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Conquering Our Fears

by Ron Potter

It was a beautiful sunny day.  A light breeze was blowing and I was walking along a sidewalk.  What conditions could make it better?

Well for one, it would have been great to have some safety equipment.  My walk wasn’t exactly on a sidewalk.  I was about 140 forty feet in the air (fourteen stories) walking on an 8″ I-beam with no safety equipment.  To further hamper the situation, for those who know me, you already know that I’m extremely knock-kneed.  When my knees are tightly together, the inside of my feet are still 5″ apart.  This makes it even more difficult when you walking on a “sidewalk” that is only 8 inches wide.

I was just out of engineering school and this was in the day prior to safety equipment.  No belt tied off to anything.  No net to catch me if I fell.  If I missed a step, it was 140′ straight down to a concrete slab.

Encouraged to Overcome Fears

At the end of that first day, I went to see the chief engineer and said I just couldn’t do that job.  I spent the whole day terrified.  His come back was “Give it three weeks.  If at the end of that time you still can’t do it I’ll give you another assignment.”

I’m sure he had worked with other “rookies” through his career and had learned about facing your fears and then overcoming them.  Who knows, he may have gone through the same experience in his early career.

Facing my fears

So the next day I was back in the structural steel doing my job the best that I could while dealing with my fears.

While I was up 140′, the Ironworkers were another 20 feet above me continuing to put the entire structure together.  We topped out at about 200 feet.  These Ironworkers ran around grabbing beams being lifted to them by cranes and loosely bolting them together.  They were running around as if they were on that sidewalk on a breezy, sunny day.  I could tell they were watching me with amusement as I carefully picked my way through steel 20 feet below them.

Discipline and Focus to Overcome Fears

I began to learn a technique that worked for me and helped me move across that 8″ I-beam approximately 40′ in distance.  I would stand at one column with my back wedged in as tight as possible so that I felt secure and then I would begin focusing on the column 40′ away that I had to walk to.  As I focused more and more, a flaw or mark in the structural steel began to become visible to me.  It was something I could look at and keep my focus on.

The next move was to step out on the beam, never losing my focus on my spot, and begin walking.  If I looked down I would fall.  If I moved my focus left or right, I would step off the I-beam.

I stayed focused and disciplined to keep walking forward.  Eventually, I reached the other side and the “safety” of another column.

Distractions Throw Off your Focus and Discipline

After a couple of weeks, the Ironworkers thought I had become more than a curiosity to watch and was now something to be played with.

After slowing my breathing, locking in my focus, and stepping out to walk my next I-beam, I was nearly halfway across when an Ironworker slid down the column where my focus spot was and began walking toward me.

One of the first things they teach you before going into the steel was the technique for passing someone in the middle of a beam.  You were to stand toe-to-toe with the other person, grasp each other’s wrists tightly, and then lean back until your weight was balanced.  Then you would slowly swivel 180 degrees, keeping your toes on the beam and your weight balanced.  After the swivel was completed, you turned and continued walking the other way.

After we completed our little dance, the Ironworker turned and walked away from me chuckling.  I was left standing in the middle of the beam trying to settle my brain, my fear, and regain a focus point.  I finally captured a focus point on the column I had just come from and walked to it.  It took me several minutes to calm my heart and breathing to get the fear in my brain to subside while clinging to the column —the one I had just come from.

All the while there was a chorus of laughter coming from the ironworkers overhead.   On the way down in the construction elevator that night one of the Ironworkers said quietly how proud he was of me for handling such a scary situation.

Distractions: Outside and Inside.

Distractions will come at you from anywhere.  The outside world is constantly throwing distractions at you.  I really don’t like the word “busy” because it indicates to me that you’re letting those outside distractions rule your life and are not facing the fears and difficult situations that you need to face to be successful.

The inside distractions are maybe even worse.  They’re excuses!  Seemly valid reasons for not facing your fears or developing the focus and discipline to overcome them.

Fears are natural and they are powerful.  But they are just fears.

One definition says that fear is “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that something is dangerous, likely to cause pain.”  Notice that it’s based on a “belief”.  Just because you fear something doesn’t make it a real threat.

Get focused.  Be disciplined.  Make the decision to face your fears and overcome them.

I was fortunate to have that fearful experience just a few weeks into my work career.  It set the tone for a lifetime of facing my fears directly.  You may not have had that early experience but it doesn’t make any difference.  Starting to face your fears at any point in your life will make the rest of your life much better.

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BlogLeadership

Three Time Frames

by Ron Potter

Raymund Chua was a client of mine many years ago.  We built a good relationship and have stayed in touch with each other through the years.  Raymund, living in Singapore, is doing some great work in Southeast Asia.

He posted something on LinkedIn the other day that I found very powerful because it was profound and simple at the same time.

Leadership Story

The chart is titled “The Three Timeframes” as part of a series called, A Leadership Story.

State of the Leaders Focus

Current – Next – Future

I’ve not only seen these states in various leaders, I’m aware that I also get “stuck” in one of the three states.

Possible Symptoms

This list is very interesting in that it shows the possible symptoms of each state.

  • Future Focus –  Full of new ideas.  Often not quite sure how to get there.  Very Start-Up in its nature
  • Next Focus – Great initiatives but really never takes into account where the organization is or what they’re cable of doing.
  • Current State – Focused on doing well today with no thought of the future.

Which State is Best?

