Considering the possible alongside the impossible is one of the joyful dichotomies in product development. The excitement bubbles over when you begin to consider, and help others consider, what it would take to remove those two tiny letters, “im”, from the latter. Put another way it’s the commitment of individuals – I am (I’m) going to remove them, and help others do the same.
Yesterday, I had dinner with my college friend, Chris. I hadn’t seen him in 10 years! He’s now at Carnegie Hall working on the international education exchange program. And along the way we have both become interested in technology as a way to communicate art, and we got into a long discussion about vision and funding, whether that funding comes from donors for a nonprofit or from sales and investors for a for-profit company. Money can and often in time does follow vision. The opposite does not work. No leader can gain vision by having funding, and any leader who thinks (s)he can or should progress in that order is setting himself / herself up for a rude awakening.
And yet, it happens all the time. Organizations lose their way. Companies forget their core customer or core competency in favor of some hot trend or a fervent desire to just grow and make as much money as possible. It might work in the short-term; in the long-run failure is nearly certain. In the case of vision, an ounce of prevention is worth a least a pound of cure. So how do we, as individuals and as organizations, stay true to who we are and keep our vision front and center?
I have a few ways that I maintain my vision for my life. I have the great gift of being able to delude myself for a very short period of time (about 60 seconds several times per year). On occasion, I take a minute (literally) and imagine what I’d like to be doing, right now, if money didn’t matter. If I’m doing something radically different, chances are I’m on the wrong track. My writing helps – in print, it’s much harder to lie to yourself. We have this built-in filter that does not allow us to put falsehoods to paper without feeling really awful about ourselves. I also consider my level of sleepiness. While most people may consider their sound sleep to be a good sign, if I’m feeling worn out at the end of the day, sleeping dead to the world, something is terribly wrong. If I’m energized and ready to go 20 hours a day, then I know good stuff is happening.
And in recent months, I have thought a lot about one other remedy. I am still mourning the loss of Tim Russert, especially as this election grows closer and closer. I still flip on the Today Show and expect him to be there guiding us, coaching us along. And the sentiment that everyday he woke up as if he’d just won the lottery sticks with me. I think about people like Tim, people I admire and look up to, and consider whether or not I’d be proud to tell them what I’m doing with my days if I ever had the chance to meet them. In short, I’m trying to win the lottery of life everyday, and trying to take as many others with me as possible. That’s my vision.
Category: career
Survive and Thrive
I woke up this morning wholly unemployed. Sort of. I’m being paid through Thursday, which I greatly appreciate, though I’m not actually going to work. Yesterday was my last day in the office. My suspicion is that my access to information because of who I worked for is too much for some peoples’ comfort. And that’s okay; I get it. I’m very grateful to have a few free days before my new job begins on Monday, particularly because I’m being paid, so we all came out ahead by me leaving before my time was scheduled to be up. A win-win all around.
The day was anti-climactic. I’ve cried every single time I’ve left a job. If not at my good-bye party, then certainly afterwards by myself or with friends at the after-party. This time – no party, no fanfare, no tears. Maybe I’m growing up. Or maybe there are times when a change occurs that is so obviously a good move that there isn’t any way for sadness to be a part of the shift. I wished them well, they wished me well, and off I went. It was a departure entirely free of drama.
There are two main lessons that I received in this experience and that I fully realized as I was driving that long, slow drive home for the last time. No matter what kind of business, the products or services that are sold, big or small company, the single defining determinant of success is leadership at the very top. Without it, truly nothing else matters. Nothing. As if CEOs needed any more pressure on them. Sorry CEOs – that’s why you get paid the big bucks.
I realized the other insight as I crossed over the border to NY, looking out along the skyline sparkling in the cool, unseasonal sunshine. A few hours earlier, there was a storm that seemed almost apocalyptic in nature. The sky was practically black at 11am. My friend, Richard, said it was Heaven’s way of washing away this experience in favor of the new adventure I am about to take. I agree with him. I also think the weather today, its vascillation between storm and sun, was very much a reflection of two pivotal professional experiences I’ve had – one in 2000 and one now, 8 years later.
