It’s tough to grow when you are breathing your own exhaust, getting little useful pushback, and not knowing what you don’t know.
I had my first virtual reality experience at MIT recently. The program was called The Enemy and the point was to introduce us to three pairs of enemies, get up close and personal, and hear them talk about their beliefs and experiences. The three conflicts were in Israel/Palestine, the Congo, and El Salvador. As I expected, all six wanted peace and better lives for their children. And all six grew up in circumstances, mostly desperate, that defined the enemy and, seemingly, limited their options. Across the board, their actions were violent, heartfelt, and contextually defensible, if misguided. I walked out as I walked in, wishing for a better world and wondering how you get people to step out of their circumstances long enough to find common ground and peaceful alternatives that lift all people. My wishes extend to all three of these conflicts, as well as to today’s USA and beyond. Imagine a world governed by civil, rational, collaborative problem-solving! We could have left feeling pensive, I believe, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the MIT crew ushering us through this experience tainted the experience by breaking one of my cardinal rules:
Welcome to the Clarity Quiz! Smart, effective problem-solving can be described in four basic steps. I’ve captured those steps using the acronym SPOT™, as in SPOT Remover for Problems™. Which step(s) of the problem-solving process do you think people most often short-change? Specifics – The first step is to determine the specific conditions under which the problem does and doesn’t occur in order to find the cause. Do you see people short-changing the process of identifying those specific conditions? Potential Causes – The second step is to identify potential causes that explain the specific conditions under which the problem does and doesn’t occur. Do you believe most people give enough attention to identifying enough potential causes? Or do they come into the problem with preconceived notions about the cause? Or perhaps they are already thinking about their preferred ‘solution’? Options – The third step is to identify your options for eliminating the cause. Do you think people are too quick to glom onto a preferred ‘solution’ and never really consider other options? Test – The final step is to test the most promising option to see if it really does eliminate the cause of the problem. How often do you see these tests performed? Or do people find their preferred ‘solutions’ so exciting that they rush ahead without taking the time to test? Make your selection and then continue to see if you are correct!
Just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come. You need to give customers clear reasons to part with their money and to do so with you. The clearer you are about what constitutes your competitive advantage, the easier it is to focus your efforts and investments, market your products, and convince your customers. Don’t fall into the trap of believing all anyone cares about is money. Here are 10 perfectly good reasons why your products and services could be chosen over those of other companies.
Have you read Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance? I definitely recommend it. It is a particularly good book to read just before Thanksgiving. It gave me only about a thousand reasons to be grateful! Hillbilly Elegy is also relevant to recent discussions about privilege. I know I grew up privileged. My parents stayed together. They never threw plates at each other. I didn’t have to worry about drugs or drunks or violence. No one pointed guns at me. The people in my life mostly didn’t die before their time. I never went to bed hungry. And we never got thrown out of our house. After visiting Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia in September, I should mention the privilege that stems from being born in a country without wars at home and with democratic elections followed by peaceful transfers of power.
A good strategic framework provides focus by limiting the number of directions the organization runs. You’d be foolish to try to extend all your products while simultaneously expanding all your markets while also ramping up capacity or shifting your business model to include new types of production, sourcing, sales, delivery, and partnerships. This isn’t just an issue of capacity. It is also an issue of risk, learning, complexity, and credibility.
I have a new addiction. It started in August. It’s called pickleball. Have you heard of it? It’s the fastest growing sport in the country. And for good reason!
The RFP (Request For Proposal) process used by non-profit organizations has got to stop. It is inefficient and ineffective. There is no way it is in the best interests of your organization. Furthermore, there is no one in my global network of excellent consultants willing to participate and I’m sure we are not the only ones opting out. Let’s start with the inefficiency
The wraps are coming off the incredibly ubiquitous attitudes, habits, and behaviors involving sexual harassment. #MeToo tags echoing across social media should leave no doubt that pretty much every woman has been negatively affected. It’s hard for me to believe this is news to anyone, but apparently, it is. In which case, it is high time! So what does this mean for your company?
The biggest problem with the way organizations think about strategy is they confuse strategy with plans. They aren’t the same thing. Strategic planning is an oxymoron. It is also the reason why strategic planning often misses the mark and why I always work extra closely with prospective clients to clarify expectations before I even agree to work with them. Let’s start with a definition