Seneca said about 2000 years ago, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
As this year draws to a close, ending what was once a new beginning, 2021, what new beginning awaits us in 2022? What plans, goals, intentions will you begin?
Happy Holidays. Thank you for honoring me by reading my Sunday Stories. See you in the new year.
The further along, we get in our careers, the more we know and the more we are challenged to stay curious.
Every now and then, I meet a leader that knows it all. They have “the way” they do things that worked for them in the past, and as leaders, they are confident it will work today.
They share “the way” with their team, expecting them to accept “the way” and to become successful because of it. They do this with the best intentions, yet the results don’t come. Frustrated, they try again. If only folks would simply execute “the way,” they will be successful, and so will our company.
Alas, they discover, it doesn’t work the way it once did. This leader has two choices, s/he can continue to lead as s/he has always done, or… s/he can become curious.
What I have noticed is businesses, like ourselves, are living beings. And, like a plant, if I am not willing and able to be green and growing, the result is that I and my company become ripe and eventually rotting.
In this complex world we live in, we sometimes ignore the obvious. Today’s technology tools enable us to test and analyze just about anything.
While these tools have led to innovation and life-saving discoveries, I have begun to wonder if the complexity of our society is also leading us to miss the simple answers. Are we missing the obvious along the way to finding a solution?
The following experience happened a while back, and I often use it to remind myself to pause and look first for a simple answer, even when it may not seem obvious.
My internet service was continually cutting out. It would go down for a few minutes, sometimes an hour or so, and would always come back on its own. This situation continued for months. I called for service many times, and each time, the provider sent a new technician to search for the source of the problem and fix it. They replaced modems, replaced wires, and genuinely tried to fix it.
I became convinced the problem must be with the wiring in the building, so I hired an independent company who came out and checked the internal wiring. Every expert, and there were many, said it should be working. But it wasn’t.
Finally, I called a technician whose name I had kept because he had been particularly helpful in the past. I told him the whole story, and he sent his supervisor out. The supervisor asked a few questions, listened to my story, and solved the problem in 5 minutes.
How did he do it?
The answer sounds like one of those brain teasers. Actually, I guess it was. What he did was simple. He asked a few questions, listened to my answers, and since everyone else had looked for a complex problem, he began by looking for a simple one. It turned out he was on the right path. There was a loose wire where the system attached to the building. He tightened the wire, and I have not had a problem since!
My takeaway from this…
When something isn’t working, pause. Then ask questions, listen carefully to the answers, and begin by looking for a simple rather than a complex cause and solution.
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.
Vern Law
Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. A time for us to let go of our differences, support one another and, find gratitude. For me, it is a time to pause and consider the gifts that life has given me and ask myself how and where I can pay those gifts forward.
While this year feels better than last year, the recovery remains unequal. And our economic environment is unequal in ways that will have a lasting effect.
As Thanks-Giving approaches, its time for all of us who have the gift of privilege to pause and ask ourselves these questions:
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
Robert Frost
This week’s Sunday Story is actually a podcast. I am pleased to share my interview with the Northern Trust’s Flexible Advisor hosts Laura Gregg and David Partain. Listen to a 90-second highlight here.
Listen to the complete 30-minute interview here:
Episode 66: Supporting Executive Clients With Their Tomorrow Story — With Elisa Spain
For many of us, the holy grail of success is achieving “Work-Life- Balance.” It is a topic of frequent discussion in my coaching sessions and is often first on the list when we start working together.
And yet, despite all the discussions, books, and articles, many of us feel this “balance” eludes us. Perhaps, it is because we see it as an either/or – choosing between work and life to achieve balance?
What if, instead, we saw it, as James Michener did, becoming masters in the art of living.
“Masters in the art of living make little distinction
between their work and their play, their
labor and their leisure, their mind and their
body, their information, and their
recreation, their love, and their religion.
They hardly know which is which.
They simply pursue their vision of excellence at
whatever they do, leaving others to
decide whether they are working or playing.
To them, they are always doing both.”
The other day, I asked for feedback from a team I was working with about the program’s value. One of the members came up to me afterward and said, “please don’t take this personally,” and gave me some additional feedback. My response was,” the elephant is in the room whether we talk about him or not. For me, I would prefer to know what you are thinking and feeling so that I can modify the program to give you results that meet your needs.”
Yes, the elephant is in the room whether we talk about him or not. There he is, clomping around, banging into things.
And yet, we often refuse to talk about him. Why is that? Here are the reasons I hear:
My experience is that our reluctance to confront causes the elephant to cause more damage than if we just talked about him and got him out of the room.
It is our role as leaders to invite and initiate the conversation. With the elephant out of the room, we can get on to business. As long as he is there, we are focused internally instead of externally.
I frequently ask my clients, What are you willing to give up to get what you want?
One of my favorite marketing books, admittedly an old one, is Ries and Trout’s 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. For me, many of these 22 laws are relevant to life as well as marketing. Law #13, The Law of Sacrifice, resonates for me for making life choices: You have to give up something to get something.
What I notice in my conversations is those who are willing to let go of something move forward. They invent the new products, hire the person who will free them up to do what only they can do, take the next job or start the next business. These people are willing to give up something to get what they want.
The ‘give up’ may be something we believe. It may be fear (of failing, being wrong), or simply comfort with what we have or what we know. The ‘give up’ may be tangible, dollars that may end up as a sunk cost, or accepting that a long-term loyal employee will not be the one to take the company forward.
In short, when we are talking about giving up something to get what we want, the key questions are these:
The initial results of my Pivot are excellent. I feel I have much greater clarity regarding the next 3-5 years.. more
