I’d like to share 2 songs that have been a big part of this week – thanks iTunes Radio. Music like this inspires me – they’re both the kind of song you believe you can make yourself – they are so beautiful in their simplicity
It’s easy to complicate music (and life). And we do. It just takes a person who wants to sing. An instrument adds a lot. But you don’t need much more to touch people.
A nice reminder to keep things simple and keep plugging away.
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After a few delays, I am happy to announce that Help2Grow is finally a legal charitable trust registered in India. There is a bit of work to be done so we can get our bank accounts up in the next 2 weeks but, finally, we’re getting set to get to work.
Help2Grow was founded on the idea that we would exist to supplement existing schools and homes for the underprivileged. We recognize that the problem of abandonment is not one we can solve – however, there is a lot we can do to make the lives of those abandoned better. We’re now at a stage where we need to define this vision, mission, and the objectives that follow. It is an exciting time.
As I think about these, there are 3 thoughts that come to mind –
1. Making small progress on big goals. One of the temptations when we get started is to just begin taking action. This is something I’m working actively to avoid – we need to take the time necessary to think about what our goals are. In the absence of this, we will run the risk of making big progress on small goals (“let’s just do something”). There are perfectly good reasons to start small but there are no excuses to think small.
2. Hustle to build a school, not a class. There is a lot of initial excitement among the family and friends involved to get started. We all want to go out and make impact. Another check for us would be to focus hard on building the equivalent of a school – build systems that work for a sustainable organization. And, I think the key word in that sentence is sustainable. Many noble trusts and charities either run out of funds to be sustainable or lose out on the initial good intentions to make sustainable impact. Sustainable funds. Sustainable impact. Sustainable everything needs to be a focus.
3. A culture of narratives. A final thought as we build Help2Grow would be to build in a culture of Jeff Bezos-esque 1-6 page memos/”narratives.” We’ve already initiated this shift in our meetings on the Real Leaders project and in a couple of other places. I’m loving it. Writing forces an incredible amount of clarity of thought. It’s something we need to embed in our culture. We’re not going to have limited funds and unlimited desire to make an impact as we begin. There’s a lot of thinking to be done and then a lot of good work to be done.
It’s an exciting challenge.
This week’s 200 words project idea (coming to you this weekend) was one about how radiologists’ scans became more accurate when they saw patient photographs on their report.
An old co-worker and friend, who received it via email, responded saying the message was apt as she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer last week. She was working on keeping her spirits up and we exchanged a couple of emails. She is as bubbly and positive a person as anyone I’ve met – I am hopeful she makes a quick recovery.
For all those of us who share our thoughts/learnings/fears regularly via these blogs, it’s easy to forget that, every once in a while, we do succeed in making a genuine connection with someone reading the post. Once in a while, we do manage to actually help someone in their path. We may or may not be told when that happens but it does happen.
So, this note is a thank you to the many bloggers whose blogs I read. Your posts do connect with me from time to time and, at the very least, make me think and question every single day.
Thank you for taking the time to make the connection.
A friend shared the graph describing a thanksgiving turkey’s well-being the few months before thanksgiving. Your current state feels great – you are being fed well and you live a good life. This gets reinforced with time and you have every reason to feel better and better about yourself and life. Until..
Source: whywereason.com
We have many many great examples of turkeys in real life – the company that was oblivious to the fact that it needed to change it’s business model or be disrupted, the executive who thought of himself as indispensible, the insensitive wretch who thought their financially dependent partner could never leave him/her, and so on. Why?
1. They get fat with the joys of success.
2. They get complacent and stop looking over their backs.
3. They begin ignoring the signs of the road ahead.
We have suckers on most tables who are simply oblivious to what’s going on – not because they are incapable but because they choose to ignore the signs and ask – why am I so lucky?
A healthy dose of cynicism is very helpful in avoiding the turkey’s fate. My weakness is that I’m not cynical enough. Life experiences and a focus on “a learning a day” have taught me to focus on the positive – so much so that it’s become a part of who I am. A touch of positive delusion is a useful skill – it enables you to take more risks, fail more, and still ensure you stay happy. That said, there’s a balance to be had between a positive attitude and some healthy cynicism. This bit of cynicism does come with experience and it’s something I’m learning to pay more attention to.
So, if you’re feeling great, that’s great. But, guard against being carried away for too long. Extreme emotions dull our sensitivity to obvious signs. Remember the turkey. Stay lean and mean. Don’t drink your own kool aid and get cocky. Stay alert. You’re only as good as your next game.
Don’t be the turkey.
The Real Leaders Project 2014 edition is here. We have an exciting new year planned for you. We kick-start the year with an interview with Elim Chew, founder of Singapore Street Wear Brand 77th Street.
Aside from being one of Singapore’s respected entrepreneurs, Ms Chew was recently honored as a Forbes Asia Hero of Philanthropy. She sits on over 20 boards and committees of public service, youth and community organizations and has been inspiring students, educators, and budding entrepreneurs for many years now. Thanks, Ms Chew, for finding time for us!
