“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…”
We’re standing on one foot, impatiently waiting for the shortcut, the method, the guarantee. Skip the preamble and the analysis–what’s your take? Don’t talk to me about genre and method and history. No time for that. What are we supposed to do right now?
Perhaps the reason we’re struggling is that along the way, we forgot to focus on the questions instead. More answers are only going to insulate us from the questions we actually need to be focusing on.
April 25, 2022
There are some problems where a useful solution is a win for everyone.
But not many. Certainly not the problems that have been around for a while. If there were a win win solution, someone would have probably found it already.
For significant problems, someone is going to lose in the short run. Leadership is not the act of making everyone happy. It’s the ability to show up and help us get to a place where, on balance, more of us are glad to be.
If you can’t find a win-win, it might be time to find a win-lose where the most people with something at stake end up benefitting. Often, that means that entrenched interests and those that have traditionally come first don’t do as well in the short run.
April 24, 2022
This is a terrible reason to do something that makes things a little worse for other people.
And a common one, of course.
Much of the time, we’re willing to go out of our way to do work we’re proud of. Unless it would be inconvenient to do so.
One of the reasons our best work is important is that it’s also inconvenient.
Alas, convenience beats just about everything.
[But then, as some people who actually care do inconvenient things, those things become normal, which, amazingly, makes them more convenient for everyone else.]
April 23, 2022
Your mileage may vary.
Speeding up to get to a red light faster just wastes energy.
Honking doesn’t make traffic go away.
Doesn’t matter how fancy your car is, it’s not worth very much if they close the road.
One of the worst ways to get to where you’re going is to always drive in the fastest moving lane and avoid any toll roads. The flow of traffic isn’t always going where you want to go.
Following another car will eventually get you lost.
If you don’t stop to refuel, you’re going to get stranded.
Giving someone a chance, or the right of way, and letting them into traffic doesn’t really slow you down that much.
In our culture, we give way too many resources to cars and their efficiency and not enough to pedestrians and the opportunities that they deserve.
The map is not the territory, but a map is a good thing to have.
Acceleration is overrated. Persistence, good directions and a reliable vehicle almost always beat horsepower.
April 22, 2022
Any word that’s really important is also confusing. Words like trust, love, friend, fair, honest, lead, connect, authentic, justice, dignity–they have dozens of different meanings.
Perhaps that’s because they’re important.
It’s worth spending a moment to understand what we mean when we say something that might mean something else.
April 21, 2022
Some CMOs and marketing types simply do ads and promo. Give them average products for average people and some money, and they’ll do the ad thing.
And some are actually marketers. Marketing involves making a promise and keeping it. Marketers understand that your logo isn’t a brand, it’s simply a flag. The brand is the experience that people expect to have when they engage with you. It’s your benefit of the doubt.
If you’re that kind of marketer, you quickly come to learn that the single most important part of your job is being sure that you make great products and services. Because sooner or later, the experience is the brand. Sooner or later, the story you tell needs to be true.
Which means…
That your main job is persuading the people you work with to ship great stuff. No junk. No shortcuts.
If you’re not the defender of the brand, who is?
April 20, 2022
When someone shares a new idea, or makes a pitch, or describes a dream, what would happen if you were enthusiastic?
Perhaps positive thinking is contagious.
Perhaps egging on the other person will help them explore the edges.
And perhaps it will help them overcome their fear and share the very best version of what they have in mind.
You can always say ‘no’ later.
In this moment, your confidence and enthusiasm exist to make the idea better. No harm in that. For either of you.
April 19, 2022
Professionals put things away slowly so that they’ll be ready quickly when needed.
Investing time now for time later.
April 18, 2022
High Noon is a cornerstone of American cinema, a sobering and memorable look at heroism and community.
In the movie, the sheriff is facing near-certain death at the hands of a killer freed from prison. He has about an hour to gather a posse of deputies, because together they’ll be able to repel the avenging outlaw when he arrives on the noon train.
As the clock ticks down, the marshal visits one part of the community after another, begging them to help him. And each finds a reason to say no, preferring short-term safety to long-term freedom, community belonging and heroism.
Howard Hawks, director of Rio Bravo, pointed out that the reason that the marshal failed to rally the community was that he was asking. In search of affiliation, he shared his fears and a story of mutual support as well as loyalty for what he’d done for them for so long.
In Rio Bravo, on the other hand, John Wayne does nothing of the sort. He regularly turns down offers of help, being selective about who’s worthy of being on his team. He shares no fear or trepidation. He’s selling status and dominance, not affiliation. “Are you good enough to be on this team?”
Humans are motivated by affiliation or by status. And in the archetypal old west, it was status that often carried the day. The same might be true for the community that you are part of.
April 17, 2022
What’s better, a phone call or a zoom call?
Which creates more intimacy, a meeting in person or a hand-written letter?
The only answer is: it depends.
It’s tempting to believe that being in a store, surrounded by sights, smells, packaging, crowds and helpful salespeople delivers more interaction and sales than a catalog. But a company like Zingerman’s manages to make a can of sardines sound far more exciting than it would at the deli.
When we communicate, the real issue isn’t how many bits of information are available. Instead, I think there are three forces at work:
Are we using all the information we can? (The baker can choose how the store smells and how the display looks).
Are we showing up with permission, in the right moment?
Is there a path to emotional connection and trust?
Whether it’s connecting with an old friend or hearing from a politician, there’s no universal hi-rez option. It’s more complicated than that.
April 16, 2022
