š Earlywork #63: Why Your Dog Could Be Your Secret Career Mentor
How Harikesh Pushpapathan (Stoic VC) levelled up his thinking by learning from his German Shepherd
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Coming at you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed isĀ Earlywork #63, a weekly cheeky newsletter sent every Tuesday that provides free resources + interviews on the careers of tomorrow, for 4K+ young Aussies & Kiwis in the tech, startup & social impact landscape.
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Where did you learn the formative mental models of your career?
The most common answers I hear among folks in the startup world are: learning by doing, lessons from great articles & books, advice from mentors, and career conversations with friends.
One answer I had not heard until a few weeks ago: pets.
So when Harikesh Pushpapathan (Deep Tech @ Stoic VC), approached me about an idea for a newsletter on the lessons he learned from his dog, and how they relate to his work, I was a little shook.
After seeing his insights, it made me zoom out on the scope of experiences that shaped how I learn, think & work, from starting a subreddit in high school, to writing songs in a rock band, to managing a social soccer club.
At the core of creativity, weāre ultimately forming links between seemingly disparate pieces of information in the brain.
Take the words of philosopher Albert Camus, the second-youngest winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and leading thinker in the rise of absurdist philosophy:
āAll that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football.ā
It may same paradoxical, but our most useful principles in a given domain often occur well outside that domain.
So when it comes to career learning, the most valuable lessons often lie well beyond the workplace.
Harikeshās story below is a fantastic & entertaining exampleā¦
āLearning follows you wherever youĀ goā
Literally.
Aside from the many regrets Iāve amassed across my twenty-odd years, nothing has proved more difficult to shake off than my 50kg German Shepherd, Koda.
In the rare moments where heās not ambling behind me or running laps around my toes, Kodaās either eating, sleeping, or distracted by a ānew thingā.
Little makes his pupils dilate more than a fresh five dollar, multi-coloured ball from Petbarn.
The irony is, Koda has been exponential to my growth over the past four years, and it seems that as long as he never stops following, my learning wonāt either.Ā
Here are the four most important lessons Iāve learnt from Koda thus far and how itās radically elevated my thinking.
1. Be more inquisitive than the day before. š§
Youāve probably seen this tagline regurgitated a thousand times on your LinkedIn feed, but curiosity is needed for both productive and efficient learning.
So how do you break down curiosity? Hereās the formula I use:
Curiosity = Desire for Knowledge + Reducing uncertainty
Desire for KnowledgeĀ š
Everyone possesses an innate desire for knowledge, but itās the extent of that desire which seems to dictate how much we grow over time.
Every time I call his name, Koda emerges out of a different spot. Heās always in discovery mode, always panting.
At the heart of this is reward circuits: pathways in the brain responsible for mediating incentive learning. Letās break down what the f*ck this means:
When you ingest new information, information recognised as ārewardingā, the pleasure hormone in your body dopamine is released within the brain.
This in turn tells us that repeating the same behaviour will unlock pleasureā, so we do it again and again.
However, the desire will stagnate if what you ingest doesnāt align with what you find rewarding. So find your sweet spot, and the desire will propagate.
Desire for Reducing Uncertainty š
The only way to overcome uncertainty is to both anticipate and seek it.
Dogs are wired this way by evolutionary adaptation, primarily in their sense of smell. On average, they possess up to 350 million olfactory receptors in their noses, which is almost six times that of a humanās, and the area of a dogās brain devoted to olfaction (smell) is forty times greater than ours.
The point is, Koda has been wired to reduce uncertainty every day, simply because his nose says so.
Any foreign acute smell justifies an opportunity to learn, and an opportunity he wonāt think twice about.
As humans, tackling uncertainty is perhaps a bit scarier, but building a muscle to be comfortable navigating ambiguity is a valuable asset.
2. You canāt outsource empathy. Work onĀ it. ā¤ļøāš©¹
To deeply understand others is a difficult task, but I wouldnāt say the same for dogs, especially Koda.
Over the past couple of months, Iāve been in and out of hospital and itās meant a lot of disgruntled hours and constant self-deprecation. I do my best to put up a facade, but to him Iām nothing but glass.
Even if I stumble or wince a fraction, Iāll hear his paws scuttle from the other end of the house to my feet in a matter of seconds.
His ceiling for empathy has become so high that over the past four years, I barely need to use words with him.
Watching the way Koda looks out for the mood of others has been material to my professional growth so far, and in particular, my current role as a venture investor.
I believe the ability to empathise with founders is what defines a top-quartile investor. Itās why you often see ex-founders flourish as VCs.
Theyāve gone through the turbulence of building a business from scratch and itās equipped them with a genuine respect for the craft.
A couple years ago, I worked on a healthtech startup myself. Iād spend hours upon hours cold-calling government stakeholders, building and re-building the sales strategy, auditing financials, pitching to investors, handling constant rejection, all whilst having to commit to full-time university.
I distinctly remember coming home at midnight one night two years ago, so deeply stressed that I couldnāt sleep for two days. In the next few weeks, the business ran out of runway and after a year of operations, it was time to move on.Ā
Anytime I meet a healthtech founder these days, I paint that exact picture in my mind as objectively as possible.Ā
Behind the facade of a polished pitch deck, there are a lot of rough patches.
3) Listening isnātĀ hearing. š
āWe have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speakāāāāEpictetus
Beyond their stupidly good smell, a dogās hearing is its second-best asset. They can hear sounds of up to 50,000 vibrations a secondāāāmore than double the vibrations we can.
