A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.

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

Ok. The whole concept of “original” idea seems to bring out the worst in people. And maybe because I get to teach and talk with high school kids on occasion (and, boy, do they have ideas — lots and lots and lots of ideas — all original in their minds) I get to talk about the “truth” about original ideas.

For example.

I get to say. There are no original ideas.

Okay.

That was black & white.

Let’s say they are truly truly rare.

Look. I have been lucky in the whole ‘seeing awesome ideas’ category.

I have seen some of the world’s best innovations groups.

I have seen some of the most successful entrepreneurial business people in the world present their ideas.

I have seen some of the most creative people in the world show ideas.

And?

I think I can count on one hand truly original ideas.

Okay.

Derivatives and nuances?

Sure.

Original?

One hand.

So. Let’s break original ideas down into two aspects.

1. The thought.

2. The implementation.

The thought is a “what if” or “could this be” type scenario.

Forget it.

Here is the truth.

Someone, somewhere, has had the same thought.

Some people have figured out a way to share it. And if those some people have figured out a way of articulating it well <or well enough that people understand it> they are the ‘some people’ with credit for an original idea.

By the way. All these are diminishing numbers.

Ok <and “uh oh” thought to follow>.

And then there are the ones who articulate it well enough to be understood and have an audience who (a) gives a shit and (b) wants to do something with it.

By this time you can be found somewhere dancing on the head of pin with the few others who fit there with you.

Oops.

“Wants to do something with it.”

Yup.

(b) is important because truly original ideas scare the crap out of most people.

——–

“Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.”

Howard Aiken

——-

Now, unfortunately, the quote above is incredibly dead on right.

Huh? Go ahead and visit most management teams and talk about scared and ‘great ideas’ and I can almost gaurantee you will get some happily delievred version of “great ideas should scare you”. Uhm. Here is where you unfortunately run into the infamous “what people say versus what people do.”

What do I mean?

People say: “show me ideas that scare me” quickly followed by “if it scares us it must be a good idea.”

And then.

People do nothing. Yeah. Nothing.

They may say: “They <note: it’s never ‘me’ it is always ‘they’> were too scared to do it. They just didn’t see the risk return on it.”

Well. I will make one point here and then move on … ORIGINAL MEANS IT HASN’T BEEN SEEN OR DONE BEFORE SO HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN!!!!

<yes. I shouted that AND used exclamation points>

Maybe because it is new <and therefore untried or unseen> people get nervous. Anyway, suffice it to say, original ideas are every rare.

Okay. Moving on to the protecting the relatively rare original ideas.

People spend gobs <lots and lots and lots … well … you get the point> of time worrying about protecting proprietary ideas and proprietary process and ‘original ideas.’

Corollary: Even if they don’t have one they invest lots of energy discussing and worrying about them.

Okay. Look.

If I am a drug company, maybe a software company or technology company with some engineering widgetology or maybe P&G which has some skin lotion formulation that some whiz bang ingredient then, yeah, you get protective. Okay. “Maybe” you get protective.

note: Just for humor at the end of this post I have included a “proposed confidentiality process” we sent to a maniacally protective prospective client <yes … we did send an actual one, but they were fun people as well as maniacally litigious and wanted to have a little laugh over their obsessive behavior with regard to confidentiality>

Anyway. Throughout my career I have encountered company owners who were obsessed with ‘protecting our original ideas.’ I kept on trying to point out to them that unless you’re a new products innovation group the odds of you truly having an original idea is lower than USA men’s team winning the World Cup.

I sometimes believe people spend so much time thinking they have an original idea and investing so much energy trying to keep it a secret they forget the energy it takes to actually get it to happen.

In fact. To be honest I believe I have been in several situations where we actually had a fairly original idea, however, in presenting the idea I probably went overboard trying to draw links to things people have done in non related industries. It’s a little crazy, but original ideas have an easier time being implemented if it feels ‘fresh’ to the industry it is going to happen in but ‘used’ by someone else first.

Note: this is actually a concept called “optimal newness”

If you are not very, very, careful, you actually end up making original ideas look ‘not so original’ so that they can be implemented.

Crazy huh?

Regardless, in the end, I would worry less about whether it is “original” or not. I would worry more about whether it was a good idea.

And idea that will work.

In fact … it is true (take this one to the bank) if you stop thinking ‘original’ and start looking for “similar to” it becomes easier to implement and easier to sell (or have someone implement).

Sound wacky? Yup.

But it’s true.

Just face it. Originality (as with many things in life) is a shade of grey.

Or maybe an aspect of something that already exists. Or maybe just worry about this:

——-

“Until you can create something that captivates people, I’d invite you to just shut up. It’s easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It’s a lot more difficult to perform one.”

Chuck Palahniuk

——–

Worry less about original.

Worry more about the idea and worry more about making it actually happen versus protecting it.

So. That said. Here are some thoughts if you want to protect your “original” ideas:

<yes … we really shared this with a client>

——–

< dear maniacal company>: Additional Confidentiality Steps

–          Cyanide pills

The pills are embedded in team member teeth caps with a tracking chip set to identify and explode upon the presence of a <competitive company> employee.

(note: this is covered in our dental plan)

–          Enigma coding machines

We have identified the two last working Enigma coding machines.  We can place one in your offices and the other will remain in <the managing director’s> office (which is better than card protected room because his executive assistant is better than a pit bull protecting that office).

–          Etch-a-Sketch communications

All communications will take place via etch-a-sketch. Twice a day all team members will shake their etch-a-sketch.

–          Invisible Ink

All written communications will be conducted in invisible ink. (but still under lock and key guidelines).

–          Fort Knox

Quick research has uncovered that the majority of the gold has been removed from Fort Knox and space is available. We may have to tweak the compensation agreement, but we would be willing to consider setting up a field office in the Fort Knox vault to service your business.

–          Cosa Nostra

Through some relationships <our managing director> has, we may be able to make some arrangements to completely eliminate the <competitive company’s> conflict once and for all (if you know what we mean). Once again, we may have to tweak the compensation arrangement to accommodate this service.

These are just some initial ideas which we would be willing to discuss in the interest of collaboration.

======

Originally posted August 2010

===========

 “To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don’t be.”

Golda Meir

===========

Compromise. It is a tricky thing. Tricky concept. Tricky discussion.

Type ‘art of compromise’ into google search and you get about 37,800,000 results <in .31 seconds>. Sometimes it seems like we are faced with compromise choices about 37,800,000 times every 31 days.

We face compromise every day, if not every minute.

We face it in the meaningless minutiae — ‘I will slow down to let that asshole pass me’ — to the important — ‘I believe this is the right thing to do, but …’

If you spend a minute thinking about it, we face compromise after compromise after compromise after, well, you get it.

But.

Where do we draw the line? In fact. Do we draw the line often enough?

And where the heck do we draw the line so that our lives are not completely defined by compromise? <which, if you did, would mean you stand for nothing>

“To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That’s what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul – would you understand why that’s much harder?”

Ayn Rand

It is a Life truth that not everything that matters can be counted and unfortunately many of the most important things rarely are.

This is troubling because in the world of exhaustive compromise we need to be able to not only count, but count on, the most important things.

I say that because Compromise is sly. Sometimes it is cleverly insidious.

In a ‘group think’ consensus environment where, compromise takes a death grip on decision making, everyone is at risk of being led into that empty abyss of unthinking acquiescence and the inevitable downward spiral of individual and collective compromise dragged down by a lack of independent thought will inevitably lead to a gray personality, ubiquitous conclusion wrapped up in a semi-blurry moral compass.

To me Compromise is the enemy of individuality.

Yup.

I said it.

And a bunch of people are not gonna like me for typing that.

But Compromise seems to be mostly <at least in today’s world> about compromising principles and diminishing individual responsibility in the mistaken belief that the short-term advantage of a larger group harmony inevitably leads to a long-term satisfaction of a ‘greater good.’

Well.

If you ever wanted a definition of ‘middle of the road’ living <personally or in business>, there it is. More importantly <to individuality> it appears that invariably the consequences are some form of damaged personal integrity <if not some bad decisions>.

In my eyes we are far too often advised to “choose your battles.”

Unfortunately, that suggests we, individually, should know which issues are worth fighting for and which aren’t really important.

Note: This is a fantasy.

The logic is that you should save your strength for the things that really matter.

That also assumes that EVERYONE recognizes the things that really matter.

Note: This is a fantasy.

This latter point I just made, i.e., EVERYONE, is especially important because if ‘everyone don’t’ then you end up simply being stuck in a consensus driven group environment where compromise dictates just one more short term decision.

That said, let’s face it, not everyone is good at recognizing the things that really matter. In fact … most of us suck at it.

Look.