The storm: In 2000 I worked for a woman named Charlotte Wilcox, a crusty broad who didn’t let anyone push her around, ever. If she was involved in a show, there was no question who was the top dog. She was hard on herself and hard on her staff, especially me. She taught me how to survive in business – it wasn’t a pleasant experience, in the same way that a root canal isn’t pleasant, but the lessons she taught me about follow-through and work ethic, your own and that of your boss, have been absolutely critical to my success. She told me that the great problem with my generation is that we have no follow-through and that I should never, ever, under any circumstance, work harder than the person signing my paycheck. And if I ever get the opportunity to sign paychecks, I better remember that I need to work harder than anyone I pay. As a result, I am conscious to ask more of myself than I ever ask of anyone else and I follow-through, always.
The sun: Bob, my most recent boss, taught me a very different lesson. He was what I think of as the anti-Charlotte. I spent a mostly joyful year, a bit more, working for him. I learned and read and reasoned and tried my best to offer insight, advice, and counsel. And 99% of the time I was greeted with gratitude to an embarrassing degree by everyone I came into contact with on a variety of projects. I worked very hard to be valuable and helpful whenever and wherever I could. In short, Bob taught me how to thrive – how to use my very best strengths to make a difference, and for that lesson I am most grateful.
In the end, I think all of life, and most particularly our professional lives, comes down to those two basic blocks: surviving and thriving. The rest is all decoration.
Image above can be found at https://middleloup.unl.edu/zen/images/SST%20Cover.jpg
Shelby Lynne
Nearly all of my new music recommendations come from my friend, Ken. He always knows what’s new and understands my taste in music exactly. A few months ago, he introduced me to Shelby Lynne and I’ve been listening to her recent album that is a tribute to Dusty Springfield. Lynne was on CBS Sunday Morning this morning, and showed a much different personality than her sultry voice lets on.
She describes herself as a Hell Cat, someone who doesn’t like rules and doesn’t like people who like rules. Now, I like her music even more. She turned away from a big deal music career in Nashville to build her own road on her own terms. When I was a kid, my mom described me as “hell on wheels”. I’m not exactly sure what that means – maybe that I used to raise hell and then run away really fast. It seems that Shelby Lynne and I both have spicy personalities, and neither of us would have it any other way.
As general rule, I like risk takers who bet on themselves more than they bet on someone else. There’s a certain independence and confidence in those people that I greatly admire. A friend recently told me about her fear that she has no ability to take a risk – twice she has turned down professional moves to companies that eventually went public providing the partners with million of dollars each and the opportunity to do ground-breaking work. Now she’s worried those chances have passed her by. I hope that’s not true and it was a good lesson for me.
Life waits for no one so if you have something you want to do and something you want to say, it would be wise to do and say it now. There’s no rewind or pause button on the world. And if you need some inspiration or a soundtrack for your journey, I’d recommend that Shelby Lynne album.
What bird are you?
My friend, Alex, recently had a company off-site where they evaluated their personality types in an effort to work better as a team. They took a relationship assessment that I had never heard of. Tony Alessandra developed an assessment related to birds that describes four common personality types:
The Dove: Relationship-Oriented
The Owl: Detail-Oriented
The Eagle: Results-Oriented
The Peacock: Socially-Oriented
I may have a predisposition to these type of exams because my father was a clinical psychologist and used to administer them. Alessandra’s main point is that communication type, and knowing which one you are, can make all the difference in your career progression. Of course there are always hybrids – my friend, Alex, is a pea-gle – a combo peacock and eagle. My conundrum is always that I think I have elements of each type. I strive to be relationship, detail, results, and and socially-oriented. So what do I do? How can I learn how best to work with people if I am very honestly a complete chameleon?
On the one hand, I could be the perfect partner – able to work with anyone. And conversely, I could be in a tough situation because I may never be quite certain that I am being true to myself, mostly because I have the ability to adapt almost to a fault. My challenge will be identifying which of these relationship types is the one which plays most to my strengths, and perhaps which one leaves me the most energized and effective. I envy those who easily fall into one bucket or another. My path is more a long and winding road.
Spinning the web: Making the most of the final two weeks at a job
I never expected that anyone would much care that I was leaving my current job for a new opportunity. I figured people would pat me on the shoulder, wish me luck on my new adventure, and send me on my way. Just the opposite. People have gone out of their way to connect, to learn about my new job, and to make sure that they have my personal contact info correct so we can stay in touch. And these aren’t just my friends from work, but senior people whom I greatly respect and admire. It is nothing short of flattering. Of course, there are a few odd responses – people who have written me off before I’m out the door and those who have even chosen to ignore me altogether – but those are the very small minority and are people I never hoped to stay in touch with going forward.
