Look around. You’re not number one on that bestseller list, or chosen for this RFP or invited to give that talk. It’s frustrating. There are engagements you ought to have, sales you ought to be making, clients that ought to understand you… One choice is to spend today frustrated that you’re not winning with the […]
You are browsing archives for
Category: More Programs
Thriving in a wet environment…
If you’ve ever fixed any kind of machinery, you know that a device that’s exposed to the elements is incredibly difficult to maintain. A washing machine or the underside of a car gets grungy, fast. On the other hand, the dryest, cleanest environment of all is the digital one. Code stays code. If it works […]
You will be judged (or you will be ignor...
Those are pretty much the only two choices. Being judged is uncomfortable. Snap judgments, prejudices, misinformation… all of these, combined with not enough time (how could there be) to truly know you, means that you will inevitably be misjudged, underestimated (or overestimated) and unfairly rejected. The alternative, of course, is much safer. To be ignored. […]
The flipping point…
When people say, “The tipping point,” they often misunderstand the concept in Malcolm’s book. They’re actually talking about the flipping point. The tipping point is the sum total of many individuals buzzing about something. But for an individual to start buzzing, something has to change in that person’s mind. Something flips from boredom or ignorance […]
How to make money online…
The first step is to stop Googling things like, “how to make money online.” Not because you shouldn’t want to make money online, but because the stuff you’re going to find by doing that is going to help you lose money online. Sort of like asking a casino owner how to make money in Vegas… […]
Solving the problem isn’t the problem…
The problem is finding a vector that pays for itself as you scale. We see a problem and we think we’ve “solved” it, but if there isn’t a scalable go-to-market business approach behind the solution, it’s not going to work. This is where engineers and other problem solvers so often get stuck. Industries and organizations […]
Do you have a people strategy…?
Hard to imagine a consultant or investor asking the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) , “so, what’s your telephone strategy?” We don’t have a telephone strategy. The telephone is a tool, a simple medium, and it’s only purpose is to connect us to interested human beings. And then the internet comes along and it’s mysterious and […]
When smart people work for big companies...
A good employee says, “I know that this is a serious problem, it’s hurting our customers and we can do better, but I can’t do a thing about it because it’s run by a different department.” A version of this might conclude with, “And I don’t even know the name of the person who’s responsible.” […]
Don’t give up (you’re on the right track
Wrestling with a puzzle, a project or a problem, the likeliest reason to give up is the belief that it can’t be done. What’s the point of persevering if it’s actually impossible to succeed? “It can’t be done,” we say, throwing up our hands. Not “I can’t do it,” or “It’s not worth my time,” […]
The coalition of No…
It’s easy to join. There are a million reasons to say no, but few reasons to stand up and say yes. No requires just one objection, one defensible reason to avoid change. No has many allies–anyone who fears the future or stands to benefit from the status quo. And no is easy to say, because […]
Time doesn’t scale…
But bravery does. The challenge of work-life balance is a relatively new one, and it is an artifact of a world where you get paid for showing up, paid for hours spent, paid for working. In that world, it’s clearly an advantage to have a team that spends more time than the competition. One way […]
Conflicted…
Everything we do that’s important is the result of conflict. Not a conflict between us and the world–a conflict between us and ourselves. We want to eat another dessert but we want to be healthy and skinny as well. Who is we? Who is the self in self control, and who is being controlled? We […]
Fear, scarcity and value…
The things we fear are probably feared by others, and when we avoid them, we’re doing what others are doing as well. Which is why there’s a scarcity of whatever work it is we’re avoiding. And of course, scarcity often creates value. The shortcut is simple: if you’re afraid of something, of putting yourself out […]
Too far from the center?
The action used to happen at court. In France, if you wanted to get ahead, you put on your outfit, called in favors and hung out near the King, because proximity was all. If you’re in Kibera, are you too far from Silicon Valley to write an app? If you live in New Zealand, are […]
Solving problems (vs. identifying them)....
Often, we’re hesitant to identify a problem out of fear we can’t solve it. Knowing that we have to live with something that we’re unable to alter gives us a good reason to avoid verbalizing it–highlighting it just makes it worse. While this sort of denial might be okay for individuals (emphasis on might), it’s […]
The chance of a lifetime….
A friend asked me the other day, “…given the sorry state of so much in the world, what’s possible to look forward to?” The state isn’t sorry. It’s wide open. Interest rates are super low or high, violence is close to an all time low, industries are being remade and there’s more leverage for the […]
No choice…
“I had no choice, I just couldn’t get out of bed.” “I had no choice, it was the best program I could get into.” “I had no choice, he told me to do it…” Really? It’s probably more accurate to say, “the short-term benefit/satisfaction/risk avoidance was a lot higher than anything else, so I chose […]
A great way to give thanks…
for the privileges we’ve got is to do important work. Your job, your internet access, your education, your role in a civilized society… all of them are a platform, a chance to do art, a way for you to give back and to honor those that enabled you to get to this point. For every […]
Open conversations (or close them)….
