listening (Photo credit: Leonard John Matthews)
Listening (Photo credit: elycefeliz)
their particular community is a couple of decades old and I’ve only really known them for several months, but we are “new to each other”, so to speak. It was a LOT of fun and extremely educational.
Doctor #11 and Amy with new TARDIS (Photo credit: ChocolateFrogs)
I recently watched the most recent Doctor Who episode wherein he regenerates from the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) into the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi). The final change was much more abrupt than other regenerations that I’ve seen in the newer series. Capaldi’s expression is wonderful….he looks stupefied. He says several things in rapid succession (my favorite is “Kidneys! I’ve got new kidneys! I don’t like the color.”) but the one that really grabbed my attention was when he asks Clara, “Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?” You can watch the change here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01nzqm6
While completing my Masters degree I was vicariously introduced to Clayton Christensen of the Harvard Business School and his many works (a sample) concerning disruptive innovation. Greatly interesting stuff and
Disruption (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
required reading for anyone in business or those who are creative and wish to understand the business world’s take on how this is perceived and understood, as well as the potential effects thereof.
Trust (Photo credit: vagawi )
Trust is a treasure that is hard-won and very easy to lose. This goes double for relationships online. One of the foundations of trust is doing what you say you will do. A classic test of trust is the answer of “I’ll get back to you…” to almost any question.
Image via Wikipedia
I have been thinking about a post by Tac Anderson on his NewCommBiz blog about making mistakes, crisis-based decision making and how we learn. It specifically got me thinking about organizations that learn and those that don’t really, or at least not very well (or easily).
Things move terribly fast in today’s marketplace and the halls of business. We blame it on the Internet, on the 24-hour news cycle, on our growing propensity for being “always on and connected” and on “everyone else.” There have been countless barrels of ink spilled on the importance of failure for learning, both as individuals and organizations. Even just thinking about how you learn personally will confront you with the first attempt at doing something, assessing how well that went, tweaking, trying again, etc.
So why do we not get it? I’m not saying we drive for failure (although that seems to be the direction of some I’ve noticed….), but, short of life-and-death, why do we not accept that failing is at least as important as not failing?
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I had lunch today with a close friend and colleague. Among other things (children, pets, home improvements, unusual heat in Seattle [which was about 86 degrees or so]…) we talked about getting bored. She’s has been with the same business unit doing much the same kind of job for nearly 7 years. She likes her work well enough, but feels, as she put it, “too comfortable”. It’s not that good things aren’t happening with her particular product or that there isn’t enough to keep her busy. It’s just that the challenges she faces now fill a kind of “Top 25 Things You Do In This Job” place in her mind.
We started talking about opportunities to move to other business groups or even to other companies. The conversation got very animated and the creative juices started to flow a little more quickly. It’s obvious that she’s got tons of creativity to spare and aims it, as she can, at the problems in front of her. But there’s more there…the workflow that she has for her current role has well-worn grooves (often called ruts…) and it works best when following the grooves.
I believe that taking a bright, creative person from one place and placing them in another “takes the blanket” off of their creativity, and the business can benefit mightily in the move.
Animated sequence of a race horse galloping. Photos taken by Eadweard Muybridge (died 1904), first published in 1887 at Philadelphia (Animal Locomotion). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I was recently discussing the pros and cons of various personnel review and commitment systems/styles with a close colleague of mine. She was saying something like, “It’s just like a horse race. One year you put your all into the race and win. The next year you put just as much effort and work into the race as the year before, if not more, and nine others finish ahead of you.” The implication is that this gives the folks putting on the race the impetus to……what? Give last year’s horse sugar for running a great race? Trying the horse at different races? Retiring the horse to pasture?
It seems that the climate in many organizations implies a future involving a glue factory. Why is this?
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Today I opened the box and found a towel. My thoughts almost immediately raced to Douglas Adams‘ book "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" the the assertion that a towel is the most mind-bogglingly useful thing one can have. It has comforting properties, has innumerable uses and is still fairly non-exceptional in presentation. I tried moving away from these qualities (if only because the book has so many other enticements for my imagination that I might likely get permanently derailed). The more I thought about these things, though, the more they made sense for what I’m considering.
In this analogy, what does a towel represent? Good question. It could be a member of your team. It might be a tool or set of tools you use everyday that has become second nature and integral to your productivity. It might be a set of principles you work or live by. I could be a methodology you use or set of habits you have developed to get stuff done. It could be a best friend or mentor that you rely upon (and who relies on you, too).
Take some time today. Discover what your towel is and reaffirm that it is, indeed, amazing. Don’t take it for granted.
Image via Wikipedia
Today I opened the box and found a towel. My thoughts almost immediately raced to Douglas Adams‘ book "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" the the assertion that a towel is the most mind-bogglingly useful thing one can have. It has comforting properties, has innumerable uses and is still fairly non-exceptional in presentation. I tried moving away from these qualities (if only because the book has so many other enticements for my imagination that I might likely get permanently derailed). The more I thought about these things, though, the more they made sense for what I’m considering.
In this analogy, what does a towel represent? Good question. It could be a member of your team. It might be a tool or set of tools you use everyday that has become second nature and integral to your productivity. It might be a set of principles you work or live by. I could be a methodology you use or set of habits you have developed to get stuff done. It could be a best friend or mentor that you rely upon (and who relies on you, too).
Take some time today. Discover what your towel is and reaffirm that it is, indeed, amazing. Don’t take it for granted.
Authentic Voice 