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by Rick Baker
On Feb 14, 2017
Sometimes...
Every action, taken on it's own, seems right and feels right.
Yet, when you add all the actions altogether you do not get the result you desired and things no longer feel right or seem right.
That, in a nutshell, is the it-ain't-broken-but-it's-broken problem.
This it-ain't-broken-but-it's-broken problem exists because:
- The rules are not clear or not enforced,
- The goals all are either non-existent or ambiguous, and
- The consequences for failure are either not clear or not taken seriously.
Don't be distracted or dissuaded by that saying, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it".
Sometimes appearances are deceiving. Sometimes actions appear to be done to perfection and yet the desired results do not follow. Sometimes actions are done to perfection and they never had a chance to succeed because they were not the right actions.
And, sometimes, whether things are broken or not, we just know it's broken.
That's the beauty of intuition and the value of gut feel.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 13, 2017
Subtitle: Death by hyperbolic hyperbolas of hyperbole
When I was a child, the adults in our neighbourhood had a habit of stopping me and asking me to answer math questions. As one example, they would hold out a hand, open it to show a bunch of coins, and ask me how much money was in the hand. I would provide the answers. Then, they would smile at me, congratulate me, tousle my hair, put their money into their pockets and walk away. When I was about 6 years old, after it was crystal clear none of them were ever going to give me any of their money, I concluded none of the adults in our subdivision knew how to count their money. I brought that to my parents' attention. My parents told me the neighbourhood adults did understand basic math and went on to explain I possessed a bit more math skills than the other kids in our neighbourhood and the adults got some sort of kick out of it. With that new perspective, an idea hit me. I asked my parents if they would show me their coins, which they did. I added up my parents' coins, gave them the accurate totals and, much to my surprise, they too smiled, congratulated me, tousled my hair, put their coins back into their pockets and walked away. That was my early exposure to zero-sum gaming. And, perhaps, in some puzzling way, that story of my early math experiences has something to do with the point of the little tirade to follow.
Regardless...
Later in life I found myself answering math questions during university level exams. I wrote dozens of those exams. So I now understand, somehow, at an early age I developed a habit of knowing how to answer math questions. Math habits have persisted.
And, my modest but persistent knowledge of math has produced a few side-effects.
One side-effect is, when people make claims like they are doing things beyond 100% it catches my attention and my thoughts. I have thoughts like, "Don't these people know when you've got 100% you've got it all & when you've given 100% you've given it all?"
Giving 100% is superlative-enough territory...I mean...that's all the way...that's the limit of your giving.
Giving more than 100% - well, that's defying the laws of at least mathematics...probably, the laws of physics...and possibly even the Laws of Nature.
How can you trust a person who makes claims like, "Boss - I'm giving 110%!"?
Some people go even farther. You often hear people talking about their 150% performances and you hear a small but noticeable group of people, apparently of boundless ability, making performance claims at preposterous levels such as 1000%.
Don't ya think these people are going overboard?...I mean, being excessive?...being exorbitant?...really going overboard?...over-killing things...and beating them to death too?...I mean, really, really, really going overboard...with those hyperbolic hyperbolas of hyperbole?
by Rick Baker
On Feb 9, 2017
Human beings are easily influenced during their early, developmental years. We are totally dependent on others for quite some time. That’s a fact of life. During our years of infancy, we develop deep and long-lasting relationships with people, many of whom:
- do not have life philosophies or
- have adopted more-or-less by accident the life philosophies of others or
- emulate bits and pieces of the life philosophies of heroes or
- have a fuzzy life philosophy backed by a few good sayings borrowed from others or ancient wisdom.
'Other people' includes parents, siblings, grandparents, kith, and kin. Next, 'other people' includes a variety of relationships with a range of people outside the family and near-neighbours: church people, store people, people who visit parks and playgrounds, caregivers, teachers, figures of other authorities, etc.
During our years of infancy we experience incredible growth, much of it visible to others and even more of it happening beyond visibility. We learn about others. We learn about self. Our learning is rudimentary, practical, and critical. We learn about mothers' smiles. We learn about our hands and mouths.
We learn ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ and we learn ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. And we learn much, much more…at an extremely rapid pace. When we are infants our early learning is captured by our fragile, developing minds. It registers. To the extent it impresses and to the extent it is repeated it becomes our personal set of experiences, knowledge, and memories.
All of our early learning is skewed by the actions, the needs, and the beliefs of other people.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 7, 2017
Back in 2011, I had concerns about “Big Hairy Audacious Goals”. [BHAGs are a concept promoted by ‘Good to Great’ guru, Jim Collins.]
I think Jim Collins has provided terrific advice for business people. In particular, I embrace his “Hedgehog Concept”. However, I have heard many small-business leaders express confusion about Collins’ advice. The confusion is around ‘extent’:
- “Good to Great”: OK - How great is great? [Does everyone have to aim for multi-billion dollar targets?]
