My Year In Pictures: Food & Fire #thinkkit

Ok, so I'm a little behind on Think Kit this year since, technically, this was the topic for December 1st and it's, uh, not December 1st. But I really like this topic and have spent a couple days thinking about it so I wanted to tackle it first. 

In reviewing my Instagram account I noticed a recurring theme of food and fire. I really love fire, by itself, and even more when I can use it to cook things. In the summer I grill 3-4 days a week and in the winter I have a wood fire almost every night. When I was 5-6 years old my mom used to give matches to play with while she watched from the porch. Yes, I almost burned down the house once...but that's another story. 

So here are some of my favorite food and fire photos from 2013. 

How I'm spending my day #bbq #siestakey

jebbanner's photo on Instagram

Fire #2

jebbanner's photo on Instagram

I smoked me a turkey

jebbanner's photo on Instagram

The Power Of Dropping Balls

Dropping balls has a bad rep. Football, business, life… "That guy drops a lot of balls" equals "He's unreliable". Understandably since we all learn to filter our friends and associates by their reliability. Do they answer email? Do they return calls? Do they show up? 

But I believe there is value in dropping balls. 

First, let's accept that we have limited time and focus. Our minds are like the RAM on computers, we can only hold so many things concurrently. Once we start to reach that capacity we slow down. Our stress levels shoot up and our effectiveness decreases. But we don't want to look unreliable so we continue to run at capacity. 

So here we are juggling all these balls and it's wearing us out. But there's a solution. Start dropping balls. 

This starts with identifying what's important, not kinda important but really important. Then starting dropping…

In my experience, one of three things will happen to a dropped ball:

1. It will break and essentially cease to exist. This could be a project you have been dragging out for months and needs to be let go.

2. It will fall, get damaged and someone will jump in to help. This could be an event you are planning and need help executing but struggling finding people to help. Essentially you are allowing the event to be wounded in order to save it. Think of a wounded bird compared to one that appears healthy- which one is more likely to get help?

3. Someone will catch the ball before it hits the ground. Imagine you have numerous deadlines converging and feel underwater. Instead of killing yourself you can let others jump in to help carry the load. 

Letting go is a scary thing, I get that and still struggle with it after years of practice. But consider this, you build up others when you let go. It may be a messy way to delegate but I have seen, time after time, that there are always people waiting for an opportunity to jump in and help. It creates meaning for them. So to all my crazy busy friends out there, let some balls drop and give others a chance to run with them.

 

To Be Otherish

I wrote a guest blog recently for Exact Target on the topic of organizational authenticity. It elicited an anonymous comment that attacked my authenticity. Specifically this commenter, who is either an acquaintance of mine or done a great deal of research, accused me of hypocrisy- saying one thing and doing another. The comment stung a little since I can certainly be hypocritical at times. But it also pushed me to think a little about intentions and motivations. In many ways the commenter accused me of conspiring, through my speaking and writing, to create customers for what my company was selling.

On the surface I don't have a problem with this: the foundation of a healthy business is alignment between what you believe and what you sell. But there is another level to it. Is what you are selling improving the lives of others or only yourself? 

In Adam Grant's awesome book "Give and Take" he talks about the concept of being "otherish". I wasn't familiar with this word before. Otherish means to align the needs of others with your own needs. It's a blend of selfish and selfless. If we are only selfish we build a hollow life that collapses under the weight of our needs and wants. If we only focus on others then we lose our sense of self. Being otherish serves both masters. 

The truth is, pure intentions rarely exist in human form. But should we stop ourselves from doing great things because we aren't 100% altruistic in our intentions? No, instead we should strive to be otherish and serve others as we serve ourselves. 

Advice to Job Seekers: Show Up, Do Your Homework and Be Curious

I'm continually amazed at how often job seekers fail to do these three things. This isn't aimed at anyone in particular and is inspired by a recent panel I was on at the Innovation Showcase. This post was also inspired from conversations I've had with SmallBox's Chief Culture Officer Sara McGuyer who sets up most of our HR/informational interviews. 

Show Up: seriously, just show up! When someone comes to us (SmallBox) wanting a job or an informational interview we almost never say no. We want to be accessible as much as possible. But the crazy thing is how many people don't show up or reschedule at the last minute. I know from talking to other folks in town that this isn't unusual. It reminds me of a quote from Peter Buck (guitarist in REM) that I heard years ago: "it's amazing how far you can get in this world by just showing up." Truth. 

Do Your Homework: most companies, including mine, have spent a lot of time building websites that will tell a visitor in detail a good deal about them and their business. So do your homework people, visit the website, Google the people you are meeting with, ask around. If you don't do your homework it will show and you will not get asked back for a follow up. 

Be Curious: I'm always amazed when I have an job/informational interview and the person I'm meeting with has no questions for me. Show some curiosity. People love to talk about themselves, give them a chance to do it and they will look back on the conversation fondly. It's just how we are wired. So always be curious and come prepared with questions in case you can't think of any on the fly. 

Ok, end of rant. 

Curiosity Trumps Fear

A recent article by Peter Hinssen on LinkedIn makes the argument that fear is the engine of a startup.

"Fear is not a bad thing. It's what keeps you focused in a startup. I've always thrived on fear, because it can bring out the best in you. " - Peter Hinssen

Ok, sure, it's healthy to have a good dose of paranoia, to stay on the look out, watching for possible disrupters, but I feel it is much more important to remain curious and open. In my opinion, curiosity trumps fear 9 times out of 10.

Fear causes our minds to contract. We go into fight or flight mode. Our higher mind shuts down and we become very defensive. Our ability to clearly reason and think fades. Being in a constant state of fear- which is what Peter Hinssen is advocating- will create a reactive organization, one that isn't innovative and disruptive. We all know these businesses, they are focused on protecting the fortress and putting out fires, not building highways and sharing knowledge. 

As we become more connected and open we must learn to compartmentalize our natural instincts that served our ancestors well but often blind us from realizing our true human potential. Fear has a place but it cannot be the primary driver of how we live and work, it must be a tool we utilize intelligently when needed.