============

“And our team is mature enough to understand that, to have perspective and to feel fortunate for this opportunity.”

—-

Ron Turcotte

===========

Opportunities. Suffice it to say we all seek opportunities. I would also suggest because we tend to think about opportunities like wishes granted by rubbing some magic genie bottle we associate some fabulous concepts to them:

Fate.

Destiny.

Hard work.

Making your own luck.

Look. I think it’s a little crazy when people say they deserve a chance or deserve an opportunity or even because they ‘worked hard’ that opportunity was deserved in some way. To be clear. I believe society should be fair in that if you present yourself, put forth the effort, you should get an opportunity.

But. While opportunities always exist, you are not guaranteed to get them. Life is indifferent to you. So, yes, sometimes you can do all the right things, work hard, be smart, and while some opportunities may come your way, well, they just will not be ‘the’ opportunities that can make the positive difference in your Life.

Therefore. If you get an opportunity, feel fortunate <and do your best to not waste it>. For some reason I believe a lot of people will find that thought debatable. Maybe it feels a little to, well, passive. But here is the truth. 6billion+ people are all striving for something better and some of those billions may actually want to be in the same place seeking the same opportunities as you and, well, you cannot all be in the same place at the same time even while seeking the same thing.

===========

“…. I just have to ride him accordingly. I don’t think anyone can tell a jockey what to do. I had a free hand when I was riding most of the time, but when they tie your hand and give you orders to be placed somewhere or do this or do that — ‘I want you to lay third,’ or ‘I want you to lay fourth’ — it might be 10 horses in the race, and nine of them have the same orders.”

===========

Or.

===

“We can’t all be in the same place, so when the gate opens, you’re on your own.”

Turcotte

==========

So many times we say ‘this is the way to win’, but, you know what? Everyone is trying to win.

Oftentimes winning is about context and managing the moment.

Someone can tell you ‘this is the way to do it’, but … trust me … in Life you have to use a free hand to win the race.

Lastly.

It is silly to suggest there isn’t some competition in Life. We may not like it and there are certainly unhealthy dimensions, yet, compete we do. And we will also compete over opportunities and because we do so we will view them in a variety of ‘win or lose’ dimensions.

This leads me to Humility. Or maybe the simple acceptance of what happens.

The year was 1965, and Turcotte, then 23, was aboard a horse named Tom Rolfe, whom he had ridden to a Preakness win after a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Turcotte made his move too early in that race and ended up losing by a neck at the line to a Florida-bred horse called Hail To All. “It was completely my fault,” Turcotte said. “I knew the horse’s fitness and all that, and I should have waited a little bit longer, and I got the horse beat. I don’t know if I was one of the best (that year), but the best can get beat the same way.”

 Whew. So he admitted … yup … admitted … he was the reason he lost.

Yikes. Imagine that. That’s integrity.

Almost all in the horse racing industry said Turcotte’s unimpeachable integrity may be his most defining and notable distinction. Not competitiveness. Not wins or losses. Integrity.

Well. I think everything else I have written about Life and horse racing is almost irrelevant compared to that last thought.

Unimpeachable integrity.

Opportunities exists and, frankly, the majority of us will almost always feel like we have missed opportunities, messed up opportunities or even believe opportunities missed us in favor of other people. That said. Life, as it should be lived, is always grounded in unimpeachable integrity.

Feel fortunate with the opportunities you get and treat each opportunity with unimpeachable integrity and I imagine you will live a good Life.

=============

“I am confident that, in the end, common sense and justice will prevail.

I’m an optimist, brought up on the belief that if you wait to the end of the story, you get to see the good people live happily ever after. “

—

Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam

====================

Well. I, frankly, cannot see how anyone could go through life without any optimism. I don’t see how anyone could live anything other than a fairly dismal life if all you did was embrace cynicism & skepticism. Fortunately, I do not believe many people are that completely dismal. I tend to believe most people believe common sense and justice may not always prevail, but certainly has better than even odds of prevailing in Life.

I actually think the bigger issue is that we sometimes feel suffocated by negativity and perceived ‘badness’ all around us. It can seem crushing on occasion. So crushing that it sometimes seems like it is more powerful than justice … and certainly more powerful than common sense.

That is why we need optimism.

Now. To be clear.

I am not an optimist. I am more a cynical optimist.

I am not a dreamer. I am more a pragmatic dreamer.

And, yes, I believe in hope, but, well, more a ‘lunch bucket” type hope. “Lunch bucket”?

Well. Certainly hope requires thinking. But thinking far too often remains just that … thinking … and no doing.

Lunch bucket hope is about putting in the work.

Lunch bucket hope is about full dreaming and not hollow promises.

Lunch bucket hope is about the harsh truths and not ignoring truths.

Lunch bucket hope is about recognizing ‘what is’ can change but ‘what will be’ will not happen magically.

This lunch bucket attitude combined with optimism, at its core, brings a belief that nothing may work. but that everything might work.

It is about understanding that there is no one silver bullet to solve something or to dramatically turn things around, but understanding that if you try 100 different things and each one makes even a little impact that there will be progress <and you get just a bit closer to what you hope>.

It is about recognizing that Life is rarely simple cause and effect and more likely a series of complex intertwined events <not chaos>.

It is about seeing that Life is always a work in progress where many times progress is difficult to distinguish from stagnancy.

It is about seeing that change, more often than not, is neither spectacular nor disruptive, but rather subtle nudges easily overlooked.

And … it is about only being confident that common sense and justice will prevail if you bring a lunch bucet attitude along with your optimism & hope.

I will admit.

My lunch bucket optimism is surrounded by pessimistic thoughts & cynical thoughts all wearing a well-worn comfortable cloak of hope.

I will admit.

My thoughts have a healthy respect for hope.

This permits my type of optimism to not be some kind-hearted pushover, but rather one capable of yelling, sharing hard feedback and resilient to a world which, very often, brings an even harsher cynicism.

My type of optimism defends the arc of history which embraces good against the attacks of bad … which relentlessly seek to slow the natural arc of progress.

And, yet, as I defend what I view a the good arc of history I bring a legitimate care for the world at large along with, what could be viewed as cold & harsh, a view in which I may simply see people as the actors on the stage of this greater world.

I do believe kindness & generosity differentiate performance; not successes & wins. This is not an easy task the pragmatic optimists take on. It demands that you have to do hard things and sometimes be hard in how you deal with Life … all the while keeping kindness in your heart.

I once used Jamie Varon’s words to say I am a professional aspirationalist. <That’s not a word, but I’ve made it into one, since there was nothing that could quite describe me because I didn’t want to say I’m a “professional dreamer” because that sounds like some hippie shit. I have aspirations, like, lots of them.>

===================

“I am not afraid of my truth anymore and I will not omit pieces of me to make you comfortable.”