I understand that not all conflicts have clear winners. In some instances there may be reasonable but contradictory claims. You can go ahead and fight it out, but no one person will really ‘win.’

I also understand In some situations we must be able to compromise.

But. Where do we draw the line? Because I feel like we are not drawing any lines.

Compromise is far too often simply a different version of hell.

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Compromise is sly.

So I will say this. If you need to compromise, the one ‘truth’ I believe you must never ‘lose’ with regard to the discussion is you must never lose sight of ‘yourself’.

You have core needs and beliefs. Do not relinquish anything that you feel is absolutely essential  <understanding that you must be willing to accept something ‘unessential’ to you that will inevitably influence how you feel and ‘how you look’ – in the mirror and to others>.

Compromise never feels perfect because, more often than not, it isn’t. In fact in more cases than not it is distinctly imperfect if not wrong.

Decide where you are willing to bend.

Be willing to give up something in order to gain something significant.

In the end.

Even if it is associated with a business decision, compromise seems to be about bargaining with life.

And maybe we should spend a second thinking about what we are bargaining with.

“Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another – too often ending in the loss of both.”

Tryon Edwards

Oh, speaking of losing ‘both’, I have a couple of words I want to use: Integrity and Self. They are inextricably linked and cannot be de-linked under the guise of compromise.

Look. What is ‘right’ is often not only a moving target, but also can be found in degrees within a variety of solutions and answers.

What is not a moving target is one’s integrity and sense of Self.

Oops. This can end up being a little tricky because you yesterday is not you today and certainly not the you tomorrow.

Self, in and by itself, is a constant work in progress <oops part 2: this sounds like one of those trite philosophical thoughts for which I apologize>. And your judgment is influenced by personal beliefs <what principles you embrace> and what you know as of the moment.

In all situations requiring careful judgment, especially compromise moments, we are influenced by our own biased personal beliefs. And that is where Integrity places you firmly in the path of Compromise. Firm ground on which to stand and say ‘stop … you do not pass this place until we have talked.’

“Don’t compromise yourself; you’re all you’ve got.”

Janis Joplin

Or … as Golda Meir states … ‘either you be or you don’t be.’

Compromise is sly & crafty because it tries to confuse you between ‘you be’ and ‘we be’ in terms of priorities.

Well.

In my mind there is far too much compromising while getting nothing in return <we are stuck in the middle>.

In my mind there is far too much compromising for short term gain <and short term decision making>.

In my mind there is far too much compromising at the expense of fostering individual thought <and individuality>.

Maybe it’s time you put a line in the sand.

Maybe it’s time you put a stop to the the onslaught of compromise.

——

Portuguese:

saudade

… a longing for something so indefinite as to be indefinable.   Love affairs, miseries of life, the way things were, people already dead, those who left and the ocean that tossed them on the shores of a different land – all things born of the soul that can only be felt. 

==

Anthony De Sa

———–

“He marveled at the indifference of the world, the way it kept on, despite everything.”

==

Anthony Doerr

————-

Ok. I am fairly sure everyone desires the greater intangible things in life: the things, or thing, you just cannot put words to but you know is out there and you will “know it when you see it or feel it”. Unfortunately, well, the intangible also tends to be elusive.

It is also very very difficult to clearly define or put words to it <hence many people choose to focus on some specific milestone or objective>. I would suggest the intangible is elusive because the world is indifferent to our desires. What do I mean? The world is relatively uninterested in offering the intangible in tangible form. The world simply tends to fork over tangible crap to us and it is up to us to peel it all back and bask in the intangible good stuff found within.

But that takes time and is more difficult.

Therefore. We tend to seek tangibles.

And more tangibles.

And then more tangibles.

This means that we are almost destined, despite that in our soul we deeply long for something indefinable, to settle for tangible proof that we are showing some progress.

I do not really care what the proof is … just that we settle for it.

What Is Elusive? The definition of “elusive” is:

elusive: evasive, slippery, difficult to find, catch or achieve

Speaking of desiring proof – that is why we often create deadlines. Deadlines are powerful things as we face our longing for the indefinite <and the definite>. More often than not we use the deadline to insure we do not waste too much time on something we are not sure can be easily defined. But think about what a deadline really is.

Today the term is now used, mostly, to refer to “the time by which something must be completed.” In the historical sense a deadline refers to the boundary around a prison which, if prisoners crossed it, they’d be shot by the guards. Wow. Okay. So while deadlines are everywhere in the business world and we no longer get shot it does seem like we just get shit when we cross a deadline.

Now. Psychologists have done a boatload of research on the effect of deadlines on people. Invariably the majority of people actually improve performance as a deadline nears. They explain this by something called “the Yerkes-Dodson law.” This law suggests performance increases as arousal <excitement, stress, tension, nervousness> increases. Well. At least up to a point from which performance declines as the person, and senses, are overwhelmed.

Basically this suggests we become more aware of consequences of failing to complete what we want to do as time slips away and act upon that awareness <with some focus because the consequences of not meeting the deadline while may not include being shot certainly includes a load of shit>.

In addition. Deadlines tend to eliminate procrastination mostly because we dislike the unpleasant feeling of consequences of not meeting a deadline.

Note: Stick with me because this all has to do with our longing for something indefinite.

Ok. Now comes the next horrible thing that happens as we pursue what we truly long for. We have a deadline in our heads and we encounter something called the planning fallacy. We suck, extraordinarily so, at estimating how much time to allocate for things because our brains, in general, are quite overly optimistic with regard to our own capabilities. Therefore we underestimate time. In addition we do this because our brains have a nasty habit of looking back on past poor time allocation and failed deadlines and blame external causes <and yet the next time the thought will be that this time we will be unencumbered therefore meet our deadline successfully>.

All of this circles back to that ‘arousal’ consequence, which we hate, as it rears its ugly head one more time as our optimistic assumptions crash into the actual reality of the situation. I bring it back to ‘arousal’ because all that painful consequence stuff occurs WHEN YOU ARE PURSUING A TANGIBLE GOAL.

The waters get even murkier if you are setting some deadline on how much time you want to spend on pursuing this elusive indefinite thing. But. We are truly optimistic folk. Well. At least some of us are. What one person thinks of as elusive and indefinite another sees hope and opportunity. And depending on where you are in Life your feeling can change. The one consistent steady thing is that at all times there is a longing for something more, some longing for something so indefinite as to be undefinable.

So what can we do? We have to take responsibility for our lives and choices and this indefinite thing. We cannot subvert the longing and suffocate it with the tangible.

To be clear <part 1>. The longing should not dictate our lives and behavior, but it also should not play a role in our lives and actions.

To be clear <part 2>. That isn’t easy. Life can throw a bunch of curve balls and … well … some high hard fastballs. The biggest fastball Life throws at you is what I call “Life comparison shopping.” You shop your life against other lives.

In the good ole days it was called “keeping up with the Joneses” <using one’s neighbors as a standard of comparison for the consumption of material goods>. This sounds silly, but we are human, and it is hard not to notice when your neighbor buys something. But they are not the only standard of comparison. Television shows, magazines, websites, and pretty much anywhere you consume information inundates us with stories about what other people have, wear and do.

Yes. While we know we shouldn’t care mostly because, while we may not articulate it this way, we know conspicuous consumption is ubiquitous.

But.

Tangible proof is, well, tangible proof.

The tendency to compare yourself to to other people is fundamental and is going to occur whether or not we intend it. And, yes, in some cases, social comparison is useful. In the absence of objective standards of success, social comparison  helps us to evaluate and improve ourselves. And yet, at the same time,  sometimes social comparison suggests you are inferior in some aspect <wealth, intelligence, appearance, etc.> which can create some feelings of envy or ‘lesser than.’ Okay. This is where the tangible proof path absolutely frickin’ kills us on this pursuit of something undefinable.

“Lesser than” feelings erode the belief you can ever attain what you long for <I mean your head says “c’mon … if you cannot even be good enough to do that how can you be good enough to attain something you cannot even define .. all you can do is just discuss as something you ‘long for’?”>.

Then we remain on the middle path too long. We start missing out on the dreams. We shelve the longing and inevitably that which is undefinable remains undefined and that which we long for simply becomes an immature pursuit for only those who are dreamers. You justify this decision, and personal behavior, as you walk the middle path by always thinking that eventually you will get around to pursuing this longing … and eventually reach this undefinable thing that will makes you happy.

And then time is gone. And the longing, which is easily dismissed as “shit, I couldn’t even define it anyway”, is still there but the opportunity is gone.

Look. Pursuing something so indefinite as to be indefinable is tough. It is not for the faint of heart. To do so you need to accept that while some results are very tangible others are less so. The secret is to get your head straight from the outset on how ‘performance’ is to be measured then build in the means for measuring activity. I say that because I think the measurement is much more important than setting a deadline.

