People ask for things all the time that they won’t use. Sometimes it’s just an idea that they ask for that they don’t really think through and don’t really intend you to carry out. Sometimes things exist because someone that came before us asked for them. And people no longer use them. Regardless the reason, you should ruthlessly search for…
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Blindspot – Awareness is Enough
What you’re aware of is comforting. And what you’re not aware of is often scary, at first. Say for example you realize that the way you’re managing a team of people isn’t working out. You have a tendency to want to control every minor detail. You might become aware of this problem at some point in time. And you’ll be…
Blind Spot Examples
Follow the instructions for the first image. Note: because your display might render these smaller/larger than mine, you will need to adjust how far your head is from the monitor. What I do is move my laptop/phone closer/further until the blindspot effect kicks in. Now, try the following as well and elephant should disappear at some distance, depending on which…
Solutionism
Have you ever felt excited at the prospect of a new idea? The urge to get started, right away? That’s what solutionism feels like. Solutionism happens when people don’t do due diligence to understand why they’re doing something before they start doing it. The tendency is to jump to solving a problem, before validating that it’s actually a problem. Or to…
Businesses don’t fail
Years ago I often wondered, during downturns with the organization I was working with at the time, if I would show up the next day to find a shuttered office. When things were good this was never on my mind. But during difficult times, I was surprised with the resiliency. In retrospect, I’ve come to realize that external factors don’t…
Addiction is bunk
Quitting anything requires having a reason. But reason is the wrong word because it’s not a rational process that you have to influence, it’s an emotional process. So, by reason I mean feeling. A reason that resonates with you in the moment when you’re about to do whatever it is you want to quit. Smoking, shopping, eating, working late, drugs,…
Influence others by influencing yourself
Last week, someone asked how best to change other people’s future behavior. The important question is, what is your goal in changing someone else? Often, we can change ourselves faster than anyone else. For example, if you have a way of working that gives you confidence in a successful outcome, you might be inclined to get other people to do…
How to motivate people
The real challenge isn’t motivation, it’s dissuasion. Discouragement is a pernicious saboteur. It only takes one ill-advised remark to dismantle years of enthusiasm. This is most likely to come out of your mouth when something goes wrong. And you’re not likely to notice what you said either, in fact you’ll probably feel justified. For example, say your company conducts surveys…
The one thing you need to do to give better feedback
If you’re interested in leveraging feedback to build people up, you can learn more by joining me on Thursday, November 12th at 10 AM Eastern for a webinar on “A new way to look at feedback.” Webinar details and signup are available here.