A guy walks into a shop that sells ties. He’s opened the conversation by walking in. Salesman says, “can I help you?” The conversation is now closed. The prospect can politely say, “no thanks, just looking.” Consider the alternative: “That’s a [insert adjective here] tie you’re wearing, sir. Where did you buy it?” Conversation is […]
The difference between management and le...
Managers work to get their employees to do what they did yesterday, but a little faster and a little cheaper. Leaders, on the other hand, know where they’d like to go, but understand that they can’t get there without their colleagues, without giving those they lead the tools to make something happen. Managers want authority. […]
Run your own race…
The rear view mirror is one of the most effective motivational tools ever created. There’s no doubt that many people speed up in the face of competition. We ask, “how’d the rest of the class do?” We listen for someone breathing down our necks. And we discover that competition sometimes brings out our best. There’s […]
Getting serious about your org chart…
Manu’s funny brilliance aside, this collection of org charts might help you think hard about why your organization is structured the way it is. Is it because it was built when geography mattered more than it does now? Is it an artifact of a business that had a factory at its center? Does the org […]
Mark Zuckerberg isn’t Mark Zuckerberg…
“Mark Zuckerberg” has become a codeword for the truly gifted exception, the wunderkind freak of nature for whom traditional rules don’t apply. Well, sure, Mark Zuckerberg can drop out of Harvard, but you’re not Mark Zuckerberg… Here’s the thing: Even Mark isn’t Mark Zuckerberg. This notion that there’s a one in a billion alignment of […]
Is your anger killing your art?
It’s rare to find a consistently creative or insightful person who is also an angry person.* They can’t occupy the same space, and if your anger moves in, generosity and creativity often move out. It’s difficult to use revenge or animus to fuel great work. Ironically, when you decide to teach someone a lesson they […]
Set the alarm clock the night before..
Situational goal adjustment is a real problem. Don’t set the clock when you’re tired, set it when you are planning your day. Don’t whittle away at your sales goals right after a serious rejection, set them when you’re on a roll. The discipline is in obeying the rule you set when you were in a […]
Easy vs. do-able vs. impossible…
Often we consider an opportunity based on how easy it is. The problem with this analysis is that if it’s easy, it’s often not worth doing. It’s easy to start a blog, but of course, starting a blog doesn’t really deliver a lot of value. Posting 4,100 blog posts in a row, though, isn’t […]
Waiting for the fear to subside…
There are two problems with this strategy: A. By the time the fear subsides, it will be too late. By the time you’re not afraid of what you were planning to start/say/do, someone else will have already done it, it will already be said or it will be irrelevant. The reason you’re afraid is that […]
Adopt vs. adapt….
An early adopter seeks out new ideas and makes them work. An adapter, on the other hand, puts up with what he has to, begrudgingly. One is offense, the other is defense. One requires the spark of curiosity, the other is associated with fear, or at least hassle. Hint: it’s not so easy to sell […]
The overwhelming fear of being wrong…
She didn’t vote because she was afraid her candidate would lose. He complains that the blog is being published too often and doesn’t want to read some of the posts if he’s not going to be able to keep up with all of them. They don’t want to buy insurance for their business because the […]
Which of the four are getting in the way...
You don’t know what to do You don’t know how to do it You don’t have the authority or the resources to do it You’re afraid Once you figure out what’s getting in the way, it’s far easier to find the answer (or decide to work on a different problem). Stuck is a state of […]
Caring…
No organization cares about you. Organizations aren’t capable of this. Your bank, certainly, doesn’t care. Neither does your HMO or even your car dealer. It’s amazing to me that people are surprised to discover this fact. People, on the other hand, are perfectly capable of caring. It’s part of being a human. It’s only when […]
Just imagine how much you’d get done….
…if you stopped actively sabotaging your own work. We must be talented, powerful and resilient creatures indeed given how much we manage to produce despite the constant undercutting, ridicule and needless censorship we aim at ourselves.
Brand exceptionalism…
Your brand is your favorite. After all, it’s yours. You understand it, you helped build it, you’re obsessed with the nuance behind it. Your organization’s actions make sense to you, you sat in the room as they were being argued about… you might even have helped make some of the decisions. So, your brand doesn’t […]
The $20,000 phone call…
When a homeowner decides to put his house on sale and calls a broker… When he calls the moving company… When a family arrives in town and calls someone recommended as the family doctor… When a wealthy couple calls their favorite fancy restaurant looking for a reservation… Go down the list. Stockbrokers, even hairdressers. And […]
The flip side..
It’s impossible to have a coin with only one side. You can’t have heads without tails. Innovation is like that. Initiative is like that. Art is like that. You can’t have success unless you’re prepared to have failure. As soon as you say, “failure is not an option,” you’ve just said, “innovation is not an […]
Turning the habit of self-criticism upsi...
Perhaps this sounds familiar: When it’s time to write a resume or talk to a boss or discuss a project glitch with colleagues, the instinct is to spin, to avoid a little responsibility, to sit quietly. Put a best face forward, don’t set yourself up. When reviewing just about anything you’ve done with yourself (in […]