1% Vision and 99% . . . .
It's not hard work.It's not a tribe of mentors.It's not a monthly subscription to Harvard Business Review or a bank account flush with cash.It's not a Ph.D., it's not a good night's sleep, and it's definitely not the new Bowflex you just bought.You've heard that it's 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, but the amount of hours you're putting in isn't as important . . .It's alignment.Are your behaviors aligned with your vision?Is your team aligned with where you're going?You can work hard for 40 years, but if you're pointed in the wrong direction, the distance you've traveled means nothing.So have your vision and commit to the work, but don't forget to align your values and behaviors to the outcome.
2 Minute Action:
Where would you like to be in 5 years?Be specific. Car, house, job, title, salary, partner, teammates.How much do you travel? Where do you go? Who do you see? What do you say?Are you pointed in this direction? What is misaligned?What habits will you have to kick? Which ones will you have to start?Can you do it all at once? Which one is most important?Can you live with yourself for not doing it all at once?It's up to you how you get through this, but your brain has a lot of power over how you frame all of this.Remember that big, hairy, audacious goals are always made up of lots of small, actionable things."A year from now, you'll wish you had started today." - Karen LambCrush it, today.
Stop Praising Steve Jobs
If you think that productivity means getting the most out of your employees, you're not wrong.If you think that berating, intimidating, or insulting employees is the best way to motivate them to achieve their highest output, you're just a jerk.Steve Jobs is hailed as a visionary, (saw an amazing future of technology) a martyr, (he was booted from his own company) and an innovator (he invented the smartphone as we know it).What we fail to ask is: could he have been these things AND courteous to others?It's really up to you if you believe one precludes the other.
2 Minute Action
- Write a card for an employee whose partner was just in a car accident.
- Send a text message to a teammate who is off-site, about to give a big presentation.
- Leave a post-it note on a colleague's desk to let them know you saw their sales report and that it was killer.
The more we are randomly kind to each other, the more we create the kind of community that can do great things.It's not just Steve Jobs who innovated, it was Wozniak and their entire team.Don't forget that.Go forth and do good, today.