I mean, well, how can you set a deadline on something you cannot even define? <someone smarter than I would have to figure that out>.

In the end I use this quote:

====

“A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings. Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self-advancement. This is how it starts, and, before you know where you are, you’re a fully paid-up member of the rat pack. The price is too high.”

Jimmy Reid

=====

Part of being a human being is this inherent longing for “something.” Maybe it is captured in that one word:  saudade.

“all things born of the soul that can only be felt.”

I am not suggesting we shouldn’t do the day to day stuff that needs to be done nor am I suggesting that deadlines aren’t quite useful for some day to day shit, but I am suggesting that stuff shouldn’t be done at the sacrifice of our longing for “all things born of the soul that can only be felt.”

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

“Show not what has been done, but what can be. How beautiful the world would be if there were a procedure for moving through labyrinths.”
―

Umberto Eco

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

“You are not going nowhere just because you haven’t gotten where you want to go yet.”

—-

Taylor Swift

====

So. Direction is one of the most stressful discussion in Life & in business. Where are you going? How are you planning on getting there? And, of course, are you sure that is the right direction?

Well.

I never thought I would ever use a Taylor Swift quote let alone use it to make a point. Her quote made me think that “not getting to where you want to be” and “nowhere” can look awfully similar.

But it is not.

Not even close.

The idea of “getting somewhere”, whether in your career, in Life, in personal change, in a relationship, in anything, sometimes seems to dominate our Life. This destination, this ‘thing’ we have envisioned in our mind, becomes sort of a measurement with regard to how we are effectively, or ineffectively, living our life. And in doing so if we are somewhere other than ‘there’ <which may mean we simply just haven’t got there yet>, a lot of people will suggest that means you are nowhere.

That is wrong. Very very <very> wrong.

We spends gobs of time and money trying to answer these questions. If you think about it while it may not sound completely absurd (defining direction insures you are at least not going somewhere completely useless) it can actually look like an incredibly poor investment with a dubious ROI <or what I often call “ROC”: return on choice>.

It can be a stress on your everyday life.

It can be a burden.

It can create an absurdly long list of plans and things to do.

It can also translate into a lot of wasted time (because often where you decide to go isn’t exactly where you end up simply because Life’s terrain dictated a slightly better destination).

I sometimes think this is a reflection of what is wrong in today’s society – this belief if you haven’t achieved something you have achieved nothing.

Most of Life is a reflection of a shitload of journeys and paths and, well, a lot of walking, running, tripping and crawling. Because of that a shitload of people would suggest that most of your life you have been running in place <which sounds silly as I type it> or ‘wandering aimlessly <which also sounds silly as I type it because most times most people are wanting to get to where they want to be> and basically they are suggesting that, uhm, you have expended energy — and got nowhere.

99% of the time those people are just assholes.

Assholes who focus on destinations and not journeys. They only take satisfaction in highlighting specific milestones, objectives and outcomes achieved. They struggle to see the satisfaction in exploration, wandering and the journeys taken to the outcomes.

Look. I am not going to suggest achieving something, specifically, getting to where you want to be is not an admirable and useful objective. Because it is. Getting to where you want to be is aspirational and it implies you want to be better than what you are today. Being better and becoming better is something all of us should embrace.

But I will suggest that simply because you have not got there yet that you have gone nowhere.

In fact, I could argue that simply deciding where you want to be is somewhere.

Yeah. Sometimes just knowing what you want has value in & of itself.

Yeah. In fact, doing something, even something small, is better than nothing and is something other than nowhere.

Anyway. You know what? it’s all exploration even if you don’t care about where you want to go. Why?  You end up somewhere.

Here is the bottom line.

I would guess 90% of us are somewhere other than where we want to be. We may see glimpses of it and we may actually have touched it briefly, but most of us are still in the midst of getting there.

<to complete that equation I envision 5% don’t even try having given up and 5% believe they are there>

90% of us are certainly not ‘nowhere.’ We are simply works in progress trying to get somewhere better than who and what we are today. That means suggesting just because you haven’t got to where you wanted to be is ‘nowhere’ would mean that 90% of us are milling about in some wretched space of nothingness … and that is silly. Most of us are pretty happy and fairly content and typically thinking about being better.

There is a lesson here.

While I imagine Ms. Swift doesn’t philosophize on this thought like Umberto Eco, she has certainly embraced her responsibility & empowerment to communicate the right things to hordes of young people. And for that I applaud her. I do so not only because she is impacting young people’s minds in a good smart way, but because there are a boatload of older people who have been gobsmacked into believing if you haven’t got to where you want to be that you are nowhere <and they do not hesitate to tell a shitload of people that>.

Embracing an ‘outcome is the most important’ Life philosophy is a slippery slope.

I would much rather we embrace a “just because you have not got to where you want to be does not necessarily mean you are nowhere” Life philosophy. You can embrace both but if you begin with the latter you are more likely to not only encourage the right behavior in people you will most likely encourage a more positive view of your own Life.

Lastly.

Okay. All this may sound rudderless. But 99% of the time while this discussion sounds, well, directionless, void of objective & absent of any ‘milestones’, it is none of those things. 99% of the time we have a sense of some destination, we just can’t really articulate it. Now. In a world that has an unhealthy relationship with measurement, achievement & “if it is intangible, can you make it tangible”, that ‘not able to articulate’ is a sonuvabitch to try and embrace.

I sometimes think at end of the end of this type of ‘going somewhere, just not sure where’ journey the people who didn’t try to cram all the plans into the time and simply kept walking knowing they would get somewhere will absolutely find themselves some place better than where they started from and most likely end up somewhere good.

I will say Life can truly be a ‘wonderland’ if you don’t over think it. Sometimes the journey is an exploration and as long as you keep exploring the “somewhere” you get to is richer and, in the case of a business or an individual, maybe a stronger place. Maybe Life, and even business to some extent, is a time to wander.

To explore. To just see what you will see. And see what you will find.

Maybe this is time to remember Calvin & Hobbes: “Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere.”

Maybe Alice in Wonderland, Umberto Eco & Taylor Swift and Calvin & Hobbes have the right idea. Nowhere may be a good destination objective.

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

just-shower-thoughts:

    One of my greatest fears is that someone has written my favorite song, but they’re not famous enough for me to hear it.

====

“As I make a final right-hand turn onto our street, my GPS informs me that I’ve ‘reached my destination.’

‘My destination,’ I laugh aloud to myself.  My GPS doesn’t know squat.”

Colleen Hoover

=====

“I’m so scared of dying without ever being really seen. Can you understand? “

David Foster Wallace

===========

“I did something and it was never seen.”

Someone’s grave stone

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

Pondering my legacy, legacies in general, and 1000’s of posts written on EnlightenedConflict.

10 and 1/2 years.

126 months.

548 weeks.

3833 days.

91,980 hours.

5,519,000 minutes.

Almost 3000 posts.

A little over 4 posts a week for over 10+ years.

3,000,000+ words <a conservative estimate>.

While not every minute, hour, even day, has been spent writing for my site I certainly have thought, and been thinking, over a significant amount of that time – and the fruits of that thinking time has been borne out in piece after piece on this site. My words and thoughts over all that time have remained consistent. On November 18^th 2009 I wrote my first Enlightened Conflict post and 6 days later I offered my second post and wrote this:

… it is in my DNA to be “constantly preoccupied with possibilities of new combinations.” Now. That can make me a pain in the ass to work with. One time a mentor, and a manager I loved working for, once said to me, “sometimes you are a pain in the ass, but I am glad you are my pain in the ass.”

And if you visit my LinkedIn site you will see a past client says:

……… Me ………….

If you don’t want to be “nudged” into new ideas and creative solutions – don’t ever call Bruce McTague. If, however, you want to look at things through a different telescope and find 3-dimensional ideas you’ve never considered, call Bruce now. Not tomorrow. He’ll make you uncomfortable, but I firmly believe that if the idea doesn’t make you uneasy, it’s not a big idea. Easy to work with, but always stretching your mind, Bruce is a true business Partner. You’ll grow working with Bruce.

I am still a contrarian, still snarky, still writing about the possibility of new combinations and still a pain in the ass. But with almost everything I write I try and offer pain in the ass type thinking … not fluff. On November 30^th 2009 I wrote this: communicating meaningful information so people can make meaningful choices.

I am still not a nudger and I am absolutely unflinchingly focused on communicating meaningful information, thoughts & ideas so people can make meaningful choices and think meaningful thoughts.

Well. All that said. Anyone who has invested this amount of energy into something would make one have a tendency to sit back and wonder what happens if I actually did something in my Life and nobody notices it when I am gone?

And before you think this topic is bullshit or “that’s not something I worry/think about” take a second and think about this.

Why do so many people buy symbolic bricks with names on it on a wall somewhere?

