Author: neil

A recent conversation with a corporate executive triggered this question. The person suggested that people at the grassroots didn’t know enough about the organisation’s strategy so the ideas they propose are a non-starter.  In the moment, I felt viscerally that the person lacked self-awareness yet had an oversized ego, had forgotten the two primary facets* of their job. I want to explore this person’s perspective, and build their argument for that statement.

Explicit:

1. 1. The organisation (the executive leadership specifically) is grappling with the changes in the marketplace. There are multiple dimensions to the problem. For fast response, a small group of highly qualified management professionals are working hard on understanding the problem.  People at the grassroots are unaware of these multi-dimensional problems. Therefore any ideas they have, while important to them, may not be relevant to the problem
   2. Good ideas do come from the grassroots, but they do not take an enterprise view of their implications. You need a much higher level perspective, and that awareness is only accessible to senior execs. It is impossible to convey these implications, so staff have to trust executive judgement on this.
   3. Being an executive who has deep history of the technical details, and the bird-eye view of the enterprise problem, I am aware of the problems that this idea will create for the rest of the system. Again, staff have to trust my judgement because I have got this right on multiple occasions previously. I don’t have the time to explain this at length to every person, and will exercise my decision-making authority.

Implicit: (Of course I can never know this for sure so entirely my assumptions)

1. 1. There’s no evidence that this idea is workable. The risk is way too much to accept.
   2. The evidence that is provided goes counter to my prior experience.
   3. If the idea works, it will make someone else look good
   4. If I have not objected to the idea in the first instance, and the idea fails, my credibility among my peers will be diminished
   5. This is not my idea
   6. This is your idea and I don’t like you/your higher-ups etc
   7. There are other ways this can be done
   8. Our competitors will use this to their advantage

Doing this exercise is illuminating – there are more implicit than explicit arguments that I can think of. If I asked the person how much of my list is valid, would I get an honest answer? Would the answer be different in a different circumstance?

* My current belief is that an exec needs to:  a. articulate the org strategy clearly so that the experts – the people actually doing the job – knew what they were aiming at; and b. use their hierarchical heft to negotiate the removal of obstacles in the path of the experts.

 

I invested all day in building a strategy document for the radio station, and I’m mentally drained.  I ought to write about the process, and the few things I’ve been able to accomplish today, and how frustrated I feel with the output. Yet, when someone else reads it, they think it’s fantastic. Am I underestimating myself?

Rest and resurrection, that’s what it should be called. I need it tonight.

Ideas are easy, execution is hard.

I agree with that sentiment, with a slight modification: executing alone is hard. Having a group of people who love the idea, have the skills to execute on them, and won’t sleep until they’ve figured out how, is useful .

I’ve seen it in action repeatedly, and this week has been another stellar demonstration of this principle. Over 70 people have now gotten involved actively in making an idea that 4 people had cooked up a few months ago. Trust, transparency, communication, purpose, a desire to prove the detractors wrong. Dozens of mavericks, that’s what I’ve managed to bring together. I’m grateful that I can see the pattern in the dots, join them, and occasionally create a ripple, if not a movement.

I’ve spent hours now with 4 humans to help them craft their individual, `10 minute stories at the next Talks session I’m hosting. It’s been a joy to help them express their message, and to find their voice.

I found myself using the word ‘powerful’ multiple times while re-stating what I was hearing from those conversations. I unearthed the rawest of emotion when I probed a little. My questions and paraphrasing what I heard helped them reveal what lay dormant. Buried under social niceties or years of anguish or forgotten with the passage of time.

Finding one’s voice is not easy. Being able to do this with them is a gift, and I’m lucky to be able to do it as often as I choose to do. Powerful is what it makes each one of them feel, I hope. Helping someone find their voice is deeply satisfying, and helps me find inspiration for my own life.

Hemingway Readability Score: Grade 7

It’s easy to be a practised cynic. – Jim Rohn

The realisation that cynicism is also a choice has been a liberating one. Yet, that doesn’t mean that I don’t get cynical at times. Some recent experiences have earned my cynicism, but it’s a heavy burden to bear.

I’m truly grateful that every time such a feeling comes over me, inspiration is always around if I am observant. Two colleagues gave me healthy doses of inspiration with their stories today. Both couldn’t have come from more different circumstances. Both couldn’t have had more different challenges. And both inspired me to change perspective and had me in tears with their stories. Took moments, not hours.

Arthur Brooks was on Dan Pink’s Pinkcast, and his provocation to find ‘real’ friends vs ‘deal’ friends gave me pause. Thinking about it, I have so many “useless” friends. I am indeed blessed.