only improves people's lives at work, but also empowers those teams to make their greatest contributions to the world.

Because let's face it: in general, working in teams sucks. McKinsey reports that knowledge workers spend 30% of work time on email alone, and another 20% hunting down information that someone else at their company already knows. That means over half our jobs isn't even real work; it's the soul-sucking work about work. Despite endless meetings and status updates, confusion is rampant in most workplaces. What are all the steps left on this project? Who has the ball on what? Lack of clarity leads to stress, duplicated effort, and an often depressing inability to achieve teams' initially-exciting goals.

Most people assume it has to be this way. But we don't agree. Some of these problems are of leadership and culture (which is why Asana has a team devoted to publishing the best lessons on how to achieve great teamwork). But a lot of these problems are of communication technology -- email's just too disorganized.

We built Asana because we believe humanity deserves better than email. We're excited that teams that transition from email to Asana tell us they feel more calm, clear, and effective.

But what's most exciting is to see teams do great things with these new coordination powers. We get to help Airbnb revolutionize travel, Uber revolutionize transportation, and Quora share the world's knowledge, to name a few famous examples.

But we also get to help less famous organizations help humanity thrive. Nyaya Health provides health care to Nepal's rural poor. It's a complex operation: hundreds of volunteers across two continents. We're thrilled with how Asana has impacted the quantity and quality of care they can provide. Their CEO sends us photos of children who would otherwise still be sick, if not for Nyaya's improved teamwork communication.

There are so many vital and exciting projects that teams of people are working on. Frankly, I wish we could work on all of them. I'd love to connect people through software, find the cure for cancer, solve global warming, make government more efficient, and create art. While I can't do all of these things at once, Asana provides the opportunity to play a role in each of them. Because no matter what mission in the world you think is important, it takes a team to make it happen. I hope that by helping all teams achieve their goals, Asana can play a meaningful role in helping humanity thrive.

The things that money can buy haven't contributed a fraction as much to my happiness as the satisfaction I experience from contributing to the world. If you work in any kind of organization, I hope that Asana will not only make your job suck less, but that it helps your team make its greatest contributions to the world, that you do great things, and that you enjoy the satisfaction of helping humanity thrive.

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The Number One Mistake Managers Make

We enter this world as children and to stay alive and thriving we ingest, more like absorb the environment of our birth. Whatever we experience is all there is and we take it in without conditions. And that’s our first experience of authority, an authority that knows how to keep us alive because we cannot do that for ourselves.

 Another aspect of those early years is that we spend a great deal of time looking up at those who are taller than we are. And we learn to follow; not necessarily by choice but by default. We unconsciously accept them as guides and leaders and we give our allegiance to them: again not by choice but by default. That’s a condition of being alive on this earth. We are new. We need to learn. If we don’t we likely don’t do well or may even die.

 Our task is to conform, albeit with occasional resistance and perhaps rebellion. We comply and act in accordance with what is deemed appropriate. We do as we are told. We take the lessons we are given even to the point of imitation.

 In conforming, complying, and imitating---all of the behaviors that merge us with our surroundings and are described as learning to develop ourselves---we go way beyond just taking all of that in. In fact we become it. We are an expression of all that’s come before.

And You Become a Manager

And then some of us, you for example, become employed and because of your abilities you are elevated into the role of being a manager and suddenly, and in almost all cases without preparation or training, you are the one people look up to. Not physically but psychically. You are the authority.

You may have learned management techniques from a book or a program. You may have been mentored by someone who has managed for a while and can “show you the ropes.” But those ropes are most often technical, external-facing. They are concepts about communication and org structures, company policy and, if you’re lucky, company politics. But the most important element of being a good or even great manager has been overlooked. That is helping you assume, own, and be comfortable with being the authority.

All of your life, and largely unconsciously, you’ve viewed authority as something outside of you. Why not? That’s what it’s been. Until you found yourself in a situation of management there was never any reason to question the locus of authority: that is, outside of you.

As a manager you are an authority managing people who are unconsciously still looking outward for the source of command, the source of direction and guidance, wisdom and power. And if you haven’t recognized your new state of being and haven’t acknowledged your new emotional status you may be still operating from your own unconscious orientation of looking outside yourself for that someone you can, if not must, follow.

If so you are now a member of a group of people all of which are unconsciously looking around for the leader. And that includes you. Is it any wonder why management can be so hard?

The number one mistake managers make---and since it is fundamentally unconscious it’s important to be compassionate with ourselves and each other---is to not become aware of, integrate, accept, and own your own authority.

What Does This Mean?

1 --- Place the locus of authority within yourself and create yourself as a new identity. This does not mean you have to be alone. You can confer with other managerial colleagues and share your internal experiences. Express what you need so you can build and grow your own sense of authority.

2 --- Think through what authority means to you. After all you are the one who has to live your version of it. What do you want your authority to look like, to feel like, and the emotional impact you want to have. Because no matter how you exercise your authority you will have an emotional impact. It’s important to monitor the outcomes of your behaviors, that is how people relate to you and follow you.

3 --- Many managers have difficulty accepting the fact that people will follow them and they are uncomfortable with that idea. You can’t get around that fact. As an authority you are a leader. It’s important that you be at home with being a leader with followers. Once again it is a shift from looking up to being the one people are looking up to. This does not mean you can’t learn from those who are more advanced and more experienced. But when you operate from your own authority you will not be conforming or complying but learning, integrating, and developing your interpretation, your expression of doing what you’re learning about being a manager, a leader, an authority.