Why do we put stars in the ground with people’s names on it?

Why do we have gravestones and epitaphs?

We do these things because we want people to remember at least something about us. It doesn’t have to be big, but … well … something for god’s sake.

All of that leads me to legacies. Everyone leaves something behind — some footprint.

With me … my largest footprint <at the moment> would be everything I have written. Which makes me slightly wonder what happens to everything on Enlightened Conflict. Does somebody stumble across them and publish some or do they fade way into the nothingness of ‘something done but never seen’? Will someone own my words & thoughts when I am gone?

Anyway. I once wrote that I own my words and thoughts, therefore, in some way I assume they must have some value <at least to me> – maybe just pennies but of some value.

It would be nice to think some of these thoughts get passed around from person to person like pennies – everyone has some, they are often overlooked until needed to complete a transaction and are annoying when you realize you left some in a pocket when you do the laundry. But most importantly I see these pennies being used to create a transaction. In my mind, in this case the transaction is thinking and maybe a purchase against what I see as the true corruption of our age – ignorance.

Montaigne:

The corruption of the age is made up by the particular contribution of every individual man; some contribute treachery, others injustice, irreligion, tyranny, avarice, cruelty, according to their power; the weaker sort contribute folly, vanity, and idleness; of these I am one. It seems as if it were the season for vain things, when the hurtful oppress us; in a time when doing ill is common, to do but what signifies nothing is a kind of commendation.

I admit that I believe these types of pennies I offer are becoming more and more valuable. I believe that because I worry that time is currently painting a portrait of disappearing thought in which all who see this portrait are corrupted by what they can no longer see and walk away thinking ignorance is beautiful.

Yeah.

That corruption breeds a sense of everything changing, but in an invisible way. We only see the change in a low level slightly nagging unease & unhappiness. In a way our moral & character health deteriorates despite our relentless pursuit of feeling better through pills, supplements & absurd self improvement plans. Mentally our focus shifts toward what is visible and away from the invisible <that which creates the unease> and we fixate on what we think we know rather than unlearning/revising what we know.

We stop engaging with thought and even engaging with the thoughtful people <the intellectuals — real & faux> because it is just easier.

The sad truth is that we are largely doing all of this corruption to ourselves. Why? Mostly because conflict is necessary to make the invisible visible, but conflict, and making the invisible visible, is hard & sometimes hurtful.

What does this have to do with a legacy?

I could argue that if your thinking is invisible in some way, you run the risk of becoming so invisible that when you leave there remains no footprint to mark your steps in Life.

Ponder that.

Ponder it a little more because I imagine leaving Life as an invisible person has little appeal to anyone. Not that you desire to be the most visible person in the world just that you would prefer knowing that when you were gone who you were just became completely invisible.

Please note that I am not tying visible to any success, but rather tying it to thinking or some thought/idea <although I imagine it could be tied to ‘doing something that may truly matter’ in terms of impact on other’s thinking/actions>.

And, while I am talking about the legacy I personally want to leave behind, I would imagine this thought bleeds into almost everyone’s Life. Yeah, in this case, I don’t think I am different than most people. We all would prefer to not be corrupted by ignorance and we would prefer to want to ‘do something’ and, preferably, something dynamic beyond our own purposes.

=====

“[My ultimate goal is] to leave this world a better person, and for me to not be the only one who knows it.”

Gavin DeGraw

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

Ah. But the idea of being dynamic beyond your own purposes is fraught with peril.

It means dreaming big. Okay. It means thinking big <and, yes, I do believe far too often we aim too small and too low>.

As for me and my thinking big? I want to attack ignorance as if it is the enemy and, looking back, the majority of my writing have relentlessly unflinchingly, never nudging, attacked ignorance. I have done so using the idea of Enlightened Conflict as a North Star.

I believe conflict of thoughts is healthy and believe vocalizing the conflict is necessary for progress. I believe Conflict is natural and will always exist – between countries, religious beliefs, ideologies, the haves and the have nots, etc. I believe with my writing I have a unique opportunity to insure conflict of thinking can be managed to some extent by encouraging positive conflict or enabling conflict with rules.

I debate with people, I write about thinking, I defend our youth, I rant about the old way of thinking, and while I like to avoid “us versus them” narratives as lazy, in recent history, I have found a muse in Donald J Trump <in fact … my 2101st post was a Trump business lesson>.

Trump has offered me the opportunity to have a living breathing example of almost everything I detest in business leadership, business acumen and how a business shouldn’t be run. I do not detest him as a person <I don’t know him> I just detest how he conducts himself as a leader and a business person. He has reminded me that passion can inspire thinking and writing and reminds me that business sometimes needs to stop nudging and be more demanding of what is right & good.

Regardless.

In the end all I want is some enlightened thinking and new ways of looking at things and sometimes it is useful to use someone or something as a foil to make a comparative. This style and way of thinking has proven to be a good timeless way of approaching things because should you view a post in my first 100 you would find it is still relevant and will still contain thoughts you may find scattered in my last 100 posts.

Anyway. One last thought on legacies — compromising. I still worry about compromising.

I know I have some fear that compromising has left far too many people numb to life or maybe just numb to their dreams. Or maybe more specifically numb to ‘doing something that matters’ and, certainly, numb to thinking and new thoughts.

I still worry about me compromising. And maybe I fear that numbness if I end up compromising. I kind of think this is a legitimate fear.

I, as everyone else, certainly want to be happy. Live. And love. And be loved. Read. Travel. See things. Meet people. Meet more people. And learn. And unlearn. And learn some more. Nowhere in there do I see compromise I only see doing shit. And, in my eyes, nor do I see any ‘nudging’, but rather unflinching doing. Yes. Doing something unflinchingly.

Because doing something unflinchingly that can leave the world a better place? Whew.

I gotta tell ya, if you even have a glimmer of hope of getting to do something big — something really big … something that matters in a big way, something that someone would recognize someday  as a legacy idea — well, I don’t know. It kind of seems like you have to go for it – uncompromisingly and unflinchingly.

I have to think that if am going to lose, I want to know I lost doing something and not losing because I compromised in some way.

That said. I don’t want to be known for writing 3000 posts, or however many I end up writing, I would like to have a legacy suggesting I did something that mattered <and someone could point to what that something was>.

In the end.

I have done lots of thinking and done lots of writing and I very rarely have duplicated a thought, I have never run out of new quotes to share and I have never had “writer’s block” or not had something to write and, yet, I have consistently pounded on stupid & senseless business acumen and the misguided tripe & fortune cookie wisdom people are fed with regard to Life.

That sounds big and, yet, small at the same time. I have to imagine whether someone has written as much as I or not most people will find that they have done something that sounds big but may look small in the harsh light of reality. The only way I know to build a meaningful legacy <making what may appear small big> is to do what I do – do a lot and not nudge and be absolutely unflinchingly focused on communicating meaningful information, thoughts & ideas so people can make meaningful choices and think meaningful thoughts. And, yet, sure … I still do wonder what will happen to everything I have written because at the moment they are my legacy. I imagine I am not alone in thinking that “I did something and it was never seen” on my headstone isn’t really what anyone wants.

For now all I can do is insure that I do something meaningful in a ‘non-nudging way’ and hope it gets noticed.

——————————–

About the author:

Bruce McTague is probably considered a sometimes irascible pragmatic contrarian. At the same time he is most likely considered a naïve believer in the inherent good in people and believer in the value of Hope as an engine for real progress.

He has been called cynical and optimistic.

And because of all of that he believes Life, just as people, are a complex bundle of contradictions therefore simplicity is often a refuge of fools.

He believes there is no problem or conflict that cannot be solved if people are willing to listen, face harsh truths and make the hard decisions. He also believes that the world would be a much better place if everyone would spend just a little more time unlearning what they have learned, think a little bit more and that we would all benefit if we became better at articulating our thoughts.    

Lastly, in the end, he believes that everyone everywhere deserves to have hope.

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

“I don’t want to be remembered.

 Memories age and you might remember words I whispered in your car but you’ll forget how my voice made your name sound safe. You will faintly remember that there was once warmth in my touch but the skin on your chest where my hands made a home is cold now.

Time will steal all the sharp edges that made it seem real. Years will rob you blind and you’ll simply be living with my blurry ghost.

That’s worse than being forgotten, so confuse me with another girl in a coffee shop and change my name in future stories. Walk down memory lane and unlock the exit.

Ignore the ghost that packs up the memories and leaves and do me one last favor; shut the door behind me. “

write-from-the-start

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

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

“We’re just a bubble in a boiling pot.”

———–

Jack Johnson

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

“There’s an inherent limit to the stress that any material can bear. Water has its boiling point, metals their melting points. The elements of the spirit behave the same way. “

———–

Stefan Zweig

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

Every once in awhile you find that someone has articulated an idea in such a simple wonderful way you have to stand and applaud. 212 is an example. While 212 is a marketing agency’s name it is the actual number and what it means that speaks volumes.

