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Luca Dellanna

on human behavior, management, and economics

I increase revenue through better people management.

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Featured Post

Winning Long-Term Games [Luca's new book] + launch day limited edition

My new book just got published! (paperback / ebook). "Gem upon gem of insight [...] a must-read [...] for all those who plan on being successful and who take the goal of achieving that success with the deadly, focused, and unwavering seriousness it deserves." – Guy Spier (who wrote the preface) The book is available on Amazon, on my online store, on Apple / Google books, Barnes & Noble, and some other major retailers. Only today, the limited edition If you purchase from Amazon the paperback...

5 days ago • 1 min read

In today's issue: – My interview with Molson Hart, Viahart CEO – The "Contribution Ladder" exercise The "Contribution Ladder" exercise Imagine you watched for 60 seconds some Starbucks baristas doing their job. Then, imagine being asked to list all the output of their job. What would you list? Some managers might list the number of coffees made. That’s the first step of the contribution ladder. If you only mention this, you might get higher measurable production, but without good quality or...

15 days ago • 1 min read

In today’s issue: “The education of fast learners:” Why schools and companies should not neglect their highest performers. All my books look more modern now! Professional typesetting and other improvements. The education of fast learners “If a school does not provide challenging, meaningful material to [the faster-learning kids], it is failing in exactly the same sense as when it does not provide appropriate, meaningful material for the students in the other groups. As of right now, those...

30 days ago • 2 min read

Mentorship programs Many mentorship programs are ineffective. This often happens when neither the mentor nor the mentee knows what to discuss during mentorship meetings. My solution: a simple checklist of 6 ways in which the mentor can help the mentee – to be printed and kept in front of both people during the meeting. Here is a short video (3m30) where I discuss the checklist, below it a picture of the checklist, and here a link to download it as a PDF. Download the checklist Of course, if...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

My new podcast I'm glad to announce that I started a podcast, and the first episode is ready! You can get a teaser in the video below, and watch the full episode and transcript here (or on your favorite podcast apps). That was a 30-seconds teaser; watch the full episode here. Since this is the first podcast episode I publish, and more are to come soon, if you have any feedback or suggestion, please let me know by replying to this email. One-on-one delegation I've just concluded a series of...

2 months ago • 1 min read

In today's edition: – AI & skin in the game (new essay) – Managing Hybrid & Remote Teams (new publishing) – Quotes & Tweets AI & Skin in the game Societies are built upon skin in the game. When people have skin in the game (especially decision-makers and "influencers"), societies thrive, and when they do not, they collapse. As Taleb explained in his homonymous book, skin in the game is not just shared incentives, but a filtering mechanism. Fines incentivize drivers not to break speed limits...

2 months ago • 1 min read

Clarity enables freedom Some managers are not explicit about what they want because they do not want to “limit” the delegee’s freedom. But from the point of view of the delegee, their manager not mentioning boundaries doesn’t mean they do not exist. It means they have to guess where they are – and guessing is tiring, time-consuming, and anxiety-inducing. Therefore, great managers draw clear boxes for their employees to feel free within. They describe what they want and what they don’t want,...

3 months ago • 1 min read

In this edition: – Ethics studies (new essay) – Effective delegation workshops – A revamped list of all my essays Ethics studies At Columbia University, most condemnation of Hamas' 7th of October attack came from STEM students, whereas most support for Hamas came from the Humanities (source). As a Twitter user noted, "The really funny thing about academics doing the 'we need humanities to combat fascism' narrative is that in actual Nazi Germany humanities academics and students were often...

3 months ago • 3 min read

Hole-In-Three management Many managers consider management to be a Hole-In-One game. A Hole-In-One game is a game where participants try to win as soon as possible and make no progress in case of a loss. Conversely, a Hole-In-Three game is a game where participants choose their strategy to optimize their chances of succeeding in three attempts. The point of the first and second attempts is not to win but to create progress so that the third shot is almost certain to win. Managers who consider...

3 months ago • 2 min read

In today's issue: Agency is trainable (new blog post) New podcast episode with The Art Of Quality. The Twitter Magazine, a new experiment of mine Tweets & Quotes Agency is trainable (read this as a blog post) High-agency people get things done, even in the presence of obstacles and unknowns. They constantly look for a way forward and own their mistakes and outcomes. Conversely, low-agency people follow the default path. When faced with an obstacle, they wait to be told what to do. Because...

3 months ago • 4 min read
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