I’m reading A More Beautiful Question right now by Warren Berger and came across this insight.
One good question can give rise to several layers of answer, can inspire decades-long searches for solutions, can generate whole new fields of inquiry, and can prompt changes in entrenched thinking. – Stuart Firestein
I suspect Firestein is coming at this from a deep philosphical perspective but this is applicable to our existing businesses, too. For example, from a business perspective, I continually ask myself, How can I add value?
As a society, in almost every imaginable way, we are moving at Warp Speed.
In our personal lives, in our relationships, in our businesses, we are – to quote the great Seth Godin – ‘times 10‘ all the time.
When was the last time you hit pause and throttled back for a moment to evaluate what you are doing and how?
I think about this a lot. I’ve blogged about the needs of business to have a framework like OODA, where they are engaged in a systematic evaluation of there business space. I’ve also talked about the need to constantly evaluate strategy.
Remember, what got you there will not keep you there. (me)
The ability to learn faster is the only sustainable competitive advantage.(Senge)
How are you implementing this in your life/business?
Happy Monday, folks! I’ll take just a moment to apologize for my silence of the last month. I’m still very much committed to the idea of daily posts as a career decision and my battle rhythm. Life often has a…penchant…for getting in the way of our operational models for the same. Tangentially related: this is a good reason for having an operational model or framework. These aren’t meant to be necessarily hard and fast but are plans. You CAN deviate from your plan. Your framework should be your baseline, to which you can return to time and time again.
Anyhow, today leadership is very much on my mind.
It’s a topic I’ve written about several times here. Definitions abound but my working definition of leadership is this:
Leadership is the thoughtful and methodical application of a continually studied framework that becomes a mindset.
Leadership is an awesome responsibility and ought not to be undertaken lightly. The best leaders I know are committed learners who have a ripple effect on those around them.
I’ve previously blogged about the need of businesses to evaluate their strategies as a function of thermodynamics:
The short answer is that a business that does not engage in the continual evaluation of their operations becomes isolated from their competition. Their entropy increases.
I’ve also discussed this as a function of the evolution of a business in a competitive marketplace.
What got you there will not keep you there.
Today, I’d expand that line of thought by citing Anthony Giddens, a sociologist, and a particular thought on structures:
Structures do not determine outcomes, but define the potential range of outcomes. (Giddens)
In the context of the running discussion here about strategies and frameworks, I think it reasonable to posit that a framework and strategy do not determine an outcome but helps define the potential range of outcomes. Specifically, it helps you consider input, evaluate your options and execute your decision in accordance with defined parameters (such as goals and values).
In the same post, I wrote that language reflects our thoughts, our essence. Leadership is the thoughtful and methodical application of a continually studied framework that becomes a mindset.
Building on the same thoughts on the importance of language and viewing language as a framework, I would share this thought:
The entirety of human knowledge is contained with the framework of ‘language’. Without an agreed upon framework, this knowledge would cease to be decipherable. It would cease to exist. – Me
Fundamentally, language is a construct we use to house and share knowledge and ideas. Language is important. It’s use is important in the spread of ideas, in the motivation of people and the implementation of ideas.
The question was asked in response to my having offered assistance to a complete stranger. When I relayed what I’d done to a friend, they offered that they would have wanted to do the same but would have hesitated in doing so for a fear of physical safety.
This is a question I think about every day and could be – should probably be – the subject of a much larger post than this is likely to be.
Have you seen the world through my eyes?
This question stopped me in my tracks when it was asked and still resonates with me today, in a profound way. It’s a question I have asked thousands of young leaders, when I taught a course on leadership, ethics and perspective at the United States Air Force Academy.
The short answer is, of course, “No.”
The longer answer is, “What a powerful question to ask. While I cannot do so, I can and surely ought to try.”
From a personal and business perspective, sincerely asking this question launched a journey of introspection of which this blog is the current manifestation.
From a business perspective alone, what an incredible cornerstone of a framework to consider our actions through.
Have we seen the world through the eyes of a consumer or a client?
Have we seen the world through the eyes of our partners or vendors
Have we seen the world through the eyes of our employees?
Phrased and applied another way:
Have we tried to see ourselves as others see us?
I don’t offer definitive answers here, just food for thought.
In a recent conversation about The Value of I don’t Know, a friend and valued mentor of mine, Theresa Lewandowski Van Etta relayed this:
Leadership and language are essential partners in business.
