Perfection kills projects and teams.
As a result, expecting things always to succeed is a recipe for destroying morale.
Products fail. Teams fail. We fail.
You can’t stop failure; it’s as natural as breathing. Failure is okay.
However, failure to launch is not. Don’t lose yourself to the siren song of perfection.
No one wins.
I know you do it better.
If there is one thing that both you and I know, it’s that you do it better than they do.
That email you see that person send, or that presentation you send them to give, or that meeting you ask them to lead – all of them would gain if you just took them over.
But your organization loses. Your team morale heads into the toilet. And the ability to scale goes out the window.
You look good, and the work is good, but you can’t stay awake for one more hour, and your team is turning into a bunch of flakes. This workload makes both you and your team miserable. You are burning yourself out, and your team feels useless.
The worst part is that because both sides are irritable, any conversation around the matter is going to come out harsh. That just makes things worse.
It’s best just to avoid that maelström and let your team handle it.
You have to put out a few more fires, but it allows you to see if you have the “right people on the bus.“ To keep them there, you have to stick up for them. It’s worth it, if you have the right people on the bus, then you can do impressive work.
From there, great things happen. I know it feels odd, but this is an early step into transformative leadership.
It takes a risk to start; you didn’t think it would be easy, did you?
Are you ready?
If you expect a perfect leader, you will get a perfect charlatan.
Two meanings so far:
I don’t think any of this works if I don’t make the effort.
Commitment is just as important as strategy. I could have every type of consultant in the world come by and give me advice, but if I don’t commit to anything, all the advice in the world means nothing.
If there is bad advice, then if I commit, then I get a lesson. Not much kills you. Not much ends your life. But there are many lessons if there is a commitment to the goal.
You can improve if there is a strategy in place, but you manage that improvement by understanding that you have to commit to everything in front of you. It is difficult because we multitask and aren’t usually told that we have the power to say no. But when we do and we understand our commitment, engage with it, and make it happen, our opportunities will increase.
No half measures.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 