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Every two weeks, I share my writing about investing, career transitions, parenting, and other topics that engage me. I'm just trying to figure stuff out.

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Good Friction

Saturday morning I spent a few hours writing a different essay.

The first version explored the tension between good and bad friction within a fast-moving startup. Then, on Sunday, the essay took a different turn. More on that later, but first, a bit more on friction.

In the physical world, friction is a negative force that creates resistance as one object moves against another. Friction slows things down.

In business, friction is usually bad, especially at an early-stage startup. A few clear examples of bad friction are pointless meetings, office politics, and manual processes.

You may know that bad things happen to startups that can’t grow quickly; they lose employees, disappoint investors, run out of money, and cease to exist. Really bad things.

Not only does friction slow you down, but people who work at startups also tend to be the type of people who hate bureaucracy. If you add too much structure, you’ll frustrate and risk demotivating your team, which you can’t afford to do.

The natural desire is to eliminate anything that slows velocity. But it’s not that simple.

There’s also a good kind of friction. Good friction is an intentional break in the action designed to force discussion, reflection, and improvement. Without good friction, you might run really fast, but in the wrong direction.

It’s counterintuitive, but good friction can slow you down and accelerate growth.

I’ve been grappling with the idea of good and bad friction recently.

At Circa, where I've worked since March of '22, we expect significant growth over the coming months, so we’re working hard now to prepare. Our leadership team is thinking carefully about how to scale flexibly while avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy.

For example, last year we launched an OKR process to guide our strategy and execution. While this effort may seem like overkill for a small startup, it’s provided a valuable framework to plan and review our results. The focused exchanges in these meetings may not be urgent, but a clear objective with measurable key results is certainly important. And the process ensures we revisit this discussion at a regular cadence and in a structured format.

So, there's good friction and bad friction. Like most things, it takes judgment, wisdom, and a bit of trial and error to know which is which. And that’s what I’m trying to work through with the support of Circa’s team.

And this leads me back to why you’re reading a different essay than the first version I wrote on Saturday.

On Sunday, I opened my laptop, eager to edit my masterpiece on friction. I was primed to distill the essence of my unique take on this idea in a tight draft, refined especially for you, dear reader.

But before I started, I checked my email (always a mistake), and my eye landed on the latest newsletter from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Apparently, the day after I wrote my first draft of this essay, the Stanford newsletter included this summary: "When Company Friction is a Good Thing” right up top.

At first, my heart sank. I couldn’t believe someone (with a lot more street cred) had written about a very similar idea in the same week.

The article referenced in the newsletter summarized a podcast interview with Bob Sutton, a Stanford GSB professor. He also has a book coming out in a few weeks called The Friction Project. And then there’s the course…

Heads up. Apparently, friction is about to blow up.

So, while I felt deflated at first, I thought about it a bit more.

Professor Sutton no doubt has much to offer on this topic, but one writer’s perspective is hardly the last word on any idea. I’ll gladly glean his insights and apply them to my situation.

Remember, the whole point of good friction is to force opportunities for deeper thought and reflection. And that’s when I remembered that writing this newsletter plays exactly that role in my life.

So, I went back to the original essay and reworked the piece into what you’re (hopefully still) reading now. It took a bit more work, but I feel like I understand the idea better as a result.

Consider this effort a meta case of good friction.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be working hard with the Circa team to reduce bad friction. And we’ll also find opportunities to add some good friction, too.

Writing. Honest conversation. Soliciting different views. Creative thinking.

That stuff is not just good friction, it’s the best kind of friction.

Other Stuff

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years Thanks to my dear friend R for recommending this book by Donald Miller. The book describes how the author learned the principles of storytelling and applied them to his own life. It's a mix of autobiography, self-help, and storytelling theory. The key message is that everyone can choose to live a good story.

​Read the book​

Why Career Planning in High School is More Important Than Ever Brian Besecker is doing important work helping high school students build "career literacy." Brian launched Path Spark this year. My 16-year-old daughter, a high school junior, recently started with PathSpark and loves it. Through the guided program, she's learning more about a wide range of potential careers to explore based on her interests. If you know someone who might benefit, contact Brian at PathSpark. There's nothing in it for me other than an interest in supporting Brian's good idea.

​Link to PathSpark​

Steven Pressfield: Every Story Needs a Villain | How I Write Podcast David Perell's interview extracted some wonderful nuggets across a wide range of topics, including Pressfield's writing process, identifying the villain in every story, and saying no.

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​Listen to the podcast (1 hr 26 mins)

And a Farewell Photo...