Tag: life

Don’t Hit the Trees. Hit the Hole

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

How often in life to you achieve an outcome by trying to avoid it?

I am a poor golfer. Quite often during a round, I will be well off the fairway and there will be a tree in the immediate vicinity of my ball.  I have learned one truth about these experiences:

If I line up to play a shot thinking about ‘not hitting the tree’, I will drive my shot straight into it

Stop Trying to Avoid Something

Fear of failure is pervasive in many organisations. Because of our industrial management model and natural human psychological biases we often manage to avoid the downside. Just like on the golf course, the direct result is that we achieve that downside:

  • If you fear losing revenue and won’t play in innovation that might change the composition of revenue, you will be disrupted by someone who is prepared to work on a different model and takes your revenue away.
  • If you worry of the dangers of giving employees too much information, you should consider that poorly informed employees likely end drive your organisation to the same dangers
  • If you don’t trust decision making in your organisation and impose lots of controls on accountability, the exercise of decision making and the accountability in the organisation will be degraded
  • If you micromanage your employees because they might slack off, they will definitely slack off when every you blink or are distracted.

We could go on with the formula of “if [avoidance of X], then [unintended outcome of X]”

Worry Less

Success is not the avoidance of failure. Mediocrity is the avoidance of failure. Mediocrity is the place where you get stuck, unable to learn and grow. Mediocrity is the place where you wait to be impacted by forces beyond your control.

Worry less. Worry and stress is just a present expectation of negative outcomes in future.  All you are doing is ruining the present moment by bringing forward a chance. You are also ruining your confidence and ability to execute.

Focus on the positive elements. Define what success looks like. Be realistic, but inspire yourself with what can be.

Do Something

Avoidance of failure also leads to avoidance of action.  There is a temptation to play safe, to wait and to be sure.

Just Do. The only way to learn is to do. The only way to move forward is to do. Take your definition of success and make the next best move forward to it. Now.

Risk=Reward. You have to start swinging for something. The best time is now.

Learn these skills

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Follow an unusual career paths and you will pick up a diverse set of skills. Later in life it will be that unusual skillset that enables you to make a mark when others get stuck in the pack.

In a rapidly changing world, diversity of personal skills is as important as the diversity of the teams that you join. Nobody is tied to a job. Everyone can learn something new. Make it your challenge to learn another skill every year at a minimum. Pursue opportunities that broaden your skills, knowledge and experience. We are all increasingly working in portfolio careers. The challenge is to be prepared.

Here are some skills & capabilities that I’ve found critical:

  • Persist: life throws challenges. The obstacles are the work and the reward. Learn how to push on to your goals and sustain the journey. Knowing why and understanding your own needs is critical here.
  • Listen: a completely underrated skill. Learn to listen between the lines. Learn to listen to what is not said. Listen actively questioning for understanding and learning. Don’t compose your reply. Listen deeply for insight.
  • Learn a new language: Jargon is everywhere. Learn the new language quickly. The faster you speak the lingo the better you build rapport. Plus understanding the grammar of the new business language tells you what matters in a business.
  • Tell a story: a story is not a list of events. A story engages with challenges, conflict and drama. You need to be able to share your passion for the story. The ability to tell a genuinely engaging story with passion is an art. Practice it every day.
  • Influence: before you can lead, you must influence others. Study and practice the art. Understand how to find the alignment of others’ agendas and your own. Learn how to hustle and to sell. Remember listening is more important than talking in influence.
  • Construct an argument: understanding how to communicate an argument quickly and effectively to an audience is key. Whether you are writing an email, preparing a PowerPoint or having a debate in a meeting know how to argue to influence. That’s different to arguing to win.
  • Negotiate: everything is negotiable. Learn how to negotiate effectively.
  • Learn to say no: Often and early. Priorities and values are a key to success. You will need a polite no to preserve them.
  • Use visual images: visuals work. The better your visual grammar the better you will understand how to engage others.
  • Run a project: the basics of project management help get stuff done. Most failed projects break simple rules. Learn how to manage simple project to delivery.
  • Risk everything (aka swim in the deep end): you are not learning if you are doing something you can already do. Risk=Reward.
  • Patience: no matter how young and brilliant you are you will have to wait at some point. Timing is everything in life and a career. Some times things just need to line up first. Make sure you have patience for when it is needed.