212 degrees is water’s boiling point.

The agency creative director (one of my best friends) of the agency I referenced earlier states it perfectly:

“we can be the difference between 211 degrees, when all you’ve got is water, and 212,or between something happening or not happening.”

That, my friends, says it all. Not just for a business, but pretty much frickin’ everything. This also has everything to do with the difference between speed & velocity.

You can spend your time and life sitting around somewhere between 0 and 211 degrees.  And it doesn’t really matter if you are freezing your ass off at 3 degrees or be hotter than shit at 198 degrees — nothing is happening (other than you are uncomfortable or maybe fooling yourself into believing something is happening). Shit ain’t happening until you reach out and figure out a way of getting to 212.

That, in a nutshell, is speed.

Then something truly happens.

Life boils. Action happens.

That, in a nutshell, is Velocity. A real change happens in that you have shifted from speed activity to velocity activity. All in one measly little degree.

Couple points:

Between 0 & 211.

Don’t fool yourself into believing that something is truly happening in your life simply because you feel something (cold or hot). You may be running hard (speed) but, for the most part, you are still just water in the pot. Real change happens when it boils (velocity). The tricky part is somewhere above 120 degrees or so you start feeling comfortable. In that comfort zone you can easily be speeding along or just be comfortably stagnant. Be aware. They can look & feel very similar.

Anyway. I purposefully use heat as the indicator for 2 reasons.

Uncomfortable. While velocity itself is exciting & challenging the shift from non boiling to boiling CAN be uncomfortable. Its a shift. Some people feel the discomfort as “uh oh bad” and some feel it as “yeah, now the action occurs.”

Action. Placid water to boiling water. That is when you know something is truly happening in your life. You shift from just water in a pot that is something someone could take & drink from to something that people approach warily & can actually use to cook something up. Speed makes you feel like you’re cooking, but velocity actually permits the action of cooking. In my terms, you have achieved the velocity tipping point.

One degree.

Life is tricky. Heck. Velocity is tricky. How tricky? The difference between speed & velocity is often one degree. Its not really a tipping point its more along the lines of applying heat properly for the appropriate amount of time. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out you can be speeding along at 205degrees for a long time and it will feel hot but you will not be able to boil diddleyshit. Speed can feel like Velocity. Oh. And. My real point is one degree can make a helluva difference.

About that difference.

There is no “about to boil” sign. The shift from speed to velocity just happens. There is no warning sign. There is no dopamine hit just prior. Nothing. It just happens. I point that out to remind everyone you are never really sure if you are 183degrees or 205degrees. It boils when it boils.

Not all velocity is good. Unfortunately we don’t always make the best decisions and best choices. Therefore, you can shift from speed to velocity and vector quickly into the bad or the good. I point that out because velocity, in & of itself, feels great so you have to be careful the velocity feeling doesn’t mask the truth you are speeding off on a bad tangent. 

Anyway. 212degrees. Ponder. Ponder because it is the difference between speed & velocity.

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

They say it all breaks down to keeping your feet on the ground

My sole intention is keeping my head in the clouds

They say that I can’t last a day in the real world

I say you wouldn’t survive one night in mine

—

Asking Alexandria

===

I get businesses unstuck  (90% of the time that simply means helping them get out of their own way). That’s what I do. This discussion most typically revolves around Taleb’s concept of Antifragile. And while I find Nassim Taleb whipsmart trying to explain Antifragile in a pragmatic business sense, and business environment, is semi-impossible (or at least beyond my intellectual capabilities).

Suffice it to say almost every business I have ever interacted with has struggled with balancing, or applying proportionate effort, pragmatism and possibilities – standardized process and agility/vision to meet opportunities. Most businesses see them as binaries where I see them as malleable. Most businesses see them as an organism and I see them as molecular. That said. While I love conceptual discussions (and actually believe the future of business will be owned by the ones who can think conceptually) my job is to frame in the abstract and deliver in the concrete – balancing idealism and realism. I call it ‘’pragmatism and possibilities’ and suggest its all about having your feet in the clouds and head on the ground.

Suffice it to say that 99% of the best businesses have figured out how to successfully keep their feet in the clouds and their head on the ground.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it looks like I got it twisted around, but I did not. Good businesses are always walking with the future in mind. Always traveling toward possibilities. Always seeking ‘what’s next.’

Good businesses are always closely listening to the drumbeat of the feet of what is happening around them. Ear to the ground insuring everyone in the business is keeping their head in the game today. I have called it mastering pragmatism & possibilities. But, in reality, it is the ability to have your feet in the clouds and head on the ground.

I tend to believe if more people thought about it this way businesses would actually manage their pragmatism better (i.e., maximize existing resources in an agile way), would have more hope (i.e., maximize opportunities that arise better) and achieve more possibilities than they could ever imagine.

You have to admit the current definition – feet on the ground & head in the clouds – just ain’t working that well these days. Businesses seem to be more woefully stagnant <albeit always ‘talking’ change> and have more despair and lack of hope with regard to actionable possibilities than ever.

Why? Well. I am sure I could invest dozens of pages sharing thoughts on why, but instead I will focus on what I would consider the intellectual aspects, i.e., what is going on in with our attitudes that affect our heads, how we think and how we approach these things.

** note: if one were to need a playbook on how to discuss pragmatism & possibilities with a business this is as good a place to start as any – deconstructing each issue.

• Issue one. over-simplification

Suffice it to say we have devolved into a society of sound bites. This is true in business even moreso. In business it seems to be all about simplicity. In everyday Life it is ‘summarize it for me’ or ‘oh, it’s simple <insert some explanation here>.’ In the end I can’t figure out if should be pointing the finger at us or them.

Them <management & leadership> because they think we are not capable of understanding some form of complexity and therefore they only offer up simplified versions of what needs to be communicated.

Or us <the employees> because we either:

<a> demand a sound bite under the guise of ‘we only have time for the headline’

<b> we only latch on to the fragment of the whole which we believe summarizes the whole.

Therefore I will point the finger at all of us and them. Here is a Truth.

Most things are just not that simple, in fact, they are complex. An effect can have multiple causes and a cause can have multiple effects. I say this despite the fact, naturally, we would like all the dominoes to line up one after another and when one falls the next naturally is impacted and falls. Causality is just an easier thing to grasp.

Well. Things don’t really work that way. Especially in a business environment. Maybe in a controlled test environment but, in business, events are typically bombarded from a variety of directions and while not all causes are created equal <some can impact more than others> most things are too complex to be simplified into ‘one thing.’ And, yet, we oversimplify again and again and again.

Over simplifying simply means ignoring complexities.

Over simplifying simply means being consciously ignorant.

Over simplifying … well … just doesn’t work in the long run.

It eases you through the moment only to have to doubly <or exponentially> invest energy later on. Let me put this as simply as I can: over simplification just doesn’t work.

Instead of dumbing things down to some simplistic sound bite we need to raise the level of general understanding & knowledge to the level of complexity of the ideas & systems in which a business works – in other words, unravel the complexity into understandable components. Factually, seconds of involvement <sound bites> versus minutes of involvement <deeper complex discussion> leads to degrees of real knowledge, i.e., seconds leads to shallow knowledge or let’s call it ‘less knowledgeable.’ Over simplification will not demystify uncertainty and cannot help us do what we really need to do — reconcepting & rethinking that which is (which is the portal to unlocking potential).

What I am suggesting is difficult and uncertain work. But certainly more satisfying and inspiring when we solve and recreate and it certainly is a more effective way to keep your feet in the clouds and head on the ground..

I can unequivocally state that the fate of possibilities for a business, any business, lies in balance if we don’t invest in the hard work of ‘non over simplification.’

And worse? We won’t solve any of the problems we face if we do not address this.

This leads me to …

• Issue two. being intellectually insightful is about hard work.

Let me begin by suggesting that good ideas cannot be decided by number of tweet votes in favor of. Business ideas do not compete on American Idol nor, frankly, should they compete in any larger group. We are not all judges <and probably shouldn’t be on American Idol either>.

Why? Good ideas are rarely popular; therefore, I don’t really want a business idea to win some meaningless popularity contest. If we really want to do what needs to be done to maximize both the pragmatism & the possibilities in business we have to hunker down and work hard … work hard in that we need to use what we have to rethink things … use all aspects including economic thought and philosophy and the past … all of which means dealing with ambiguity and contradiction.

And, yes, that is hard work. That is the kind of work that hones the intellectual insightfulness necessary to keep your feet in the clouds and your feet on the ground and, well, make progress. Smart progress.