Alex Elle

=====

I believe being a professional aspirationalist helps me to be a little more confident that common sense & justice & ‘good’ will prevail in today’s world.

I believe this because professional aspirationalist is a compass and not a destination. It is a direction.

Aspirationalist is a moving target.

Being an aspirationalist means not only having dreams, but dreaming and, yet, I remain a pragmatic optimist. It means I am restlessly pursing what is good and better  … relentlessly seeking, traveling, doing, thinking … professionally constantly in motion <mentally or physically>.

To be clear.

All of this is not for the faint of heart.

All of this is not easy.

All of this is often an eternal struggle against a shitload of negative forces in the world.

But. Isn’t all of that truly what being yourself is all about?

Isn’t Life, and living it, sort of about having some courage to suggest ‘I will not omit things just to make you comfortable’ and finding your own version of bravery?

======

“I am a world that cannot be explored in one day. I am not a place for cowards.”

Caitlyn Siehl

======

I imagine my point is that today’s world, in general, is not a place and time for cowards.

In addition, being a pragmatic optimist means you are not a place for cowards. I say that because pragmatic optimism, professional aspirationalist, all these types of thoughts are not simply about being a dreamer, all these thoughts have rich & royal hues of reality threading its way through its fabric.

And you are forced to not be a coward because this pragmatic optimism demands people to think about dreaming, but also demands doing.

Pragmatically, we cynical optimists, aspirationalists as it were, do seek approval and acceptance and we do seek to actually do shit (albeit ‘good shit’).

Now … I could argue, whether you like it or not, whether you think it is right or wrong, in some form or fashion we all care.

We all care <not just aspirationalists> about all of this shit <and shit in general>.

We all care what the people around us think about us. And by people I mean everyone from those closest to you <who would most likely accept you in any shape and form you ended up in> to society overall.

And we all care about good shit happening rather than bad shit.

And we all care about providing some value to the world.

Uhm.

But maybe that is where being a cynical optimist, a practical dream, a professional aspirationalist has an edge in today’s world.

We do not seek solely finding value from proving ourselves to others.

We don’t accept solely finding value in and of ourselves.

We seek finding value in uncovering pragmatic ways that our optimism can come to Life.

The value resides in the fact that the proof exists in our optimism being vindicated.

In the end.

It may very well be my timeand the time for people who think as I do. We cynical optimists. And I am okay with that.

================

“It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, “Wait on time.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

==========

================

“We laughed and laughed, together and separately, out loud and silently, we were determined to ignore whatever needed to be ignored, to build a new world from nothing if nothing in our world could be salvaged, it was one of the best days of my life, a day during which I lived my life and didn’t think about my life at all.”

―

Jonathan Safran Foer

==========================

Someone (Gerad Petherbridge) recently asked what makes a great advertising agency culture. I flippantly answered “an uncompromising vision to do great, smart, work.” And you know what? I stand by that. And I stand by that not just for advertising but for pretty much any business. To me, that is the core of a principled culture. I’d wrap two other principles around that:

• Progress (better today than I was yesterday).
• Integrity (no ethical shortcuts).

Note I have not used the word “values” yet. I will not in this frame of reference <but I will in a different frame later>.

A culture, or community of people working together, or maybe better said, the things that create a well-connected, group of people tend to be bonded in a more nebulous vision. Shangri-La, values, principles, attitudes, whatever labels you want to attach (and there are gobs of people and books and coaches who will) that we always want to identify, evaluate and ‘formula-ize’ even though it is actually something that’s actually more magic in a bottle. Yeah. Shangri la as it were.

I would suggest all those labels are just stupid shit.

That doesn’t mean there are into underlying practices that can facilitate a consistent desired output, but it means you really cannot create it; you simply create scenarios in which it can occur/emerge.

I will say my opening one sentence paragraph may be my definition for togetherness & my definition of the best business culture one could imagine. It captures the essence of what togetherness should be for everyone perfectly. It embodies culture. This is what a well aligned business focused on a similar vision & purpose should feel like. I find it interesting because I believe we now this in our youth and the as we forge our way thru the business world we get stripped of this, what I would call the substance, in our pursuit of ‘getting shit done’ & ROI & results.

“People are energy sources to be activated, not depleted, to maximize businesses. We flippantly discuss jobs as mundane and boring which only makes the people doing them feel meaningless and mundane.”

Bruce McTague

Many people smarter than I have discussed meaning of work and the fact people want to work toward something, not just for something (like money).

To me this is about a vision which everyone gathers around. I call it a campfire.

The odd thing to me with the campfire concept is that it implies a bit of “thoughtful gathering of fuel to build a campfire” (some purposeful planning & thinking) and, I will admit, as a leader I never really thought much about purposefully sharing any real substantive value to the people who elected to follow me nor do I purposefully share any substantive value to people I wanted to join whatever merry band gathered around that campfire. I never thought about trying to create some compelling message or try and be compelling. I solely focused on my convictions, my attitude & beliefs and I imagine I thought of it as “I have a campfire, come sit down … and I hope you stay <if you want>.”

Ok. This leads me to Values.

My POV: a business does not have values, they have principles. People have values, individual to themselves, and tey bring them to work every day and a business places principles at the front door so the people can coalesce their behavior around those principles.

Beyond the fact Values statements do not define behavior tossing around values in a flippant fashion seeds an organization with cynicism.

But here is most possibly the toughest challenge developing a business Principle ‘campfire’ — it takes a leader group with real guts. Why? The thing is that Principles have the uncomfortable task of encouraging personal & organizational success all the while fettering how success is achieved. Let’s call Principles the reins you tug and release on the organization.

Why does that matter? Well. As Napoleon said: “Success is the most convincing talker in the world.”

Success, in and of itself, is the one thread wish holds together almost every organization. We can discuss purpose and we can discuss integrity but, in the end, the function of an organization is to be successful.

And success is a cat’s cradle clash of personal versus the organization.

This is where I bring in ‘empathy’ and ‘mirroring.’

Empathy is a connection between feelings. Its strongest connection is when one’s feelings toward another mirror what the other is actually feeling. Let’s call it empathy alignment.

But.

——-

“Mirroring alone does not lead to empathy. We still have to choose to believe another person’s feelings matter.”

The Anatomy of Empathy

——–

If someone’s personal employee identity is defined by the culture, the principles of the culture need to be aligned not only with the personal values, but also the success value or it all gets negated, wiped out, and makes the employee feel lost, maybe isolated and, at its worst, feel less worthy as a person <questioning not only hier abilities but also how they are going about using their abilities>.

