The Last Quack

Quote of the Day

"Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them"

- Albert Einstein

Bathtime questions:    
What problem am I solving today?   
Have I found the new way to look at it or am I still thinking about it in the way it was created?

Maybe the Hokey Pokey really IS what its all about

Last week I had the opportunity to be at an employee award event in a professional services firm.   Based on employee nominations, the organization recognized individuals and teams for contributions in categories that comprise the elements of their values.

The nominations written by staff were read aloud by the organizations leader.  These were colorful, passionate statements of appreciation for the people nominated.   In every case they applauded the energy, curiosity, passion, engagement, openeness, respectfullness and humility of the winners.   Lasts year's winner presented each award.

There's a bumper sticker that reads:  

"What if the Hockey Pockey IS what its all about?"  

As we all know the song says... "You put your whole self in" ..."and thats what its all about".  This pretty much sums up each of the award winners contribution.   They put their whole selves in.

 

Bathtime question:

Will you do the Hokey Pokey today?

The gift of stating the obvious

"What I like about my job is sometimes I'm just writing about the obvious.  By doing that, you can touch a lot of people and tell them things that will change their lives, even if its something simple."

  - Jeffrey Zaslow, author, who died in a car accident this week.

Tara Parker-Pope describes the work and writing of Jeffrey Zaslow today in the NY Times in a moving and generous article.  "Life's Frailty, and the Gestures That Go a Long Way"

Jeffrey Zaslow had a gift of seeing things that others were passing by.   To him they were obvious, simple but also profound.   By describing what seemed obvious to him and bringing others to appreciate those things, he moved and inspired his readers.

Sometimes, maybe often, we need a blinding flash of the obvious that is obscured from view.  We need the see-er who can see it and then say it in a way which re-orients us and helps us move forward.   This is a very big small thing and its within the skills of each of us.

 

Bathtime question:

Today, will we see things from a perspective that can help unlock the possibilities for others?    Will we have the courage to offer up the obvious?

Global Export Flows - Displaying Data to Provoke Understanding

What next from Europe?    Will the bailouts work or will the bond market eventually call "uncle"?

I am not in the business of opining on those questions.    But I am interested in seeing both how it unfolds and how it is analyzed.    So the following chart from Chart of the Day from Business Insider is interesting for a couple of reasons:

Firstly, its a good graphic for analyzing the export flows between the four major trading regions of the world.   Its a great analytics example because the data has been pulled from many different sources and arranged in a way which allows it to be understood.

Secondly, it lets you make 'what if' arguments about changes in these flows to develop scenarios for what might happen.

In a world where we are bombarded by data from single sources and not framed and contexted with other data, this is a good example of the sort of frameworks for data display we need to help us make sense of it all.    The Chart of the Day article argues that it supports a certain conclusion.    Without agreeing or disagreeing with them, the point I want to make is that this display can allow for the sort of insightful debate that could have pundits with different views understand their different assumptions and deepen understanding of a complex situation.   Good stuff in so many situations!

 

Bathtime question:

Where could I be integrating data and presenting it in ways that are povocative and help drive debate and understanding?

 

 

New Year's Inspiration

"Do all that you can, with all that you have, in the time that you have, in the place where you are."

- Nkosi Johnson

Bath time question:
How and where will each of us rise to this intention in 2012?

Happy New Year ducklings!

 

 

The Ying and Yang of every job

A new employee for a buisness, a smart recent MBA graduate from a top school, was discussing how the business "works", "what it does", "how it does it".    I was thinking about opportunities for the business and they were, radically different to this industry and businesses ways today but not for other industries.   Our conversation became peppered with "but that's not how we do it" and "but look at what this did for xyz industry when abc did it".

The "Status Quo" perspective was very compelling - the company was more than 100 years old and successful with systems and processes built to do what we do the way we do it.   But so was the "Outside the Box" perspective - two competitors had leap frogged incumbents and gained significant market share do different things and doing things differently when they entered the industry as fresh faced new entrants.

As leaders, managers and change agents I believe we need to live in the Ying and Yang of these apparently opposite perspectives: 

 

Ying: The Status Quo of What and How we Do Things

- Know the status quo, respect it for what it is and see how it is powerful

- Learn how the status quo shapes, and is shaped by, the culture, ways of thinking and implicit reward systems

- Think about what the status quo means for the customer and why many customers like it.  Learn what critical elements of the brand promise it represents

 

Yang: The Out of the Box of What and How others in different industries and businesses Do things

- Look at things that work in different industries and busiensses that are radically different to us

- Learn what these approaches mean for customers and what it meant when they were first introduced

- Play.   Ask "what if we did this....?"    and just for now ignore....."but that's not how we work"

- Think about what the value would be to customers if we did this thing that is radical for this industry or business but the norm for some others

 

Our jobs must include both.    Our organizations need us to see new ways and influence innovation and change at the very same time as we keep the way we do things today humming along.  

The leader who is all Ying and Status Quo brings incremental innovations but seldom discontinuities that transform industries.   The leader who is all Yang and Out of the Box discontinuity, and fails to appreciate the Ying, does little to support today's operations and may make no progress with change.

To succeed in implementing change and transforming organizations we need the subtle alchemy of both perspectives.

Breathe deep!  Be the Ying and the Yang of the Status Quo and Out of the Box thinking!

 

Bath time question:

Today, how will you deepen your understanding and appreciation for the Status Quo and at the same time contemplate Out of the Box things to do and ways for doing things?    How will you develop yourself, your group and your organization to hold these two conflicting perspectives in mind at the same time?

Morning Inspiration

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Winston Churchill

 

Bath time question:

How will we keep our equilibrium today?   What will keep us on the path of the optimist, creating the new reality we see in potential and opportunity?

Morning Inspiration

 

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions"

 - Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

 

 

 

 

Bath time question:   Will you stretch your mind today with a new idea?