Instead of dumbing things down we need to be raising the level of general understanding to the level of complexity of the systems in which we are embedded and which are embedded in us. And while you may balk at something like ‘intellectual insightfulness’ as too far reaching or ‘elitist’ … suffice it to say we just need to be smarter … less ignorant … more enlightened <open to additional thoughts> and more involved in the difficult and uncertain work of demystification and reconcepting ideas and systems in which we live in and … well … just plain rethinking shit.

Suffice it to say that there is nothing simple when talking about world-changing ideas … because talking will not simply make the world change.

I read somewhere recently that ‘if you remove this boundary … the only boundary left is our imagination.’

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Imagination is important, but even imagination is complicated and difficult and tends to not offer tidy solutions. Especially if you don’t invest in the hard work.

We need to be doing more of ‘using your imagination within the box of what exists.’ We don’t need to be wandering aimlessly ‘outside the box’ but rather using our imagination insightfully and creatively WITHIN the box and expand the boundaries.

It is all hard work, but hard work will work. And in this case I mean hard thinking work.

Simply ‘doing’ aint gonna cut it. We need to be smarter. And whether you think about thinking this way or not, it ain’t about staring off into space doing nothing <random dreaming>, thinking is a blue collar job. Thinking is all about work. Hmmmmmm … it is quite possible that what I just wrote defines “head on the ground” better than anything I have ever written before.

Anyway. As a corollary to issue number two …

• Issue three. innovation is not <just> technology.

What makes oversimplification even more challenging is that for some reason we seem to be associating innovation with technology … and just technology. We can’t … and shouldn’t.

This type of thinking leads us to possibly believe technology innovations will eventually solve all problems and maximize everyone’s Life as some point. That is a very dangerous idea.

It is dangerous because in reality if we focus just on technology as the solution we are actually preventing the real change we need. It’s a very dangerous idea because it completely removes the human aspect. I cannot tell people how often I need to remind everyone technology augments humans (if you seek potential & possibilities), not humans augmenting technology.

Regardless. Minds need to innovate too. Thinking and attitudes need to evolve and innovate. New thought systems, economic systems and systems in which people live eat and breath all need to evolve and that happens through innovation <whether technology is involved or not>. Technology is simply a path that runs parallel to culture <or society> basically amplifying everything that is happening on the parallel path <the corollary to that is … with nothing to amplify the technology remains silent>.

Technology and culture and people and business are entangled. Everything is connected with everything. Technologies may enable new ways of doing things as well as thinking. This effects culture so culturally we need to innovate to structure how those technologies will be involved in our lives <so that we can dictate a little how they are incorporated> and we need to innovate our thinking and culture so that we can actually impact how technology evolves <so that we can dictate how what technology is innovated in some form or fashion>.

At the moment it seems like we respond to technology rather than proactively drive technology. Yes. Technology has certainly dramatically improved the overall quality of business but, at some point, technology is not a reason for being, but rather simply an enabler for being. The paradox is that the system we have now may make amazing new technology possible, but at same time is creating such cultural conflict that maximizing technology ‘what could be’ seems impossible. We need to innovate the systems in which technology exists.

Economically, culturally and philosophically. All systems need to see innovation.

• Issue four. adaptability does not mean ‘no strategy’.

Businesses inherently like structure. They see structure as replicable (safe, efficient & maintaining whatever level of effectiveness they have currently attained). The problem is emphasizing structure, pragmatism, actually increases the fragility of a business (source: antifragile) and limits the scope/horizon view of pursuing possibilities. With a ‘feet on the ground’ philosophy structure & construct of resources/systems/process dictate the direction, velocity and vision of the business. In other words, pragmatism is the source of possibilities. If you flip the equation, pragmatism becomes the enabler of possibilities. This does not mean a business has no strategy, all it does is maximize flexibility & agility to pragmatically apply resources to possibilities as they arise. Taleb calls this AntiFragile, Toffler called it the polymalleable organization, HBR has called it “Agile”, I call it “feet in the clouds, head on the ground” or “managing pragmatism & possibilities.” Call it whatever you want but it is the issue a business needs to address in order to be successful in the future.

<that’s it for my issues>

Look.

Hope and possibilities grounded with enlightened pragmatism abound in today’s business world if you look hard enough <and have your feet in the clouds an head to the ground>. But none of it comes easy. These types of things are rarely just given, they need to be earned mostly thru hard work.

I don’t believe simplicity is bad.

I don’t believe being optimistic or having a positive attitude is bad.

I don’t believe technology is bad.

I don’t believe hard work, smartly done, is bad.

But we seem trapped in the old paradigm of “head in the clouds & feet on the ground.” This old paradigm kind of separates work & thinking <vision> in a non useful way. And I … well … I admit I sometimes think this paradigm encourages a slightly warped version of some lazy thinking.

And we cannot be lazy moving forward. And we certainly cannot afford to be lazy thinkers. For in this type of laziness lurks ignorance and it is ignorance we should fear. Not any ideological argument or technological innovation which inserts itself into our daily lives but ignorance.

Avoid lazy thinking. Maybe have everyone should hearken to Emerson’s words:

“Consent yourself to be an organ of your highest thought, and lo! suddenly you put all men in your debt, and are the fountain of an energy that goes pulsing on with waves of benefit to the borders of society, to the circumference of things.”

In the end.

Effective business has always been about applying the right resources at the right time against the right opportunity (or challenge). Period.

Efficient business has always been about applying resources in a consistent way all the time to be applied against the opportunities that exist. Period.

Agility resides in the optimization betwixt the two. Either, alone, is fragile. The fragile mixture, proportionate focus, of the two actually makes one Antifragile (stealing from Taleb). That said. A business is most likely able to find the optimal proportion by, well, keep their head to the ground and their feet in the clouds.

Consent yourself to be of your highest thought.

And how do you do that? Keep your feet in the clouds and your head on the ground. Be pragmatic and explore possibilities.

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

Originally published September 2016

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

Q: One thing that has always puzzled me about management courses and books is, if they know how to do it, how come the trainers and authors aren’t managing big time?

A: Those who can, do. Those who can’t teach. The really chicken-shit become consultants.

<source: some online discussion>

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

Well. That question and answer was certainly harsh. Uhm. Well. Uh oh. I have met the enemy and it is I as in I am, apparently, really chickenshit.

And I don’t like it.

Oddly, despite the fact I do some business management consulting, I tend to agree with this statement. I imagine that doesn’t bode well for me as a consultant.

Regardless. Consulting is odd.

Businesses ask for advice and tend to ignore 70% <or enough of a portion that makes the advice less than effective> of the advice.

Business pay gobs of money to well-known supposed ‘elite’ consultants, who tend to simply rehash the same tripe over and over, and offer the same systems & ‘benchmarked’ processes and ideas of ‘what makes others’ great tripe.

Businesses ignore any advice if it is too contrarian under the guise of ‘impracticality’ and yet most times a business needs a consultant to point out the impractical is necessary for success.

Businesses tend to go to the safest consultants <the most well-known> and receive the safest <most expected> advice … and yet most businesses really need to be reaching out to the lesser known consultants with the more radical thinking.

Anyway.

Me & this consulting thing.

I am fortunate in that I have been in a business for the majority of my career where I have glanced off <and dived into> almost every industry & category known to mankind. I have pretty much seen the worst & the best of any department and discipline and thinking within any industry.

I have learned a shitload, with a shitload left to learn, and still learning as much shit as I can.

I have learned there is no formula, best practices are typically less than best and past experience is never about parallelisms, but rather analogous.

I have learned that each successful solution is actually pieces & parts of a variety of processes, solutions, ideas and applications.

I have learned to be a consultant <to my dismay>. I have also learned I will never be an ‘elite’ consultant.

Because elite <or well-known> tend to have formulas and systems and specific plans of action.

Because these same well known elite consultants peddle ‘here is what made others great’ and shove the square peg of ‘best’ knowledge in even if the company is a round hole company.

Why do they do it? I imagine those things make the buyer <the business> more comfortable in what they will get from the seller <the consultant>.

However. Here is the problem businesses are running into <and why most management business consulting can be sometimes fairly categorized as chickenshit>. The elite are, well, not so darn elite in forecasting or designing solutions. As The Economist suggested when examining this consulting issue:\

“No one can be sure if forecasts are the best available, or if they can be improved, or how. We can’t even be sure forecasts guiding our decisions are more insightful than what we would hear from oracles examining goat guts. Worse still, we often don’t know that we don’t know.”

Examining goat guts aside <be aware I do not do so if I am hired>, studies have shown that the average expert did only slightly better than random guessing. Even more disconcerting is the fact that the stated ‘elite experts’, the ones with the most inflated views of their own success average, tend to attract the most attention and most business. Uh oh. And these are the ones who pulled down the solutions success average.