OK, trick question.  While there may be moments in time when one state will serve better than the others, long-term all the states must be blended into the leadership thought.  Let’s take a deeper look at each one of them.

Future Focus

This is an extremely valuable focus.  Where is the future headed?  What insights will prepare us for a future that is mostly unknown today?  In the pandemic we’ve been experiencing which has caused tectonic shifts in our culture and way of doing business, this is a valuable focus.

What happens when the majority of people begin working from home?

  • Commercial real estate loses a great deal of its value.
  • Building teams becomes even harder when people are not able to be close to each other, shake hands, or put an arm around someone’s shoulder to offer some comfort.
  • It doesn’t matter where you’re located.  Areas like New York City, Silicon Valley, Boston Rte 128, and others are no longer required living locations to be a contributing member of a high tech team.

I”m sure there are many other aspects of our future that we can’t even see yet.

But having a future focus will tune you into issues and moments that others may miss and could be extremely valuable.

However, being future focused comes with its drawbacks as well.  I mentioned earlier that I get stuck in one of these states.  This is the one that has been my nemesis and has added stress to my life through the years.  Because I tend to be future focused, I look forward to what might be coming or what I may be able to experience in the year ahead.  However, it is usually late February or March when I feel like the year is well underway and I’m bogged down in the ordinary and won’t be able to experience the fabulous future I had imagined.  And by July or August, my sense is that the year is over and I might as well start focusing on the next one.  Unfortunately, I’ve missed many wonderful things that happen “in the moment” because I’m so focused on the future.

You need all three.

Next Focus

I would probably call this “near” focus.  These are the people who are focused on the near term —the next year if they are working in the business world.

They aren’t really thinking about the immediate or today’s problems and issues.  They also are not thinking much beyond the year.  There’s not much of what you would call future vision in their thinking.

There are two issues that these types face but don’t seem to grasp.  One is immediate problems.  They may have the year thought out but seem to be unaware that something is about to blow up or go terribly wrong in the next couple of weeks.  By next month they may be trying to recover from or get on top of an issue that essentially keeps them from accomplishing the year as they envisioned.

The second issue is they are not visionary.  High-performance teams always have a future destination they are excited about and committed to achieving.  Because the next focus leader doesn’t think or have a vision for the future, it’s hard for them to build high-performance.  They can be good at what we might think of as operational teams, ones that are efficient and get the near term tasks completed, but they are not good at having the right team or building the right skills for the future.

Current State Focus

These people are very short-term focused.  They’re good at solving the immediate problem.  In the business world, they are often called “firefighters.”   Firefighters are important.  There can always be a fire to put out and it must be done as quickly as possible.   The problem I began to see over the years was that firefighters were sometimes arsonists.  They either started fires or fanned small fires so they could put their skill set to use solving bigger fires.

They also don’t really do anything to prepare the organization or team for any longevity.  They don’t really think beyond putting out the immediate fire.  They don’t prepare the team for bigger or longer-term issues.  And they certainly don’t offer up a future to work towards.  They’re needed but they’re needed in the moment and not beyond.

There are two other categories that are also important.

No, No, No

The first (top of the chart) one talks about a leader that is neither current state, next, nor future focused.  My apologies to those people who are trying to do a good job and make things better but I often think of government offices when I think of the No, No, No environment.  In the “Unintended Team Culture” apart of the chart, it lists:

Good talents would have left.  What’s left is a culture that is very contented (and at times) protective of the status quo.

In the corporate world, I’ve actually seen a couple of cases where the leadership had decided to no longer be in a part of the business or spend resources on doing a certain piece of the business.  But as I looked around the corporation I would see people showing up for work, getting to their office, and continuing to do the work they had done for years just the way they had always done it.  The CEO would be floored.  He would wonder why they were spending resources on something they had decided to kill off months or maybe even years ago.  It didn’t take much looking to find a No, No, No leader.

Yes, Yes, Yes

This category at the bottom of the chart talks about the leader who is focused on all three states, current, next, and future.  If you read the “Possible Symptoms” and “Unintended Team Cultures”, I hope you resonate positively and want to belong in that atmosphere.

Possible Symptoms: A leader who knows the organization’s current capability, knows precisely what to do next, and has a roadmap to the future.

Unintended Team Culture: a culture that has a crystal clear understanding of their current situation, has a shared vision, and knows what to do to close the gap.  I would actually title this as the Intended Team Culture.

Be a triple yes type of leader.  It’s the only type that builds high-performance teams and has a shot of conquering the uncertain future.

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Truths of Life

by Ron Potter

Truths of life can come in many forms.  I found this list from Dr. Travis Bradberry to be pretty complete and comprehensive.

Great success is often preceded by failure

All too often we think that success came easy to a person.  We might think they’ve always been successful and their current success is simply a continuation of that.  However, it doesn’t take much discussion with successful people to hear about the failures and moments of frustration on the road to success.  If you’re one of those people that think being successful just naturally happens to some, then you’re admitting that you don’t have the fortitude to live through and work through the failures in order to experience success.  And to be clear, I’m not talking about large financial success.  I often think of conscientious teachers who struggle and suffer wondering if they’ll ever make a breakthrough in a student’s life.  They don’t always experience it but when they do have a positive impact, there’s nothing quite like it.

Being busy does not equal being productive

This one seems to be pervasive in today’s world.  If people are busy all day, they think that is being productive!  I’ve experienced a couple of “moments” in my life when I have worked hard at eliminating the word busy from my everyday language.  I often find myself in that trap.  I might think I really needed to connect with someone but was too busy to get it done.  That’s just an excuse.  Being too busy simply means I chose not to put an item higher on my priority list.

