Archives For goals

Figuring It Out

20/05/2013 — Leave a comment

“Knowledge is power”. Are there really people who still believe this “mantra” in its rawness? I can’t believe I believed this “motto” of the school I attend in my first grade, for many years. Knowledge, in itself is, not power.

Understanding knowledge, its relevance, applying it in the correct context… Now, that is power. Even so, this is still incomplete. Increasing your knowledge is never going to be enough. You have to understand its significance and apply it in context.

figure it out Figuring It Out

you’ll never be effective in anything if you’re not passionate about figuring things out

 

The most powerful people and leaders in general, are the ones committed to figuring things out. The one who knows something without a commitment to understand its implications and application greatly cripples not only his ability, but innovation.

The most powerful people are not the ones that amass knowledge. They are the ones passionately given to figuring out its context. It is people who when they know they don’t know something or enough of it given themselves completely to figuring it out.

Leaders committed to always figuring things out are constantly growing and challenging teams. It is not embarrassing or degrading for them when they don’t know something. They are happy not to have their abilities graded higher than they really are.

Instead of hiring or enlisting people who are happy to just know what they know, get people who show a commitment to always figuring it out. The guy who says I don’t know and often comes back with new information, demonstrating his commitment to obliterate any ignorance he discovers, is the one you want to keep on your team.

The ones committed to figuring things out are the ones who grow teams. They are key innovation players as they always seek fresher and newer ways.

Be a leader who never gets bogged down by what he knows he doesn’t know. Be committed to figuring it out. Research, read up, skill up but never be comfortable in ignorance.

Be committed to a constant pursuit of knowledge, unlocking its relevance and applying it for the greater.

[image by: Horia Varlan | cc]

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The Mine Of Being Undermined

13/05/2013 — Leave a comment

As I’ve said before, “The truth is we all want people to think of us as more capable than we really are”. It can be gravely damaging to let people hold on to such perceptions, especially to the extent to which we get entrusted with something on the premise that we are perfectly capable.

Honesty is the basis of integrity. Being one with who you say you are and what you’re capable of and letting your actions match with that…

Related: The Grading Tango | Honest

The other side of the coin, however, is being undermined. Undermined not in the sense of being patronized. Undermined when people “grade or perceive” us as less capable than we really are.

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you can draw value out of being undermined

Irony: We generally hate being undermined yet we can let people “grade” us higher than we deserve. In fact, we’re often infuriated when we are said to be less, in whatever way, than we are. We go into tirades. After all, it is justified. How can we be undermined and disrespected in such a way?!

Whatever you do, you have to choice to how you respond to being undermined. Before you launch your counter attack on being undermined consider the mine that you could dig:

Expectations

Being undermined comes with less expected of you. Thus, whatever you deliver above whatever was expected of you makes you exceptional. It will bring attention. Which is what you want anyway, right?

Show

Instead of talking about how much you are more than what you are said to be, show it. Action still speaks louder than words. The proof of the pudding is still in the eating.

Pressure

Rather be undermined than overrated. When you’re undermined the pressure is less than what would be on you if you were overrated. Use the obscurity being undermined provides you to deliver even better, no greater than what you were said to be.

Challenge

Use being undermined as a reminder that there is always room to be greater. The more you learn, the more you’ll realize how much you don’t know. The higher you climb the more you’ll realize there is still higher to go.

When you’re undermined allow it to remind you stay humble. Let it remind you to stay hungry. Let being undermined drive you closer to getting better than you are already. Don’t let it take your focus to addressing the people who’ve undermined you. As, I’ve already said, let your work speak for you.

Point

People are not always going to have an accurate estimation of your capabilities. Be careful how you respond those estimations. When they’re overrated don’t lie and go along with them. When your capabilities are undermined mine the mine of being undermined; let it work for you and not against.

[ image by Max0rz | cc ]

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The Grading Tango | Honest

10/05/2013 — 1 Comment

Everyone will have a perception about your abilities. Sometimes they’re unfounded. Some are accurate… you know the rest…

We have an idea of our capabilities and we’d like those around us to be as accurate as possible in their asses them. The truth is sometimes we really want people to see our capabilities as higher than they really are.

Leaders want their teams to admire them for how smart and great leaders they are. Team members want their leaders to overrate them so they seem a tad bit better than their colleagues. They want to be further acknowledged by having greater responsibility inferred on them.

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be secure enough about yourself to be real. THAT is integrity and the basis of credibility

Who are we fooling? The sad truth is that when we portray ourselves to be better at something than we really are, we set our teams and ourselves up for failure. There is a fine line between stretching yourself and misrepresenting yourself. Misrepresenting yourself includes you not correcting people who rate your abilities as greater.

I don’t deny, being ‘graded’ better than you really are can present an opportunity for you to go up to ‘the next level’. There is a greater risk of failure. The stakes are higher and the reputation that you’ve worked for years to build could be destroyed in an instant.

Be honest about your abilities. Firstly, to yourself and to those who attempt to enlist you with a perception that you’re greater than you are. Be honest that you aspire to the quality they’ve graded you to and state exactly what you’re doing to get there.

Related: Wine | Why You Must Love Obscurity and Structure | Why You Must Love Obscurity

This will give you credibility with people. Integrity is when your words and your actions are one. This is a character we want everyone around us to have. The irony is we, ourselves, are willing to compromise this when it comes to us. We want everyone else to be truthful about his or her abilities while we want to seem greater than we really are.