Then there is the organization itself. Success and identity <values> clash in a fear of being cast out from the collective <either by being fired or by not fitting in>.

Humans are tribal by nature and organizational culture feeds into that <and principles are maybe the key aspect of foundational culture aspects>. Obeying principled behavior, even if you have differing individual values, is the price to pay for staying in the tribe. In exchange you get to enjoy the perks, protection and personal actualization found within the organization.

Lastly. In the end.

Here is the most powerful aspect of culture.

Employees are greatest advocates for what they believe in. And. The holy grail of the ‘future of work’ is having employees (people) believe in themselves & believe they offer value every day. Brands <what you sell or just simply the company you work for> reside in minds of customers. Employees just show people what they can believe in. In other words. Productivity increases in tandem with greater brand/business value <a version of the Halo Effect>. So if the employees produce great work imbued with integrity and people like it and find value in it you have created a loop of highest value.

I admit I worry about wording it this way because inevitably some business person will think “how do I measure that and motivate that” when the power in this is only measured in the looped feedback mechanism. Ponder.

===

“Did you cut your hands on me?

Are my edges sharp? “ 

—

Sufjan Stevens

====

I admit.

I like sharp edges.

I like people with sharp edges.

I like a business positioned with some sharp edges.

Heck. I even like writing with pencils that have a sharp point.

Now. Being around sharp edges translates into several things that you kind of have to figure out how to deal with.

First & foremost you gotta be comfortable with cuts. You can’t be bitching and moaning about “its not easy” or “this can be painful” or “I want something softer.”

I know. I know. Not everyone is comfortable with sharp edges.

It most likely took me far too long to figure that out. Why? To me edges made sense. Oh. To be clear. This is having an edge or a distinction and clarity … not being edgy.

Anyway. This edge thing, having and making some unequivocal non blurry attitudes and beliefs and, well, character like aspects, has always appeared <at least to me> to make it easier to communicate and interact. And this pertains with how we would communicate and interact personally as well as within business.

But … that’s me.

Unfortunately. What I seemed to overlook was that edges are, uhm, sharp. They not only can hurt, but they can also kill. Sharp edges mean choices — choices by you and choices by others who could possibly be cut.

And maybe it is because of that last point in business we far too often think of sharp in butter knife terms.

Butter knife sharpness is most typically not the original intent in any business discussion but due to collaboration and a general desire for minimal risk <yet desiring maximum return> the edges become more rounded and blunt. The business idea gets wielded as a safe utensil used to softly spread some additive on the larger offering. You can poke people with the butter knife but rarely hurt anyone in doing so.

When discussing this with businesses I most often suggest they come up with things they can stab their competition with. And use the ‘stab’ as a test for whatever they are discussing.

I am chuckling here.

Even with what I just wrote a business can be pretty creative when discussing ‘a sharp edge’ for something they have discussed & want to do. They wrangle their business in brainstorming sessions and focus groups and leadership collaboration meetings and inevitably come to a consensus that is in their eyes … some sharp edged way to position the business in the marketplace and communicate it.

But. After all that wrangling all they have done is find some soft edged palatable to the majority ‘thing.’ It doesn’t hurt anyone with some sharp edge <except the truly ‘scared of any risk at all’ people> and it can only really get people excited with some gussying up. A bunch of people will dress it up as a sharp edge but … well … it is still a butter knife.

Part of the problem is that far too often businesses simply seek to ‘compete’ and not really hurt <if not kill> the competition. They are satisfied with standing toe to toe bludgeoning each other with dull rounded hammers … all the while suggesting that this is ‘smart fighting’ giving ‘us the edge’.

Shit.

‘Edges’ <in this case> seems to me like it is simply staying in the fight and not a plan to win a fight … unless you consider standing there for hours outlasting your competition as winning.

Edges, and I mean REAL edges, are all about winning. And by winning I mean your ‘edge’ makes someone, or someones, irrelevant <not just uncomfortable getting poked with whatever edge you have in hand>. To clarify. The majority of the time the edge you have assumed and wield doesn’t make everyone irrelevant … just some.

Anyway. One last thing about not having an edge. Unfortunately … Life and business will place you on the edge whether you like it or not.

Yeah. At some time and place, whether you have walked to the edge or the edge simply appeared where you were standing, you will find yourself on an edge. Some dance on the edge. And then there are those who don’t see the opportunity to dance. They only see that their feet stand on the icy brink of Death.  They only see uncertainty … and <possible> death if they slip.

I don’t understand those who do not dance on the edge when it appears.

Just as I don’t understand why someone doesn’t want an edge.

Just as I don’t understand why a business doesn’t want an edge.

To be clear. Sharp edges is not really “its okay to have 50% hate as long as 50% love.” Sharp edges create distinction … and distinction actually creates this type of mix:

25% love/like a lot.

25% are okay with you.

25% mildly dislike you.

25% hate.

That is how sharp edges typically cut. In my world that seems like a pretty awesome ratio — in business and in life.

——— Originally posted May 2016 ———-

===================================

“Paranoid?

Probably.

But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.”

―

Jim Butcher

===

“Sometimes, I feel the past and the future pressing so hard on either side that there’s no room for the present at all.”

—

Evelyn Waugh

===

“Panic is the sudden realization that everything around you is alive.”

―

William S. Burroughs

=======================

Ok. This is about life as a business leader.

I do not care how good you are as a business leader, you will get squeezed. If you suck, you get squeezed often. If you are good, you only get squeezed on occasion. But good or bad … all business leaders get squeezed at some point.

What do I mean by squeezed?

In general, the responsibility world, as viewed by a manager, is a fairly vast place because it rarely is defined solely by direct reports or even full departments you manage but rather all dimensions emanating outwards from every decision you, or your employees, may make.

The good news about this is that within all that vastness there is a lot of room to let some of the more horrible or horribly mundane crap just slip by.

The bad news occurs when all of a sudden the world shrinks and you feel squeezed and evaluated by the what you had considered fairly mundane up until that moment.

And this can happen a lot easier than one may think.

Between politics in the office, relentless evaluation from outside the organization as well as inside the organization and the normal ebbs & flows of everyday business which seem to almost simultaneously uncover grains of truth and cover grains of truth the vastness of what you actually do can become small pretty quickly under all this scrutiny.

And, if you are not careful, you get squeezed into … well … not nothingness but certainly “lessness.”

I would suggest any manager worth a shit will almost always fight back <or respond> to getting squeezed. It is almost a survival instinct, but it can also be an ego instinct.

Regardless. You gotta sharpen your elbows and create some space for yourself in between what all the scrutiny is suggesting <which often feels a lot like demanding> and what your current role is outlining as the right way to think and behave.

But here is the hard part. And it is kind of surprisingly hard.