4 --- Moving from looking up to being looked up to is a shift in identity, a transformation of who you are---not just as a professional but who you are in your own soul. As you make this change you will see and relate to the world in ways you have not yet imagined. Discoveries will happen, not because you are exploring new landscapes, which will also be true, but because, as Marcel Proust so elegantly said, “you will be seeing with new eyes.”

Jim Sniechowski has published his first novel, Worship of Hollow Gods, at Amazon.com. In Worship of Hollow Gods Jim bears witness to the world of a sensitive, nine-year-old boy, subjected to the underbelly of his Polish Catholic family in working class Detroit. The year is 1950. The family gathers for a Friday night family poker/pinochle party. The outcome reveals a world no one ever talked about then and are forbidden to talk about now---the unspoken, the impermissible, the reality beneath every family’s practiced facade---and what lies beneath when the front has been ripped away. Worship of Hollow Gods is available now in Kindle and paperback for at http://tinyurl.com/hollowgods

James Sniechowski, PhD and his wife Judith Sherven, PhD http://JudithandJim.com have developed a penetrating perspective on people’s resistance to success, which they call The Fear of Being Fabulous. Recognizing the power of unconscious programming to always outweigh conscious desires, they assert that no one is ever failing. They are always succeeding.

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The Definitive Professional Publishing Platform@@

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The valuable Influencer posts and the wide range of professional content from millions of publishers that we currently aggregate on LinkedIn are powerful, but only the tip of the iceberg. Combined, our members have extremely valuable and varied experiences; however, their knowledge and expertise has not yet been captured and shared.Starting today, LinkedIn is opening up our publishing platform to our members, giving them a powerful new way to build their professional brand. When a member publishes a post on LinkedIn, their original content becomes part of their professional profile, is shared with their trusted network and has the ability to reach the largest group of professionals ever assembled. Now members have the ability to follow other members that are not in their network and build their own group of followers. Members can continue to share their expertise by posting photos, images, videos and their original presentations on SlideShare.

Social Media Is Turning Into A Sales Driver – Which Platforms Work? – Infographic@@

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— Armida Colarina (@dhangcalacday79) March 15, 2014

Over the past years I have always claimed that social media should be a sales driver. When I started doing so, I received a lot of heat from the “experts”. Then, the common opinion was, social media is good for brand awareness and other more or less unmeasurable marketing activities. Especially big brands had, and still have, major problems to determine ROI’s in their activity on social. There is no doubt that social media is good for brand awareness and even for the activities that are “unmeasurable”, however, lots of marketing dollars have been spent, and still are, for a lot of hot air. Now, more and more, social media is turning into a sales driver. However, many business owners still have many questions on how to increase sales on social media. Which platform is best? How to approach it and a few others are on the plate every day. Shopify has created this infographic to show which social platforms are driving the most sales. Have a look and find out which platform might work for you.

How LinkedIn Works: The Ecosystem – Infographic@@

The Ecosystem of LinkedIn includes how LinkedIn works and what you should really know. What’s the difference between endorsement and recommendation? What about job search, personal or company profile, groups and connections? Below is the infographic that will simplify LinkedIn for you. Are you an employee or business owner? If so, you should have a profile on LinkedIn. Enjoy.

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— Armida Colarina (@dhangcalacday79) March 15, 2014

Infographic: In 2014, content is the emperor@@

Content marketing is no longer king—now, it’s the emperor. Content is the no. 1 digital marketing trend to watch in 2014, and this infographic from InfoGraphic Design Team (via AllTwitter) does a great job explaining exactly why. Two significant changes in Google’s search algorithm (remember when we explained Hummingbird?) will continue to make creating outstanding content the spoke in the wheel of your digital marketing strategy this year. What other digital trends do you need to make sure your team stays on top of? The SEO value of your social footprint, understanding the importance of quality images and, of course, mobile. Can we say it again? Mobile will only continue to grow and is a major driver of your omni-channel strategy. And B2B marketers take note: These trends apply to you, too. As Bryan Kramer so famously put it in his slogan that went viral early this year, “there is no more B2B or B2C, there is only human to human (H2H).”

The Best Advice: Don’t Confuse Productivity with Work@@

One afternoon a co-worker and I sat mulling over the opportunities for growth and improvement that we had the ability to pursue in our respective roles in finance and marketing of the organization where we worked. As we spun dreams of “what could be” we talked about how pursuit of those dreams would lead to tangible gains for the business.

We talked about how it would be to work in an organization that – just by fulfilling its mission – made the greater community better. We talked about the benefits that change could bring about for both the employees and customers of the organization. We envisioned just how big it could become.

After the better part of an hour had passed, I stood and said regretfully, “This is great, but I should really get back to work.” She looked up at me and said these memorable words; “Don’t confuse productivity with work.”

"Dream no small dreams, for they have no power to move the hearts of men."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Dreaming the dreams we dream for what our businesses can become – envisioning how to transform our organizations into the best versions of themselves – this is how an organization goes from ordinary to extraordinary. It’s just as much part of the work of building a business as are the tasks we must do to keep the doors open, the register ringing, the web traffic moving, the pipeline filling and the sales selling.

Even the act of sharing the possibilities with one another was important. It made the dream grow in proportion and yet seem more reachable, all at the same time, because we both saw how it was possible.

Without the dreams, minus the vision, productivity is just so much work.

Your business is more than the tasks that need to be completed today, this week, this month, this quarter, this semester, this season, this year. Sure, tasks have to get done, but equally important is that the mission and vision of your business get done in the process!