- Hedgehog “Best in the World”: Is that too big a goal?
- “Big Hairy Audacious Goals’: Is audacity the right direction?
If you want to be recognized as “Great” and compete with major, international organizations then I get it. You must be big. You must be exceptional. You must set extreme targets. You must be a rock superstar. You must be audacious [or something comparable…like disruptive…or magical.] In other words - if you want to be recognized as “Great” then you must excel in all the areas covered in classics like ‘Think and Grow Rich’.
The questions that should be considered are:
- Who wants to be recognized as “Great”? [I mean “Great” as defined by Jim Collins.]
- How many business people can become “Great”? [Again, I mean “Great” as defined by Jim Collins.]
- Should small-business leaders embrace the recommendations in Jim Collins’ ‘Good to Great’?
Reality Check…
Many small-business people dream about being “Great”. But rarely do small business leaders do the things necessary to even have a chance at being great. Worse still, most readers of ‘Good to Great’ are not leading “Good” businesses when they are thinking about building “Great” businesses. Considering this, ‘Good to Great’ concepts probably do more damage than good at small businesses. The concepts confuse leaders who, misguided, relay the confusion to their people. The result is – many small-business leaders quote Jim Collins while few have an understanding of the realities of mediocre-to-good changes let alone good-to-great changes.
In addition, when people promote BHAGs everybody seems to ignore the psychological realities. For most people, big hairy audacious goals generate big hairy audacious anxieties…ruining relationships, obliterating the chance of success, and destroying spirit.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 6, 2017
Problems are what life throws at us to make sure we know we are truly alive.
Errors are what we do to make sure we don’t forget we are human.
While we are accustomed to experiencing and working through an ongoing string of problems and errors. From time to time our errors compound in surprising ways. When that happens, sometimes, small errors lead to strings of errors and that can lead to severe problems and major damage.
When we have made a little error we have choices. One of the choices is to ignore the error. Another choice is to remedy the error and do that as quickly as possible. When we make these reaction-to-errors choices we pave the path for habits. These habits can be good habits. These habits can be bad habits. Our changes are matters of our choice.
When we react to errors by making extreme choices [extreme changes], we tend to fail. For example, when we overdo discipline we tend to alienate and annoy people. On the other hand, when we fail to illustrate sufficient discipline people tend to wander and make poor decisions. In either case, at either extreme, errors tend to compound.
When we react to problems with too much discipline, the consequence can be avoidance due to fear or some other negative mindset. When we react to problems with a lack of discipline, the resulting actions tend to be lackadaisical. Either way, if the extreme practice is continued to the point of habit, we tend to breed compounding errors.
So, when we react to errors in inappropriate ways, sometimes we get caught in a whirlpool of compounding errors.
When we are in a whirlpool of compounding errors it is as if time gets away on us. We feel like we don’t have enough time. This shortage-of-time feeling becomes an excuse, a mindset that justifies more errors. As problems continue to whirl relentlessly around us, we feel we are losing the little control we have been clinging to. As the whirlpool rages on, our frustrations, worries, and fears expand. These negative mindsets consume our energy and our positive-spirit and this reduces our ability to deal with or learn from our problems.
We cannot let that happen.
We cannot take our errors lightly or allow our problems to get the better of us.
When we are caught in a whirlpool of compounding errors we must resist the current. We must fight the urge to tolerate small errors. We must give fresh thought to old problems. We must take new actions. We must seek out the lessons contained in our errors.
We must use every opportunity to learn from errors.
Only new approaches will help us escape the whirlpool of compounding errors.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 2, 2017
Some people choose to be indecisive.
Some people are indecisive simply because it has become one of their bad habits.
Some people are indecisive and are oblivious to their predicament…apparently, they know no better way.
The roots of this bad habit – indecision - are usually lack of drive or lack of self-confidence. While some may argue one cause is “laziness”, that word may be a little too strong. Some people simply lack drive in the area of making decisions. At the same time others find them indecisive they can be busy doing work they deem to be more important than making decisions, in particular – they can be doing things they find more important than making business decisions.
Regardless, if a person is working and being indecisive about their work then the roots of their indecision are around lack of drive and lack of self-confidence.
In business, indecision can generate very serious business problems. Perhaps the worst of the problems is, the contagion of indecision kills momentum and that creates a confused and stalled business culture. A stalled business culture is easily identified: the people en masse wander around decisions, avoiding clarity of thought and clarity of conclusions.
When a business culture is stalled by contagious indecision, only a strong leader can remove the problem. On occasion, this leadership can rise from within the ranks. On occasion, this leadership is derived from intentional change at the top of the hierarchy.
And, the stalled-culture problem must be removed. If it is not removed then the procrastination death spiral begins…and the business is doomed to a life marked by sub-standard performance or a death by a thousand procrastinated cuts.
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