Start With The Obvious

I recently saw Todd Henry speak at an awesome hybrid music/speaking event Kristian Andersen put on at the Speak Easy. Todd said many wise and wonderful things but one statement stood out and has continued to resonate with me:

"Start with the obvious and it will lead you to the obscure."

This really hit home with me, often I discard or discount the obvious, regarding it unworthy of consideration or inclusion. But, as we have all experienced in our own lives, what seems obvious to one person is not to another. Maybe we can blame Robert Frost for this. We are all looking for the "road less traveled." The reality is that those less traveled roads often connect to the highways.

Waiting on the obscure often leads to delays or nothing getting done. We must place a higher value on forward momentum than novelty.

Our desire to elevate our thinking and work is noble but to accomplish this we must shift our thinking and begin to regard that which is obvious as a portal. It is simply the first step that will lead to much deeper, less obvious revelations. It will lead us to the obscure. 

related: I recently worked on a weekend recording project that was influenced by Todd's "begin with obvious" thinking. I did the session with a group of guys I have worked with for years, even going back to high school. Often in the past we have gone out of our way to create music that was as unconventional, or weird, as possible. We didn't want to sound like anyone else, we wanted to be unique and obscure, original to the point of annoyance (according to my wife at least). For this session we framed everything around "commit". We committed ourselves quickly to the most obvious course of action- this song could use a vocal harmony, ok, let's do that! The result was 6 songs finished and mixed in one weekend. We all feel it is some of best music we have ever made (and my wife and kids like it which is nice). You can check it out here: The Pink Eagles on Sound Cloud or Musical Family Tree.

Wearing Two Hats: Master and Servant

I was honored to spend 30 minutes recently talking with Howdy Holmes, the former Indy 500 racer and current CEO of Jiffy Mix. During the conversation he said something that really struck me as a core disconnect in many organizations- "ownership does not equal leadership." He was speaking in reference to family businesses, Jiffy Mix is one, but I realized it had applications well beyond family businesses. It's a problem most owner led businesses have. Most owners believe that the fact that they own the business means they are de-facto leaders. But leadership and ownership are two distinct roles, two hats often worn by the same individuals. This creates the opportunity for all kinds of confusion.

This is something I continually struggle with, balancing these two roles, wearing these two hats. As I see it, my job as CEO of SmallBox is to serve the company but as an owner I expect the company to serve me- creating meaning, wealth and opportunities for me and my family. So in the first instance I am a servant and in the former I am a master. 

I think most business owners don't see a separation of roles. They see the company as something serves them. They have a master mentality at all times. This manifests in the choices they make as a leader. 

The easiest way to observe this is in how owner-leaders use their time. An owner-leader that has a servant mentality looks to align their time with the needs of the organization and conversely one with a master mentality looks to have the organization align around their needs. Either behavior sends powerful signals across an organization. The primary byproduct of the behavior is that employees begin to mimic it. 

Consider this- which behavior do you want employees to mimic? I think most owner-leaders want their employees to mimic the servant mentality- serving the needs of the organization, putting the organization, and its customers, first. They want employees to have a "we" over a "me" mentality. But when owner-leaders exhibit "me first" thinking they create the unintended by-product of employees who mimic that thinking and behavior. The result is a company where everyone is looking out for themselves, collaboration and innovation languish and overall results disappoint. An ironic outcome. 

Disrupt Thyself

Organizations face unpreceded threats from disruption. With the rate of change increasing almost daily, via innovation facilitated by technology, we cannot deny this reality. We have to routinely rethink almost everything we do: how we work, what we sell, who we sell it to, infrastructure, the tools we use, our competition (known and unknown), etc.

This is a fundamental shift in how we work. It means that mastery of process, individually or collectively, becomes increasingly out of reach as we are forced to continually rethink our processes. Instead we must gain mastery at disrupting ourselves in a healthy way. 

Unhealthy disruption can destroy companies. If you tear apart your car and rebuild it after every drive there is little chance of getting anywhere. Organizations may be forced to build their own disruption dashboards to monitor and tweak the disrupt/mastery mix.  

