What is your enterprise’s tipping point when throwing a celebration? What is required for your organization to commit to assessments? What is the ratio of evaluations versus celebrations? Are celebrations as rare as leap years, or does your cause set a realistic cadence to balance milestones and pitfalls?
If invited to list the six most essential attributes of a leader that would bring out your best, what characteristics would go on the list? If we produce an authentic help wanted sign, we might attract exemplary candidates.
If our strategy is too complex to execute, it will likely falter. If we supply an unmistakable path forward and clarity about the intended horizon line, our work can focus on the journey. Otherwise, we might spend substantial resources navigating endless sand dunes, looking for a place to set sail.
Remarkable Ideas
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Making It Possible
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Being of Service
If we do not put on our oxygen masks first, we might be unable to assist those needing them.
How might we deploy this guidance in our own enterprise?
I tried to unsubscribe from a vendor’s emails, but none of my attempts were accepted. I called the company and was told updates could only be conducted online. The organization claims the issue I am experiencing is abnormal. The new splash page message should read, “We care more about our company’s subscriber numbers than a client’s preference. Therefore, we failed to honor any updates to your account that will impact our metrics.“
Honesty would be less frustrating than non-compliance.
How might we be honest with our clients, even if the truth is not the message they prefer to hear?
Cross-country ski tracks for classic/traditional skiing provide mini-guardrails to align our skis down the trail. Tracks allow skiers to relax a few supporting muscles that might otherwise be recruited to micro-adjustment and maintain a direction. The challenge with cross-country tracks is that a skier is beholden to the route the groomer selects. If the trail goes straight up the steepest hill or descends a formidable downhill, one can stay in the tracks and ski the route as prescribed. Or, a skier can bounce out of the tracks and attempt techniques more suited to climbing steep hills with less effort and controlling speed on twisting downhills.
Just because the tracks exist does not mean they are compulsory.
How might we recognize that ski tracks might be the fastest way forward, but in specific terrain and snow conditions, it is faster (and safer) to ski outside the tracks? How might we remain curious and not rely on compliance as our priority?
When asking nutritionists about the best diets to follow, their answer tends to contemplate themes. They can highlight the benefits and challenges of specific diets, but they return to more prominent themes. How might we recognize that we sometimes require a specific resource to move forward, but on numerous occasions, we can progress with different forms of fuel for our journey? An ultra hiker can snack on Snicker bars, pieces of fruit, plant foods, or nothing (for limited durations), and all these forms will help them move down the trail.
What if our planning was not so rigid about meeting specific goals, except where necessary? What if we developed themes we were curious about exploring, understanding that navigating to a general vicinity of a goal might be more potent than clambering to a specific summit?
Social media post I encountered. “I completed the first thing on my bucket list…I got a bucket.”
The quip is positioned as a humorous post but embeds truth in its simplicity. Before launching our aspirational moonshot, how might we ensure we have the essential supplies and a basic foundation? If we continuously operate on a burning platform, trying to assemble the basics to stay in the game, perhaps a fully articulated marketing plan is not our next move.
What repetitive behaviors are paramount to your enterprise’s success? Which repetitive behaviors block your team’s progress? Which provide opportunities to amplify or reduce, and which ones appear fixed?
In John Green’s book The Anthropocene Reviewed, there is a chapter entitled ‘Wintry Mix.’ In the narrative, he communicates his struggle to maintain a vegetable garden and discourage the local groundhog, who forages freely from his plot. Eventually, he plants a separate garden for the groundhog, allowing John to maintain his passion project and reduce the groundhog’s desire to use it like a sample at Costco.
The groundhog’s repetitive behavior was eating from a garden. It would not switch tactics unless relocated or eliminated; neither was an option for John. So, a compromise was reached, allowing the author and groundhog to continue their passions with significantly reduced friction.
How might we assess our repetitive actions with sobriety? How might we embrace those that serve us, try to isolate those that foil our progress, and remain open to new mindsets?
What-if-concepts 