Idea Surplus Disorder #105-106

Matthew Homann -

This week's edition is a rare double issue of Idea Surplus Disorder.

I was traveling last week and will be doing some client work in London next week so I've loaded you up on lots of great stuff, including: the dangers of goal-setting, and how AI might supercharge individuals while hobbling organizations, questions that make strategy work, the rise of ad hoc meetings, the death of legal training, and why every job is for the right kind of crazy person.

You’ll also find tips on how to read a book faster, write better emails, and run better meetings.

And as always, you’ll find a mix of fun finds, practical insights, and thought-provoking quotes to help you lead, live, and think more intentionally.

I'm Matt Homann, and I'm glad you're here. And I'll see you in two weeks!

Ideas + Insights

I had a wonderful conversation with Dr. Myriam Hadnes on her Workshops Work podcast. Give it a listen or watch the video.

We are living in an infinite workday:

The most valuable hours of the workday are often ruled by someone else’s agenda. Half of all meetings take place between 9–11 am and 1–3 pm—precisely when, as research shows, many people have a natural productivity spike in their day, due to their circadian rhythms. But our data reveals that we fill this time with meetings, leaving little room for deep focus. Tuesdays now carry the heaviest meeting load (23%), while Fridays taper to just 16%. Instead of deep work, these prime hours are spent cycling through a carousel of calls.

But wait, there's more:

  • 57% of meetings are ad hoc calls without a calendar invite—and 1 in 10 scheduled meetings are booked at the last minute.  
  • Large meetings (65+ attendees) are the fastest-growing type—likely a result of employees navigating increasingly complex, cross-functional teams. 
  • Nearly a third of meetings now span multiple time zones—up 35% since 2021. 
  • And in the final 10 minutes before a meeting, PowerPoint edits spike 122%—the digital equivalent of cramming before an exam. 

The best facilitators ask great questions. Here are several I'm adding to my go-to list:

  1. What one thing, as a result of what you just heard, might make the most difference in your organization if it was successfully implemented?
  2. What idea, practice, or thinking has provoked the strongest negative reaction from you so far? Why is that? What learning might be waiting for you if you explore your strong reaction a bit more?
  3. What’s the most provocative perspective or idea you’ve heard so far? What do you make of it and how might it inform your efforts?
  4. What’s the conversation you most came here to have with others? How will you ensure that happens?
  5. What do you still need to learn from this event, and how will you ensure you do so in the time remaining?

Delete these words from your writing: fine, however, unfortunately, can't, until, honestly, just, truly, very, really, and no-problem. Or you can continue to write business emails like this one:

I just wanted to let you know that the client told me that the work we've shipped so far is fine. However, we unfortunately can't move forward until we receive the updated documentation. Honestly, I just wanted to flag this because it's very important to our timeline. I truly appreciate your cooperation here, and if there's any confusion, that's no problem—we can schedule yet another quick meeting to align and make sure we're all on the same page and marching in the right direction.

AI may make us individually superhuman, but our organizations lag:

AI use that boosts individual performance does not naturally translate to improving organizational performance. To get organizational gains requires organizational innovation, rethinking incentives, processes, and even the nature of work. But the muscles for organizational innovation inside companies have atrophied.
For decades, companies have outsourced this to consultants or enterprise software vendors who develop generalized approaches that address the issues of many companies at once. That won’t work here, at least for a while.
Nobody has special information about how to best use AI at your company, or a playbook for how to integrate it into your organization. Even the major AI companies release models without knowing how they can be best used. They especially don’t know your industry, organization, or context.

Though we might also be becoming worse learners.

Is your law firm ready for AI? Short answer: "Probably not."