I believe that every organization must find a way to institutationlize disruption. Building in the necessary time for disruption has to be carefully weighed against the damage it will do. Because it can do real damage. But if done right, it will be short lived and lead to sustainable growth. Like pruning a tree.

related: at SmallBox we have bi-annual Factory Weeks where we take a week off from client work to focus on internal projects. Most projects start with us asking "how can we do x better?" We find that every six months works for us. It creates a place for ideas that would be damaging (the negative sides of disruption) if acted on during regular business periods.
Factory Week on SmallBox site
Slideshare Factory Week Presentation: How To Guide

(re)Building My Religion

Some of my friends think it's weird I send my girls to a Catholic school. When I was in high school I was the only Protestant in a class of Catholics. I had fun going to war with my classmates over the virginity of Mary or some random epistemological minutiae. But I never really believed in what I defended. It was just youthful jousting. 

As I grew older I began to challenge my Christian heritage. I realized that my allegiance was more a cultural one than spiritual. I never believed, I just participated, like an actor playing a part. Breaking with my childhood religion was mildly traumatizing. Essentially I felt I was betraying my family and friends but on a deeper level I felt dishonest in continuing the act. I'm not a good actor.

I spent the following years stripping my beliefs like layers of paint. When the dust finally settled I was just north of atheism. I began calling myself an agnostic- one that does not claim to know whether God (or any deity) exists. It felt honest and I was at peace with it. 

Over recent years I have begun to rebuild my beliefs. I now believe there is some larger force or energy which is tied into our existence. I have never heard this force speak to me or present itself as a conscious entity. When people speak about a "personal savior" I cannot relate. The idea of salvation is foreign to me. Same with heaven or hell. In my opinion they are interesting fictions we have told ourselves to make sense of things.

I have come to believe that most of the attributes we ascribe to deity are essentially anthropomorphic. We are channelling our human condition into a non-human being. No wonder God seems to favor whatever culture he shows up in. But I also came to realize that I'd committed a baby/bathwater error. There are many good things to be found in the religion I worked so hard to discard. 

I have come to see organized religion as an excellent starting point. If you think of religion (or philosophy/law/etc) as an operating system then starting with an existing OS is much more effective than starting from scratch. The holy scriptures of this world are filled with wisdom and great advice. Who can argue with "do unto others as you would have them do unto you?" It's simple and perfect. 

But every good operating system needs to be versioned and personalized. Same with religion. I have come to believe that we must challenge the codes we live by to continually refine and improve them. We must make them meaningful and relevant to our individual and collective lives. Essentially I feel we should all be encouraged to build our own religions. I'm hoping that's what my girls will do as they begin to challenge their Catholic education. I'm sure their father will provide a little nudging. 

The Modern Workplace Is A Prison System

I've come to believe that many employers think like prison wardens. A prison warden, in order to keep their job, need prisoners. No prisoners, no job. Essentially, their goal, like many business owners, is to attract and retain. 

Too often "retain" turns into "imprison". Reducing turnover becomes a major focus when it should be accepted as a natural state of things. People grow and change, so do businesses. Holding an employee back from their personal growth is not healthy for the organization or the employee.

Many well paid employees talk about "golden handcuffs". A bad job that pays well. Their employers know that they are essentially paying a premium to torture talented people. Maybe they wouldn't characterize it that way but there is often an undercurrent of "well I'm paying them enough, they shouldn't complain." 

The outcome is talented people trapped in jobs where they only realize a fraction of their potential. It also results in organizations that fail to realize their potential, held back by underperforming employees who would leave the moment they could. Often they would leave for a job they love even if it meant a serious pay cut. I've seen this with a number of friends and associates. Some have taken jobs at 50% of what they were making before. I haven't heard one of them say they regret it despite a good deal of personal hardship.

Until employers realize that passion is as important as talent this cycle will continue. In my experience a passionate employee can be transformative for an organization, as long as they are given the freedom to realize their passion. 

The days of work/life separation are, for the most part, over. Technology has enabled this quite nicely whether we like it or not. Work and life must flow together seamlessly, each bringing meaning and value to the other. Employers that maintain this prison mentality will soon find themselves disrupted by companies that put together passionate teams that will do whatever it takes to realize the purpose of the organization they serve. It's time to set your people free.