All in Communications
You don’t need to have all of the answers. I don’t know how to get there is actually fine as a response.
As leaders, though, we think that isn’t an option. We think we need to know exactly the way there.
But the reality is we won’t - not all the time anyway, and certainly not when it comes to big ticket changes that we’re putting in play.
Getting things done, as a team, is a challenging task at the best of times.
It requires us to pull together and take actions that are consistent and coherent with respect to our common end goal. This, in turn, requires clarity, communication and alignment.
In other words, we need to all buy in and then do our bit (as part of the overall plan) to get there.
A platform is a byproduct of success.
What I mean by that is that success in any given field results in not only the usual rewards (economic gain, career progression, industry recognition, etc.), it also provides us with a voice. We’re sought out by our community and those interested in, and impacted by, our work. They want to hear from us, and are ready to give us the opportunity to speak, to be heard.
Why are some people ready to get up on a platform (physical or digital) and share their message with the world? Why are some people not?
Why is it that some folks can overcome the (inevitable) self-doubt that tends to accompany these acts of leadership? Why is it that others cannot?
Our issues always come from somewhere. What I mean by that is that, there’s always a root cause or a set of incidents of some sort that drives us to behave in specific ways.
That’s not to suggest our behaviors are always justified, rather that there’s a reason behind them. Something that has happened to us, or that we’ve experienced, that’s led us to interpret that experience in a particular way, develop particular judgements (or ideas or perceptions) and then act (or react) accordingly.
I have this irrational hatred of standard, preformed drum beats.
Like the ones that became popularized in the Eighties - you know those synthetic, electronic drum beats that go on and on, with no variation, no exciting fills, no changes of intensity. No humanity, basically. They remind me of the emergence of the synthesizer and how, it seemed back then, that they enabled people with no talent to make music.
I’ve always wanted to have all of the answers. I’ve always wanted to be that guy who knows what’s happening, has a clear and cogent explanation, and can provide my point of view on the spot.
But that can’t always be the case. Nobody can have all the answers - not me, not you. And, really, there’s no issue with that.
Where the issue does arise, though, is when I try and speak with authority when I have none.
This month kicks off 2021 with a few thoughts on mindset - and specifically getting our heads straight as we look forward to our goals and what we want to get done over the next 12 months.
In today's episode, I go on a bit of a rant about this idea of "age-appropriate". I don't know who came up with this idea but, frankly, it's nonsense and in this show, I talk about why.
I’ve written before about how the most important subject at business school is also the least respected i.e. anything to do with Human Resources.
The conventional view is that those subjects are “soft and fluffy”, subjects that don’t merit real attention - not like Strategy or Finance, for example. But how we work with each other, how we lead and manage those who we’re responsible for is, in fact, the single most important driver of success in any business, bar none.
Many times, there’s a real value to contrarian thinking.
In investment terms, the best time to buy is when the market is down and everyone is running for the doors. Or, in personnel terms, placing a bet on the young up-and-comer who’s been committed and loyal to the cause, when conventional wisdom says to go out and hire an established name.
But there are times when the contrarian approach doesn’t make sense, and despite our desire to do what we feel is right, we need to accept that we might actually be wrong.
Patterns matter. They tell you a lot about people.
Consistent patterns of behavior tell you whether someone is good, whether they’re credible, whether they’re dedicated, etc. That’s just a fact.
Sure, everyone can (and will) have bad days. Days where things just aren’t going the way they’d like, when they feel as if they’re at the end of their tether. In those instances, we’ll say and do things that don’t represent who we are. That’s also a fact, and it happens to the best of us.
This month's podcast closes out the year with my thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic that's absorbed all of us this year. I'll share my perspectives on how I've assessed this impact and how I interpret its impact going forward.
Today's podcast take on the idea of Work From Home (WFH) and how it's changed many of our views so significantly this year. That said, I also think the idea that it's here to stay is overrated.
The ability to be present is, it seems to me, a talent. It’s a hard skill to develop and hone.
I don’t know if that’s the case for you, but it’s certainly been the case for me, something I’ve personally struggled with over the years.
Part of this is a tendency to take on multiple priorities. Part of this is a tendency to obsess over a situation or a task, to let it absorb me entirely.
If we look at who we are today, we’re really an amalgamation of the experiences we’ve gone through and the lessons we’ve taken from those experiences - lessons that have, over time, become ingrained in us.
I think of it a bit like a mental ‘patchwork quilt’ that’s been sown together over time. In some areas, the work is seamless and the colors and patterns flow naturally together. In others, though, depending on who’s done the stitching, it’s less elegant and the resulting work is jarring and ill-fitting.
This month's podcast closes out the year with my thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic that's absorbed all of us this year. I'll share my perspectives on how I've assessed this impact and how I interpret its impact going forward.
Today's podcast discusses how the pandemic has reset the equilibrium of what we thought was our "physical-virtual" balance, for good reason. This is likely to endure well after the pandemic is over.
In my last post, I talked about the Signal-to-Noise ratio and its applicability to our personal and professional lives - how we need to be able to look past the noise that we hear to the core signals, so that we can interpret and react to a situation appropriately.
There’s a related idea that Seth Godin highlighted in one of his recent posts that speaks to the idea of confidence versus volume. And that is, that we sometimes conflate the two - implicitly, when it’s coming from others, or explicitly, when we’re the ones doling it out.
The Signal-to-noise ratio measures the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. It’s commonly used in science and engineering applications but, of course, it has as much application in our professional and personal worlds, metaphorically speaking anyway.
When someone close to us emotionally recounts a personal situation and demands that we get involved and do something about it - and we do.
This month's podcast closes out the year with my thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic that's absorbed all of us this year. I'll share my perspectives on how I've assessed this impact and how I interpret its impact going forward.
Today's podcast discusses how we need to adjust our mindset when we think about the idea of progress. It's important to be optimistic, but that also means recognizing that the path forward will have stumbles and setbacks as well.
So, is that your analysis? Or is that your opinion?
We’ve entered an age when we seem to have conflated the two together. This is most evident in the mainstream media - where you’re either Left or Right, wrong or right, up or down, etc. But it’s not just the mainstream media, it’s as true in so much of our professional and personal lives as well.
This is how we need to be. This is how we need to think. This is how we need to act.
I was doing an Interval workout on the treadmill recently, following along with an online trainer (i.e. where you alternate bursts of high intensity effort with periods of lower effort).
At one point, having just completed a particularly intense interval, the trainer announced, “Well, that was a tough one. And we get to do that two more times!”
It was a curious choice of words. We get to do that two more times. Not we have to, or we need to. We get to.