It is fairly easy to sharpen your elbows and fight back, but without some thought you are simply fighting — fighting with no purpose other than it feels good to fight <or you are fighting simply out of thoughtless, or less than thoughtful, survival>.

And while fighting back in and of itself is somewhat satisfying because you feel like you should … it is less than satisfying because it has no real focus or purpose. It doesn’t have any ‘long game’ aspects involved <and if you have any desire to be a good leader/manager you have to be able to view beyond the present moment>.

I would argue this is where ‘knowing what you want and knowing who you are rears its ugly head.

Suffice it to say when you get squeezed you are gonna respond in some way.

You have to. Because if you are a manager managing the shit in the present it is a fairly small window in which to work. That small window gets even smaller if you are getting squeezed by the past and future challenges. This is what you will inevitably see as some response options:

• Tripling down on what you believe makes you look good <this is image … putting on a good face … “talking the talk”>.

The risk on this one is that … well … you may be trying to look good on something you may not actually look good doing. In addition. If you are a crappy actor people ll see what you are trying to do.

• Doubling down on what you are actually good at <usually with words and sometime directing people to do shit>.

The risk on this one is that what you are good at may not actually be what is needed to get out of the squeeze. You are definitely, and defiantly, playing to your strengths but it just may not be what it takes to penetrate the weakness in the squeeze.

• Flee <absolve of responsibility>.

The risk in this is you are a leader & a manager and you have absolved yourself of responsibility. If you cannot make the responsibility stick with someone else, I can guarantee that the responsibility will stick with you like your shadow wherever you flee.

• Find a different enemy so that the squeeze decides to go elsewhere.

The risk in this is being “anti” something is pretty easy but standing for something is really hard <and most people know that>. I could actually suggest in some ways being anti is lazy.

So. All of that leads me to the best way to get out of a squeeze.

• Stand for something.

The risk in this is, well, there is not really a shitload of risk unless you elect to stand for something stupid, bad or idiotic. But if you do this right … convince yourself that what you are standing for is something worthwhile but also mentally accept it may not perfectly align with your group norms as well as societal norms … but still be the right thing to stand for.

All that said. Unfortunately getting squeezed can also encourage another outcome & response – paranoia.

In fact … I almost called this paranoia (enemies everywhere). I almost did that because paranoia is possibly the worst reflective response to being squeezed. What I mean is that once you have been squeezed a portion of you may start worrying that there is some hidden cabal or agenda ‘out to get you.’

But I did not call it that because paranoia is only one possible response to getting squeezed.

I would suggest that paranoid carries a fairly negative connotation. The reality is having a slight thread of paranoia <lets say “proportionate to your depth of confidence”> can often keep your head out of your own ass and more on a swivel watching what is going on around you. Some would suggest it keeps you aware of your “what if” muscle. I would suggest it can keep your “if it can go wrong, it will” muscle.

Paranoia, when living in a healthy state, often helps your view of all the potential outcomes and solutions, with a thought of “proactiveness” to head off shit before it even exists. Obviously, if paranoia is your only response to being squeezed and is your constant state of mind, that is neither healthy for you or the organization.

======================

“Paranoia is just the bastard child of fear and good sense.” (Charlie)

“Poor thing. Let’s adopt it, give it a last name and raise it right.” (Jace)

“You want to get it a puppy, too?”

“Sure. We’ll call it Panic. It and little Paranoia can play together at the park and scare the hell out of all the other kids.”

D.D. Barant

===========

In the end, all managers and leaders get squeezed at some point. I would also suggest that how you navigate ‘the squeeze’ early in your management career will set you on a certain type of path with regard to how you manage being squeezed. And, just like with any pattern, the more often something works the more likely you will be to continue doing it.

Yes.

I will agree that sometimes a new challenge later on in Life will force someone to reflect and ‘rise to the occasion’ and shed some of the lesser aspects of who and what they may have been up to that point, but most people just stick with what they believe got them to where they are.

All I can say is that being squeezed has a tendency to squeeze out whatever character you may have within – some will be disappointed by what is squeezed out and some will be pleased. Just know that whatever is squeezed out can be seen by everyone.

======

“Any story worth telling has been embellished a little bit, Skyco, but the best stories are born from an honest seed that simply grows a little in the retelling of it.”
―

Jennifer Frick-Ruppert

=============

Embellishment. Uhm. Lies.

It seems in today’s world of “results driven” we are actually encouraged to embellish (in business and in Life). Now. No one will say that, in fact, most people say “be truthful, say you were part of a team & bla bla bla …”. But in today’s soundbite non-nuanced world where we espouse “1^st impression is all that matters”, well, you embellish. Okay. You lie.

Let’s be clear. Embellishment = lie. Period. In fact it may be worse than an outright lie because it is a gradation of a truth wherein instead of standing upon the size of the truth one elects to increase the size in order to make it, and self, look bigger. It’s a double lie. It’s a result/impact lie & it is a self lie.

Now.

While there is a lot of career survivalism found in embellishment I would argue much of our embellishment is founded upon ‘seeking status.’

Oddly, & uncomfortably, this is most often pointed out by looking at fathers (not mothers). Oddly, & most uncomfortably, this may also be one of our greatest lessons in trust, truth and forgiveness.

Viewed from the proper, reflective, perspective a father’s ‘embellishments’ can be viewed as the inspiration for truth.

Viewed from the proper, reflective, perspective a father’s ‘embellishments’ can make one realize you can still be friends with a liar.

Why lie?

• trying to make himself better than who he was?
• because the one force more powerful than a child wanting the admiration of a father is the father wanting the admiration of his child?

Wow.

Insert yourself in a business environment and, well, it’s not that difficult to get there.

Sometimes we feel the need of the help of our imagination to achieve that status and then let the listener imagine how powerful, impactful & wise we are. It’s a game we play but it is a liar’s game that no one really wins.

Because the liar devil always gets his due. There will always be the moment where, as Herman Melville once wrote, “men drained of valor.”

Well.

I have pointed out many times a lot of good people, with good hearts and good intentions get trapped on the slippery slope of embellishment. And I envision fathers, or parents in general, if they are not very very careful can step onto this slope early on in their children’s lives and if they are not careful to nip the embellishment in the bud at a key point that little nugget of ‘not exactly truth’ has become a seed that will grow in their child’s minds. And that seed gets nourished by the sheer desire to look up to their father as they grow up. That little embellishment takes on a life of its own in the child’s mind.

This is exactly the same in business & resumes & stories upon which we build our careers.

Its easy to step onto this slope. Far far too easy.

