A Learning a Day

A good friend shared a quote a wise friend shared with her once – “Don’t fish in muddy waters.”

This was during a turbulent time on her team. A combination of factors external to the company as well as some leadership changes were driving a lack of clarity. During this time, a few folks decided to use the opportunity to posture for more scope and responsibility.

By making that choice, they traded off helping the team get to clarity and providing the stability their leaders wanted them to provide.

“Don’t fish in muddy waters” is a lovely reminder to wait for things to settle and even help drive clarity if possible before “attempting to fish.”

When times are tough, it is tempting to be focused on the fish we want to catch. But it is counter productive.

Good leaders always notice.

Don’t fish in muddy waters.

A fascinating side effect of going through unpleasant experiences is that we quickly find out who our friends are.

A former colleague shared this quote in her farewell note – “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. “

There’s a lot of change happening in the world right now. Macroeconomic winds have changed. We are at the beginning of a new technology paradigm that is AI native instead of mobile native.

And companies all over the world are adjusting to this and more. So change is indeed inevitable.

Our response, and the ensuing growth (or lack thereof), is a byproduct of how we decide to show up.

Our choice. Always.

Pompeii, the ancient Roman city, has a neat addition on its roofs.

It is hard to understand what the big deal is – even when we take a closer look.

But these terracotta-like roofs are actually “invisible solar” photovoltaic panels manufactured by an Italian company called Dyaqua.

“They look exactly like the terracotta tiles used by the Romans, but they produce the electricity that we need to light the frescoes,” says Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the archaeological park of Pompeii, in a press release (see this article for more).

“Pompeii is an ancient city which in some spots is fully preserved,” Zuchtriegel says. “Since we needed an extensive lighting system, we could either keep consuming energy, leaving poles and cables around and disfiguring the landscape, or choose to respect it and save millions of euros.” The new technology will help the archaeological site to cut energy bills and make it more enjoyable, he adds.

Over the past 5 years, I’ve been consistent in my belief that solar will go mainstream when it isn’t the “right” thing to do because of sustainability reason but because it makes common sense given costs. We’re already at that point – solar is the cheapest form of electricity and will continue to get cheaper.

But this is a whole different proposition. This makes solar a no-brainer investment that is also… cool.

Pompeii is ushering us into a new era.

Who would’ve thought?

One of the rites of passage into adulthood is when we stop measuring ourselves by someone else’s ruler.

It explains why many grow old, but few become adults.

So much of perspective and a sense of being grounded comes from holding two truths at once – it could be better – a lot better – and it could be worse – again, could be a lot worse.

Both are true. And appreciating the wisdom in holding both together inspires an equanimity that is life changing.

SBU = Smart but Unproductive

There’s a genre of comments you hear in meetings that sound smart but do nothing to move the discussion forward or toward closure.

They often make the commenter look very good. These comments may espouse a theoretical framework, may state some truth, or simple articulate ask everyone to do something obvious.

They’ll do everything except steering the discussion to a close.

Beware the smart but unproductive comment as a meeting facilitator. But, more importantly, stay far away from cultures and teams that reward this kind of conversation.

Always be closing is just as relevant in large group meetings as it is in sales.

A characteristic of the most successful products is that they become invisible over time.

We don’t notice lights or air conditioners or even computers. These products got so good that they became default choices and stopped requiring us to think about them.

Invisibility is only reserved for truly great products.

Negative emotions like frustration and anger can motivate groups just fine in the short run. So much so that they can be mistaken for effectiveness – when all they do is eke out some efficiency.

In the long run, however, it is the positive stuff – our ability to be consistently optimistic, constructive, and upbeat – combined with good judgment that makes the difference.

If good apologies are quick, specific, and sincere, I completely bungled one the other day. I didn’t just make an excuse – I sought to blame the other person.

It took me a while to recover and get to the apology eventually. But it was too late by then. The moment had passed.

I was reflecting on the circumstances that led to that sort of behavior. And then realized that good habits exist despite circumstances.

For there always are extenuating circumstances.

Here’s to better apologies then – the kind that are quick, specific, and sincere.