While I have sometimes dreaded winding down my time at a job, and know many others who have had similar experiences, this time around I am glad to have over a week remaining. Closing these loops and ensuring their long-term stability are important. I now understand how professional networks and webs are built, and absolutely see that they are at least as valuable, if not more so, than the actual experience from a job. These days, everything seems to be about relationships.
The dawning of the age of social networking tools also eases the sting of leaving a job. I am a self-admitted sap. I think I’ve cried every time I’ve left a job. Though this time with these new tools at my disposal, it is easy to see that the many wonderful people I have worked alongside of will be in my life for years to come. It’s not a “good-bye”, but a “see you around the bend”. All the more reason to make sure those bridges remain whole and intact.
Randy Pausch
A few months ago, I wrote a post about Randy Pausch after seeing The Last Lecture on YouTube. I followed his blog, read his book, and thought a lot about my childhood dreams. At 47, Randy passed away on Friday leaving us inspired to have as much courage to live our dreams as he did living his. Even as he was dying from pancreatic cancer, he was still having a blast, still living out dreams.
As adults we sometimes forget about those dreams we has as children. We become too realistic, too practical. We box up our dreams, tape that box shut, and shelve it under the title “nostalgia”. We can lose sight of ourselves, living out lives that we never intended to have. Who we really are is housed in that little box, and it’s worth re-opening.
One New Year’s Eve, I made a little list of the dreams I had for myself. I’ve lost track of the paper in all of my moves but I remember some of the dreams I had. Of the 7 I can remember, I’ve done 3, and I’m working on a 4th:
To travel to a foreign country
To go on an archeological dig
To be fluent in a second language
To make an artistic contribution to a film
To go on a safari in Africa
To publish a book of my own writing
To run a marathon
A lot left to do, and I need some new dreams, too. It’s easy to let a list like this fall by the wayside because we’re too busy, too consumed with being an adult to remember how to dream like a kid. The greatest thing that Randy Pausch taught me is that it’s possible to do both at the same time. He had a career, a family, and many demands on his time. And he still made it a focus of his life to live those childhood dreams with equal parts of gusto and grace. He knew what he wanted and he went after it.
For sure, his life was cut short. With his imagination and talents, he would have been able to usher in more sweeping advances in our technological world. He still had so much to teach us. The best way to honor him and the incredible life he lived is take that box of dreams down from the shelf, dust it off, and rediscover ourselves. At the very least, it’s worth the trip down memory lane, and we may just find a new road take.
Advice for Young People in Tough Economic Times
Money concerns and economic worries are top of mind for nearly everyone in my life at the moment. Front page news, top of the evening nightly news broadcasts, and the subject of blog post after blog post. As an econ major and MBA, I’m fascinated by the psychology of money and it’s ability to shape the quality of our lives just by the very perception we have of it. Feelings and emotions move markets at a mad pace.
For young people, these tough economic times are particularly worrisome. High debt from school, fewer job prospects, trepidation about their very lengthy futures. It can be discouraging, though I think there is reason for hope. This week, CNN Money offered up advice from a variety of people from money managers to authors. I didn’t agree with all of the advice, but wanted to add my own anecdote and advice about money in the hopes that it’s helpful in these troubled times.
1.) Regardless of the economic situations, there are jobs out there for people who are diligent, ambitious, and optimistic. In a bad economy, many people assume they can’t find a job and don’t even bother to look. Take advantage of that and cast a wide net.
2.) Use new technology to control your spending, especially on your credit cards. Sites like Mint.com and AmericanExpress.com offer text messaging and emails of balances to help you keep tabs of where you are in your spending so you aren’t surprised at the end of the month when you receive your bills. American Express also offers a myriad of on-line consumer resources with tips and advice to help you manage your financial life.
3.) Stay diversified – and not just in your portfolio, but in your career, too! Most people I know work hard at their day job without having anything other source of income. As you get further in your career, think about how your skills can be utilized in a freelance capacity that you enjoy. It gives you extra money to sock away when times get tough or unexpected expenses arise (case in point – my recent car troubles), you’ll be more in control of your career and finances as opposed to the company you work for having all of that control, you’ll build your network, and if you are the subject of a layoff, cut in salary, etc. during a downturn in the economy, you’ll have a bit of a cushion to tide you through a job search or switch. You’re the CEO of your career – make sure you’re watching out for it.
