It’s difficult to write a blog post about complacency.  Because to understand complacency, you have to put yourself into that mode of thinking.  And who the hell wants to be there?

But complacency is such a paradox to me anyway – if you live in chaos, you are motivated to find normalcy.  If you find normalcy, it’s sooo easy to want to stay there – but you need to create chaos to escape.

This is something I have to remind myself of frequently.  Professionally – implementing processes and measurements to get us to a state of optimization – there is a peace of mind in knowing that you can leave the office for a few days and the cogs will continue to turn.  But that allows me to disengage, which is both a blessing and a curse.  A curse because  I don’t get the daily fuel from innovation and problem solving.  A blessing because we’re doing greater things, more efficiently.   (Look at Thomas Edison.  His life’s work was inventing technology to make our lives easier.  That’s a reward unto itself, but in employing those inventions we achieve even more greatness with less effort. It wouldn’t make sense to reinvent the same things just for the sake of creating innovation energy.)

So how do you keep moving? One way is to scrap it all and start over.  Do what you did to get where you are, but do it someplace else.  You made your fortune perfecting the electric nose blower; now figure out how to harness energy from mosquitoes.

But maybe there’s another plateau to be reached that’s still out of sight.  Innovation and problem solving are great for the soul, great for business.  But only if they are addressing real problems.  As I write this, thinking about where I go from here (not that my work is finished or that I’ve perfected anything yet), it occurs to me that this quandry is a metaphor for my career.  I have always grown and succeeded by finding a need and filling it, as a logical extension of my official role.

So I guess my answer is in there.  Cycles of innovation & motivation ebb and flow, but if we’re looking for opportunities, we can organically keep growing, keep moving without drastic actions.

.. Which brings me around to Jim Collins’  How the Mighty Fall.  Collins makes the point, in a much more subtle way, that slow and steady wins the race.  Collins cites five stages of an organization’s decline:

1. Hubris born of success
2. Undisciplined pursuit of more
3. Denial and risk of peril
4. Grasping for salvation
5. Capitulation to irrelevance

So, in terms of personal growth and motivation, the corresponding stages of marginalization and desperation:

1. Not following a path of continuous learning and improvement
2. Innovation for innovation’s sake, without adding value, without fitting a larger context
3. Devaluing collaboration, succumbing to disengagement.
4. Hasty decisions, get rich (or made)  quick ideas.
5. Retirement, new career, etc.

Another personal point to grow on that Collins mentions – Individuals, like organizations need to examine why they are successful (defined as you like) rather than how they became successful.  Focus not on what things you’ve done to be successful (your deeds), but what about YOU has meant success (your character.)

No, not my silence on this blog… Yes, it’s been silent, but as far as I know, not roaring.

I know I’m guilty of this, and I try to understand when other people do it. Silence, while seeming innocuous at one end, can feel like a huge insult to the receiver.  (Can you actually receive silence? If one hand claps in the forest, do any bears .. wait, wait, um, something like that..)

Not only can silence present the feeling of being ignored – worse, the receiver will misappropriate the cause of that silence and will often act upon that perceived cause.  This can obviously be counterproductive and damaging to a relationship.

No time for pleasantries.

Immediacy of feedback can be more important than the content of the feedback itself.   (Hello? Is this thing on? Can you hear me in the back?)  Answer phone calls, emails, etc with an acknowledgment right away (unless you’re trying to snub someone.)

Now this seems like pretty elementary advice – yet in business we discount the value of social protocols as we focus on “I’m so busy.  Must get things done.”  I get over 100 emails a day, on (unmathematical) average.  To return each of those would consume the majority of my day.  But there I go – relating it to my day.    Setting norms for which email should be responded to and how & when, can mitigate some of that overhead.  The people that I see on a regular basis know that we will see each other and we will talk soon enough.  So email among that group is viewed as a one-way information communication tool (and RSS inside a firewall is a clunky mess.)  Any other decisions or discussions mean we meet in person (or video.)

Unfortunately, it’s the people you work with less often and that, frankly may be of lower immediate criticality to you, that silence most affects.  These are the relationships that need the most care and feeding.  (“The ones that love us least are the ones we die to please.” -PW)

What’s the payback?  Trust.  You determine how much that’s worth.

I used to be able to keep everything in my head.. If I had a meeting next Thursday at 2:30, I could remember it.  I have no idea how I was ever able to do that – even if I had one tenth the obligations that I have now, I can’t remember more than about three days in advance.

So I started keeping a list, and a calendar.  And everything I have to do – whether it’s work, home or just an idea that I have – goes on the list.  I can keep track of everything – oh boy wha a great idea that was.  I’ll bet you never thought of making a list before.

Are you in fifth grade?  Why am I telling you to make a list?