I was told once by a Japanese acquaintance that the word busy was made up of two symbols in their written language.  The first symbol would be interpreted as a human being.  The second symbol would be interpreted as a destroyer.  Together the word busy would be translated as “human destroyer.”  Don’t let busyness destroy you.

You’re only as good as those you associate with

We work hard at instilling this in our kids.  They shouldn’t hang out with that person or crowd because they’re a bad influence on them.  We seem to forget this as an adult.  Even worse, we think because we’re adults we’re strong enough and wise enough to not let it happen to us.  Wrong.  If you don’t associate with positive, can-do people, you’ll never make it on your own.  Even if it means leaving the company you work for, do it.  You must hang out with people who are positive and care for you and others as valuable human beings.

You’re living the life you created

It’s easier to think of ourselves as victims of circumstances when things are not as we wish they should be.  The truth is, you’ve created the life you’re living by the choices you’ve made.  Maybe you can’t stomach or tolerate failure.  Maybe you’re just being busy assuming that’s being productive.  Maybe you’re not associating with the types of people that have your best interest at heart.  You’ve made these decisions!  You’ve created this life.  Don’t blame others or circumstances.

Fear is the number one source of regret

Fear of failure.  Fear of loss.  Fear of what others might think of you.  Fear of change.  These are the things that kept you from doing things but that bring you regret now.

You don’t have to wait for an apology to forgive

Lack of forgiveness is like cancer.  It will eat your insides out.  If you need an apology before you forgive then it’s not really forgiveness anyway.  It’s simply a barter.  Forgiveness is not bartered.

Live in the moment

Bradberry says “No amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of anxiety can change the future.”  I don’t live in the past.  There is nothing you can do about it so why worry about it.  However, I’m really bad about living in the future.  I don’t believe I’m anxious about it, but I think more about the future than I do about the moment.  I’ve missed a lot along the way by living too much in the future.

Your self-worth must come from within

You know those people who seem to be worried more about what people think, what people might think, or how they think others view them.  There is no value in this kind of worry.  If you’re not comfortable with who you are it won’t make a difference anyway.  Remember, you’re living the life you created.

Life is short

This one is so much clearer the older we get.  Wise people don’t need to get physically old before they realize this.  Life is short.  Don’t waste your time being busy.  Don’t waste your time with a priority list that is not important to you.  Live life in the moment.

Change is inevitable—embrace it

Life doesn’t happen in straight lines.  It’s constantly changing.  It can easily throw you out of your comfort zone.  But it’s inevitable.  The sooner you realize that the easier it is to handle change.  Make the right decisions.  But don’t regret it if you don’t make the right decision. That’s in the past; there is nothing you can do about it.  Life is short.  Live it in the moment.  It will be a different moment tomorrow!

A list of ten is too big of a number for most of us to keep track of and remember each day.  Pick one or two of these truths.  Use those to be a better person and to live a more enjoyable life.  The one or two might change over time but concentrate on a couple that are creating more discomfort for you than they should.  Then live an enjoyable life.

 

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Rut or Groove?

by Ron Potter

Are you in a rut or a groove?

One of the cartoons I enjoy is Animal Crackers by Mike Osbun.  In a recent strip, one character with a glum face says, “I’m in a rut.”  The other character with a cheerful face says “I’m in a groove.”  The first character says “Trade ya.”

Definition of Rut and Groove

The definitions of the two words are surprisingly similar.

Rut:  A long deep track made by repeated passage.

Groove: A long, narrow cut or depression, especially made to guide motion.

Notice that they are both long.  However, the rut is deep and caused by repeatedly doing the same thing.  Einstein says, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”  That seems like a good definition of being in a rut.

Groove is defined as a narrow cut (not deep) but is there to guide your motion.

How Do We Move from Rut to Groove?

In the Animal Crackers cartoon, when the character says ‘trade ya’ he doesn’t seem to believe that trading is possible.  He’s stuck in his rut and there’s nothing that can be done about it.

But there is something that can be done.  Notice in the definitions that a rut is a deep cut while a groove is a narrow cut.  All it takes is deciding to move from rut to groove.

The Mind Projects in Straight Lines

A friend of mine told me that something I had said to him 40+ years ago was helping him get through some tough times.  He reminded me that I had learned early that the human mind tends to project in straight lines—if things are going bad, it seems like they’ll continue to go bad.  If things are going good, we assume they will always be good.  But life never travels along straight lines.  Things constantly change.

When You’re in a Rut

If you’re in a rut, the straight lines projected by the mind believe you will always be in a rut.  Not true!  Things change.  The real question is, how do we get into a groove sooner?  How do we ‘trade ya’ as our Animal Cracker friend says?  And there’s a simple answer to that question!

Attitude

It always amazes me how much attitude and outlook makes a difference.

There’s a story about the first days of NASA as they were preparing to go to the moon.  One of the head scientists was on his way home late one night so he cut through the giant hanger that had been built for the spacecraft.  As he was crossing the cavernous space, he saw one of the janitors sweeping up the floor.  In an effort to make a human connection, he asked the janitor what he was doing.  The janitor, with wonder in his eyes, said, ‘Haven’t you heard?  We’re going to the moon!’  He wasn’t just pushing a broom, he was helping get the hanger ready, so they could go to the moon.  Great attitude!

