All tagged Visions and Missions

Cultivating A Pace That Matters

There’s an excitement when we’re running at full tilt that’s hard to replicate. It’s as if every fiber of our being is alive and tingling, as we work towards a specific goal.

Certainly there’s a sense of risk (you might even call it fear) but it’s one that pushes us to stay on our toes, alert and focused. We’re geared to execute carefully, we’re mindful of staying agile as we do so, and we’re entirely focused on results.

Yves Chouinard: Values In Practice

Like most folks, I was floored this week when I heard the news that Yvon Chouinard, the 83 year old founder of the outdoor apparel maker, Patagonia, was going to give away his company, instead of selling it or taking it public.

Specifically, ownership of the $3 Billion company (that generates $1 billion in revenues and $100 million in profits every year) would be transferred to a specially designed trust and nonprofit organization…

The Courage Of Our Convictions

One of the hardest but most valuable abilities we can develop is the ability to maintain strength in our convictions, our beliefs and our vision. This is true in all walks of life, but particularly so where you’ve been tasked with achieving a specific objective or leading a team towards a particular end goal.

In that quest, you are called upon to define the specific path, chart out how best to navigate it, and then, as you embark on the journey, bring others with you.

Why We Get Worked Up About Competition

I have this hypothesis that we get more worried about the competition when we’re not actually focused on being something.

What I mean by that is that, when our business or product doesn’t have a defined mission or overarching goal, when we’re not focused on moving towards becoming, then we tend to become fixated on what others in our space are doing.

Cultures Don't Get Created Overnight

Culture isn’t created overnight. You can’t mandate it.

You also can’t leave it be and assume a positive productive culture will create itself.

Culture needs to be defined and cultivated, which means a few things:

It has to be intentional. It requires a clear definition i.e. we need to be clear as to what we want it to be.

It has to be actively pursued - we need to have a plan to cultivate it.

I Don't Know

You don’t need to have all of the answers. I don’t know how to get there is actually fine as a response.

As leaders, though, we think that isn’t an option. We think we need to know exactly the way there.

But the reality is we won’t - not all the time anyway, and certainly not when it comes to big ticket changes that we’re putting in play.

These Are Not The Slots You're Looking For

When I started in Management Consulting, everyone wanted to do “Strategy” work. Strategy was sexy. It was glamorous. It was something to brag about. Newly minted Analysts and Associates would jostle for pole position to be part of those teams.

And make no mistake, Strategy work was interesting and fun. But, for the most part, that wasn’t what paid the bills.

Signal-to-Noise Ratio In Our Lives

The Signal-to-noise ratio measures the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. It’s commonly used in science and engineering applications but, of course, it has as much application in our professional and personal worlds, metaphorically speaking anyway.

When someone close to us emotionally recounts a personal situation and demands that we get involved and do something about it - and we do.

Matters of Culture

One of the hardest things to get our heads around is this idea of culture, and specifically, cultural fit, in terms of people we work with.

We’re well versed in assessing technical capabilities and the “how” we do the work that we do. You need to have these specific qualifications or you need to show those particular process skills, or you need to demonstrate that you’ve delivered on that defined platform in your prior experiences. All defined, all measurable, all tangible.