Author: whatifconcepts

Empowering those that inspire so they can excel at the work that matters.

Unfinished

Human nature tends to gravitate our thoughts to projects we have left unfinished.  Once a task is completed, a goal achieved, milestone reach we are quick to let the memory fade away.  We spend more time fretting about the peaks we abandoned during our summit attempt than the ones we actually climbed.  

Can we intentionally work against our nature?  Is it possible to schedule a moment to pause and remind ourselves of success?  Is it possible to have visual reminders of what once stood fixed in our focus?

Often the best stories come from the photos we see with those we visit.  The stories that define their lives are captured within the pictures that they have carefully curated.  Amazing achievements only spoken of when given an far to infrequent light.

Perhaps this year we can spend more time celebrating that which has been accomplished rather than filling our agendas with discussions of that which is broken, failed, or not complete.

What Do We Do Next?

What if we marked our strategic scorecard with ‘achieved’ and ‘not yet’?  How might this approach change the growth mindset of our organization?  What conversations might this language facilitate?  How might it change where we focus?  What does a ‘not yet’ say about the goals the endure?  Effort, strategy, and progress are what we seek.  The ‘right vs wrong’ paradigm tends to cutoff options when we use such definitive language. We are looking to curate a different mindset.

Thank You!

Too many times the words of appreciation I intended to share with those who inspire depart with me, never being uttered and unable to reach their intended destination.  Rather they float in a liminal space, unspoken but thought with gratitude.  They come from remarkable moments shared.  Generosity beyond comprehension.  Acts of safety performed out-of-sight but with care.  Good wishes and cheers of success.  Recognition of places to return with those who would embrace a shared perception of beauty.  Weight taken from shoulders.  Paradigm shifts.  Recommendations.  Notes of gratitude.  Clarity.  Smiles.  Inclusion.

Thank you is not the end point for the interaction.  Being present and aligned with a greater purpose is perhaps the highest act of gratitude.  We cheer not for reaching the finish line but rather the fleeting moments where our paths overlap and we share our journey together.

Thank you to all those who share their adventures and invited us to tag along.  We went further together than we might have on our own.

Aspiration to Transformation

Larry Page stated he would rather donate his estate to Elon Musk than a charity, triggering a compelling conversation.  Just ‘doing good’ is not sufficient to be a beneficiary of other people’s treasure.  Our work in the social sector is being measured against the progress of innovators and impact of entrepreneurs.  We can claim to inspire but do our aspirations result in transformation?

If you we are asked to present our work in a show-case showdown against other enterprises in our community and region would we be able to articulate our niche.  Would the investors on Shark Tank fund our project?  

I do not suggest that we turn to business metric in mass.  Permission to pause and preserve the landscape that serves as our backdrop is critical, even when its existence is hard to quantify.  We select arduous journeys and attempt to scale peaks that are compelling because it alters something inside of us.  As extreme athlete and runner Kilian Jornet said, ‘A summit is a memory.  It is an emotion stored within us.’  The summits I have occupied in my life continue to echo.  The more challenging the climb, the closer the memory (even if I laid on my stomach to look over the precipice).  

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AMA (Ask Me Anything)

If you have stumbled across the front page of Reddit you are likely to see an AMA (Ask Me Anything) as one of the highest rated posts.  Usually an AMA is put forward by a celebrity or someone with name recognition.  Occasionally the individual has a unique skill or experience.  An AMA is often a shout into the wind and sometimes the conversation catches fire.

What if we allowed our respective tribes to ask us anything?  It is a simple proposition, we offer our time and authentic answers in exchange for questions from those who want to know more about us.  Frequently we script our message.  We send out talking points in advance of big events.  Email blasts backed with social media campaigns.  What if we went off-script?  What would be the value of a conversation driven by our fans?  Would we be willing to take requests from the audience for one-night?  At the end of the Q&A, how might our relationship with those that matter be transformed?

Getting it Right

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Seth Godin got it right.  We do not stop doing business with everyone because there are some bad actors in the sector.  Invest in those who matter today #GivingTuesday

Harvard Business Review got it right.  When strategic planning makes you feel better about the future and attempts to control change, you are probably doing it wrong.  A great plan should generate fear and be daunting.  Why not articulate a heroic journey worth attempting?

And the Ferguson Library go it right.  If you are going to live your mission and are committed to serving as a resource for your community, then what better moment to continue showing-up than when everyone else is locking their doors.

EGOT

EGOT, an acronym for those select artists who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony during their career.  A remarkable achievement in television, music, film, and stage.  What makes it more rare is the unpredictability of the marketplace.  What if our box office record breaking film runs into a Citizen Kane?  Or Book of Mormon’s fanatic followers outpace our acclaimed staging of the Presidency of FDR?  Perhaps our genre of music is slightly less popular the year our hit single releases.

Creating art for the awards and celebration is maddening work.  We must get the content right for the marketplace but also anticipate the timing of other works that will overlap with ours.  We can point to Impressionist artists (famous today) who lived anonymous lives and dabbled in poverty.  Their works auction for millions of dollars and are required acquisitions for any national museum.  Yet, their contributions went unheralded during the award shows of their time, if they could even get placed in the show.

An EGOT artists is part superior artistic talent and part coincidence of events.  Akin to spotting a shooting star in the night sky.  If we aspire to win we need a different mindset than if we aim to inspire, transform, and engage.  Being clear about our intention is crucial.