– Theresa Lewandowski Van Etta
This resonated with me. Let’s chat about the ‘why’.
I’ve previously blogged about the power of language, which I think is also summed up by Leah Boroditsky when she says:
What we have learned is that people who speak different languages do indeed think differently and that even flukes of grammar can profoundly affect how we see the world.
Words are the physical manifestation of an intent to speak, the audible result of will.
If we can readily agree that language, that our words, matter then it is not a leap to see why our words impact leadership.
Language reflects our thoughts, our essence. Leadership is the thoughtful and methodical application of a continually studied framework that becomes a mindset.
If our language does not reflect the culture we are trying to build in our businesses, it impacts and affects our leadership ability and credibility.
I woke up today thinking about language and it’s impact on our lives. It seems to me that language inherently both limits and expands our ability to frame thoughts. This is a premise of the book 1984 by George Orwell, in which the powers that be seek to manipulate existing language to remove the ability of people to even express negative thoughts. How powerful language is, when we stop to consider this premise.
When researching this line of thought, I was quite surprised to learn this is a relatively new line of thought. I encourage you to read the whole article, but this piece by Leah Boroditsky sums up eloquently what I struggle to articulate:
What we have learned is that people who speak different languages do indeed think differently and that even flukes of grammar can profoundly affect how we see the world.
I’ve previously blogged about why I think theory matters. Boroditsky expands beyond my post describing theory as a framework, describing a much broader vision of language as a framework for the very essence of thought.
“If uncertainty is indeed pervasive, it is imperative for organizations to create the ability to operate comfortably in this condition…”
– Frans P.B. Osinga, on John Boyd
The 21st century business environment is complex. It is perhaps the most complex business environment to exist in the history of commerce. We have built an infrastructure that supports inter-global commerce. A tribesman of the Masai Mara selling wood carvings can, with a connection to the Internet, connect to consumers in America. The scale and potential of this economy is staggering.
It’s also disruptive in that it defies continued domination of a marketplace by a single idea. Google disrupted Yahoo, Facebook disrupted MySpace. Startups are pulling niche traffic (like sales) from Facebook groups and Craigslist.
Uncertainty is a guiding principle of this globally connected marketplace.
“Boy, this job feeds my family and pays my bills. Don’t you ever complain about this job again or you can leave right now.”
Those words come back to me often, twenty five years after they were spoken. Over the last couple of days, I’ve had a couple of conversations about work ethic and would share a story with you
One of my first jobs was clean up at a construction site. My job was to clean up the debris and scrap lumber, nails, shingles, tiles and sawdust that building homes generates.
I was 14, I believe.
One particularly hot day in Las Vegas, Nevada, I was maybe four hours into a shift and feeling particularly grumbly about having to perform manual labor on this day.
It’s fascinating to me how formative early life lessons are and this day I was about to receive one.
So, being particularly grumbly and fourteen on this day, I thought it would be wise to vocalize this to the gentleman I was working for.
This man, whom I remember to be around the age I am now, who’d spent 20+ years building homes, who’d worked with his hands to provide for his family for two decades, was a good boss…demanding but fair.
Fourteen year old me said something to the effect of how I shouldn’t have to be out in the heat doing this to earn a dollar. I may have said this more than once in the four hours I’d been out there that day.
What I remember quite clearly is when he’d had enough.
“Enough,” he said, sharply (clearly indicating he’d had enough).
He fixed me with his steely gaze and pointed a weathered hand and finger at me.
“Boy, this job feeds my family and pays my bills. Don’t you ever complain about this job again or you can leave right now.”
Each syllable dripped with firmness and a resoluteness that I can hear and see to this day.
He let the silence sit for a moment, as my teenage self struggled with warring emotions and responses.
“Well?” he said, after a moment.
I closed my mouth, bent my back and head to the task at hand and went back to work. In the summer months I worked for him, I said (and thought) not one more word of ingratitude or entitlement.
When the time came to go back to school, he handed me my last check personally.
I thanked him and proceeded to start back toward my bicycle.
As I walked away, I opened the envelope and peered inside. He had doubled my last check.
I turned back to thank him. He was looking at me and as I opened my mouth to say, “Thank you” he waved me silent, gave me a thumbs up and turned to go back to work.
In that lie another life lesson, for another post.
ghts. How powerful language is, when we stop to consider this premise.