AI will impact all the professions, but it will hit law especially hard. This is counterintuitive since law has long been able to evade, or deflect, the full brunt of past macroeconomic upheavals. AI poses a unique, dual threat to law firms’ economic as well as training and advancement models.
Firms’ partnership model has long relied on clients to subsidize “on the job training” of young lawyers. More recently, clients have balked, even as associate hourly rates-if not realization-have continued to climb. AI will put an end to subsidized training, reduce billable hours and headcount, and deplete the bottom rung of the pyramid, the source of substantial equity partner profit.
Without the capital to invest in professional development and training programs (robust among well-capitalized consultancies like Accenture, McKinsey, Bain, and the Big Four), law firms will lack a nucleus of future leadership. In a world where professional development has become a business imperative, partnership firms will be hard pressed to attract and retain top talent, much less to convince clients the firm has a viable succession plan.

Every job is for the right kind of crazy person:

Do you want to be a surgeon? = Do you want to do the same procedure 15 times a week for the next 35 years? Do you want to be an actor? = Do you want your career to depend on having the right cheekbones? Do you want to be a wedding photographer? = Do you want to spend every Saturday night as the only sober person in a hotel ballroom?
If you think no one would answer “yes” to those questions, you’ve missed the point: almost no one would answer “yes” to those questions, and those proud few are the ones who should be surgeons, actors, and wedding photographers.

This is why Filament's strategy work focuses on questions and not answers:

A good question literally becomes its own reward, putting your brain in problem-solving mode. And who doesn't want their brain in problem-solving mode?
Questions distribute creative ownership across teams in a way answers simply can't. A great question gives everyone permission to contribute their specialised expertise toward solving a common challenge. And isn't that what we're all after? Getting everyone to actually give a shit about the strategy?

How to read a book:

Pick up a book you've been meaning to read. Set a timer for 15 minutes. First, read only the table of contents and write down what you think the main argument will be. Then, read the first and last paragraph of each chapter, jotting quick notes. Finally, flip to three random pages and read them carefully. Stand up and try to explain to an imaginary person, out loud, what this book is about and whether it's worth your time.

I can't wait to try this icebreaker:

If you could only speak by using the quotes/script from one movie, which movie would you choose?

What if companies listed their failures in their annual reports?

Another idea I found compelling was that every company, in its annual report, should also list all the things that failed. It’s not just about showcasing brilliance but fostering a culture that is honest about failure. Similarly, every nation should issue a statement of failure, acknowledging where it has fallen short

Fun Finds

Words of Wisdom

Getting fired can be good for you; you just don't want to make it a habit. – Jim Simons
Every job looks easy when you’re not the one doing it. – Jeffrey Immelt
Pessimism isn’t just more common than optimism. It also sounds smarter. It’s intellectually captivating, and it’s paid more attention than optimism, which is often viewed as being oblivious to risk. – Morgan Housel
When your identity is what you do, then what you do becomes hard to abandon, because it means quitting who you are. – Annie Duke
Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification. – Martin H. Fischer
Success requires a reasonable amount of unreasonability. Not like, "Hey, man. I'm going to jump off a building and fly without the aid of a jetpack." That's unreasonable unreasonability. Reasonable amount is just like, "You know, why not me?" – Kevin Smith
My attitude is I was never interested in going bigger. I was always interested in going deeper. That’s how I’ve conducted my career. – Bruce Springsteen
Art is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it. – Flannery O'Connor
I slept, and dreamed that life was joy; I woke, and found that life was service. I acted, and behold, service was joy. – Ellen Sturgis Hooper
If I fail, or if I succeed, at least I did as I believe. — Whitney Houston
Keep your dreams soft and malleable and flexible and porous and fun. – Tilda Swinton
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. — Henry Ford
Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you. – Saint Augustine
Your life plays out over your entire lifetime. -- Shane Melaugh
A man on a thousand-mile walk has to forget his ultimate goal and say to himself every morning, ‘Today I’m going to cover twenty-five miles and then rest up and sleep. – Tolstoy

Up Next From Filament

Every month, Filament delivers an incredible mix of free programming and professional development. You can find links to sign up for all of our upcoming events, including PlayDays, EmpowerHer, NSFW, and SuperCollider here.