A woman who was in the audience when I was speaking wrote me a letter.  She would drag herself out of bed and get to her job just because she needed to provide for her family.  She hated it.  She not only hated the company she worked for, she hated the industry because she assumed all the companies dealt with the same issues.

After listening to the message about attitude, she decided to change.

By the time she wrote to me, she couldn’t wait to get started at her job every morning.  She loved her job, she loved the people she was working with, and she remembered why she chose that industry in the first place.  It was still the same place on Monday that it had been on Friday when she heard the message about attitude.  The only thing that changed was her attitude and remembering what she loved about her work to start with.  Her attitude had changed—nothing else.

How much of your attitude impacts your energy and excitement about what you’re doing and where you’re doing it?  Think about it.  It may have more to do with it than you realize.

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The Most Important Asset in Your Life

by Ron Potter

“The Most Important Asset in Your Life” is an article by Zat Rana. I find it a well thought out and researched article.

One of the first quotes that may strike you (at least it did me) is that “Money is a means, not an end.” All too often, people think that if they just make enough money (an end), they’ll be happy. There is way too much research and general observation to get caught in that trap anymore (although many people still do).

Research shows that money is not a motivator that keeps people in jobs. People don’t leave jobs because of money! Nor do they stay in jobs for the money.

Interviews with entrepreneurs that have become very rich indicate that it was the work, trying something new, working on something they loved that kept them going. None of them spoke of the desire to get rich, that was a by-product of doing something they loved. Of course, they also didn’t talk about being dirt poor just so they could follow their dream. The point is, money didn’t enter the interview either good or bad.

But the real zinger comes when Zat says, “The most important asset in your life isn’t time, but attention. The quality of the experiences in your life doesn’t depend on how many hours there are in the day, but how the hours have been used”.

Attention

That is the key! We still have a limited amount of time in our lives and everyone has the same 24 hours per day. It’s not how much we do or don’t have, it’s how we use it. Where do we put our attention?

Today’s world is against us

I’ve written previous blogs on the need for deep thought. Today’s world is designed to keep us from the process of deep thought. The Googles, Twitters, Facebooks, etc. that fill today’s world are designed to capture our attention and keep it as long as possible. This diverts our thinking and pulls us away from deep thought on our desired topic. They are very good at what they do and are getting better (or worse) every day.

Zat mentions three things that help us focus and keep our attention on what is important:

Mindfulness

This is what helps us from getting distracted by what the world attacks us with and helps get us into and keeps us in deep thought. Zat says “By forcing yourself to focus your mind on one thing, you train your brain to develop a sense of control over your attention.” The world (high tech) wants to distract us and keep our attention on its ecosystem.

Ruthless Single-Tasking

Studies that I came across years ago said that only fighter pilots can multi-task and only because they are highly trained to multi-task because their life depends upon that ability. Zat says that single-tasking with deep focus (thought) for extended periods helps fight the adverse side-effects that are actually harmful to the brain.

Routine Detachment

Zat says that “Every time you pull out your phone to scan your social media accounts, and every time a 10-minute internet break turns into an hour-long binge, your brain is building a habit loop that reinforces itself to encourage such behavior.”

I’m not the best at some of this but there are a few things that have worked for me:

• I stopped watching TV news over a decade ago. It’s focused on the immediate and controversial. I’m interested in the long-term and unity. All TV, be it weather, financial, or whatever category, is entertainment. Once again, it’s designed to capture your attention and keep you away from deep thought.
• I get away. I’m writing this blog today in a cabin in the northern woods. There is almost nothing here to distract me. It helps me get into deep thought.

Find what gives you routine detachment. Everyone has a different approach but it’s important that you find what your’s is and do whatever you can to make your detachment (from the distractions of the world) into a routine. Routine means you do it on a regular basis. Don’t just assume that you’ll somehow work it into your life. Make it a routine and discipline yourself to follow that routine.

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BlogLeadership

Understanding Speed and Velocity: Saying “NO” to the Non-Essential

by Ron Potter

Shane Parrish said in one of his blogs “It’s tempting to think that in order to be a valuable team player, you should say “yes” to every request and task that is asked of you. People who say yes to everything have a lot of speed. They’re always doing stuff but never getting anything done. Why? Because they don’t think in terms of velocity.”

Speed vs Velocity

I learned the difference between these two elements in engineering school.  Most people don’t know the difference between the two and use them interchangeably.  I admit that in most cases, it doesn’t really matter that people use them incorrectly.  But I believe that part of great leadership is saying what you mean and meaning what you say.  You can’t do that if you’re using words incorrectly.  People understand different words differently and it’s important to clarify what you’re saying.

Speed

Speed is a scalar measurement.  It tells us how far we’ve traveled in what amount of time.  It is distance divided by time.  Our roads have “speed” signs along the way.  Our state increased the speed on rural interstate highways from 70 miles per hour (mph) to 75 mph.  This means that I can cover more miles in the same amount of time.  My speed increases.

But speed doesn’t indicate direction.  I may merge onto the interstate and increase my speed to 75 mph.  I’ll be making good time.  But if I entered into the northbound side of the divided highway and my intended destination is to the south of my starting point, my speed is meaningless.  I may drive for an hour at 75 mph but at the end of that hour, I will be further from my desired destination than when I started.  It doesn’t have much value to go fast if you’re headed in the wrong direction!

