Category: Blog Post

Which battle are you fighting – When you want to shift culture and create change, one of the most important skills you can have is knowing when and where to pick your battles. If you spread yourself too thin or fight a culture enemy that is too strong, you’ll just walk right into burnout.

The more leadership experience more relevant this is. In fact, I think once you get in the door, and at least quarterly after that, it’s critical to assess those battles and pick your battlefield. You want to be as proactive as possible, because it sucks to look up and be in the same culture you walked in on, especially if you know you could have done better.

Sugar Medicine – Sometimes medicine needs sugar. In fact, I’d say MOST times medicine needs sugar. Changemakers find the way to add the right amount of sugar to get the medicine they need without too much tension. They do know they need tension though, can’t drown that out.

Boredom clears the mind – there is so much power in allowing yourself some boredom. It clears your mind of the cobwebs and optimizes the cycles you have. When you add a beautiful place, it compounds the effect. I’m starting to understand trips outside without any communication – if nothing else, you’ll be clearheaded on your return.

Ugh work – Ugh, the stuff that makes us better 10 years from now that have little impact today. It isn’t fun, but it’s the difference between an iterative career and an exponential one. Make time for it, and realize there won’t be an output.

Powerful – We’re powerful. Don’t forget that. Powerful doesn’t mean good or all good. Powerful doesn’t mean bad or all bad. Powerful means we can take responsibility if we choose to. Powerful means we can get better. We are powerful.

JFK vs LGA – Today is a travel day, and I’ve recently(last 3 weeks) been to both of these airports. LGA isn’t so popular, but I enjoy it because that may lead it to be the travel option for no-frills flyers. When I fly at LGA, the security lines are light and it tends towards commuter flyers, the flyers that know the difference between a carry on bag and a checked bag. JFK is a free for all. Sure it’s beautiful inside, but ugh, security is going to be a mess anytime you go.

Get there early.

I’m hiring – Yep, looking for a senior PM to work for my product team at Informed. Info here. Know anyone? If you got the job description from this blog, make a note when you submit!

Strategy powers vision – And your job is to do two things. One, inform the vision with what is happening on the ground/intuition. Two, craft/execute a strategy that pushes that vision forward. As a leader, your strategy pushes vision, no matter where you are “ranked.” The only question is, are you open to taking on the responsibility?

Silence is the work – Art is built in the silence. The muse is all consuming when it wants your time, and if you want to get anything out of her, you have to listen. That is why it’s all around silence. So if you want to do are, learn how to embrace that silence.

Owning It – You are you, flaws and all. Just own it.

Innovation Input Pt. 1- What is input x multiplying for output y. How much is your innovation multiplying your cash? If that multiplier is less than 1, you’ve got a science project.

Science projects are ok every once in a while, especially when you frame it as one.

They won’t , however, get the job done alone.

We are seeking home runs(great yield).

Great days mean hard work – starting your day strong is awesome, so try to take advantage. Create space on days like this to work on the strange hard things, and punt the rest.

Average days are around the corner, I can bet it.

Finding center can mean being away mentally – We need a break sometimes. Vacations rejuvenate us. Sometimes we need to be disconnected from everything to get back to who we are. The difference between healthy separation and unhealthy separation is boundaries and communication. If you need to go, tell people you do. Be up front. Own your time.

Risk management means different things – Risk is such a fungible word. What it means to me is not what it means to you. I’ve seen this play out a bunch of times in my career, in completely different contexts. When I led new mainframe projects at DTCC (conservative financial services), I saw the same things I saw as a product strategist at Philosophie (an innovation consultancy). One thing I know that breaks this is someone of trust and authority telling folks where the lines are, and how far you expect them to cross certain ones and avoid others.

Basically, tell them what they will get fired for, and then tell them where you expect failure, then get out of the way.

New Month – June is warmth, Juneteenth, and travel. Family and friends are ready to be out and about, cool morning and nights make it great to just take a walk. Say hi to someone this month that you haven’t seen in a while. Good time to get some lunch.

Coffee and Tea – Coffee is great to connect with, and if you aren’t looking for caffeine – tea is not far behind. If it isn’t time for lunch, maybe a drink will cover it instead!

Art is right in front of us -Every time, all the time. When I was younger, I thought “art is everywhere” was pretty corny. Lately though, watching my work, my life, and just the world around me, I see more beauty. We’re here. We are the artists. The world is our canvas. What can you do today?

Good Sleep – Is hard to find. Go get it please. And if you want to annoy me, please say you’ll “sleep when you’re dead.” Leave the hustle porn to rich kids who need some sort of drive in life. For most of us, we’ve already got it. So get to bed.

Is a lie.

Generally, “objectivity” is propaganda given to the people through money and means. Ever notice that “objective” thought always seems to side with power?

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.

Curiosity – What are you curious about? What is driving your mental energy? Is it good or useful? Is it self-destructive? The ability to control that energy guides your growth. We’ve got a limited time.

Cleaning – New day, fresh opportunity, and fun are all ahead, once you clean. Do it early, do it often, and opportunity arrives. The chefs have the mise en place. What is yours?

Hard Work – The work is hard. We need to get to it. So let’s get to it. Our work is important so it’s going to be hard. Nothing much else to say here.