No matter where you work, it’s difficult to focus on the future when you’re fighting fires every day. This quote, from an Inc. magazine interview with Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson, holds a good lesson for startups and established companies alike:
By the summer of 2009, we were losing our minds; the site was blowing up every day. I started a small group of the best engineers, and I called it the Breakfast Club. I said, ‘I know you don’t like to get up early, but I want you to come here for breakfast three days a week, and we’re going to talk about the future only, nothing about what’s going on. We’re going to build the Etsy future.’
Hannah Steiman 