Well, you can keep track of all your stuff however you want to – I don’t care if you use a list or hire a lackey.  The point isn’t to help you remember all the stuff you have to do – in fact, if you can do less stuff, that would be my first piece of advice.  And failing that, I might even tell you to let stuff fall through the cracks.  So why make a list?  So you can stop thinking about what you have to do later.  Forget later.  What are you doing right now?  Think about that more.

Enjoy your current circumstance.  Whatever you’re doing right now, really do it.  And if you can’t focus on your current situation, leave it.  Go do something you can focus on.  And when other thoughts come to you, write them down and forget it.  Set yourself free.

I’m thinking about going into the office this weekend. Ordinarily, I like to leave work behind a couple days a week. But when I don’t have much else planned, sometimes an extra day to catch up can ease the stress of the week.

My big dilemma isn’t whether or not I should work on a weekend; The dilemma is how to spend that time. I could use the time to knock off some of those little tasks that seem to be in the way, so I can spend the week focusing on work that really matters.

Or I can spend the weekend on work that really matters. My idealistic side says, “always focus on work that really matters.” Don’t sweat the small stuff. Big wins.

But my intellectual but realistic side reminds me of the serenity prayer:

No -not that one! But these little tasks that I would gladly put off forever are important (or, I mean, <airquotes>important</airquotes>) to someone. So they will always be there – distracting, usurping, foiling.

I think my plan will be to round up the annoying tasks and drive the herd off a cliff. Do enough to get them out of the way – and spend the majority of the week working on stuff that matters.

And next week, Friday will be the day that I spend a little time on these nuisances, instead of Sunday. That will be my new M.O. – Big and important, Monday through Thursday. Small and dumb – gets thrown in the Friday bucket. And when Friday comes, whatever gets done, gets done and whatever doesn’t – won’t.

“If you’re done learning, you’re done.”  I think it was Ben Franklin.  Maybe it was someone else who originally said that… But it’s true, nonetheless.

A few years ago, I absolutely hated my job.  Although I worked for a great company, I didn’t feel as though I was being used to my full potential.  Until that happened, I guess I had been fortunate in my career that I’d always been able to find the niche that kept me growing (or knew when to leave before things got stale.)  I was beginning to strategize my exit plan.  I needed a career boost.  Let me back up;  I had tried to get help with career counseling in my company and wasn’t satisfied with the options.  So I began to study.  I invested my own time and my own money (a considerable amount of each) to elevate my skill levels in preparation for a job search.  And I had some offers.  Some really good offers.

Maybe it was just luck, but as offers were coming in, possibilities opened up at my current job too.  But I believe you can make your own luck.  I never had to give my boss an ultimatum or hope for a counter offer.  An offer to advance from my current job came to me – or rather, it came near me and I grabbed it.

Oh, I think I’ve read the “invest in yourself” advice plenty of times before, so I won’t make a point of that as if it’s a new idea.  And it’s probably not a new idea that continuous learning keeps you sharp and on top of your game.  And yet, I continue to come across people who don’t seem to be interested in development – for professional reasons or self-development reasons.  Or else they’re waiting and wondering why their employers won’t develop them.  So I just want to reiterate that you can make your own luck sometimes.  Because luck isn’t luck.  Luck is options.

Last week, at Ignite! Columbus, Joshua Scott talked about knowing when to move on.  I wish I had his slides at the moment – and his content.. but if I can paraphrase, he said you have to have the courage to leave something that’s going well so that you can continue in an upward direction.  This picture is the closest I could find to describe what that means:

The idea is that you leave thing #1 before it reaches the decline and move on to thing #2.  That can be a business, a career, a job, a skillset.

You never know when your luck will change – when your curve will start to decline.  I watched a disheartening story this evening about DHL leaving Wilmington, OH and leaving 10,000 people without jobs.  I don’t mean to imply that those 10,000 people should have moved on before DHL pulled out of the community.  It’s just a devastating example of how quickly things can change.  So what I’m trying to say is, be ready.  Learn something new.

Learn something new to get ahead.  Learn something new to be better at what you do.  Learn something new to feel better about the things you do.

Learn something new to be ready.

Or learn something new just ‘cuz.  And then do it again.  Don’t stop.  Luck isn’t luck.  Luck is options.

In the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a lot of  “does she like me?” on my social networks.

