At Some Point

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The boulder is going to fall off the cliff.  The question is when?  It is easy to think of the boulder as the greatest threat to our future.  Perhaps we can design an app with 24-hour monitoring to alert us of any movement, build bracing and a cable retention system, or move our operations.  Or, we can assess the probability of failure and then move forward with the work that matters.  Too often the boulder consumes our attention, when in all reality it may stay perched for another decade.  What would a decade’s worth of distraction cost us?

An Original Among Common

 

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Beachside buoys bobbing in the gentle swell.  Generic white versions spotted most frequently, random versions marked with colorful bands interspersed, and then the bust of a cowboy smoking a cigar.  Those walking along the shore stop to point and for a photo.  Alone this buoy is woth a glance.  Surrounded by a myriad of unremarkable buoys it is worth a picture and a remark.  Seth Godin amplified the value of surrounded by our competitors.     

2019 WDS Highlights

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World Domination Summit 2019 in Portland, Oregon delivered remarkable insights.  Speaker highlights included:

“Time is elastic and will stretch to accommodate what we need and want.  When we say we do not have the time, we are acknowledging that the opportunity is not a priority.” –Laura Vanderkam

“Prove people right” – Humble the Poet

“Ignore individual suggestions in feedback.  Focus instead on the consistency of the comments.  Look for the signals.” – Scott Young

“Change your financial plan when your life changes, not when the market moves.”  Jill Schlesinger

Teaching is a selfish profession.  If you do it right, you learn more about yourself than you teach other people” – James Victore

“Suspend disbelief and leap into the unknown.” – Tania Katan

“Sometimes you need to sword fight the beast into the other room in order to make space for your work.” – Marsha Shandur

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To my friends who attended the Strategic Wayfinding Meetup on Saturday.  Here is a link to the meetup handout page and more information about Generative Thinking and Governance As Leadership.  Thank you for attending and sharing your insights!

Michael Scott Desicion-Making

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“Michael, you’ve had two ideas today. And one of them was great. And the other one was terrible.” – Pam Beesley, The Office

The challenge for all of us is to understand which of our collective ideas are great and which ones are terrible.  It may seem obvious when Michael Scott is standing in a parking lot spelling out ‘Marry Me’ with a canister of gasoline and asking Pam, “Hey you know what? I’ve got gas all over my hands and my shoes. Would you light it? Would you do the honors please?.”

The work that matters is when two ideas are indistinguishable at a glance.  The one that makes the organization better may cause more uncertainty than the idea that feels safer.  That is why we assemble a board, to make sense of the terrain that sits in front of us.

What is your great idea?  Which idea did you pass on that turned out to be a major liability?  What is your Kodak Films passing on digital images moment?

 

Now

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The remarkable impact of human-centered strategic planning is that we can execute fully on the strategy immediately. If an organization’s stated goal is, to build a dynamic community, that starts now. There is no need to wait to assemble resource, staff, and funding. The strategic imperative is a commitment to an experience, a way of being, a core value.  However, if the plan identifies a specific initiative, perhaps executing a capital campaign and building a new facility, it will take years to realize. Supporting and enhancing a dynamic community in every action and communication starts the moment the individuals within the organization decide it is a priority. Buildings, programs, funding goals are results of a human-centered strategy. An enterprise does not exist to occupy a facility. The cause was founded and supported to amplify a human experience that takes place within the structure, regardless if it is a yurt awarding winning platinum-certified LEED newly constructed center-piece in the community.

The human-centered design process provides strategic imact and execution at the highest level, right now.