You Can't Lift Up by Putting Down

Surely or hopefully it makes sense to accept that you cannot lift someone up by putting them down.

Unfortunate as it is, there are people who believe that the intellectual "put-down" is the most effective method to motivate. These are the self aggrandizing individuals that likely consider themselves to be a hammer. When you think you are a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.

Consider for a moment the most valuable aspect of the hammer and nail relationship. The hammer is used to place the nail in the desired location. When placed properly, the nail holds things together. There are a lot of things that will work as a substitute for a hammer; a rock, a shoe, a pair of big pliers.  Hardly anything can sufficiently replace a nail. The nail, with its very specific characteristics, is basically irreplacable. Nails are tough, but if you hammer too hard on a nail it might bend. A hammer without a nail, has little value and a bent nail will not work properly. Even if you are able to straighten the nail out, the place where the bend occurred is weakened, forever.

People that "put-down" attempt to ingratiate themselves to leaders and peers by believing there is great intellect demonstrated by criticizing folks and ideas that are not their own. These people really do not care how much damage they do to others, they are all about themselves. Hurting anyone in order to help yourself is not smart at all and will not, in the long run, pay dividends.

Professor Teresa Amabile of the Harvard Business School published an experiment entitled "Brilliant but Cruel". Her findings showed that people who gave negative book reviews were perceived as less likable but more intelligent, competent and expert than people who wrote positive reviews of the same books. She summarized he findings by stating: "Only pessimism sounds profound. Optimism sounds superficial".

Criticism cuts to the bone, but sincere and truthful encouragement heads straight to the heart and the heart is where true motivation is found. The heart is where change takes place. When you approach any situation with a sincere desire to make a positive contribution you will find a way to make a valid point without damaging the folks you are working with and in doing so, you will improve your own status and deservedly feel better about yourself.

Hope This Doesn't Hurt

I sure hope this doesn't hurt too much, but it ain't about you, nor is it about me!

(I am going to have to use I far too often in this piece because I will be using personal experience to make the point I want to make.) 

Guess by now you have all heard that there is no I in Team. That is because there isn't an I in Team and for very good reason. No person is an "I" island.

I learned this important lesson the hard way. More accurately, the importance of "I", was taught to me in what I like to characterize as an overly harsh and stunningly blunt manner. 

After several years at a my first profession and one that would last for over 35 years, I decided to take my first vacation. 

My clients and the business would be placed in grave danger. 

You see I was the only self serving person I knew that could handle my clients and additionally, keep the sales team together. No one in the history of this 100 year old business was as, or had ever been, as capable as I was in preforming these mission critical functions. I handled my clients better than they had ever been handled and my voluntary and selfish absence, although it would be for only a week, might create panic amongst my clients and prove fatal to the business. 

Without my daily leadership, my clients would fail to breathe and the sales team would likely disintegrate or at the very least be severely damaged and beaten back to the point of stone age mentality. When I returned we just might have to start over. Talking a much deserved and needed vacation might just end the professional world as I knew it! The risk I was taking was almost beyond description. 

Independent of these very real "I" dangers, I took my first vacation. 

When I got back from my first vacation,  I was shocked to find everyone still working and the business seemed normal. My client's welcomed me back but not one of them had any horror stories abut how they were mistreated or how lost they felt without my irreplaceable involvement. 

The sales team, and in fact the entire business, was humming right along as if I had never left. Imagine how I felt. I simply could not believe what I was seeing. I was stunned. 

I didn't even have any "While You Were Out" calls to return. 

Thankfully, that is the day that I learned; it ain't about me. It is about the business and the team. But more importantly, it is all about the clients. The business is bigger than everybody including me or "I", as I liked to put it! 

Fortunately, and with our any fanfare, I humbly accepted that it had never been about me, it had rightful been about we! 

Think Big Act Small - Just Like Babies

If you can change, you can (Fill in this bank).
Babies do.

