I’ve been reminded that even for those of us who get off lightly, our current situation – lockdown in response to Covid-19 – is going to be a slog. A marathon is different in kind from a sprint, and an involuntary slog of indeterminate length is different in kind again. Sprints – single events, urgent work, tight deadlines, sudden crises…
Tag: values
If you’re trying to work out your next step for your career or organisation, you could do worse than thinking about these things:
Being “responsive” is more than a question of timing. Your voice and “default” tone matter. Your voice What do you sound like as you respond to others? What would you like to sound like? It might help to make a list: Friendly, open and available – even when saying “no”; Positive / “can do” / constructive / helpful; Interested /…
Here’s great mission statement from Airbnb. Our Mission: Create a world where anyone can belong anywhere It’s an audacious, incredibly rewarding mission that our increasingly diverse team is dedicated to achieving. Airbnb is built around the idea that everyone should be able to take the perfect trip, including where they stay, what they do, and who they meet. To that…
Be explicit. Use these words – damn it! – and not some HR gobbledy-gook equivalents: – Listening– Caring– Smiling– Saying “Thank You”– Being warm– Nice– Empathy– Better people– Character– No jerks– No shitheads I cannot think of any position in any company of any size where these twelve characteristics would not pay off. Can you? I repeat: BE EXPLICIT.USE THESE…
Business, like any other institution, has important results that are incapable of being measured. Any experienced executive will know companies or industries that are bound for extinction because they cannot attract or hold able people. This, every experienced executive also knows, is a more important fact about a company or an industry than last year’s profit statement. Yet the statement…
This post is part of the working draft of the DriverlessCrocodile Toolkit (read more here). I’d love comments, links to resources related to the theme, and original contributions. Would they miss you? Why? This question works for examining your personal values, and it’s a great pivot for thinking about the values of your organisation too. What do you hope people…
This post is part of the working draft of the DriverlessCrocodile Toolkit (read more here). I’d love comments, links to resources related to the theme, and original contributions. Another lens on personal values If the obituary doesn’t work for you, try these simple questions: What do you love? What do you care (passionately) about? What makes you (righteously) angry? Who…
Knowledge workers demand economic rewards… Their absence is a deterrent. But their presence is not enough… [Knowledge workers] need opportunity; they need achievement; they need fulfillment; they need values. Only by making themselves into effective executives can knowledge workers obtain these satisfactions. Only executive effectiveness can enable society to harmonize its two needs: the needs of the organisation to obtain…
Mistakes of technique … are to be expected and – to a degree – accepted. You’ll drop catches, make miss-hits, typos, errors of arithmetic. These things happen. Yes, we can improve our technique, and we can improve the system where these mistakes occur. But we should accept that mistakes likes these are part of what it means to be playing…