You need to give people space so that they can listen, and sometimes that means letting them “be right” publically.
People have their guard up because of most places being dens of deceit and treachery. Sounds heavy, because it is. We are trained since school that “right” means “in the tribe” and being wrong could mean exile. Thing is, this kills creativity. When you have a place that is full of trust, you may have the capital to talk about mistakes openly.
Until you do, though, you need to make sure to let folks save face. If you don’t, your influence will go down the drain.
Questions
What if I’m right?
How do I correct somebody if I don’t do it publically?
We are human, and as humans, we are natural storytellers. When we take advantage of that, we can communicate value to the teams around us and really supercharge the goals we have to accomplish much more than we can imagine.
Questions:
Why is a narrative important?
How do you structure a narrative?
How do you put together goals so they make “sense”
We are human, and as humans, we are natural storytellers. When we take advantage of that, we can communicate value to the teams around us and supercharge the goals we have to accomplish much more than we can imagine.
Questions:
Why is a narrative important?
How do you structure a narrative?
How do you put together goals, so they make “sense.”
The theme for July 2018 is reread and direction. I want to use this blog to interrogate the things I’ve read before and seen how I look at them differently, then act on the new information.
Last night, I thought that, as cool as this is for stuff other people have written, why not take a critical eye to my writing. How would I critique the things I’ve said here for the last few years?
Good news! As a person that has written every day for the last three years, and intermittently for three years before that, there is plenty to choose from.
Today, I am choosing a post I wrote on July 5th, 2017.
Whenever I create any document, I have to take a moment and stop myself.
From what?
The sin of “too much:”
Point of view
Goal setting
Figuring out
Too much of any of those things lead me to inaction (procrastination) or mediocre work. It becomes too easy to become “busy.”
The art of focus relies on ruthless prioritization. One goal. One point of view. Simple negates the need to “figure it out.”
We lead by work.
Do.
—
So, what would I change here?
There is a little too much confidence in the writing. I don’t do this every time I create something, only when I am at my best. This year, I’ve trying to become more honest in how I present myself, and using this space to “preach” isn’t going to matter. Ditto with the phrase “art of focus” – way too preachy, not substantive.
I hate that I said that there could be too much point of view. POV makes writing stand out because if it isn’t there, you might as well use machine learning to make it. I would swap it from “point of view” to “settling.” There are a lot of politics involved with even getting to one point of view that I would touch on, now
Busy ought to be defined because I have powerful feelings about the word.
If you aren’t going to click the video, the long and short of it is – the concept of busy is a way to shirk responsibility and will lead you into mediocre work. (Stop saying it, btw.)
I’ve worked on this with Tony Lares and Jace Wallace for the last six months, and we are excited to bring this to you. Every week will be a new episode dedicated to making you a more impactful leader, through the ideas of self-awareness, execution, and direction.
Expect new videos to come out every Thursday from now until the end of the year.
Labels belong on maps. Anytime you use a tag; you create a map for yourself.
Recognize, any map that you create also comes with your bias. If you feel like paper clips are useless, well, that comes baked into any map you create.
The minute you create a map, you create a rule set, because the moment you create a map, you create a “key” or “rules.”
If something has “rules,” it becomes a game, to me.
It is important to make sure that the label you use has the same standards within your tribe. Labels can look the same and have completely different rule sets.
Good communication/ leadership is clarifying those rule sets before confusion strikes.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 