As always, my favorite snippets –
“In the early days, it was a lot of human interaction that led to word-of mouth. In those days, we were the only street fashion wear. It was about being who you are and what you love – if you want to be quirky, then you be quirky – that attracts attention. We became friends with every customer, we know their names and their stories.”
“Kids as young as 9, 10 and 13 are building apps and starting companies. Today, it is about how early you start. There is a lot of knowledge out there that you can learn from. I feel everyone should start as young as they can. If you want to be a chef, start cooking at home for your family and scout the internet for more. While reading is one thing, self-improvement and implementation is another.”
(On motivating young employees) – “I believe that this is a generation that is driven by purpose. You need to show them the purpose. Why are they in retail? Why are they social entrepreneurs. Why are they professionals. In this environment you see the people doing their part of retail. We show them the importance of their initiatives, the vision of helping the poor, the vision of taking an idea to implementation and becoming successful. And usually, its not about the money (Money is great) but the process is so much more motivating.”
“The reason for my success is the number of hours I put in ever since I got into the workforce – I worked everyday. And over the years I have gathered the experience and practice in everything that I do today. However there is a little bit of talent that helps with the starting phase. And that little extra effort you put in affects the olympic record you can break, no matter what your level of talent is.”
The full transcript, as always, is on RealLeaders.tv. Thank you, once again, to Ms.Elim for taking the time!
Sometimes, it’s helpful to remind ourselves that we ought to stop over-thinking things.
Stop over analyzing the ideas, the plans, the timing, and the environment. The conditions will never be perfect.
Just go out. Pick up the shovel. Do the work.
Here’s the idea from week 2 of the 200 words project from “The Everything Store” by Brad Stone.
Amazon.com, in an unprecedented move, added a feature in 1995 allowing customers to review books they bought. Until then, books were only reviewed by critics and not by readers. As was expected, some of the early books were trashed by multiple readers. Bezos then got a call from an irate book publishing executive who said Amazon’s job was to sell books and not trash them.
Bezos recalls that he and the team decided then that their job was not to sell things, but to help customers make better purchase decisions. This principle has guided Amazon’s decision making since. A similar big call that Amazon made was to include used books in their book catalogue. Again, this provoked an outcry from authors and customers (and even internal executives) but Bezos was convinced that it helped customers make better decisions.
The learning for me – when you set out on a new project, figure out your most important stakeholder(it could just be yourself), define your guiding principles and focus intensely on it.
“What’s dangerous is not to evolve.” | Jeff Bezos
Most employers would have you wait for a long time before you have your first management experience.
Good news – you don’t have to wait. Just pick a side project this weekend, build a team and manage.
Sure, it’ll be different from managing a team at work but the lessons would be more interesting and probably deeper because you won’t have institutional authority. You might just have to *gasp* lead.
PS: If you don’t manage to find a team, it’s a great opportunity to test your leadership skills on yourself. That’s where it always begins..
you’re missing the point.
You’re going to have problems and reasons to be unhappy right from the get go. The challenge is being happy despite all of this. Happiness functions like courage. It isn’t a lack of reasons to be unhappy but the ability to be happy despite everything else that could derail it.
I’d wager that being consistently happy is harder than being courageous. It is a true act of giving. When you are unhappy, you take from the world. Someone or the other has to deal with your moaning and whining and expend their energy to help you feel better. Your happiness and ensuing positive energy, on the other hand, almost always get channelled positively.
Leave the chronic unhappiness to the takers. Be happy. It’s hard.. but it is a force that helps us become sensitive to issues beyond ourselves and thus inspires us to consistently make small progress on big goals. That’s how good things get done.
And we are what we do.
I’ve spent a lot of time with to-do lists. I think I understand them and I’m sure I know how to work them. I was aided by some psychology lessons in various books with a special mention to “Ready for Anything” by David Allen (thanks David). To-do lists are useful tools if used appropriately and I use them to organize myself every day.
I think, however, that productivity manuals would work much better if they also instituted a “to think” list. A to-think list is a list of 1-3 things that you are intentionally thinking about. All our minds wander a fair bit during the day – that’s part of being human. However, our minds are easily influenced. That is why our minds wander to thoughts about our worries and insecurities when we are feeling worried or insecure. And, by default, our minds tend to be influenced by negative things; we spend more time about that one negative comments versus the 20 positive ones.
So, I’d suggest writing out 1-3 things you’d like to think about and looking at it often. That way, your mind will wander on these questions from time to time.
I think of a to-think list as an important complement to a to-do list. Thinking is how we get to structuring and breaking bigger tasks down in bite-sized chunks that need to be done by a to-do list. So, I’d argue that a “to think” list is the prioritization tool while a “to do” list is the execution tool. It helps me get my head around bigger and tougher questions as I learn to do less, but better. No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thought..
A Learning a Day 