Most people don't like to think about change. Change is often terrifying to many people, largely because they are afraid of the uncertainty of the outcome. How and how much things and people will be different after the change takes place causes deep consternation amongst most of us.  The reality is that change is taking place all of the time and the best way to make to most of change is to be proactive. Babies don't fear change. Babies predictibally react adversely to a change in routine, but they don't consciously fear it.

Thoughtful, positive change is the absolutely best method for ensuring a greater level of accomplishment. You can either be proactive in changing or you can react. Change is going to take place so you might as well buckle down and start making changes that benefit you and the folks you are working with. You can either make the decision to change by thinking big and acting small or you can let other people make those decisions for you. Either way, you are going to change. Babies do.

Think big and act small. Think about how big of a change you are going to make and then start by acting small and make initial progress one step at a time. Once you have created some momentum you can occasionally take some bigger steps and even tie a few steps together. Babies are like that. They learn a few things and then WOW they make huge intellectual leaps! Babies don't know they are growing they just grow. Babies grow because it is the natural thing to do. Babies learn to walk by falling down, naturally. Change can become a natural occurrence for you, if you are proactive.

So, keep in mind that as you change and move toward the desired outcome you are going to fall down. Individually or collectively we all fall down. Get up. Small steps with a big goal is how you change. Think big and act small, just like babies.

The Buck Starts Here

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States had a sign on his desk that read: "The Buck Stops Here". There was no mistake who was in charge, who would make the final decision or who would take ultimate responsibility should things go right or wrong during his administration.

Okay, now we know where the buck stops. But where does the buck start?

If you are in a revenue generation capacity and everyone in business is either directly or indirectly serving in that capacity, then we must accept that revenue generation is our responsibility. The Buck Starts With Us and those around us.

Before the buck can make its way into your pocket, it has to start somewhere and typically that beginning is centered in the mind of someone who has a great idea that can be executed well and satisfy a need.

After the great idea is adopted, the bucks necessary to make it a reality take a fairly predictable path. The buck moves from the conceptual stage, then to the number-crunching stage, then to the planning stage, on to production, to marketing and then to the selling stage and then to the collecting stage, then and only then, to the pockets of everyone involved.

The number of bucks you get is determined by the level of involvement you have in the process. If you want to make more bucks, get more involved. Your involvement may manifest in many ways including: the person who had the idea, the person who improved the idea, the individual involved in the planning or the processing, or the production, marketing, selling or the collecting. Your level of productive involvement may not result in immediate monetary gains, but the knowledge you gained by making your contribution will ultimately lead to increased earning opportunities resulting in more bucks for you!

You are either directly involved in generating bucks or you are directly involved in making designed efficiencies work, resulting in saving bucks. With either scenario, you are involved
in the ownership of making the company work better and make more bucks. The Buck has to start somewhere and it might as well start with you and everyone around you.

You Are Going to Have to Separate Yourself

Harry's makes disposable razors and there is absolutely nothing unique about that. There are literally hundreds
of companies manufacturing and selling razors all across the globe.

Harry's is a rather new business that has deliberately and strategically decided to get into a very old business.

Long before razors were an option, sea shells were often used to remove facial hair. Sometime around 3000 BC tools made from copper were developed along with razors that were made from this very pliable material. Back in the heyday of Alexander the Great old Alex used to encourage his soldiers to shave before a battle, as the enemy was likely to grab the beard of his opponent during combat.

Razors have been with us a very long time and Harry's is betting the future is bright. Especially with a their new idea crafted from someone else's extremely old idea.

Harry's did not invent the razor. Nor did Harry's enter the shaving market because there was a shortage of very good razors to choose from. In fact it is just the opposite. There are literally hundreds of razors on the market, many of them are very good and they keep getting better.

So why did Harry's introduce a new razor in an already congested market space? Because Harry's had a better idea or more specifically a unique value proposition that was easy to share.