Lie? Embellishment? Life is tricky. It gives us the appearance of solid ground yet we are surrounded by a variety of slippery slopes. Embellishments are one such slippery slope. The first step one takes may have been a harmless embellished facet of a larger truth given in a harmless reactive response. Or it could have been a conscious small lie. Either way it placed a foot on the slippery slope. Depending on that first embellishment things could have gained some momentum or it became a little easier to offer another. Either way you slide further down the slippery slope. Suffice it to say a lot of very good people get stuck on the slippery slope and cannot get back up. They are not bad people just simply people who cannot figure out how to stop the slide (they can slow it) nor can they get back on solid ground.
All that said.

Forgiveness.

Let’s say this person is simply a good person who got stuck on the slippery slope and you reached down and pulled him back up to solid ground (albeit a painful act for you … and the person I may add). You have achieved two good things. You were good enough to save someone from the slippery slope. You allowed a good person a second chance on solid ground.
And, hopefully, you will have learned the dangers of the slippery slope and can avoid it in your own life.

Anyway. Listen. Regardless of whether you can look back and honestly say you didn’t embellish or lie at some point you need to prepare to become human in the eyes of someone who expected you to maybe more than human (at least on occasion). Because whether you like it or not that type of relationship (particularly a parent but also a leadership position) does take on some superhuman characteristics.

Oh.

Here is where embellishment gets its true footing.

People don’t realize that sometimes while they expect you to have all the answers you are making it up as you go. Sometimes that is what leadership is made up of. You know this but they don’t. So what you may be “winging” becomes stamped somewhere in their lives or memories as a ‘thoughtful action.’

Let’s face it. You are screwed if they have a great memory.

So. When you become a person facing your embellishments I would imagine while you are hoping for a variety of things a couple of ‘hopes’ stand out:

–              Strength of character.

You have embodied the character needed in them to see through your flaws and see you as a good person doing the best they could.

–              A recognition of perspective.

Being a grownup means choices. And recognizing choices. And not that someone didn’t make 100% good choices but that in the end they made enough good choices.

Here is what I do know:

Time + Silence = Miscellaneous Memories

—

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

Sir Winston Churchill

—-

Time is a tricky thing with memories. It is amazing the different memories we have. People who met you  dozen years ago and then went away only to come back will have memories imprinted from then, even if you are different now. the embellishment then is a truth now.

My point.

There are repercussions for our actions – whether they are conscious actions or not. This includes embellishments. Mostly because, while we would like to view them as embellishments, ultimately, they will be judged as lies.

==================

“Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you’ll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you’ll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small, quiet room.”

—

Cheryl Strayed

=================

Well. What a beautiful thought. ‘Acceptance is a small quiet room.’ There is a. well, nobility within this thought. A nobility found within the attempt and the personalness found in the small room of ‘it is what it is.’ And, actually, there is also nobility found in accepting what you did not do.

It is a nice thought of how to keep some sanity in the everyday world.

It is maybe a version of a more blue-collar Life mentality in that you have to work at Life to handle it all.

You want to progress.

You want to get better.

You want to mature.

You want to grow up and you want to do things a certain way.

But sometimes you can’t get out of your own way either by what you have done … or have not done.

 Some times you cannot get out of your own way through the lack of ability to discern what is important from the unimportant.

“I knew it wasn’t too important, but it made me sad anyway.”

The Catcher in the Rye

Acceptance gives you the opportunity to really step back and look in the mirror and look at your reflection and assess. Maybe more importantly you can become happier with the person that you are — the person you know you can become.

Acceptance permits you to understand there is no going back as well as no going backwards.

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand, there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

The world is not obligated to care. Nor is Life for that matter. And most people will not care or, at least, they won’t when you need them to. Mostly just because they have their own things and problems and issues to deal with. Not because they don’t care. So in your quiet little room you have to store a lot of things:

Accept the choices made.

Accept the choices you didn’t make.

Accept regrets.

Accept successes and failures equally.

Accept joys and sadness.

Accept the things missed and things experienced.

Accept the losses as well as the gains.

Accept the temporary.

Accept the consistent.

Accept reality.

By the way this means acceptance can be equally painful and terrifying as well as relief and calming.

But. Acceptance, in part, is understanding you are … well … adequate. Adequate in that the little quiet room in which you place acceptance is enough for you as a person. And by having this little room you have learned to accept some things:

–          rational thinking is overrated.

Predicting the outcome of any choice is impossible <or pretty close to it>. And, if that choice pertains to the heart or the soul, rational thinking is impractical because the heart and soul are intangible. And certainly not rational.

Life is about making leaps of faith. And nowhere in ‘leap of faith’ will you be able to conjure up ‘rational.’ I imagine I could have simply suggested that, when it comes to Life, control is simply an illusion and that would have sealed the deal on this thought. Because if control is an illusion and rational thinking presumes you are ‘controlling’ in some form or fashion … well … you get it.

–          life is pretty much all in your perspective and how & where you invest energy.

It may not feel this way but almost every one of us has the mental and emotional capacity to truly handle the gut punches Life has a tendency to randomly hit you with, sit back and get your breath back and  process the life lessons <acceptance> and move on. The capacity within all of us to this is basically because we keep it all in perspective and learn how & when to invest energy. If we didn’t figure it out? You would probably see people spontaneously implode on a daily basis. They don’t. Therefore we keep perspective and use our energy fairly wisely.

–          you are doing your best with what is available to you at any given point in time.

You are typically doing the best you can.

Accept this.

Looking backwards you will always … ALWAYS … glare at ‘your best’ and wag your finger and say ‘not good enough.’ But in the moment? You typically do the best you can. That’s all that we can do. No one can expect any more than that.

–          your vision of the way life ‘should be’ greatly impedes progress in the way life really is.

Without even realizing it, we tend to go into a Life default mode therefore placing subconscious expectations and random boundaries on who we think we are and our lives. By doing so we inadvertently set ourselves up for a disappointing life. One in which we can’t understand why we aren’t ‘over there’ instead of ‘here.’ Well. It’s those stupid boundaries we set up. And we keep looking over there at ‘should be.’

Here is a truth. Reality doesn’t suck unless you let it suck. Accept reality and you are well on your way to progress.

–          it is your life <not anyone else’s>

You answer to no one else but yourself. Even if you believe in God … because even then He will ask you to answer for your actions. Regardless. Only you know what you think is the best path and what may make you happy. Accept the fact that if you can figure out how to please yourself than the important people in your Life will be pleased.

It is your Life. Don’t let someone else tell you how to live it. Accept responsibility for your own happiness.

Regardless.

Acceptance leads to a stronger more alive person following your own path.

“I suppose in the end it’s almost too easy to look back and say what you should have done, how you might have changed things. What’s harder – what’s much, much harder – is to accept what you actually did do.”