Velocity

Velocity, on the other hand, is a vector measurement.  It includes direction.  Going 75 mph to the north is the same speed as 75 mph to the south but has very different velocities and very different destinations.  Just going fast doesn’t necessarily get you to your desired destination.  In fact, you may have a faster speed but take longer to your destination if you have the wrong velocity.

Saying No

The title of this blog indicates that you must say no to the non-essentials.  If you don’t, you’re just going fast!

There must be a purpose or a destination in mind to achieve the greatest velocity.

Some people just can’t say “no.”   Even when they say yes to non-essentials.  They’re just going fast.  This leads to burnout, stress, health issues, and missed targets.  Without a clear destination, there’s no value in going fast.  It’s just that some people feel that if they’re going fast then they’re more valuable.  Wrong!

Successful People say No

I’ll close this blog with a quote from Shane Parrish’s blog:

The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.
– Warren Buffett

If I were to rank the CEO’s I’ve worked with through the years, the one at the top of my list (best CEO) said ‘No’ more than all the others.  There is a tremendous demand for the time of the CEO.  And the demands are almost all worthwhile.  But the best CEO I ever worked with made it very clear the three things they were focused on in any given year.  When a demand arose that required them to spend time on something other than the three things that were the focus for the year, they immediately said ‘No’ and recruited someone else to accomplish the task.  It’s usually ego that drives them to spend their time on the non-essentials.  Good CEO’s overcome the ego.

Increase Your Velocity

Three things are listed in the blog that will help increase velocity

  1. Ruthlessly shave away the unnecessary tasks, priorities, meetings, and BS.  See the paragraph above to help with this item.
  2. Don’t rely on your willpower to say no; instead, create systems that help you fend off the distractions.
    I think this is a really good suggestion.  Just believing you have the willpower to say no when the time comes will fail.  Rely on a visible system (to you and others) to put demands in the ‘no’ category.
  3. Say “no” to your boss.  This may be the most difficult one for most people.  But, if you have a good boss, you will be respected for saying ‘no’ based on your system.  If you are not respected for saying ‘no’ for the right reasons, look for another job (boss).

If you’re all about speed, you’ll simply experience burnout.  Velocity indicates you have a meaningful destination.  Velocity will lead to success and satisfaction.

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Coronavirus and Deep Work

by Ron Potter

I know, I know, enough of the Coronavirus already.  We’ve been self-isolated and at this point have no idea what to believe is true and what is hype.  What I do know is the interesting journey I’ve been on in relation to Deep Work.

Deep Work

The COVID-19 virus may be offering the opportunity that you’ve been looking for to stand-out in a crowded world.  In his book Deep Work by Cal Newton he makes some great points about Deep Work and the lack of it.

One of the things that Cal says is:

To remain valuable in our economy you must master the art of quickly learning complicated things. This task requires deep work. If you don’t cultivate this ability, you’re likely to fall behind as technology advances.”

“A McKinsey study found that the average knowledge worker now spends more than 60 percent of the workweek engaged in electronic communication and Internet searching, with close to 30 percent of a worker’s time dedicated to reading and answering e-mail alone.

This state of fragmented attention cannot accommodate deep work, which requires long periods of uninterrupted thinking. At the same time, however, modern knowledge workers are not loafing. In fact, they report that they are as busy as ever. What explains the discrepancy? A lot can be explained by another type of effort, which provides a counterpart to the idea of deep work:
Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.”

How not to be replaced by a computer

The “easy to replicate” emphasis is my note.  Why did I highlight that particular statement?  Because when something is easy to replicate it means that a person who makes less wages can easily to the same work.  More importantly, a computer can be taught to do easily replicable work.  Your job is in danger of becoming computerized if you don’t shift from shallow work to deep work!

How do you counter this danger of being replaced by either cheaper labor or a computer?  You learn, practice, and become good at and known for your deep work and deep thinking.

Cultivate Deep Work (Thinking)

You can pick up almost any article, magazine, podcast or post that will tell you how to survive working from home.  These sources talk about

  • Get started early (don’t let your day get away from you before it starts)
  • Act like you’re going to the office (wrong, take advantage of doing things differently)
  • Have a dedicated workspace (good idea, but focus on making it a non-interruptable workspace)
  • Go to coffee shops, libraries, public lounges (may not be a bad idea but discipline must tag along as well.  You can’t go to a coffee shop just so you can enjoy your favorite drink)  And during the pandemic, many of these public places are not even available to us.
  • Stay off the public media! (Great suggestion.)  Regardless of where you’re working from, stay off public media.

What you really need is the discipline and focus for deep work.

Living a life of Deep Work and Thought

As Cal Newton closes his book he says

Deep work is way more powerful than most people understand. To leave the distracted masses to join the focused few, I’m arguing, is a transformative experience.
The deep life requires hard work and drastic changes to your habits. For many, there’s a comfort in the artificial busyness of rapid e-mail messaging and social media posturing, while the deep life demands that you leave much of that behind.”

Take advantage of the opportunity being offered

We’re all looking for a silver lining to the isolation caused by our current pandemic.  Take advantage of the forced isolation to become a deep worker and deep thinker.  It will pay rewards that you can’t even think of at the moment.

 

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BlogCultureCulture Series

Culture – The Other Two of the Four Halves

by Ron Potter

In the last post, I discussed balancing the right side vs the left side of the Culture Survey, Stability vs Flexibility.  This week we’ll look at the top vs the bottom, External Focus vs Internal Focus.  You can see from the chart that the top half (External Focus) is driven by the Vision and Adaptability quadrants.