Harry's bought their own German steel company. They say they build razors out of respect for quality craftsmanship, simple design, modern convenience (they ship directly to your door on a pre-determined schedule) and last but not least, costs. They also build razors to make money. In establishing their UVP ( Unique Value Proposition) Harry's has separated themselves from many other businesses that do the exact same thing, almost.

You don't have to have a revolutionary idea in order to separate yourself from the herd, but you must separate yourself from the heard. The path that should probably be pursued, is the path that someone else has already walked down. You need not come up with the original idea in order to make a difference, simply come up with a better way of doing what is already being done.

Businesses and individually need to separate from the crowd by determining what makes them different and then tell people, over and over again why that difference matters.

The Stickiness of Consistency

Sue Patrick is the model of consistency.

Sue Patrick is the owner of Sue Patrick's Store in Austin, Texas and she carries a vast array of really cool items including an extensive selection of high quality women's wear and accessories.  Her store is also the home to an incredible selection of Texas Longhorn stuff. So it is a "burnt orange wonderland on steroids" for Longhorn fans like me.

How do I know all of this? Because one of the consistent visual impressions that Sue Patrick employs, to promote her store and all of the really great items, is her advertising that appears, in full color,  on the pages of The Austin American Statesman. The "small-space" ad appears so often, it is as if it is an every day occurrence. And it may be. I have not taken the time to count the days of the week that I see her ad, but I read The Statesman every day, and it seems that her ad is in every edition!

What Sue has accomplished with her consistency is a level of branding that is only achieved through showing up in a place where her best potential customers congregate. The pages of The Statesman!

This is not about newspaper advertising, rather it is all about consistency. The Sue Patrick example is a powerful statement about the "stickiness of consistency" and the strength therein.

The value of consistency cannot be over stated. When you become consistent at anything the people you are associating with begin to count on your predictable behavior. The outcome of the collective actions may yet be in question, but your contribution, based on what people have come to expect because of your consistency, is not the question.

Conversely some people are consistently inconsistent and have become known for this unpredictability. This causes a great deal of doubt regarding the worth of their contribution. Knowing what to expect from people and knowing what not to expect from people provides a clearer path towards the goal. Becoming and remaining productively consistent is one of the most important attributes you can have.

Please Dispose of Properly and Promptly

Seems that at one time or another we are all prone to hang onto things that have outlived their value of relative contribution. Perhaps it is sentimental reasons or we feel that the thing we are holding on to will resurrect into something that will make a meaningful contribution.

Golf clubs are that way. Every golfer worth their equipment-investment-salt has several golf clubs that are not in use but they hold onto them and naively believe that one day, a great golf light will shine and illuminate the true value of these relics.

Computer equipment is very much the same. Almost every business has, in a storeroom or closet, the following: old computers, monitors, printers, keyboards and cables that they look at with an investment eye, when the reality is that these items are essentially worthless, as time and technology have passed them by.

For some illogical reason the golfers can't bring themselves to discard the old clubs and the business person can't watch as old computer equipment is hauled away. The emotional separation is just too painful.

Holding on too long, for the wrong reason, is never a good idea. The best plans are more often than not altered and when that happens you may be faced with discarding something that previously held value. Change is unavoidable and allowing yourself to be flexible and focused will aid considerably in your quest to accomplish the tasks at hand. Change may render something obsolete that you or others sincerely believe is something you can't do without. Typically a closer evaluation, from a distance, will help you make the right decision. If you are too close to the forest, it is often said, you may not see the trees.

We all make a way, eventually. The end result may or may not be as initially intended but you can be better prepared emotionally to adapt if you understand that value attached to certain components may well decrease. Should that happen it is a good idea to let it go and make a way.

But do not act in haste. You must make sure that the time to discard has come or you may experience a less than desired outcome or even worse, an outcome that is counterproductive. Look before you leap into the discard bin.