Hello friends,

Greetings from Utrecht!

I think this might be the first time I'm sending the newsletter on a Friday. Sometimes life happens, and that's ok.

Today I'm sharing the core principles that underlie my approach to business coaching. This, together with the concept of the Three Arenas, makes up the foundation of my coaching method.

Next week is GDC, and while I won't be there, I'll be rooting for you if you do make the pilgrimage to San Francisco. You're a better person than I am, and my thoughts and prayers are with you.

My first event of the year will be Reboot in April, for which I'm currently preparing my talk. The maxim at most events this year seems to be to "survive to '25", and my talk will dive deeper into this topic, discussing what that actually means, and how a studio might go about it.

I promise I'll figure out a way to make it fun.

Today at a glance:

Essay: The Triforce of Business Management
The 7 Paths to Power in Games
Celebrating a client win
How to speak

The Triforce of Business Management

The Triforce plays a big role in the Zelda series.

It represents the unity of Power, Courage and Wisdom, all of which are necessary for the forces of good to triumph over evil.

In business, there is a similar set of principles that is needed to overcome the forces of... well, not evil, but mediocrity.

Let's call this the Triforce of Business Management.

It's principles are as follows:

Focus
Alignment
Accountability

If you design your organization with these principles in mind, you are all but guaranteed to get better, and more successful, over time.

Let me explain.

Focus

It all starts with Focus.

A focus on the things that matter, and a ruthless aversion to the things that don't.

Because people tend to be naturally distracted, and even more so over time, applying focus is something that needs to be a core part of your way of working.

You need to define a vision and goals for the company, so that people can make better decisions about the steps that will get you closer, and the steps that will take you off track.

In defining the company focus, you create the frame within which people will move.

Remember: Your team can't help you if they don't know where they're going, or what they're supposed to be doing to move the needle

Alignment

When you've defined your focus, you can move on to alignment.

We've all seen it, and wondered how it could happen:

Companies where whole departments fend for themselves, protecting their own interests, often at the expense of other departments, and the company as a whole.

If you make sure everyone is aligned towards your goals, you won't have this problem.

You want to make sure that people have the same idea of where they're going, so that they're all moving in the right direction.

You want every person, each department, all the different elements in your business, to support each other.

And if you're really serious about your success, you want each element to strengthen the others, creating a whole that is more than its parts.

Accountability

Applying focus and alignment is already more than most companies are doing.

To really bring it home, you have to create a culture of accountability.

Without accountability, companies start drifting.

They focus on work-in-progress instead of achieving goals.

And when things go wrong, they blame each other.

So you want people to be accountable, and to keep each other accountable.

This way, you'll hit more of your goals, and you can have more constructive conversations when you don't.

You either win, or you learn.

Apply these principles in your company, and you'll be lightyears ahead of the competition.

It sounds simple, but it's far from easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Of course, making this easy is exactly what I help companies with.

I'll share more details about my method in a future newsletter, but for now I'm curious:

How do you create focus, alignment and accountability in your company?

If you liked this essay, the best way to help me is to give it some love on LinkedIn by liking it or reposting it to share with your network.

The Best Bits

The 7 Paths to Power in Games: F4 Fund manager David Kaye wrote this insightful blog post about the 7 powers a company can have, and how you can use them to think about your company's future success. Oh, and raise money in the progress by wowing investors with your strategical prowess.

Celebrating a client win: One of my clients, the incomparable Monobanda , shared two bits of wonderful news from SXSW. First, they somehow managed to snag Ahsoka T-- I mean, Rosario Dawson, as the narrator for their new VR experience Soul Paint. And immediately after, they won the Special Jury Award (listed here as Sarah Ticho and Niki Smit). My inner nerd is so, so proud.

How to speak: As I'm prepping for my talk at Reboot, I'm revisiting this fantastic video from MIT about public speaking. You could probably watch this 10 times and still come out with new insights and applications for what is shared here.

See you in two weeks!

Martijn