External Focus

Again, for very natural reasons, I often see more focus on the external than I do the internal.  For one, it’s easier to speak with external suppliers, press, buyers than it is to face the internal issues of making sure everyone is involved and engaged, living by accepted core values and reaching agreement and alignment across an organization run by many “type A” leaders.

One of my interesting observations through the years has been to see the CEO and COO work together as a team.  One of them often functions as “Mr. Inside” while the other one functions in the role of “Miss Outside.”  Don’t make the mistake of assuming the CEO functions outside while the COO functions inside.  The best transitions I’ve observed during a CEO retirement is when the COO takes over but still functions as the inside force.  The new COO is good at the outside connection.  This creates the smoothest transfer and keeps the company headed toward the future they’ve been preparing for.  Failure seems to happen when the board assumes that because the retiring CEO was a great visionary, they must hire a new CEO that’s also a visionary.  However, the new vision is often very different from the existing vision and the company has not prepared itself to move forward at the necessary speed.  A rotation that keeps the current vision in place and moving along at the right speed seems to work the best.

Internal Focus

Too often there is not enough effort to keep the people involved and consistency maintained to keep the company moving in the right direction at the necessary speed.  Never stop empowering the people, building teams and developing the strength and skills necessary to move into the future.  Involvement is critical to future success.

Consistency is tough to build but easy to lose.  If you:

  • Allow Core Values to be violated without consequences,
  • Don’t require a commitment to decisions that impact the entire company or
  • Allow departments and divisions to make decisions that help them but ignore the other teams

you’ll quickly lose consistency and the required, strength, resiliency and unity that is needed to create a great company in difficult times.

Balance, Balance, Balance

Great cultures required balance.  At any point in time, your company may require special strength and commitment to a particular part of the Culture Chart in order to deal with special market situations.  But even in that case, don’t let your chart get too far out of balance.  Balance, Balance, Balance.  It’s a requirement.

3rd Quartile

Regardless of the situation, you must have good culture scores in every element of the chart.  I would suggest that if you score in a range below the 50th percentile in any element, you work there first to correct the situation before moving on to the culture as a whole.  There may be particular strengths required for different market conditions (see next week’s blog about particular market conditions) but I believe that every element of the twelve should be in the 3rd quartile first before moving on to work on a particular situation.

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BlogCultureCulture Series

Culture – Involvement: Team Orientation

by Ron Potter

The Team Orientation of Involvement contains several wonderful elements.

  • Cooperation is Encouraged
  • People are not isolated pieces
  • Teamwork is used over Hierarchy
  • People see the relationship between their work and the work of the team (teams)

Problem Solving

I think one of the first things that get in the way team orientation is that corporate leaders and members are problem solvers.  Don’t get me wrong, problem-solving is a wonderful skill and is the reason why most people get promoted in organizations.  But it can also be the first thing that gets in the way of good team orientation.

Email Overload

As a consultant, I was often asked how to reduce the amount of email that was a burden to everyone.  I always looked at three things:

  1. Why was the email sent?
  2. What was the response?
  3. Who was cc:d on the email?
Why was the email sent?

The answer to this question was always something like:

I gave this person an assignment and they were looking for an answer or a solution.

What was the response?

The answer to this question was almost always – I sent them the answer or solution.

Who was cc:d?

The answer to this one always seemed a little more cynical.  It would go something like – Everybody and their brother

Immediately eliminate 40% of email

The solution to almost all overload email is accountability.  This incorporates questions one and two.

I would suggest to the leader that they stop reading email with the intent to respond.  And start asking themselves the question “Why am I receiving this email?”

Because corporate leaders are good problem solvers, their immediate (non-thinking) response is to figure out the problem and send the answer.  However, if they look at every email with the first question being, “Why am I receiving this email?”  their response becomes different than providing a solution.

Why am I receiving this email?

Some of the responses I’ve heard from the Leader:

  • I don’t have the right expertise on the team
  • The person sending the email doesn’t like the answer their getting from the team
  • The person doesn’t want to be held accountable for the solution.  Now they have an email to prove that I gave the solution, not them.

This last answer is hardly ever seen by the leader (they’re problem solvers.  They feel good about themselves for giving answers).  But it’s the reason many emails are generated.  It’s an easy way to get the monkey off their back and onto the back of the leader.  And the leader seldom notices.

Answer with a different response

I suggest that the leader answer the email with a simple question, “Why are you sending me this email?”

40% of email will cease!

This response sends the message “I’m not accepting the monkey”.  Figure it out.  It’s why I gave you the job.  Come to me with solutions, not questions.

Notice that this one response touches three and maybe all four of the Team Oriented Culture elements.

  1. Cooperation is Encouraged – It encourages the individual to work with their peers.  Cooperate.  Engage!
  2. People are not isolated pieces – It’s not just one person solving a problem (or their boss solving it for them).  Again, they need to engage with the team and peers.
  3. Teamwork is used over Hierarchy – I’m starting to sound like a broken record here but it’s not a top-down solution.
  4. People see the relationship between their work and the work of the team – Decisions are not made in isolation.  It’s not just the boss who sees the big picture.  The individual must understand it as well to provide a workable solution.

I used the example of email but it can be any electronic media.  In fact, texting adds a sense of urgency that makes the leader feel they must give a solution rapidly.

But, it can also apply to one-on-one meetings and even happen in team meetings.

