Career Advice from the Founder of a $300m Company
Plus Slow Productivity from Oliver Burkeman
1. Interviewing the founder of a $300m company
Earlier this week, I set up my laptop in our living room, checked my books were turned the right way up (important), reviewed my interview notes and dialled into a Zoom call.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Peter Ohnemus, the CEO of dacadoo, a Swiss health-tech startup valued between $285—427m (Dealroom, 2019).
I won’t lie, my palms were slightly sweaty, but from the first few minutes of the conversation, it was clear this would be a fun conversation. I knew Peter had spoken at other events including the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Google Tech Talks, and I was impressed by his calm, easygoing nature, which calmed me down in turn.
The talk was on AI and its applications in insurance. It was part of a wider series of presentations for the AI Actuary Virtual Summit hosted by ProActuary and Mark Farrell and attended by over 3,600 people.
Peter’s been involved in health-tech and bio-tech for 25+ years and was the perfect candidate to speak about advances in this space.
In 2010, he founded dacadoo, a digital health company and AI-based lifestyle navigation platform. As a fitness enthusiast with a background in engineering, he wanted to see if he could build an app that could quantify a person’s health:
“You might call it your “coach”, in that it monitors physical activity, personal wellbeing, sleep quality and diet, holistically. The result is a score out of 1000 that reflects how healthy your lifestyle is, or, at least, those areas where you could improve.”
Apart from talking about his company’s vision, we traversed many topics including advances in voice AI, face scan tech, and how they handle data privacy.
Before I knew it we only had two minutes left in our interview. While his points on AI were fascinating, I had to know one last thing – what were his top three pieces of career advice?
This is what he had to say:
1/ Stay authentic
No matter your job title, whether you’re the CEO or the janitor, stay authentic. Remain approachable. Treat others with respect. Remember we all started somewhere.
2/ Take more risks
He feels people are too risk-averse. They stay in safe jobs, they stick to their routines and never get out of their comfort zones. The world needs more risk-takers and people who are willing to challenge the status quo.
3/ Always keep learning
Never rest on your laurels. He says he knows many people his age, late into their careers who stopped learning the day they got their degree. “They don’t want to learn anymore.” Either you are at the forefront of the developments in your field or you stagnate and hit a ceiling.
The wonderful thing about these tips is that they are equally valid for youngsters starting their careers and people more established in their professions.
Point #3 was the one I took to heart the most. I’ve often been caught with a false sense of security. I’ve got a degree, I’m a qualified actuary, but so are many other people. This is just entry to the game, after this you need to keep working, learning and developing.
Thanks to Peter for the interview and kudos to Mark Farrell for putting together an excellent conference.
You can catch the full recording here.
2. The 3-3-3 Technique
Oliver Burkeman, the author of Four Thousand Weeks, has done it again.
After listening to Time Management for Mortals last year, I was delighted to see his latest series on the Waking Up app, titled You Are Here.
His short, 10-minute-long chapters on “slow productivity” struck a chord. After years of pursuing productivity hacks and living for the future, Burkeman stopped over-optimizing his life and made peace with his finitude:
“Every moment of life is a “last time.” It arrives; you’ll never get it again—and once it’s passed, your remaining supply of moments will be one smaller than before. To treat all these moments solely as stepping-stones to some future moment is to demonstrate a level of obliviousness to our real situation that would be jaw-dropping if it weren’t for the fact that we all do it, all the time.”
In one of the episodes in the series, he describes how he splits up his day.
He calls it the 3-3-3 method:
Spend 3 hours on your most important project, e.g. deep work time writing the next chapter in your book.
Complete 3 smaller, more manageable tasks, e.g. emailing your tax advisor.
Invest time in 3 healthy activities or maintenance tasks, e.g. going for a run, taking out the garbage, or meditating.
The idea behind this strategy is that it’s manageable. As Burkeman says, It’s easy enough that you can hit your 3-3-3 even on bad days. On good days, you can do more.
I enjoy Burkeman’s slow productivity vibe.
It’s less intense and more sustainable than the mantras espoused by the 5AM Club, David Goggins and people who say "only amateurs wait for inspiration". Sure, maybe you’ll get more things done with the hyped-up, super-disciplined approach, but it’s never appealed to me. Where’s the joy? Where’s the space for curiosity and letting your mind wander? How long can you keep up the pace before burning out?
Since listening to the series, I’ve been more forgiving towards myself on my not-so-productive days, while enjoying the flow when my energy levels are high.
Even though I don’t follow the 3-3-3 strategy to the tee, I like that it normalizes a different definition of productivity.
An approach that recognizes the flawed, imperfect human being trying to do the best they can at this thing called life. Sometimes we are productive, other times we fall short. Over the long term, we get some stuff done. The key is to get the important stuff done while being kind to ourselves.
3. My Favourites
💬 Quote. The eloquent and funny Alan Watts on not identifying with thought (something I wrote about before).
"If you talk all the time, you will never hear what anybody else has to say, and therefore, all you'll have to talk about is your own conversation. The same is true for people who think all the time. That means, when I use the word 'think,' talking to yourself, subvocal conversation, the constant chit-chat of symbols and images and talk and words inside your skull. Now, if you do that all the time, you'll find that you've nothing to think about except thinking, and just as you have to stop talking to hear what I have to say, you have to stop thinking to find out what life is about. And the moment you stop thinking, you come into immediate contact with what Korzybski called, so delightfully, 'The Unspeakable World'."
✍️ Essay. When I fantasize about my husband’s mistress by
.What a delightful (yet heart-racing) read. 10 points for the title. Alissa’s writing continues to please and amaze. She happily goes where others don’t always dare to. It reminds me of what George Saunders said about Tolstoy. Great writers know that our minds are built on common architecture – that whatever is present in me might also be present in you. Favourite quote from the essay:
“Walking home from work one afternoon, winter still heavy in the air even as the sky has lightened, Beyoncé's remix of “Jolene” plays in my ear. She reminds me “I raised this man.” And he raised me. If we separate, any future partner has us to thank for his manhood, my womanhood.”
📚 Book. Angela’s Ashes, a memoir by Frank McCourt (1996).
It's funny, sad as hell and full of truth and heart. I couldn’t put it down. McCourt has a wonderful way with words, humour and finding silver linings in the most desperate situations. How’s this for an opening passage:
“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”
Until next time - happy creating.
— John
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John, what a great essay this week. The combination of topics was not only enjoyable but such a contribution. I’m familiar with Burkman but not the 3-3-3, and will dig into that and adopt it in my life. And then of course pairing Alissa’s terrific piece with Angela’s Ashes was perfect.
I love it when you show up in my inbox. 🙏🙏
So much savvy wisdom, always. I will never stop being honored by your readership and your articulate responses to my writing and others’ writing, John. If the book jacket ever materializes for me, I would love your words on it ;)