Peter Hook <Joy Division>

In the end I imagine acceptance is really the noble act of letting go.

… sometimes you realize there is no choice but to let go.

 Acceptance is a small, quiet room.

Acceptance may be the most noble action you could ever take. Oh.And what a wonderful quote.

===========

“We tend to hold ourself accountable for things we never did.  Hearts we never broke. People we didn’t hurt.  Souls we didn’t crush. “

—

coral-vellichor

=================

All these years I’ve been looking at the wrong side.

—

(via madelinemharris)

=============

Ok. Accountability, or responsibility, is always a good business topic. And, yes, I am a big personal responsibility person. But in business, within an organization, responsibility tends to be more shared responsibility than simple personal responsibility. I thought about this during a discussion on Distributed Leadership/Holocracy/etc type business models. These discussions tend to revolve around flat, flatter & flattened operating models. The point being everyone agrees there has to be some leadership roles and, yet, not be hierarchy or command/control.

Anyway. To be clear. I believe there is a strong relationship between shared responsibility and personal responsibility. The stronger the shared responsibility attitude & behavior within leadership & mentors & role models the stronger the development of personal responsibility muscle occurs in everyday schmucks like me. Conversely, if you are surrounded with lack of shared responsibility examples <or even those who espouse ‘selectively chosen shared responsibility’> the value of personal responsibility diminishes to an individual, therefore, they see less value in exhibiting personal responsibility.

We don’t talk about this relationship enough. Far too often we flippantly suggest “people should take responsibility for their actions.”

Well … no shit Sherlock. But if your role models or leaders are constantly passing the buck when the shit hits the fan to save their own bacon <and image> then what the hell … why would you not do the same?

Yeah. Sure. Everyone has to pull their weight and do their job and do what they say they are going to do … but very very rarely does an individual perform in a vacuum in a business.

This happens more so even in management. It drives me a little nuts when I hear some leaders discuss “delegating.”

Somehow delegating equals “absolved of responsibility.”

This is stupid irresponsible thinking.

My belief that it is stupid thinking is rooted in some common sesne I am fairly sure the US Military says:

 

You can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility.

In other words … you can give others the power to do things … you can delegate … but, no matter what happens … if something goes wrong … the final responsibility always lies with the one who has delegated authority. Sticking with the military as my guidance … this means if your business has an initiative that has gone SNAFU <“Situation Normal: All Fucked Up”> the blame … and the ultimate responsibility for the mistakes <fuck ups> falls … uhm … up.

The leader assumes responsibility. This is shared responsibility. In other words … this is leadership.

Once you become a business leader past a mom & pop management style business you have to face the concept of shared responsibility <and some embrace it and some reject it>.

Despite the fact you have delegated authority that ‘authority’ does not represent a discrete event and period in time. You bear the responsibility for the cascade of events, decisions and actions leading up to the ‘authority giving’ which means everything you have done up until that point provides the context for the delegating … yeah … you own the arena in which you have placed the delegatee.

But this gets exponentially worse <if you are thinking about becoming a business leader>. You actually also share responsibility for the consequences — intended and unintended. This is different than delegating authority <although it relates to it> and owning responsibility for the action … this goes beyond to the actual ripples from the decisions & actions.

Now. Some leaders have a nasty habit of assuming responsibility for the decision and the effect of the decision — within a finite period of time. The weakest leaders try and tie “that was out of my control” or “I wasn’t there for that” as soon as they can to a decision they make. The strongest leaders worry less about any carnage that has been left behind, but rather start worrying about any carnage the decisions & actions could possibly create for the future.

The truth is that business leaders should take a moment and remember the wise words of an American Indian. Red Cloud, an Oglala Lakota leader who led his people against the U.S. Army and later as his people transitioned from life on the plains to the reservation, stressed that when Indian people made a decision, it should be done with the welfare of the next seven generations in mind.

In a short term world where most business leaders are trying to make quarterly goals and just try and keep their job … thinking with the welfare of the next 7 generations seems … well … impossible. I imagine the real point is that most good business leaders assume some responsibility for the generations to come.  Some people may call this ‘long term strategy’ and some others will call it ‘keeping your eye on the horizon’ or even ‘having a vision’, well, I am no Harvard Business guru and all that high falutin’ stuff seems unnecessary. To me it is much more simple. You make decisions accepting the burden of responsibility for what will come and may arise from your decision.

You share the responsibility for what will, or may, come. And if you do that? Damn. You will do good and be good. And if you do not do that? Damn. You may get a shitload of attention and applause in the moment and a shitload of attention and anger in the future.

Why do I say that?

Because if you don’t really believe in shared responsibility and flit from one decision to the next in a transactional “responsible only to the moment” way you will end up rushing from issue to issue, reacting without a plan or a strategy or <worse> no care of longer term affect, creating carnage yet to be seen <because that type of leader tends to seek only the cheers in the moment>.

Just to point it out … with no plan that means anything can happen and a leader can justify anything. Because with no plan to measure a decision against anything can look right … and unpredictable can be touted as ‘flexible to the situation.’

All of this fits a short term leader in a short term world.

The people are few and far between these days who weigh their responses and assess long term affects. In today’s world it almost seems a race to be the first to judge or comment on a decision or action and far too many leaders actually manage to the public race to comment rather than the longer term assessment.

This is scary stuff for anyone to do but a business leader? Dangerous.

Even the best short term decision makers, if forced into a gauntlet of short term decisions, will struggle to insure at the end of the gauntlet they have kept walking northwards as they had been looking down the entire time. More often than not North will not be the direction you are facing nor will you have actually moved any closer to the North star.

I am not suggesting this longer term shared responsibility attitude is easy. In fact .. it is really really hard. In fact … it almost means you have to embrace a little “impossible” into what you actually make possible.

Huh?

In general I have always liked logical thinking <no matter how random the logic may be> but I always love it when someone combines some unexpected logic. Generally speaking the best unexpected logic actually comes from those who do the impossible … thinking of the impossible and seeing possibilities — the impossible being “knowing for sure what will happen in the future.” They make the spectacular leaps/chances, accepting responsibility and sharing responsibility, so that business can make the needed changes or just do the semi-risky things that keep a good business doing good things <things that may push against the borders of the status quo>.

Yeah.

Spectacular errors can only happen if you take spectacular chances. I am not fond of irresponsible risk taking and decision-making, but I am fond of doing ‘the right thing’ even when it may appear to be going against the stream. Sometimes that means a spectacular success, sometimes a spectacular error. But always something spectacular. And, I will tell you, what more could you want to say about your life as a leader but that you have done something spectacular? Especially if that ‘spectacular’ actually happens a generation later which permits you to sit back and say “I did the impossible … I viewed the future well.’