Solution or Team Orientation

This idea that the leader should also be the problem solver is at the heart of most of these team orientation issues.  It’s a tough habit to break.  Don’t just solve the problem,

  • Encouraged cooperation
  • Make sure everyone functions as part of the whole, not just individual pieces
  • Don’t perpetuate the hierarchy, build the team
  • Make sure everyone understands how their actions and solutions impact the team

Create a team orientation, you’ll get better involvement.

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BlogCultureCulture Series

Culture – Adaptability: Customer Focus

by Ron Potter

Customer focus is an interesting topic to me.  Henry Ford is quoted as saying “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”  He was inventing the car.  People didn’t know they needed a car.

Entirely new Product or Service

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”  Thomas Watson, president of IBM.  This was the quote from Tom Watson Sr.  It was Tom Watson Jr. that turned the punch card company toward computers of the future.

I believe Customer Focus must be driven by the Mission quadrant.  If our mission is to create something the world has never see or doesn’t know they need yet, then Customer Focus must be very selective.

I’m involved with a wonderful team attempting to create something that doesn’t exist yet.  We’re trying to take years of consulting experience from myself and a couple of other consultants and boil down the essence of building teams, being great leaders and developing great cultures into an app.  We’ve titled it GPS4Leaders.  Even though we have a great concept on how the app will work, our goal right now is to put the app in the hands of customers and let them tell us how it should look, feel and react to their use.  We’re trying to listen to the customer.

Existing Product or Service

But,

  • once the car has deeply penetrated society
  • everyone is working with computers daily (sometimes it even resides on your wrist)
  • giving you access to your Team, Leadership, and Culture progress instantly on whatever device is available at the moment

how should you then listen to your customer?

Listen to the customer from the companies position, not just your job

I recently received notice from my insurance company that my policy would be discontinued if I didn’t submit a payment immediately.  However, that particular policy is set up for automatic withdrawal, and it is the insurance company that initiates payment.  I called the company, brought the payments up to date and then asked, “Why didn’t you (the insurance company) make the automatic withdrawal?”  The answer was “I don’t know, but I’ll have someone contact you.”  I was never contacted!  The person I was talking with did their job of receiving payment and didn’t care if it happened again or not.

Listen before the customer asks

In another example, I received a regular shipment, but the shipment was short two critical pieces.  After waiting a week I called the company.  The person I talked with immediately corrected the problem and sent me the missing parts.  Did that person listen to the customer?  Sort of!

In correcting the improper shipment, the person said: “Yes, we had several shipments with this same issue, I’ll correct that for you.”

Wait a minute!  You knew you had this problem.  If fact you have several examples of it, and yet you didn’t correct my issue until I called you to see why there was a problem!

Companies that are good at listening to their customers make corrections before the customer calls them.

Listening may be unique, but it requires focus

Each company may have unique issues around listening to its customers.  An emergency room will have very different issues from a vitamin company.  A parts supply company will have different issues than a new car dealership.  You will likely need to customize your listening skills to your particular situation.  Just make sure this is a leadership issue, it’s everybody’s job; it is not the domain of a customer service department!

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BlogLeadershipTeam

Team and Leadership: Summary

by Ron Potter

Over the last several weeks we have been reviewing and expanding on the elements of a great team in our Thursday blog.  At the same time, our Monday blog has been exploring more detail on the elements of great leadership.  These are the first two legs of our Team Leadership Culture (TLC) model.

In general I believe it’s important to build a great team before working on leadership skills but in reality, it’s difficult to accomplish one without the other.  In many cases, they are tightly coupled and interdependent.

Today let’s review the elements of team and leadership and see how they fit together.

Elements of Team

Truth – Respect – Elegance – Commitment

Elements of Leadership

Humility – Development – Commitment – Focus
Compassion – Integrity – Peacemaking – Endurance

Interdependence

Let’s start with the elements of Team and look at the interdependence, overlap, and alignment with the Leadership elements.

Truth => Humility – Integrity – Peacemaking

To build a great team, members must be truthful with each other.  Truthfulness requires Humility, Integrity, and Peacemaking from the Leadership Skill List.

Humility

Humility has been misunderstood and misused in recent years.  Often people think of “turning the other cheek” or even being a “doormat” in order to be humble.  The original meaning of the word meant great power under complete control.  Humility doesn’t mean you’re powerless.  In fact quite the opposite.  It means that you have tremendous power.  Enough power to crush your opposition.  But when you’re humble, you choose not to use that power in a destructive way but to use the power for intense learning and curiosity.  Humble people may be the most powerful people in the room but are focused on individual and team learning through curiosity.  Humble people assume the other person may know something they don’t or have a very different perspective that’s worth learning.

Integrity

Integer also comes from the same root as integer.  It means whole, complete, sound and even incorruptible.  A person of high integrity is the same, complete, whole person no matter where they are or who they are with.  You can always trust they are and will be the same and say the same thing no matter what.  This is essential for the Truth required on teams as well as Commitment.  If you can’t trust that someone is genuine and has integrity, it’s difficult to get at the truth or sustain commitment.

Peacemaking

Peacemaking is also a word that we’ll see associated with Truth and Commitment.  Peacemaking is not the absence of conflict and different opinions.  Peacemaking understands that differences of opinion is natural for human-beings but has figured out a way to work through the differences and conflicts in a healthy productive way.

Respect => Humility, Development, Compassion and Integrity

Building and maintain respect with a team requires a leadership style built on humility, development, compassion, and integrity.