Stop trying to get ahead through the image and be the real deal. Leaders, teams respect and will follow a leader that is real. Leaders love team members that are honest about their capabilities.

The danger of being dishonest cannot be overstated. It will be obvious that you’re incompetent when it matters most. And those are the defining moments. Those critical moments when you’re required to deliver at the level you’re not are the times people are either catapulted further up or taken down to even lower depths.

Don’t be smug; be real. Don’t undermine yourself; say exactly where you’re at. There is nothing wrong with being on a lower rung on the ladder as long as you’re working on getting better. Be honest.

[image by: pasukaru76 | cc]

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Structure | Why You Must Love Obscurity

09/05/2013 — Leave a comment

An earlier post I did on loving obscurity, focused on obscurity as a place to get better. Check out “Wine | Why You Must Love Obscurity” here

Not taking advantage of your season of obscurity in pursuing dreams or vision robs you of greater opportunities when the break you hope for comes. Obscurity can be used to enable you and your vision. Don’t moan about what you don’t have. Don’t worry about not having the attention of the world. At least not for now…

One of the reasons there are many “one hit wonders” is because they never thought and planned beyond their possible success. Some things just go viral. They take off at an astronomical pace and they quickly overrun the dreamers and visionaries.

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when you’re out of sight you must be just as driven in building the future for your dream / vision

 

 

There are things I wish would ‘just take off’. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way. Unfortunately there are seasons of obscurity. Think about the Facebook phenomenon. This social network has taken over the world. When you look at such success remember: Facebook was once a college dorm project.

Apple was once a garage project. Nelson Mandela was once a little boy chasing cattle in an obscure Xhosa village, in South Africa. The list goes on… Why is it that some of the huge successes today are still standing. You guessed it: Obscurity.

Obscurity at different stages of the growth of some of the great organizations and dreams we admire, gave them time to get ready for success. Obscurity can help you build a dream and enterprise that will stand strong when success comes. It will guarantee that you don’t become another “one hit wonder”.

Obscurity gives you time to clarify who you are before the world starts asking.

Obscurity gives you time to build structure into your dream or vision. It is a great opportunity to work through how you will manage success. It may be completely different when the break actually does come, but it means that you some sort of structure. A little structure is what separates the one hit wonders from sustained success.

“Slow” allows you build structure to support your success. The pace of success and the excitement of the big break can be so demanding you overlook structure.

Leaders, artists and other dreamers spend a lot of time getting their product right. They focus heavily on perfecting the offering. While this is great, it is incomplete if there is no plan for dealing with success in the development of your “product”.

What structures will you have in place to deliver greater demands for your product when it succeeds? What change will you need to keep out in front for your product or offerings to be scalable? How will you handle your profits or gains? What are you going to do with a greater platform and influence?

Love obscurity, it gives you the opportunity to build structure to sustain your success. It guarantees that you will not be a “one hit wonder”… only if you love and use it before success hits.

 [ image by: MyNameMattersNot | cc ]

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Wine | Why You Must Love Obscurity

07/05/2013 — 1 Comment

I was privileged to be a part of a Backstage Leadership class, where we got to interact with some very great minds and people. Many sessions were very challenging from leaders that had proven themselves. One of the classes I won’t forget in a long time, if at all, was with Jon Acuff.

Jon is a New York Times best-seller author. Among other books he’s written Quitter and his most recent, The Start Book. He shares his story of how he bridged the gap between his dream job and his day job. In the interview we had with Jon and in his book, Quitter, he shares about the importance of the hustle.

He encourages people chasing their dreams to embrace the hustle and, in a nutshell, love the period of obscurity.

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obscurity can enable your dream if you play nicely with him

The truth is most (normal) people want their breaks and they want them now. Leaders want to see the organizations they lead achieve unprecedented success and they want that now.

Obscurity can be a very good thing, if you use it well.

Wine

Jon encouraged staying true to your cause or dream. If your break had to come five years from now, make sure you’re five years better when it comes. It is easy for people to stop working on their dreams because they want the break first. Ironically, the break is often a result of labor in the dark, where no one sees.

Use obscurity to work uninterrupted, far from the crowd, stage and lights, which has its own pressure. Use obscurity as your cover. The days of obscurity are days of getting better.

Love your dream enough to do something about it when you’re your own audience.

Working in the dark, almost undisturbed is where you want to be. That is the perfect place to prove yourself to yourself before going to make any claims to the whole world.

When it is time for performance it is too late for a rehearsal. Flopping a performance you could’ve rehearsed from is the worst give you could ever give yourself. Your credibility is at stake.

Obscurity allows you to build muscle and competency. You will need these for credibility. Your credibly hangs on what you do in obscurity.

If you do the work, when the break comes you will be good for your promises. You will be credible. Fame and credibility will beget more fame and credibility, and more opportunities.

If you’re not focused on getting better and your break comes the result will be a great big fall. Not using obscurity to get better is building your own gallows.

Love your dream enough to love the obscure part of the journey to realizing your dream.

Here’s a follow up post to this one: Structure | Why You Must Love Obscurity

[image by Very Quiet | cc ]

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