Archive of posts from April 2018

What is ‘weird’?

If you’re on a mission to do meaningful relevant work, the answer might be, you.

If you’re relentlessly pursuing your genius for a cause greater than yourself, the answer might be, you.

If you’re happy with the status quo, safely stowing yourself away for retirement instead of contributing toward something weird, then don’t worry: you’re fine.

(Or are you?)

Being assumptive gets a bad rap.

You may have heard the catchphrase, “When you ‘assume’, you make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.” That’s only when it’s not meant for ‘u’ or ‘me’.”

Sometimes–such as when teams communicate with the marketplace–to not assume is to be impersonal and disconnected.

If you’re looking for people who are looking for X… stating “You are looking for X” to the marketplace makes some people say “no” and others say “that’s me”.

The “no”...

If your team was the best in the world in your field, how would you behave differently?

• Would you offer greater guarantees? With the confidence of being the best, would your guarantees become stronger?
• Would your service become more selective? With an abundance of prospects, would you accept the same customers/clients?
• Would you behave differently? With no superiors, are there activities, behaviors, or tolerances you’d change?
• Are there products/services you’d cut? With the title of ‘best’, would you choose...

Why does “get what you deserve” sound negative?

• Embracing challenges as opportunities: You reap the rewards of sound reasoning and timely perseverance. That’s “getting what you deserve”.
• Doing the uncomfortable: You reap the rewards of habitually choosing growth over comfort. That’s “getting what you deserve”.
• Not stepping up to the plate: You reap the consequences of lowering the tone of your team: you’re gone. That’s “getting what you deserve”.

What you deserve is the results of what you...

There’s a deadline coming.

Does that make you feel like rushing?

Me too. Here’s an alternative:

• Rushing means doing things while flustered. Rushing loses time to task-switching, acting before thinking deeply, creating then re-creating in order to arrive at the right output.
• Flowing means doing things while calm. Flowing thinks deeply before acting, enabling the first output to be the right output. No waste

When there’s a lot to do (and there always is) the temptation is to...

‘Feel-good’. Adjective. Meaning “a feeling of happiness and well-being.”.

It ties two words together that mean far less apart. Consider your team:

• Being ‘good’: Your work is exquisite and your results are strong. You get the job done. But without the other, you’re just a silo, missing opportunities to germinate ideas or relationships with your peers.
• Being ‘felt’: Everyone knows you’re there, riffing on ideas, building bonds. But without the other, it’s an empty promise that leaves your peers...

What is ‘being stuck’?

It’s what we say when we stop thinking.

There’s a code to it:

• There’s too much to do: Code for “I need to organize how I invest my time.”
• It’s too complicated: Code for “I need to better understand this.”
• I don’t know where to begin: Code for “I need to draw the roadmap.“
• I don’t know where to go next: Code for “I need to re-draw my roadmap.”

The ‘code of stuckness’ suggests...

Now there’s a job title that shouldn’t exist.

Yet it does.

In the old economy, ‘making sandcastles’ is a worthless skill that people should stop pursuing in favor of sensible, stable work.

In the new economy, ‘stable’ went away. As “sensible” gets automated, genius finds new means of expression.

Sometimes genius creates spaces at the edges that shouldn’t exist. Where automation doesn’t exist. Where genius can shine.

There are parts of your team’s work that exist on the edges where...

There are 2 ways to run in the rain:

1. Running from the rain: To get back indoors as quickly as possible. This doesn’t make you less wet while out there, or dry faster once indoors.
2. Running in the rain: Though not necessarily directly toward the door. This may give a divergent perspective on a familiar environment and creates a more memorable walk.

The rain didn’t change. You did.

When it rains on your team, does it send everyone...

You might simply need to use the ones you have better:

• A fancy new easy presentation app, or clear concise communication in an email?
• A brand new computer to run your big apps faster, or a lighter, leaner tool for the job?
• A limitation forced upon you by your tools, or an opportunity to find a creative new solution?

What tool-based limitations does your team experience that clarity, focus, and creativity can’t solve?

Are you a team newbie or part of the old guard?

Is it possible to be both at the same time?

• Newbies: These have many fresh new ideas, but have knowledge gaps due to inexperience.
• Old Guard:These know the ropes, but risk being unable to see beyond them.
• Combined, “New Guard”: These have the wisdom that comes with experience, while actively nurturing and maintaining a fresh, “newbie” perspective.

How could you–and your teammates–aspire to be the team’s New...

Give yourself a number.

Great at what you do? That’s a 10.

Just starting out? Make it 2. New but nice? Try a 4.

Now give everyone on your team a number (don’t tell them). Every relationship you have on the team is a number:

• You plus them: You work, tasks get done, nobody gets hurt.
• You minus them: Work gets done, but “ugh.”
• You multiplied by them: What you do raises the bar for the whole team.
• You...