It’s important to note here that when I use the word leadership, I don’t mean the identified leader of the team.  I have observed people of all ranks and positions being leaders.  True leadership comes from your actions, not your position.

Humility and Integrity

We talked about humility and integrity in the Truth section above.  The same issues apply to Respect.

Development

From my book “Trust Me” development is described as “Leaders who accept the truth and train others to seize the benefits of adversity, loss, and change.  Growing people and giving them opportunities is one of the best ways to show respect.

Compassion

There have been a few clients through the years that didn’t believe compassion had anything to do with business.  In their minds, business was logical and should be dispassionate.

I’ve often used an old adage to counter that thinking:  “I don’t care how much you know until I know how much you care!”

When people feel like you care for them as a human being first, they feel trusted and respected.

Elegance => Commitment, Focus, Peacemaking

Commitment and Focus

I’ve combined these two but they do go together in many ways.  It requires a firm and aligned grip on the goal and purpose of the team to accomplish the required tasks in the simplest way with the least amount of friction.  Make the goals and purpose clear and then make sure everyone is committed.  This will eliminate much of the territorial behavior that happens with teams.

Focus is under attack more than any point in history.  All of our modern devices are determined to capture our focus thereby scattering our attention.  Our own egos also drive us to accomplish more things and be in more places than necessary or even possible.  Staying focused on the goal and purpose is the only way to keep things Elegant.

Peacemaking

Peacemaking was discussed above.  In making sure that things are accomplished in the simplest way possible, it will take a great deal of peacemaking to settle territorial disputes.

Commitment => Commitment, Peacemaking, Endurance

Commitment and Peacemaking

These two were also discussed above.  In terms of Team Commitment, it will take a strong commitment to the goal and purpose of the team.  It will also take a great Peacemaking/Decision-Making process.  Our earlier blog on Team Commitment talks about the process that provides a win-win environment which is essential to reach full commitment.

Endurance

I used the TREC (Truth, Respect, Elegance, Commitment) acronym because it looks and sounds like the word TREK.  A TREK is described as a long arduous journey.  Especially one involving difficulties and complex organization.  Building a great team is a long arduous journey.  It takes great leadership to deal with the difficulties and complex organizations.

Team and Leadership

That’s the summary of the first two elements of TLC, Team Leadership Culture.

  1. Build a great team
  2. Development great leadership skills
  3. Create the culture to achieve the goals and purpose

The Rest of the Year Adventure

Over the next several months we will be talking about Culture, the third leg of TLC.  We’ll be doing this in our Thursday morning blog posts.  Our Monday blogs have been dedicated to the Leadership aspect of TLC.  For the rest of this year, we’ll be using Monday’s to blog about things that provoke some thought.  These usually come from my daily experiences in life, what I observe in the world, an article or book that makes a point that I think should be shared.  They won’t happen like clockwork every Monday morning but simply when something strikes me as worthwhile.  Stay tuned.

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BlogTeamTeam Series

Team Elements – Elegance: Summary

by Ron Potter

We’ve looked at three of the four sections that will help us build great teams: Truth, Respect, and now Elegance.  This week’s blog is a summary of the Elegance portion that has been written about over the last three weeks.

Elegance is made up of Simplicity, Focus, and Role Clarification.

Simplicity

Simplicity:  We all know the old adage KISS, Keep It Simple, Stupid.  I love old adages because they’re built on truth, even if they are a little rude like this one.  But the point is right on target.  Keep It Simple!  Once we start adding complexity to an issue, it becomes less elegant, more prone to mistakes, missteps, miss understandings, and missed results.  Our human brain is lazy and overloaded.  It looks for ways to simplify things so we have the capacity to understand and deal with complexity.  The more we simplify the greater chance the team has to perform together.

Focus

Books have been written about how our modern technology is not only destroying our focus but is destroying our ability to focus.  That’s scary to me.  But, like any muscle or ability, we can enhance that ability through dedication and practice.  You’re not going to be in good physical shape without regular exercise.  You’re not going to be a good reader without reading on a regular and disciplined base.  You’re not going to be focused without regular exercising of focus.

In every case, the concept is simple but the execution is difficult.

  • Go out for that walk, run, or bicycle ride on a regular basis.  Get to the gym several days per week.  Seems simple enough.  But it takes dedication and determination
  • Pick up that book rather than turn on the TV or flip through social media or complete just two more games on your phone.  Seems simple enough.  But, there we are, watching TV, finally looking up from our social media not realizing that we just spent an hour.  Time is more valuable than money.  We can always earn more money.  But, once you spend that hour, ten minutes or even ten seconds on something frivolous, it’s gone forever.  You’ll never get it back.  Focus.

Role Clarification

This one is a negative, not a positive.  While simplicity and focus are things that will greatly enhance teams, demanding that everyone stay in their “swim lane” or just do their role well and don’t worry about everyone else is a negative when it comes to great teams.  Yes, good teams rely on everyone knowing and doing their roles well but great teams tend to blend and mix thinking and perspectives in order to come up with the best solution.  Great teams function more like orchestras where the parts blend well together and are much richer and stronger in harmony they are as individuals.

Elegance

Elegance is the third leg of our team journey.  It’s an important and positive leg but is more subtle than the previous two.  When we’re not sharing the truth or showing respect, it’s obvious.  When our Elegance is slipping it is not always to see it happening right away.  Stay diligent on this one.  Look for the signs of Elegance waning.  Build an Elegant team.  It’s powerful!

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