The Flying Wedge

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Speak to any generalist and you hear the same frustrating cry “Everyone wants to know my speciality”.  A generalist needs to see the diversity of their experience as a source of differentiation, not the core proposition. Begin by meeting the specific needs of a situation.

The Challenge of Generalists

With more changes of role, career, technology and capability demanded of individuals, there are more and more people who have chosen to follow the diverse career path of the generalist. For many individuals the diversity itself is an attraction.

However, with diversity of experience and opportunity comes a challenge. How do you sell yourself in a job search or other work opportunity? When you can do many things, how do you answer the common question “What do you want to do?”  An attempt to explain your general capabilities and many future paths usually results in a confused repeat of the question.

A generalist needs to position their capabilities as a flying wedge, a specific capability supported by a wedge of general capabilities.

Problems are Specific

Whenever someone is looking to engage you, wether you are talking to a hiring manager or a client, that individual will focus on a specific problem or opportunity that needs to be addressed. They want to know first of all that you can solve that specific problem. Start by explaining how your capabilities address that need. 

Remember you are competing with specialists. Specialists will endeavour to prove they are the best in the world at some capability. They do this because that is all that they can do. The specialist sells a match between the one thing they do incredibly well and the need. If their speciality does not solve the specific need, the specialist misses out completely.

The leading point of the proposition of a generalist must be focused to compete with specialists to solve a specific need. Sell the most relevant pointy end of the flying wedge first, because it earns the right to further attention.

Meet the Situation then Differentiate

Meeting the need of the buyer is only a ticket to the next stage of the conversation. Everyone who is shortlisted can meet the needs. The challenge to win the job or work is to differentiate.

At this point, the diversity of the generalist becomes an advantage because you can follow through on your focused point by sharing your broader capabilities. Differentiating on the breadth of capabilities enables you to highlight your unique ability to:

  • better meet related challenges 
  • apply innovative solutions using other capabilities
  • deliver a better overall outcome

Specialists will need to compete on who has the most expertise. Instead you can use the flying wedge of your capabilities to widen the conversation to better sell the need for your generalist experience.

Every action writes your autobiography

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

image

I came across this quote today in an exhibition of the work of the photographer Sue Ford.

We can learn from artists

For an artist it is clear that each work even a representation of another is an expression of their own potential as an artist. To make a work is to put the best of your talents on display.

We can learn a much about the future of our work from the edges explored by artists.

One of the reasons art demands this challenge is the arts is an arena of the long tail. Harold Jarche has discussed the implications of the long-tail for the future of work. We are increasingly engaged in knowledge work in a networked economy as content creators, sharers or remixers and facing the same economic effects as artists.

Every action writes your autobiography

The insight from Sue Ford’s quote above is to recognise that every action we take is an opportunity to put the best of our talents on display. We express ourselves through the big and small actions we take every day. Often the actions we don’t take are even more important when we give up the opportunity to realise our potential or to learn and grow.

We will be judged by our actions. Networks are demanding and will route around the inactive, those who fail to lead or those who fail their potential. Our reputation will be built and quickly shared through our networks. We write an autobiography in action and we are judged not for our words but the actions we take.

What do you want your autobiography to say? What potential is yours to realise? Your next action will provide an answer.

Why not make your next action a work of art?

The Hamster Wheel is a Choice

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Working in a hamster wheel is a choice. The first step to a different work life is an awareness of the choices you make.

We work to throw away

Yesterday was hard rubbish collection in my suburb. I saw a truck taking away discarded televisions and computer screens. It is a striking thing to see two men loading screen after screen in to a truck be recycled or thrown away.

A screen was once an investment of hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Now like many of the products of our consumer society it is discarded regularly.  Somebody works hard to make the money for all this rubbish. I hope they enjoyed the work:

How many hours of work in the hamster wheel are stacked on the back of this truck?

Less can be more

More than a dozen years ago I read a small book by Elaine St James called “Simplify Your Life”. The central thesis of the book is that much of the complexity of our life is because we need to buy and manage things we barely need. The cost of supporting these things means we need to work harder than we want and give up the things we would rather do.