Anyway.

Shared responsibility is the burden of any good leader. They tend to be the leaders who understand they cannot really be sure what is going to happen to them over time, they weigh the risks to the best of their ability and let the chips fall as they may. I tend to believe their attitude is one of “you don’t want to act more fearfully than you have to.”

Good leaders have a tendency to hold themselves accountable for anything, everything and everyone … in varying degrees depending on the anything, everything and everyone. And, maybe most importantly, I tend to believe they understand that there is a relationship between shared responsibility and personal responsibility. And, practically speaking, you will never be viewed as a true leader if you do not.

Well.

You know what? To end this thing today let me offer two other words, typically associated with responsibility, obligation and duty.

Obligation refers general to something you are compelled to do by regulation, law, promise or morality. I think good leaders feel obligated to assume shared responsibility.

Duty, more so than obligation, springs from an internal moral or ethical impulse rather than from external demands.

I think good leaders feel a duty, not just obligation, to assume shared responsibility. Shared responsibility … not only do I believe we should discuss it more often <because it will foster better value in personal responsibility> but I also believe we should be demanding it of our leaders more often.

===========

“Sliding down the slippery slope of mediocrity.”

–

David Ogilvy

=====

Ok. I believe the actual quote was “the slippery surface of irrelevant brilliance”, but I thought I saw somewhere he said what I wrote above.

Regardless. This is a Life and business lesson. So let’s just call it “truth.” Its a truth about work, effort, decisions, compromise, lies (or “half-truths”) and almost anything else I can think of.

Slippery slopes are incredibly easy to step onto AND get stuck on. What do I mean?

“Just this once” you say to yourself when you are tired. Whatever the decision or action we are discussing, to you, in the moment … it is mentally “an exception”.

“Just this once” when you are asked a question and you ponder your answer. Maybe you embellish.

“Just this once” you say to yourself when you put off that thing you wanted to do. A workout. A chore. A book. A project. A diet. A decision.

“Just this once” you say to yourself when it is a silly rule or it isn’t really unethical, but its not 100% ethical, it’s just in the margins of “okay to do.”

Before you know it <after some “just this onces“> you have edged on to that slippery slope. Once has become many and many becomes the standard.

Life is funny that way. Its sneaky. It permits you to look at things in a mutually exclusive way so that you don’t really see the accumulation of events & decisions.

Think of it maybe this way. In that incomparable <and totally underrated> movie The Replacements there is a scene where Keanu Reeves talks about it as “quicksand”.

It’s the same thing. You get in it. And you fight hard but you just can’t stop sliding down. In fact the harder you try to fight it … the worse it seems to get. And it is a truly helpless feeling. That’s quicksand in life. That is the slippery slope.

Oh. Maybe the worst thing about the slippery slope is that most people don’t realize they have started sliding until it is too late. Because the slippery slope is tricky smart. Sly in fact. It teases you with some easy low consequence decisions upfront. For example … you are on a diet and just have one dessert. One occasion, one time <some people are tempted to call this “reward for good behavior” which is simply another trick the slippery slope plays upon you>.

Maybe the slope even tempts you with permitting a small embellishment. Just a small addition at the end of a thought. Just a couple of words you wish you hadn’t said but didn’t seem to be that big. And the next time it becomes a few more words. And then … before you know it … the embellishment has taken on a life of its own.

Anyway.

It is one of my quests in life to find good people who have mistakenly started the slide and lend a hand to pull them back up. Professionally and personally.

Does that mean I am better than mediocrity? Shit no.

I just recognize that sense of helplessness and I like people to have hope for something better then the helpless feeling found on some stupid slippery slope.

I also believe there are a shitload of really good people … and I mean good as in talented and good as in heart & soul … who just get caught on the slope and life makes it even more difficult to figure out a way to get off the fucking slope.

Anyway. This quote reminds me of two things.

1. Pay attention to everything. It’s the only way to insure mediocrity can’t gain momentum (because we all have to compromise on occasion)

2. Help those who have that look of “how the hell did I get so far down this slope” by grabbing their hand and pulling them back up whenever you have a chance. There are some incredible people and some incredible talent out there that just got caught on life’s slippery slope. It doesn’t mean they are mediocre by any stretch of the imagination. It is simply that they got caught on the slippery slope and didn’t know how to get off.

Ok. Because I used a Replacements scene as an example of the slippery slope <and a really good scene in the overall perspective of the movie with a good message about second chances and shit like that> I want to end with one more Replacements reference.

==================

“Greatness, no matter how short, stays with a person forever.”  

gene hackman (replacements)

=================

We all seek t do something great – be it big or small. For most of us greatness will never be a lifetime tag. In fact for many of us <me for sure> this is a Truth.

But. A great moment? A great action? A great thing? Yeah. We all have it in us. And maybe that is where the slippery slope is such a bastard. Once you have done a couple of ‘just onces’ and you are on the slippery slope that one moment of greatness may appear and, well, that greatness slips by. All your ‘just onces’ cost you a chance at the one ‘once’ that really matters. How does that happen? When you are buried in the suckhole of mediocrity 2 things happen:

(1) your doubt with regard to whether you can actually do the great increases (and doubt creates hesitancy and hesitancy creates, well, missed opportunities),

(2) your slow side into mediocrity convinces everyone around you that you are, well, mediocre – only capable of doing that which is mediocre. this matters because 99% of greatness is attained only with oethr’s assistance. No assistance, no greatness.

All that said.

We shouldn’t dwell on greatness nor that one moment or thing  (for a life is never defined by one moment of greatness). We should invest that ‘dwelling energy’ at doing our best to avoid the slippery slope of mediocrity.

However, I will point out an easy moment of greatness. When someone who has been stuck on the slippery slope and is struggling to get off and just can’t see how to get off and out of the mediocre suckhole, well, reach out, give them a hand, remind them what greatness looks like, point out what makes it happen and what they are capable of. I would argue if you did that, in that moment, in some magical way, you may also have achieved your own moment of greatness.

=============

“There are tiresome people who say that if you ever find yourself in a difficult situation, you should stop and figure out the right thing to do.

But there are times in this harum-scarum world when figuring out the right thing to do is quite simple, but doing the right thing is simply impossible, and then you must do something else.”

—

Lemony Snicket

================

“She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there, leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.”

–

J.D. Salinger

====================

Ok.

To do or not to do is the question. That is a question a business leader gets faced with on almost a daily basis and certainly on a weekly basis.

Now.

Not all “do’s” are created equal particularly if your job is to hold the universe together. And, frankly, that is what a leader of a larger business organization does – holds the universe together. That universe has multiple layers … the business itself is at the core <because without the business the rest is irrelevant>, the employees as well as the greater universe which I will call ‘the industry’ <because your decisions either make the universe stronger or break it apart in some way>.