Would welcome any comments an other suggestions. Times like this require group action and efforts – a rising tide lifts all boats.
The picture of above is from http://smallbiztechnology.com/media/money-coins.jpg
Finding Purpose in Africa
Running off to the developing world to make a difference and contribute to humanity used to be the realm of young college graduates. Now, more and more professionals, solo or with family in tow, are finding themselves drawn to areas of the world where they can see the direct impact of their work improving the lot of those who cannot improve the quality of life on their own.
This week, USA Today ran an article about Americans finding purpose in Africa, specifically Rwanda. For me, that country conjures up images of the gentle mountain gorillas juxtaposed to the images from CNN and MSNBC of the brutal genocide that the country endured. Today, there are ex-pats living and working Rwanda who think that the country is poised to be the next Singapore. After years of unrest and violence beyond measure, the country is fighting its way back to peace and prosperity. And Americans looking for purpose are flocking to lend their expertise, time, and energy. And while Rwandans are reaping the benefits of lower infant mortality, higher education rates, and greater economic opportunities, Americans are gaining a sense of self and purpose, empathy, acceptance, and faith in the goodness that we can create for one another.
As someone who’s always thought that my time for the Peace Corp had passed me by, this article left me encouraged by all of the future opportunities that exist for me to lend a hand, my heart, and my spirit.
Working alone, together
With the ever rising cost of commuting and increased pressures on our time, more and more companies are open to team members spending one or more days per week at home. I’m very lucky to have this type of deal – whenever we have a half day at work, I work from home provided there isn’t some pressing reason that I must be in the office. I’ve often spent that time at home, alone, in my studio apartment in front of my laptop.
Recently, I’ve found myself seeking outdoor areas, cafes, even the occasional bar (only after 12 noon of course) that lets me set up shop. At first, my motivation was that a new setting would inspire some creativity, would afford me a different outlook. Then, I chalked it up to craving the nice weather or air conditioning. After a conversation with my friend, Moya, I know what’s going on. I want to work independently, but I also want to feel some sense of community while I work. Luckily, I am not alone in this pursuit.
Last week, the New York Times ran an article entitled “Working Alone in a Group”. It spelled out this situation of telecommuters – grateful for the opportunity to not have to commute to work, but wanting a space other than home to get their jobs done. Telecommuters want a little company, a wi-fi connection, and a comfy chair. They don’t want distractions. And they’re willing to pay a little for it. The article provides a website that allows you to search for co-working spaces by zip code.
The article goes on to detail a couple of the key areas in the Bay Area that offer this type of space, and then notes that what it all comes down to is moderating the distraction level. I think there’s something more though – having other people around us, even if we interact with them minimally, drives our creative pursuits. We are social beings, and while we may enjoy some degree of solitude, we also need to balance that solitude with a sense of community. Give this idea a couple years, and we’ll see co-working spaces popping up in every neighborhood.
Innovation is an investment, not a cost, not a luxury
In case no one else has told you, the sky is falling. According to an article in the New York Times today, we’re going to hell in a hand basket, at least for the time being. This puts people like me who work in the innovation field into a bit of a bind. I whole-heartedly support (actually vehemently encourage) employers to consider how and how much each member of a team adds value. I’ve seen too many companies burn money in the street because they’re uncomfortable with asking every team member to articulate how they add value. And companies are worse off for it.
What I do object to is the idea that areas such as innovation, product development, and research are luxuries. Prada shoes are a luxury. Gourmet meals at 5-star restaurants are luxuries. Innovation, product development, and research are a company’s lifeline to the future.
Paull Young from Converseon sent me a blog post yesterday that is so good, I have to pass it on. http://bankervision.typepad.com/bankervision/2008/06/innovation-is-a-luxury.html
In the post, James Gardner, who works in innovation at a UK bank, talks about the five ways that innovators within companies add value. And suggests that if we wants to preserve our place within our companies, we should develop each of these five areas: invention, influence, entrepreneurship, thought leadership, and sponsorship.
The trouble I see is that areas like innovation are viewed purely as a cost – a nice to have if you can get it for $0. Bad idea. Innovation is an investment. Over time, it generates cash flow and does wonders for getting the best and brightest minds to beat down your door to play a part. And with tough times ahead, that talent is the only way a company is going to save itself from going under.
Picture above can be found at: http://www.aqua-aerobic.com/images/aquaology_innovation.jpg
Christa Avampato 