Thanks today to Ian Sanders for sharing this wonderful and rich interview with Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO of Spotify. Once again the richness of the links and conversations I find through Twitter adds to my learning and life.
It is a long read, filled with everything about how he starts his day (note, he does not start “work” until 10:30), to taking vacations, what makes effective meetings, delegation, leadership and more.
My concise summary of his approach to leadership comes down to this:
Be Intentional with Time
One of the “secret weapons” of the greatest leaders is this. First comes awareness, then clarity of purpose, vision then context, then being intentional, from that place of how you spend your time, as well as where those you lead spend theirs.
I’ve written endlessly and repeatedly about this, but this distils it.
Be Intentional with Time
Oh, and the article or even just this simple thought (as if you are really busy, you won’t click and read the whole article) resonates, then be intentional by booking a forty-minute meeting with me here.
As for me, I am truly intentional with my own time. I consciously curate my life and work, part of which is to be “always active, never busy” and that I “don’t do deadline-based work”, so there is always room in my diary to “met interesting people doing interesting things” and, through such serendipitous connections, to learn and grow continually.