And I bring up the universe because that is what doing versus not doing is all about. Doing, or not doing, sends out a ripple which impacts the greater universe and, often, it is difficult to envision how the universe will react.

Yeah. That is a fairly important point to ‘decision second guessers.’ Why? Ripples are difficult to envision and second guessers tend to focus on ‘cause & affect’ criticism … linear relationships.

I rarely debate what some business leader actually does because, frankly, the decision itself is almost the least important aspect … it is most likely what comes next that matters – how you adapt to what the universe does in response to your decision & action. However. I do watch very closely as to how a business leader makes a choice because context, and reaction to the context, matters <and we all face this when stressed under a do-or-not-do decision>.

The biggest sign to watch for is ‘the use of simple equivalency on nuanced complex issues.’ Because if you see it … well … it is kind of a defense mechanism to a very stressful decision.

Universe impacting choices kind of put a leader in a corner.

They get squeezed. Personally, I do not like squeezed situation decisions. And I really don’t like when business leaders feel like they HAVE to make a decision simply because they are in a squeezed situation <especially if they themselves created the squeeze>. I am fairly harsh in my judgement with leaders who offer the simplistic “I did this because of this” simplicity and suggest a simplistic ‘we will be better off because of this’ but I will be less harsh on the decision itself. I believe all of that is fair because the situation in which the decision is made is fair game but decisions are decisions and, whatever the situation, once the die are cast the die are cast.

Look.

First & foremost I am an unequivocal do the right thing person. The thought of not doing the right thing galls me … makes me shiver to the core. Sure. From a realistic point of view that doesn’t mean I always do the right thing just that first & foremost I begin with decision making from a what the right thing to do place. And before anyone throws out the infamous ‘how can you know the right thing to do?’ I would suggest that maybe 98.863718% of the time figuring out the right thing to do is quite simple.

But, yes, sometimes … doing the exact right thing is simply impossible. Huh? How is that possible? Oh. That universe thing.

When you are holding the universe together there are easy moral decisions, there are easy right decisions, but it is never easy to see how they will always affect the universe and more often than not actually doing the right thing is a combination of luck and ability to adapt.

Sigh.

Having made some of these types of decisions myself I find second guessing these decisions tiresome. I am more than willing to judge the motivations behind the decisions. I am more than willing to judge how a leader responds to what happens when the universe responds. But I am always hesitant if not refuse to judge the decision itself.

Ok. That said.

While I believe the universe, in general, is indifferent to our fate I do believe the universe has a nasty habit of responding to us when we actually try to make something happen to our fate <like a business leader making a decision>. To be clear. If you do nothing you will gain nothing. Actually. If you do nothing you will get less than nothing. Mostly because the universe is … well … indifferent. It will not pay attention to you unless you pay attention to it <because it is far too busy focusing on those who have done something to make the universe break apart in some way>.

I say that because I think some people believe if they knew there would be no consequences for their actions they would lead a fuller life. They would have the courage to do more and take some chances.

Maybe have the courage to let themselves go forward. And they do nothing because they fear the consequences. They have forgotten that the Universe is indifferent.

And there is the tricky thing about the Universe. It is kind of a trap for a business leader. Doing more, taking some chances, and even simply making decisions, means more responsibility for actions.

It is simple math.

The more you ‘do’ the more shit you can be blamed for … or … given credit for or even have to actually do to react & adapt <there is a ratio relationship to a choice in that 1 decision can beget 10 necessary actions/decisions in response to the universe’s response>.

Well. Here is where I come back to motivation for the decision and being in a squeezed situation. In today’s world if it doesn’t appear like you are doing something … then … well … damn it … you aren’t doing something. In today’s warped business view you have to be doing something that can be seen because if you don’t everyone is convinced you are doing nothing. I call it being challenged by the ‘outcome mentality’ and, as a business leader, this is a headwind you face every morning you walk into the office.

That headwind constantly blows against anything that suggests outcome, or output, is not everything.

That’s not really truth but let’s assume for here that output is truly all that matters <note: that was extremely painful for me to type>. So what if your output is … well … holding the universe together.

Sometimes you run across that leader … or sometimes a manager … or a young employee <with the potential to do so> who holds the business or the organization together, but sometimes when you look you cannot see what they are actually doing. They may be often seen doing nothing but standing there leaning on the balcony rail.

Uh oh. In today’s business world that person is screwed.

Look.

I’m not suggesting you want people who do nothing, but sometimes people who look like they are doing nothing are actually doing a lot of something. And sometimes it is difficult to measure these people up against ‘outcome focused generators’ and particularly difficult to measure from outside a C-level perspective <employees and those looking at you without direct relationship>. What I mean by that is I have had people in my teams where during review time I have had to stack employees and justify their salary, job status, existence within the organization, whatever review line item you want to call it … based on ‘what have they done’, i.e., tangible outcome crap.

And … well … sometimes your most valuable employee doesn’t look so hot based on sheer tangible outcome. It is only when you build in intangibles that they rise above the tangible outputters <not sure that is a word>. I note that example because holding the universe together is a particular intangible talent … and one that demands a massive strength of character.

I bring up character because that is at the heart & soul of ‘to do or not to do.’ I do get a little concerned that the business world pendulum has swung so far over to outcome & output that those who ‘hold the universe together’ is becoming a dying breed. Maybe I am less concerned for the immediate, but over time. Because the young people with this talent and ability simply cannot protect themselves from an output world without help. And if all we do in business is to promote outputters … well … enough said. You get it.

Anyway.

To do or not to do.

That is the question every business leader faces … all … the … frickin … time. And while I imagine we should judge them based on whether they did or didn’t do, I would suggest I am more interested in judging business leaders on ‘the decisions after the decision.’ Frankly, that is what defines a great business leader for a couple of reasons:

• Decisions are rarely one-and-done.

Decisions impact the universe … and with many unintended consequences. And your job is to hold the universe together. Which means you have to keep an eye on the consequences of your decision … all the time.

• Decisions accumulate.

Remember the ‘keep an eye on the consequences’? Well. One decision begets 10 different consequences all of which may need a specific response/decision. Uh oh. And you make one of these decisions every day, maybe every week … yikes … every week I have to try and keep a finger on the pulse of a universe in which I am now pondering hundreds of different consequences. A decision does not, okay, rarely, make something go away which means every week your particular universe gets larger and larger.

All of that is why ‘to do or not to do’ decision should never be made  flippantly or for self-purposes because the larger decisions are more about the universe than they are about the leader themselves. I judge motivations, and we all should, but once a decision is made the die is cast and you begin judging on how a leader responds to how the universe responds.