In other words, they can comfortably hear frequencies that may appear dead silent to us.
In addition, their ears are far more flexible, recruiting more than 15 muscles for the job. We only have 5, and whilst I can certainly move my ears (weird flex⦠but okay), 80% of the human population canāt.
But Koda doesnāt just have excellent hearing. Heās excellent at active listening.
Hereās how I break it down:
Attention = Eye contact, Posture
Comprehension & Response = Executes appropriate action, doesnāt jump conversation ( i.e their entire ālife storyā)
Reflection = Retention
When I talk to my friends, colleagues, founders or family, āI try to reflect on whether:
a) They are actively listening
b) I am actively listening
Interactions that donāt fall in either a) or b) tend to be far less rewarding, and I try to remove myself from them.
We all have that friend who claims they have a bad memory. The reality is that they didnāt care enough to listen in the firstĀ place.
Active listening is something I put into practice from a very young age and it wasnāt by choice. Iāve always had a stutter, but it was at its worst in my early days of childhood.
My family used to coin me āthe thinkerā, because as a toddler Iād simply observe, listen and learn, mouthing little to nothing. I found enjoyment in understanding others rather than expressing myself.
Admittedly, these days, I certainly talk more than I should, and I definitely donāt listen as much either.
The unfortunate thing is that no matter the circumstance, most of us are culprits of passive listening, especially if you live in a major city, where thereās a culture of thinking about whatās next and what other people are doing.
Weāre so preoccupied with everything but the present, at the expense of rich and meaningful engagement.
Iām certainly not claiming to be perfect, but when I stop to listen to someone, I try to give them the respect they deserve. For me, speech was not a gift, but a skill I had to practice, so Iām especially mindful towards the speech of others.
Next time you engage in dialogue, have this at the back of your mind.
Whether you have satellite-dish ears or regular human ones, thereās no excuse for being a bad listener. Just learn to be present.
4. Learn to thriveĀ alone. šŗ
How comfortable are you eating alone at a restaurant?
For all the socialites, and Myers-Briggs personalities out there beginning with an āEā, being around people feels like a pressing need.
For many, it can become a routine distraction from the many duties & concerns of everyday living to the point where itās unhealthy.
Over time, we may become increasingly reliant on other people (directly and through the internet) to fuel our satisfaction. The risk here is a lot of the people in our lives will be transitory, and only a handful like our family will be alongside us for the long run.
Whilst Iāve sung his praises so far, Kodaās kryptonite is that he cannot thrive by himself.
German Shepherds will choose one person in the family that reciprocates their affection the most.
Unfortunately in our family, thatās the person who also spoils him to death: āmy father. If heās not throwing a tantrum in the lounge, eating food, harassing me with a half-torn tennis ball or chasing a bird, heāll be camped right at the door waiting for dad to come home from work.
Heāll doze off for a couple of hours until mum or I haul him out for a reluctant walk, but the minute the doorbell rings, Kodaās cortisol levels fly through the roof. Heās no longer droopy and could run fifty laps around our suburb.
Kodaās over-reliance on others is a portrait of the way many of us instinctively fill our time with social media and social gatherings, leaving no room for quiet solo contemplation and the chance to cultivate a positive energy independently.
If you want to take steps towards stronger internal vitality, try this: next time when youāre out, dine by yourself at a restaurant. Itās a ritual thatās helped me to find peace in my own energy without rushing toward others to fill the gap.
Summing up
As somebody whoās consumed by full-time work and university, the hours spent with Koda are nothing like they once were.
Iām sure my fellow pet owners reading this have battled with the same truth.
Even if these moments now come in passing, I wrote this piece to acknowledge his immense contribution to my personal & professional growth so far.
A dog is a mirror image of its owner. The more you teach them, the more you learn.
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Theyāre looking for an investor to join the Global Tech Fund team for founder-led tech businesses in listed markets, diving deep into themes and companies, and contributing to investment decision-making.
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Theyāre seeking a Lead Product Designer to join their founding team. This is a unique opportunity to work with a variety of industry-leading projects in both tech & crypto, and potentially become a Founder or Design Lead of your own independent project under GMI Labs.
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1ļøā£ š šŖĀ One Minute Hustle
We are back once again withĀ One Minute Hustle,Ā a bite-sized interview with an emerging Australian young startup founder or operator.Ā
This week, letās get inside the noggin of a young founder helping students combat racism in high schoolsā¦
Sabina Patawaran, Co-Founder @ Anti-Racism Kit
āļø What are you working on?
The Anti-Racism Kit (ARK) is a toolkit made by Australian high school students of colour for high school students that can be used to take down racism brick by brick.
We want to make anti-racism feel more accessible and actionable!
š± Howād you get started?
My co-founder, Jin Kim, and I started working on ARK midway through Year 12! This was during 2020 when the lockdowns first started in Australia.
We realised that we had a lot of extra time on our hands, and we could use it towards creating something.
š¤ Why do you do what you do?
I work on ARK because young people of colour deserve better, and they should all have access to safer spaces where they can feel like they're thriving, and not just surviving.
For me, ARK is also a way to help young people out there who want to create change but aren't exactly sure on how to go about it.
Visit the Kit and share the resource to any young people who you think may find value in it!
Keen to share your story, or know a young startup founder or operator we should feature next?
Share your deets below or send to your mate, and weāll get in touch!
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