The book didn’t cause immediate change. I still can’t say I have achieved a simple life. However, the idea from the book has stayed with me. Over time I started to make small different choices on what mattered most:

  • I spent less time rushing to have the latest gadget only to then discard it for the next one
  • I cut back my discretionary purchases to the areas that gave me greatest joy
  • I started letting go of and not buying the stuff I never used or was keeping just in case.
  • I started to make more choices to do the things I wanted rather than the things everyone else did. 
  • I kept a notebook to write down the things that I saw that I wanted to buy.  I bought surprisingly few of them once I had achieved the endorphin rush of writing it down.
  • In short, I became more aware of the difference between need, desire and enjoyment.

Work will always be hard

Work will always be hard, because it involves choices to sacrifice time spent on other things like family, friends and passion. We begrudge these choices at times, especially when the sacrifice is made only for money.

Small choices over time can help at the margins to reduce the pressure to make big sacrifices. They can help declutter your decisions and get you closer to what matters. Choice doesn’t get easier, but it can be clearer.

Most importantly of all, being more aware of your choices is at the heart of finding ways to work better, to spend time more valuably and to increase the time that you spend working on purpose.

Choices are hard. Make yours.

From CMeO to CUsO

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

A lot of magic is ascribed to CXO titles. Often there is more real influence in other parts of the network, like middle management.

No matter what you think of the CXO roles, one CXO role is critical: The Chief Me Officer.

The functions of a Chief Me Officer are as follows:

  • Discover your personal purpose
  • Understand your own strengths and opportunities (others will be happy to volunteer your weaknesses and threats)
  • Set some longer term strategic goals for yourself and a few immediate short term experiments
  • Engage your personal networks to align to your own plans
  • Build your own capabilities by developing your own personal knowledge management approaches
  • Lead the work to deliver on your personal plan

A successful Chief Me Officer recognises the ‘buck stops with the CMeO’ on all matters relating to you, your life and your career. Like a good organisation leader they don’t just focus on one part of their business, you need a whole of life and community view of the impacts of you.  With this kind of accountability, this is not a role you can outsource. Family, friends, mentors, organisations, colleagues and people leaders can all help, but they won’t deliver on the plans you need to be successful.

Once you build your plan to become a successful Chief Me Officer, you will be well placed to lead others, engaging in collaboration in the new networked ways of working. The future of networked working needs capable leaders in every role.  How can you start your leadership journey better than by leading yourself?

Once you know how to become a CMeO, you can graduate to being a Chief Us Officer. That’s when the leadership journey gets really interesting…

What’s your experiment?

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Yesterday a conversation about experimentation, inspired by the Responsive Organisation, prompted this reflection:

To grow in life and work we experiment

We like the comfort of plans, order and progress. We hope that our lives will deliver a straight-line path to our goals. We feel the pressure to be able to lay our actions to others in a plan with a high degree of certainty. This pressure is magnified in a work context where the expectation of  managers is often to demonstrate confidence, certainty and control.

Life is chaotic, uncertain, creative and constantly changing. Just like us.

The only way to manage that volatility is to experiment, to grow and to change a little bit at a time. If we don’t become more responsive, we wither:

  • Some people let the uncertainty overwhelm them. Paralysed by fear they stop and wait for some clarity. Success moves by them.  
  • Some people let the scale of the challenge overwhelm them. They are concerned that they they won’t finish. If you don’t start, you can’t grow the ability to solve for the scale.
  • Some people fear their own goals, worrying that they might be too daunting or not bold enough. Without confidence in a direction to start, they don’t start and miss the chance to shift to better goals as they learn more about the world and themselves.
  • Some people worry about being changed. They experience change is their external environment forces them to change and that’s rarely a path to success.

In every case, the alternative is to do something small one thing at a time, to experiment, to learn and to grow. My experience is that success follows those times that I took a chance.  I grow when I put myself in a place where I have to learn more to get the job done. I may not have known how it would end, often it ended up somewhere new and better, but the lessons of the experience will showed me what I needed to know & do next. You don’t need to be reckless, but take small actions to experiment with the water in the deep end.

It won’t be easy. Success never is. Success is rare and precious. Success is the reward for risk, learning and effort. Success comes when you respond better to the opportunities before you.

Start today

What experiment will you try today that takes you one step closer to your goals?