Facebook

“Stuart from high school wants to be my facebook friend.  But we weren’t friends in high school.  Should I be his friend?  I’m friends with Becky, and Becky is friends with Carla, but Carla’s not friends with me.  Why didn’t she friend me?  If she does, should I say yes?”  Holy crap, 25 years out of high school and the drama continues…

Twitter

“I’m going to stop following people who don’t follow me back.” “People with more followers than followees are self-important.”  Why does twitter have to be two-way?  If you’re following someone you find interesting, why would you stop?  If someone doesn’t find you interesting – well, first of all, that’s their opinion and so what.  But if you’re really insecure about people not following you, maybe you need to be more interesting, more often.  Again I cite “there’s no honor in being right.” -if finding yourself interesting isn’t good enough and you need validation from others, it’s up to you to gain their interest.

Linked In – “Oh, you worked at Chase?  Do you know Roger?”  All I can say is, make it count.

So as much as I love the energy that comes with social networking, I can’t help but feel the stress of the social politics that have inevitably crept in.  Connect, connect, connect.. Good!   It’s not a competition, but it is a challenge to take only the positives and use them to enrich your work, your life, …

Linked In – this is my trusted, professional network.  We have to know each other.  I don’t collect names -I connect people.

Twitter - I don’t care who follows me.  I don’t say much on twitter most days.  I follow people who will redirect me to interesting resources.  I follow friends so we can exchange short notes during the day.  I follow people who ask compelling questions.  I don’t follow people who don’t seem to have anything else to do but twitter all day.  I don’t follow people who use twitter like IM-meets-LadyGodiva.  I don’t follow people who obscure relevant tweets by yacking nonstop.

Plaxo – WTF is the deal with Plaxo?  People keep connecting with me and they never post anything.  I only have an account because I wanted to see what I could do with it.  (turns out – not much.)

Twine, Flickr, meetup, speakersite and any other community of practice – you bet we can connect there.  If you’re there, let’s talk.

In person – better yet.

This is also my next Toastmasters speech (spoiler alert.  oops, too late.)

Charlie Brown’s good rules for living:

• Keep the ball low
• Don’t keep your crayons in the sun
• Use dental floss every day
• Don’t spill the shoe polish
• Always knock before entering
• Don’t let the ants get in the sugar
• Never volunteer to be a program chair
• Always get your first serve in
• Feed your dog whenever he’s hungry

….a better life, and a fat dog.

*from ‘Happy New Year, Charlie Brown’

Perhaps you’re familiar with this parable about stone masons and purpose (text that I lifted from here, but it could have been anywhere):

I’m reminded of a story about a traveler in the Middle Ages, who visited a city where many stone cutters were working. Approaching several, he asked the same question:

“What are you doing?”

The first stonecutter he met replied, “I’m cutting stone. It’s dull work, but it pays the bills.”

A second stonecutter responded, “I’m the best stone cutter in the land. Look at the smoothness of this stone, how perfect the edges are.”

A third pointed to a foundation several yards away, and said, “I’m building a cathedral.”

One lacked purpose altogether. The second was proud of the work he did. But the third clearly had a sense of purpose, of the greater reason for his work. It’s safe to assume that the third stone cutter never got lost in the boredom of the work or became obsessed with being the best. The third stone cutter knew that his work was critical to the successful completion of a larger project the construction of a cathedral.

Well it occurred to me this morning that this parable is incomplete.  “I’m building a cathedral!”  Well why in god’s name* are you doing that?  The vision for this cathedral isn’t to have a giant, unoccupied building plopped down where there used to be farmland.  And it wasn’t built just to give people something to do.  What’s the bigger WHY?!

It must have a bigger purpose than “build it.”  Is it to glorify God*?  To establish a place of community, a civic center? And why would you want either of those?  To raise the standard of living for all citizens or to make the king richer?  What is the real vision? And what are the real benefits?

Execution (i.e. building stuff) comes from people working.  Vision and strategy come from the top.  Every bit of work at every level should have that vision behind it.  So whether you’re building a cathedral or a website:  ask yourself about the real why.

(*no specific religious affiliation, promotion or denigration intended.)

I’m cleaning out an old file share before it gets deleted.  I ran across an internal posting I wrote last year, summarizing a talk I attended.

What type of organization do you have?

The Competing Values Model: (Robert Quinn)

An organization needs to decide what its primary quadrant is. The quadrants that are diagonal from each other are in dynamic tension with each other.

How does our organization deal with failure?

• Is failure allowed? Then we support innovation & open systems.
• Is failure not an option? Then we are a process & control organization.

What do we do with an unproductive asset?

• If we turn it loose, we lean towards the Rational Goal Model.
• If we mentor, we learn toward Human Relations.

(The axis refer to the type of organization you are fostering, not what happens in the short/long run. – E.g. the top row depicts the habits of long term thinkers.)

Long Term	Human Relations Model – collaboration, motivation	Open Systems Model – innovation
Short Term	Internal Process Model – Management & Control	Rational Goal Model – productivity & accomplishment
	Stable	Chaotic

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