Beating the dealer. It’s the eternal quest.
How do I upset the odds? How do I move the needle to get what I want?
At its core, it’s really a desire to remain in control, to stay relevant. But it’s worth remembering what game we’re trying to play as well.
Culture, in all its forms, plays such a strong role in our lives that, for the most part, we don’t really even pay attention to it or realize it.
It’s formed through years of experience, understanding and shared experiences. This is the case at home, in our communities, with our friends and with our colleagues at work.
In fact, Trevor Noah once referred to culture as “an operating system that you have, that you didn’t even realize you had”. That captures it perfectly for me.
This month's topics focus on personal war stories and observations.
Today's episode focuses on the importance of being able to work with people as the route to our success - as well as the sheer difficulty of learning (and mastering) how to do so.
How do you choose a headliner?
If James Taylor and Jackson Browne go on tour together (which they’re doing) and it’s billed as a “co-headlined” show, is it really a co-headline?
Or if Sting and Peter Gabriel toured together (which they did), and that was billed a co-headlined show, is that really a co-headline, or is it really tilted towards one of those artists?
Where’s your head when you’re doing work?
Are you focused on the work itself - on exploring the nuances, the difficulties, navigating the actions needed to ensure it’s done the right way?
Or are you focused on just getting through it - simply finishing and moving on to the next item on your (never ending) To-Do list?
This month's topics focus on personal war stories and observations.
Today's episode discusses how, in our quest for 'more', we’ve confused learning, knowledge and credibility with degrees, diplomas and doctorates. We need a reset in our collective thinking and biases on the subject of education.
Our business lexicon is rife with buzz-phrases such as “win-win” but it’s important to remember that that standard has to be met (and perceived to be met) by both sides. In other words, we have to be cognizant of such definitions not only for ourselves but for the other party as well. Deals are better in the long term when we do so.
In fact, our approach to negotiations says alot about us and also provides a good indicator of what we’re going to be like to work with.
Bruce Lee’s philosophy when it came to learning was that there was no single best way to learn.
He didn’t prescribe to the idea of fixed patterns and approaches to education, rather he believed that real education is unique to the individual. It comes from absorbing what’s helpful (in your own judgement) rejecting what’s not and then defining your own ‘truth’, your own path forward.
This month's topics focus on personal war stories and observations.
Today's episode focuses on career management and specifically the fact that we cannot outsource our career management to others within our organizations, no matter how good or strong they might be.
At some point in the evolution of any organization, we have to build in structure and process.
The pure quest for growth and, hence, total focus on execution, in a company’s early days inevitably leads to a situation where some level of resource organization is necessary.
That makes sense. We’ve been so focused on getting things done that we’ve spent less time trying to figure out how best to get it done.
‘Messing up’ is par for the course.
Any time you take on an initiative or a project or a venture, there’s a strong chance that you’re going to mess up along the way.
The more visible the initiative (in whatever sphere of life you’re operating within), the more public that mess up will be - and the more prominent the impact on some stakeholder or constituent. In other words, someone’s going to get hurt, in some form or fashion.
This month's podcasts focus on the art of communication - a critical skill no matter what we do for a living.
In today's episode, I speak to the fine line we walk when we're in the midst of combative communications. In particular, I speak to the four elements that allow us to tell when it's constructive and when it's not.
Forecasts and projections come with the territory, regardless of whether we’re speaking to business, social or political subjects. From new industries to climate change to our own companies, we’re desperate to know what the future holds.
What’s the potential? How long do we have? How serious is this?
Setting standards is important.
Standards help us define the level at which we’re performing and, in the event, we’re not at par, how far we need to go to get there. Standards serve a real purpose as they push us to be better - to master our craft, change the way we think and deliver greater value, both to ourselves and others.
This month's podcasts focus on the art of communication - a critical skill no matter what we do for a living.
In today's episode, I discuss how no amount of clever language and word smithing can make up for a poor message or offering. That sometimes, the problem isn't in the message but with us.
I was in the car with my family the other day and we were heading to lunch. We were having a conversation, and in the midst of it, we noticed that my daughter’s answers were short, to the point, not really like her normal, jovial self.
My son actually noticed it first, and he asked her what was wrong.
Mark Manson wrote that we should overestimate our future but underestimate our past. That sounds about right to me.
Many of us tend to do the reverse - we overestimate our past (both in terms of the implications of what we’ve achieved, as well as the ramifications of the mistakes we’ve made) and we underestimate our futures (in terms of what is still possible).
This month's podcasts focus on the art of communication - a critical skill no matter what we do for a living.
Today's episode focuses on the idea of conflict, and the fact that it can actually be a good thing for our relationships at home and at work. The question is one of intent and ego (or lack of it).
There’s a difference between rolling the dice and taking a calculated risk. Often we tend to confuse the two.
We avoid taking specific actions in specific areas of our life because we believe “it’s a lottery”, when instead, there are parameters - fundamentals - that we can assess, evaluate, extrapolate to come to a reasonable expectation of an outcome.
When Amazon launched Prime back in 2005, Jeff Bezos’ central premise was that it should be “such a good value that you’d be irresponsible not to be a member”. This was when it offered 2 day free shipping.
Now, of course, it offers a whole lot more and there are more than 200 million Prime members today. There are two takeaways from this.
