CHANGE AND THINGS ARE GOING TO GET WORSE!
Sunday, September 9, 2012 § Leave a comment
Our fear of change has some pretty good arguments on its side.
Not only is there risk of failure everywhere, we often KNOW that things will get worse before they have a chance to get better.
The status quo typically runs with a decent efficiency. To change something meaningfully necessitates that we upset that efficiency. Things will get worse.
Maybe you have a job that’s OK,
a relationship that’s functioning pretty well,
a business model that’s keeping you afloat,
or a golf swing that’s not costing you a ton of balls.
If you are happy where you are, good for you – but then there can’t be any complaining.
If you want more, it’s helpful to recognize that you will need to measure yourself differently as you are going through change than in the efficient static system. Embrace the dip that you have to get through – you can’t avoid it. It’s idiotic to compare your game with past scores when you are in the middle of changing up your golf swing.
ON BEING AN ARTIST
Monday, April 23, 2012 § Leave a comment
Malvina Reynolds sings about the ticky-tacky professionals, who all look just the same.
I suspect that her distance from them lets her miss the point. You don’t need a guitar to sing your song.
The musician battles the same two choices as the sales-executive every day: risk averse and conforming to expectations vs. emotionally courageous self-expression. Ticky-tacky is as ticky-tacky does. It’s not in the profession that we occupy; it’s in how we express ourselves in our profession.
For the singer, as much as for the lawyer, art begins beyond the “notes:” when we care.
DELIVERING ON THE BRIEFING
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 § 1 Comment
It’s easy to give a general direction to your staff member and then be disappointed with the results. “If only my staff would be better, but they just don’t produce up to my expectations,” you might hear a manager say. That’s not an acceptable response.
Sitting down and putting in writing what you expect from a staff-member or supplier takes time and effort. Your staff cannot deliver on a briefing, if there is no briefing.
There are standard things that a brief needs to cover (objectives, resources, constraints, etc.). Crucial though is your soul-searching on what you really want, what you are willing to give and what you are willing to see happen.
The task exists because you want some innovation/change. That means some things that are in place must be torn down and new things need to be built. The task exists because it is not clear what exactly needs to happen – the briefing is not an instruction. To innovate, your staff member needs to get an understanding of the radicalness with which to approach the task and what sacred cows to stay clear of. In most cases there is a bunch of organizational baggage and history attached to what can and cannot be changed.
Those taboos in the organization and in yourself are tough to acknowledge. It takes honest reflection and courage to express them and to commit to what’s allowed to happen.
Delivering that briefing is hard work. That’s what leadership is.
TO INFINITY AND BEYOND
Friday, April 13, 2012 § Leave a comment
“You are special” is a mantra peddled in classrooms, children’s books, self-help-books and on facebook. It leaves room for interpretation, but mostly it comes wrapped in ideas of destiny, plans the universe has for you and great gifts and talents bestowed unto you.
Obviously, none of that is true. The universe doesn’t give a single fuck about you. You might get hit by a bus tomorrow, get terminally ill, your whole country might be buried by a tsunami or a nuclear disaster wipes us all out.
The mantra is true only in so far as you can be special. The universe hasn’t chosen you, but you have choices! You can develop new ideas, learn new things, apply yourself in unique ways, and create a new path.
Mantras that place the onus away from you to some other power are a cop-out. That’s what makes them so appealing. Being chosen takes no courage, making choices does.
If you want to be special, don’t wait for the universe to give you a personal call: courageously go where no man has gone before you.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T or I KINDA LIKE YOUR HAIR, DONALD
Thursday, March 29, 2012 § Leave a comment
Etymologically “respect” is made up of looking back at someone. It’s about regard for past actions. Respecting you means I know what to expect from you. It’s the consistency of your actions. Is it sufficient to be consistent? No. Someone who is consistently late will not be respected for always being late. But we might say, “I respect you for always being on time”, or “for always trying to be honest with me.” It’s about something that takes effort.
When we see someone very successful we might be inclined to respect them. We don’t respect them for their achievements though; we respect them for what we assume they did for their success. It’s not the result we respect, but the effort and discipline that lead them there.
You can’t respect Donald Trump for having countless buildings in NYC with his name on it. I might respect him for sticking to his hair-set-up though – because I have to assume that it takes emotional commitment to keep it that way, given how much fun he is made of because of it. We are respected for the effort that we put into something, especially when it is related to emotional integrity. Getting respect begins with respecting ourselves – doing what we think is right is a commitment that we keep to ourselves. It takes conviction and courage to act with integrity.
When we achieve success without courage and conviction, it is not fulfilling. Getting lucky gives us a short-term boost of joy, but doesn’t provide us with sustained self-respect and content. Society is better at celebrating achievements than integrity. That’s confusing: We might imagine we need achievements to be successful, respected and liked. But it’s the other way around! Our success should be defined by the respect that we get – from ourselves first and foremost. Commercial success has a great chance of following that personal success.
Success is not a prerequisite to respect; respect is the prerequisite to success.
We earn respect from ourselves and others when we courageously do what we believe in.
Respect Donald, respect!
“STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES”
Thursday, March 15, 2012 § Leave a comment
– Forrest Gump
Smart is as smart does
Wise is as wise does
Kind is as kind does
Loving is as loving does
What ya gonna do?
A+
Thursday, March 8, 2012 § Leave a comment
As you go through your day, how much does your happiness depend on external recognition?
Our need for affirmation is a powerful instinct. We are tribal beings, interdependent with our surroundings.
If we are in an environment with poor values, this instinct draws us to make poor decisions. We succumb to peer dynamics to smoke, use drugs, lie, laze around…
Who sets the scale that you are measured on in your environment – professionally and personally?
In a group of assholes,
the biggest asshole gets an A+
GO BIG
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 Comments Off on GO BIG
Our hesitation to create, innovate and move forward results not from lack of talent, ideas or means; it results from lack of courage.
Business Buddhism 