All in Leadership
I don’t know how much is actually within our control.
I know many of us like to think everything is, even as there are others who think nothing is, that we’re all simply subjects (victims?) of fate.
If I had to choose, I’d put myself more in the former camp - that we can indeed make of ourselves and our situations what we will.
Momentum, in a psychological sense, is a funny thing.
It’s a mindset that wields so much influence, dominating our focus, often despite the facts. And while momentum tends to build over time, the reality is that it can also turn on a dime.
You can be in the midst of a string of strong results but one bad event, particularly one that you’d banked on, or considered ‘symbolic’ and your confidence is gone.
Trevor Noah once referred to our culture as our operating system, one that we're rarely even aware of.
That's an apt explanation of the role and value of culture. It's something that can make us - but just as equally, it can break us.
A friend of mine once mentioned how, in discussions with a client, he came across and had to translate a business writeup for them.
The write up, which I won’t share in full here, included phrases that we see on business websites everywhere:
"…drive synergistic value through patented capabilities, strategies & roadmap approaches…”
Culture matters. They define whether an organization will be successful or not.
But, as I discuss this in episode of the podcast, cultures aren't created overnight - they take intention, strategy and work to build. I share several strategies to help build great cultures.
There’s a golden rule that applies in all aspects of our professional lives:
Look for agnostics, not atheists.*
An atheist is someone who is convinced that there is no God, while an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves that God exists.
That’s a meaningful difference in perspective.
As we continue on our long, meandering path out of the pandemic, one thing that (I believe) is here to stay is the idea of Work From Home (WFH). In fact, if anything has seen a tidal shift over the last two years, it’s the very idea that WFH can be a viable practice.
Yes, I realize that many folks had been practicing the concept for some time prior, but it really wasn’t an accepted practice before the pandemic.
Startups need to be scrappy to succeed. They need to push the boundaries of their markets, take advantage of all avenues and market rules to not only get their product to market but to compete with the bigger, more established players.
While it’s a nice idea to think that if they simply develop a great product, customers will flock to them, the fact of the matter is that a head to head battle against the market leader doesn’t usually end well for anyone but the incumbent.
In his first letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, wrote:
“In every business we pursue, we’re constantly experimenting and inventing. We’re divinely discontented with customer experiences, whether they’re our own or not. We believe these customer experiences can always be better, and we strive to make customers’ lives better and easier every day.
There's an allure to the grand strategy, the flourish and ambition behind the work we do. We love the exciting, glamorous and sexy parts, because that gets noticed.
And while those aspects of our work are indeed important, of far more importance is the more detailed, granular executional work, as I discuss in today's episode.
Rivalries in sport and in business are fueling mechanisms.
They spur us on to stay alert, work harder and innovate more deeply, to ensure we stay ahead of our competition. More often than not, that’s defined as one or two specific competitors. In that respect, competitive rivalries are a good thing - they keep us focused on the end goal and make us better. The greatest rivalries are the stuff of legend.
Chris Brogan, a writer whose thinking I really admire, recently wrote about the idea of freedom and the struggle so many of us face between our decision to lead (which requires venturing into the unknown) or be led (where we’re told what we should be doing), especially when it comes to our work.
To illustrate this idea, he included in his most recent email (which I’d highly recommend you subscribe to), a quote from Loki, from the Marvel Comic Book Universe, as he subjugates a crowd of people:
The idea of balance - and its importance - is discussed by all and sundry as being key to a healthy life. And it is - in the long term.
But in the short term? Balance doesn't move you forward, and it doesn't help you achieve greatness, as I discuss in today's podcast.
In the list of priorities of any organization, and specifically the management team, keeping everyone happy cannot be high up there. Any mission and its related strategy will - if done with concerted intent, structured focus and ability to execute in mind - polarize. That is, it will have its proponents and its detractors.
And if you, as a leader, have done your homework and have determined that that strategy is fit for purpose and the best path forward, then bringing everyone along cannot be a priority.
One of the hardest but most valuable abilities we can develop is the ability to maintain strength in our convictions, our beliefs and our vision. This is true in all walks of life, but particularly so where you’ve been tasked with achieving a specific objective or leading a team towards a particular end goal.
In that quest, you are called upon to define the specific path, chart out how best to navigate it, and then, as you embark on the journey, bring others with you.
Judging someone's character is a difficult thing to do. A one-off incident or action shouldn't be taken out of context (with a few exceptions) and presumed to represent the entirety of who someone is.
But patterns are different. If the behavior is repeated, if it's recurring, it tells you something. Patterns matter.
A lack of a brand is a forcing mechanism.
There’s nothing to hide behind, nothing to protect you or carry you in a conversation.
A lack of brand requires you to be crystal clear about what you have to offer and what you represent. It forces you to do the work, to the point that someone decides to engage with you - because the value you offer compels that engagement.
There’s an adrenaline rush, a state of heightened performance, that comes with growth, when things are going well. It’s a positive state because it’s a sign that others value what we’re doing and, by definition, in increasing numbers.
All of us want that kind of growth for our enterprises (and ourselves) because it is a sign that things are working. That kind of growth motivates the organization and pushes us to believe, commit ourselves and achieve more. All good things.
The success of whatever we do depends, without question, on our people. It's a cliche but it's true.
So it's important when formulating our teams, to make sure we have the the right "ingredients" in place - not only technically but philosophically. The wrong ingredients will ruin the entire dish, which is the topic of today's episode.
I read a tweet the other day about a founder who was worried that his company was growing at “only” 25% a year and, as a result, felt he needed to get bought.
Now, to any objective observer, if you were to set up a business that returned 25% top line growth year over year, that would be considered, without question, a successful enterprise. I mean, we’ve all heard that stat about how 80% of new businesses fail within the first year. So then to not only get past that but to also flourish and grow, is a heck of an achievement.