And the more self effacing experts, by the way, the ones who have the better actual averages, the ones we should actually pay attention to don’t get on anyone’s radar screens and get hired less often.

Well. That’s disappointing. And there is a relatively obvious reason why.

The truth <thru the same research as noted above> is that the truly good forecaster & creator of solutions, the ones who are good at identifying the best solutions, tend to show that they are better able to incorporate what the elite consultants scoff at as ‘luck’ (luck residing in the less than obvious factors or the ‘outliers’ which inevitably reside in every business).

In actuality it is the ability to identify and accommodate the randomness associated with the situation and incorporating it into your thinking and ultimate solution that makes the best the best.

Ok. To be clear.

What that means is that most situations seeking a real solution have some randomness that needs to be identified, embraced and utilized.

Systems or processes tend to throw out these random factors as ‘outliers’ and they get ignored.

Ah. Therein lies the difference between good and bad consultants.

Randomness is incorporated by the elite non-elite.

Randomness is ignored by the non elite elite.

I say this not because I am elite by any stretch of the imagination.

I say this because most consultants suck <or are chickenshit>.

They suck at offering good solutions.

They suck historically in making a true difference.

The only place they don’t suck is blowing their own horn and, well, offering up solutions that sound good, but are never put into practice <because they aren’t actually good>.

I have all the respect in the world for Accenture & McKinsey consultants. Smart smart business people. But a substantial part of my career <which I assume taught me how to be a consultant> was translating their research and insights into usable actionable behaviors & actions.

Some thoughts.

–    Plans are good (up to a point)

Well. They are good as long as you don’t ignore everything else going on around you. Because inevitably a great plan is defined by what it ends up looking like in hindsight <the rear view mirror> and the attitude and emotion which actually made it happen. A management consultant should always offer a plan, it offers a direction to go and some shit you may need to do to get there. But it shouldn’t be made up of ‘what made someone else successful’ <or anything from the book ‘Good to Great’>.

How to judge a good plan? It cannot be implemented by another company. It contains the outlier aspects of what makes the company, well, the company. Please note I am discussing management and business organization thinking because there are certainly operational aspects that can be benchmarked. A good plan for you should look like a good plan for you (not someone else).

–   “next man up” or “next woman up”

 Consulting is difficult because inevitably you cannot control everything … but … well … shit … that’s an excuse. Because frankly even the best business leader in the world doesn’t control everything. You stimulate energy and provide direction and empower people with ability.

Great plans inevitably revolve around those who have believe.

Yeah … yeah … yeah … I buy the importance of team and the fact that one person can actually trigger belief (which enables shit to happen), but let’s not forget that often one person can actually make it ‘not happen’, i.e., can kill belief.

I think many consultants ignore identifying those with a desire to believe <as well as those who do not believ>.

Sometimes it is helpful to identify the next man/woman up. They are a powerful group. Current leaders tend to be steeped in some existing attitude and behaviors. The next person up is typically the one who seeks some change <and is willing to accept some new attitudes & behavior>. Just as with leaders, the next person up is always not the best in ability, but they may be the next person up with belief. Belief is a powerful energy source.

I mention those two thoughts as impetus to return to the original opening thought.

Those who can … do. Consultants are mostly chickenshit because they, well, cannot do — and know they cannot do, so they simply try to enable the ‘doing’. With an entire quiver of tricks and inspirational tools they set out to create the necessary ‘doing plan’.

Good intent.

Still chicken shit.

The best ‘consultants’ are those who are in positions to do. They are currently people in the organization.

And that is what I miss by playing at being a consultant.

I fooled myself into believing I was a ‘consultant’ because I could do what consultants do. But the truth is that almost anyone who is worth a shit in a leadership position already in a business, and can keep an open mind, and be willing to change <and … yes … I fully understand I just outlined the value of management consultants> is in a much better position to think of the consultant-like ideas as well as actually do the consultant like actions IN an organization.

And that is what I miss. Being able to ‘do.’

Don’t get me wrong. I love the thinking. I love the assessing the organization and identifying change agents and changes to improve, but I also love the implementation. And I would love not being in the chickenshit category.

It’s possible there is some happy balance, but it sometimes seems impossible to see when looking at the consulting world.

I mean, truthfully, how do you successfully ‘sell yourself’ as an effective consultant if you are saying “hey … every solution is unique … I can’t use what supposedly worked for someone else because … well … you are different.”

That sounds less safe than what the other guys are peddling.

So the experts who reapply from ‘those who have been successful’ will always be chosen over the expert who says ‘I will bring out the best in your company … make it the best it can be … from what it is.’

Well.

That’s chickenshit.

Ponder that the next time you hire a consultant.

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“Owning my own home symbolizes so much to me. I have been my happiest when I have been in my very own place and I am really looking forward to that.  Stability and routine are vital to us in our day to day life … so moving in is really going to settle us down for a while and i will find a lot of peace of mind in that.”

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I often believe we confuse stability and consistency, regardless, stability is an interesting topic. Its very personal to each person <and it always surprises me a little when someone assumes what is important to them for ‘stability’ should be, or is, the same for everyone else>. I also believe how you define stability kind of defines you <in a way>.

A good friend just bought a home after struggling through several years and wrote the above quote. Stability, and all the things associated with it, reentered the world for this person. Anyway. It made me think about how important stability is to, well, everyone – at least in some form or fashion. I tend to believe we seem to find stability in our work lives fairly well and fairly easily. Stability in work is rarely what you may think is obvious. For stability is not really a ‘safe’ job <in terms of employment security>, it is actually what we naturally gravitate to in terms of the daily ‘to do’s’ of what we do. Frankly, it is the things that come most easily to us and the things we like to do at work.

Stability in the workplace is found in the form of comfort in a couple of things:

1. knowing what you are doing
2. knowing you are doing it well <or competently>
3. knowing what you do means something to someone

It ain’t money. It ain’t job security. It is about the actual ‘doing’ where the strongest stability is found <because it is actually transferable & movable>. Everyone should note I emphasized ‘doing’ because this is at the heart of ‘work.’ I debate with anyone that people do not have to work to gain some meaning. Work is ‘doing’ <with multiple feedback mechanisms which provide value cues intrinsically & extrinsically>.

Moving on.

Anyway. For some odd reason it seems tougher to find this easy stability in real life. I tend to believe that happens because of ‘over stimulation’ <Life clutters us with responsibilities & worries & a nonstop schedule of ‘possible things to do’>.

Regardless. Whether we recognize it or not we build, or seek to build, some stability into our lives, i.e., something or some things that provides a steadying influence. I am not talking about money. I am talking about something, or somethings, that emotionally settle us so that we can deal with all the other crap that is going on around us.

It is important, and I would suggest, almost vital to have some emotional stability because it is from that which we leverage and make progress <in Life & business>.

All that said. When I heard my friend was buying a house, and what it meant, it made me think of several things:

–          How everyone builds some type of stability onto their lives <or it would be sheer chaos>

–          What is my stability

–          My uncomfortable relationship with permanence <and how I, and not everyone else, has that uncomfortable relationship>

Building stability in Life

Everyone has some stability. And everyone pretty much defines it very personally. Sure. We can be flippant when asked; our house <home>, our family <or parents>, our loved ones is typically the knee jerk response.

And sometimes it is the real truth. It’s easy. It makes sense. But sometimes it is not the obvious. Sure. We thought it was an easy answer, but it is not. Look. I am not telling you what your stability answer is I’m just suggesting it may be deeper than you think.

Regardless. Some of us look at stability in a different way. It isn’t like an unmoving object, but rather a constantly moving object that we try our best to bind to as it moves by.

William Blake said … “I wouldn’t bind myself to a joy, I would kiss the joy as it flew.”

That’s as close to a definition for this version of stability that I could find.

Regardless. We all seek and, I imagine, have ‘some’ stability in our lives. We may create it mentally and always go ‘home’ to it when we need to steady ourselves or it may be something tangible like a home or a person or a thing. Whatever it is that stability actually defines us. Yeah, yeah, yeah … someone will argue with me on this and I will probably get a nasty <but smart> note from a psychologist or behavioral expert reader, but in my simple mind how we define our stability is a reflection of something deep inside us. Either a Maslow thing <self esteem, self actualization, self-whatever> or simply something that given our past experiences <good or bad> that settles us into a ‘good place’ mentally.

This place, or thing, provides comfort, maybe happiness, but most absolutely represents  the calm eye in the hurricane of Life.

Bottom line? We all have something that stabilizes us. Figure it out and you at least know something really really valuable about yourself.

What my stability is.

When I thought about this it was a simple answer – books <and yes this will ultimately lead me to my uncomfortable relationship with permanence>. I find comfort in words and how the words make me think and feel and expand my experiences thru fictional & non fictional lives & stories. I find comfort in sifting thru the real & the unreal to formulate some Life truths, well, at least my Life truths.

