Innovative Concepts

Who Is In Your Circle?

Circle of Safety which highlighted the more compelling remarks made during a session I attended with Simon Sinek in New York City was my most read blog post in 2013.  I am thrilled that Simon’s newest book titled, Leaders Eat Last is due to be released on January 7th.  The book expands upon the brief overview I wrote up and introduces a network of associated ideas.  I have been reading the book and it explores inspired observations about creating a culture of trust and empathy.  I highly recommend adding Leader Eat Last to your 2014 reading list.  As written at the end of the book, “If this book inspired you, please pass it on to someone you want to inspire.”

The Best of You for the Benefit of Others

Leave a trail for those who are inspired to follow.  If we run and hide, we cannot share our stories and they are lost to the wind.

“Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges – Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!”

                                                           Rudyard Kipling

Blank Maps


 Reflecting upon his role in the movie All is Lost, Robert Redford told Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross, “I was very drawn to what was not said,” Redford told Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. The 30-page script for the nearly wordless film was made up mostly of sketches.

What engagement can we generate if we hand out maps with vague detail and definition. If our mission is to explore the blank spots on the map.  That journey is meaningful and significant.  Producing facsimiles of what has already been discovered gets tedious quickly.

 

Oriented to Grow

If our goal is a destination, it is easy to bargain with ourselves.  Instead of traveling around the world, we will get to another continent, or perhaps make it to the coast.  Perhaps reaching a state line would suffice or the town next door.  When we concentrate on our orientation, our minds are constantly expanding as we seek out new experiences that move us in the direction we have selected.  Out magnetic north drives us on adventures that are additive.  We are growing, expanding, increasing every step of the way.

Destinations is essential when you require precision.  Orientation expands your world.

The Same Refrain


Sounds like a broken record.  Playing the same message repeatedly degenerates the original track to the point it is can no longer trace it roots back to the master.  Listeners change their reaction to a piece that becomes ubiquitous.  The originality and suspense during a premiere is lost.  Consider the following music videos:

250 million views

Over 1 billion views

What messages are you repeating?  What is their impact?  Is your enterprise better known for its refrain than its actions and impact?  What is the paradoy?

Strategic Reaction

Strategic planning can be received with the same enthusiasm as keeping school open when it snows five inches. 

Great strategic planning discussions generate unbridled enthusasim and clarity about expectations for the future.  Commit to a peak that is worthy of climbing.  The alternative is not to plan and react to forces that do not have your best interest at heart.  

The default setting for avoiding strategic planning is to place your fate in this oracle of wisdom.