Me: What is the conversation you most want to overhear and haven’t heard yet?Brian:“Ma’am, thank you for your work to help us over the last decades. We now have the full capacity and capabilities to deploy nuclear fusion power globally. We will never need another source of power. It’s amazing how your discovery of The Process also used the byproducts of fusion to reverse carbon in the atmosphere and restore the ice caps. Would you like to do the honors of approving this order to flip the switch on for the world?”
If you’re a leader that is talking with a direct report one-on-one, make that the most important person in your world at that moment. That’s a signal to your direct report that they matter. When a person perceives they matter, they make and ship work that matters.That principle works outside of work too.
What if “passionately disagreeing” was fun? And as the level of “fun” rises does “seriousness” fall? Disagreeableness can mean competitive, skeptical, blunt, uncooperative, and/or insensitive. What’s not listed is: “fun.” The opposite of disagreeable is agreeable. Attributes of agreeable people: trusting, cooperative, considerate, sincere, and modest. What’s not listed: “fun.”The idea of “fun” or “play” doesn’t appear to be a factor of any type and intensity of agreeableness. “Seriousness” the same — it doesn’t appear attached to agreeableness.“Play” and “seriousness” are also not opposites of each other — they can exist at the same time. I “play” music and I am “serious” about how I play. If all that is true, then disagreements ought to be seriously fun.
What is the most interesting conversation you overhead?What is the conversation you most want to overhear and haven’t heard yet?
From an earlier post: The work you build is only as good as the utility people get from it. Utility is another word for value. Think of music. How much of the same artist can you listen to before you need to change to something new? That time frame could be a representation of utility. Think of coffee. How much coffee would you drink before you say “okay, that’s enough coffee”? That number could be your max utility. Now imagine - if you had the choice to between listening to the same artist for a length of time or having coffee, which might you choose? And which would you gladly have more of? That’s another way to talk about utility. In terms of our work - what utility do people interacting with our work get? What do they want more of? What do they get enough of? Which aspect of our work do they prefer? If living is a work, that work ought to create value for those we seek to serve.
The other day I realized an entirely-not-novel idea: our interpretation of the world is our interpretation of symbols. I got to this idea by writing out music using the Nashville number system. It’s a different way to write music using numbers like “1” or “5” versus note heads. If I played music with notes or music with numbers a similar outcome might be achieved. The words I am writing to you are symbols. If you can read these symbols and make sense of them, you presumably understand English “letter” system. The actions I make in the world are symbols. If you’re used to seeing me as a fun loving person, you might be surprised if I’m quiet. If you’re used to seeing me quiet or moody, you might be surprised if I’m fun loving and boisterous. You mind developed a “symbol”, in this case a prototype, of me. Like with any symbol - it only means something to the person who can interpret the symbol. Also, it only means something if you can consider the symbol in context. Also, it only means something if the culture that birthed that symbol remains unchanged. If the only constant in life is change, then our interpretation of life must be one of caution and curiosity.
It sounds dull and boring - but it’s not.I see documenting a process the same way I see writing music - it’s a work of service that requires intention and attention to detail. Documenting is service because what and how you write may help or hinder the person who has to perform your music, or execute your process, in the future.And any good art is intentional — it’s focused on the experience of the person who will receive your work.
Next time you’re in a restaurant sampling a foreign cuisine, order the thing that sounds the oddest or the most unfamiliar to you. Nothing ventured nothing gained — unless you overate.
I am forming a belief that work-life balance does not exist — living is work.Forms of work:Cooking;Exercising;Reading;Learning;Playing;Driving;Writing;Talking; and even,Standing up.Anything that involves applying force upon a thing is a form of work. And I love work. Perhaps what matters is achieving a healthy ratio of work that enables our thriving relative to work that allows for survival.
A former colleague of mine is a VP of Support for a tech firm. The team I lead maintains a support function. I’ve never lead a a support team.I asked my friend: “What are all of the questions I should be asking to stand up a support function?”That’s way more useful than saying: “Tell me what you know” or “where should I direct my attention first?”Going on the quest that is a question invites far more excitement, courage, and work than simply accepting an answer as true. I’ll take the excitement any day.