I don’t need a home. I don’t need a high falutin’ title. I just need some books. That is my stability.

I could probably live in a studio apartment with bookshelves all around me and I would feel grounded.

For a period of time I thought my dog was my stability … he was a rock of support in Life. Instead I found he simply complimented my Life during the amazing time he was with me. He transitioned me from one point in my life to another and, possibly, in some weird way he tried to remind me of my true stability because throughout his life the only thing he consistently chewed on when I wasn’t around were the corners of books. To this day I have dozens of books with just one corner chewed off.

Maybe he had a comfortable relationship with my stability and found stability in my stability.

I know. Sounds odd, but pets often have a way of showing you things that you don’t really see about yourself <note: point of that little story was you can uncover your stability in a variety of ways>.

Regardless. I am certain this personal insight clearly makes me, well, two things I imagine.

First. A nomad. I’m willing to walk through life anywhere at any time as long as I have a books in hand. My stability is transient able to go wherever I go. In fact, I imagine standing still too long in one place makes me feel uncomfortable & possibly even unstable.

Second. Maybe I’m a sick person. Say what?

“Library is a hospital for the mind.”

Maybe I have a sick mind that always needs assistance to stay healthy rather than have healthy mind that seeks to feed itself with nutrition <because just as I eat some crappy food I certainly read some crappy stuff>.

Interesting thought. But hey … anyone who admits that their stability could possibly fit in their pocket for god’s sake probably has some mental issues don’t they?

My uncomfortable relationship with permanence.

Ok. This is probably most embodied in the fact that I don’t have a tattoo <and most people would guess that I would have one>, but instead I think I will reflect upon my choice for what gives me stability – my books. They are an impermanent permanent feature in my life. They easily travel and I can have hundreds, heck, thousands of which to pick up and put down and read and reread. Stability, to me, in the traditional sense, well, I have always equated with stagnancy.

Is that fair? Probably not, but it is what I have in my pea like brain.

It may be that I have moved so many times in my life, made some friends and met some fabulous amazing people in each place, and have gone back and while the people are still amazing … the place is … well … emptier. Nathaniel Hawthorne said it best:

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“… they resolved to go back to their own land; because the years have a kind of emptiness when we spend too many of them on a foreign shore. But … if we do return, we find that the native air has lost its invigorating quality, and that life has shifted its reality to the spot where we have deemed ourselves only temporary residents.

Thus, between two countries, we have none at all.”

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Now. I certainly admit that if I ever stopped moving maybe the spot wouldn’t shift its reality … or maybe I would shift with it and therefore it wouldn’t lose its invigorating quality. But. In my nomad world I have discovered you just cannot go back. You can go back to memories <which are great> but you cannot go back to a place.

All that said my permanence is found in books. Which I imagine suggests that my permanence is lurking somewhere in my mind … traveling with me wherever I go.

I envy people who find stability in a home because it makes them happy, comfortable and fulfilled.

I envy people who find stability in whatever type of permanence they have.

But I don’t envy them enough to give up my sense of stability and permanence.

I have tried their permanence and it has failed for me.

I have no clue what that says about me from a psychological standpoint and I am fairly sure I don’t want to know.

In the end.

I realized how I defined my stability said a lot about me and what is important to me. I don’t recommend a lot of self reflection, but this seems like a valuable use of someone’s time. I believe its valuable because I would assume if you haven’t clearly defined what makes you feel stable you run the risk of not having the platform you need to leverage from to be, and do, the best you can be & do.

I would also guess you run the risk of feeling adrift on occasion and not really knowing why.

Take a moment and think about how you define stability. Go below the obvious and really think about it. It seems important.

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Why are we so full of restraint?

Why do we not give in all directions?

Is it fear of losing ourselves? Until we do lose ourselves there is no hope of finding ourselves.

————-

Henry Miller

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Wimp. Gutless. Chicken. Wuss. Mamby pamby. Spineless jellyfish.

Pick your word.

That is what business has become.

Yeah. I know. Harsh.

Go boldly is just not a phrase you hear often in business anymore.

Not even whispered.

Heck.

Not even kiddingly.

Instead we use words like ‘managing risk’ or ‘planned change’ or “restrained response is necessary” or “we need to follow the process” or … well … any other chicken shit scared-to-do-what-needs-to-be-done word or phrase.

Now. To be clear.

Everyone talks about being brave — “let’s be bold”. Yeah. Everyone sits in meetings and waves their hands enthusiastically or look around sternly making statements and actually talk about bold thinking and bold moves and, well, being bold. Attend any planning meeting or transition meeting or change meeting, in fact, pretty much any meeting in a business office and at some point someone will throw the ‘let’s be bold’ card out onto the table.

What happens next?

Everyone looks as Bold sits there on the table within the reach of anyone. Sitting there on a plate like everyone’s favorite donut .. all the while everyone looking at it is on a diet.

Oh, so tasty.

Oh, I can’t touch it.

This most typically happens in some snazzy meeting room and when someone starts talking about the direction of the business and change, but it also comes up when talking about some new initiative, some new ‘creative thinking’ or … well … anything that may appeal to younger employees or anyone who truly wants to do something good, or spectacular, on the business. 

Conceptually … the desire is there. So why is there no real bold behavior?

We are in a mamby pamby business world.

We are in a ‘let’s stick with the tried & true <safe> to maintain whatever growth we just celebrated in our last meeting” <which was most likely really crappy but justified by a verbal ‘better than the competition’> world. We are in a “let’s be edgy but don’t scare off any potential customers” <which those people most likely aren’t a viable revenue stream anyway> world.

Unfortunately for these spineless shits sitting around conference tables … reality in today’s business world is that we are actually in a “smart bold actions at the smartest time” <but … uhm ,.. apparently no one is smart enough – bold enough? – to identify the smart time>.

It sucks.

We are now living in a “rationalize minuscule change as bold actions’ business world. It is demoralizing as well as a less than effective business strategy.

All that said.

This lack of boldness strikes deepest during transitions and change. And I can logically explain why.

Change in business scares the shit out of any manager & leader.

Okay.

It scares the shit out of 99% of business people <mostly the older more experienced>.

Yeah, yeah, yeah … change sounds great, but in practice it is a shitload like chaos. You plan, but as soon as transition hits its full stride the plan is … well … no longer a plan.

Ok. It is the remnants of a plan.

This means many managers are left with scraps of a plan in their hands and this means that many managers are left to make their own decisions and left to their own devices. This also means that many managers find out they are gutless chicken shits.

Why do I say that?

In their minds ‘go boldly’ is defined by “implement the plan.” Boldly implement the plan to the nth degree.

Without a plan? The cold fear of the unknown and being unsure freezes boldness.

<sigh>

Wimps.

We have become a business world of wimps.

And this lack of a bold muscle can cost you in a variety of ways.

If you do not go boldly you will not only never find success, frankly, you will also ever find “you”, as in yourself, as in “what I am capable of.”

By the way … bold does not mean ‘stupid’. Bold simply means attempting to control your destiny – your personal one and your business one. And in doing so … well … you are letting the chips fall as they may by managing the chips as well as you can.

In Greek this is called Kairos. Kairos is the ability to adapt to and take advantage of changing circumstances.

The concept suggests you have an opportunity to manage what fate has in store for you … if you manage the circumstances as they arise.

And how does this relate to ‘be bold’?

Well. Kairos suggests that fate has a whole array of possibilities to shove your way – not just one in particular. Uhm. That means, if you buy that thought, depending on what you do and how you act and what you say … uhm … Fate just may end up offering you a possibility other than what it thought it was going to offer you a moment ago. This also suggests some boldness increases the odds in your favor with regard to fate. I personally do not think this is ‘fate favors the brave.’ I believe it is less about bravery and more about simply boldly acting upon what your experience suggests is the way to go as a way of managing your Fate.

I could argue that 90%+ of business people do not balk at the idea of ‘being bold’, but balk at actually being bold.

I could argue that the % may even go up higher during business transition <change> times.

Yeah. Even with a real challenge and the authority and space to operate “bold” is unfortunately very very low on the list of business behavioral attitudes.

What is high on the list?

“Restrained response” …

“Restrained behavior”

“Restrained risk.”

I have one word for you.

Wimps.

“Restrained” is for all the fucking wimps.

Look.

We need more smart bold non-wimps in today’s business world.

We need less chicken shit, scared to move, business managers and more bold managers who seek possibilities with a 360 degree view … without restraint … and the desire to do the right smart thing in any direction.

Lastly. Better than any whizbang cultural “happiness mojo” initiatives, being bold, embracing bravery within the business actions, will increase the energy of the organization, attract young people & increase overall productivity as well as engagement (which is the real prize in a business).