by Rick Baker
On Jul 23, 2014
The topic 'Sense of Urgency' arose during a conversation today.
Got me thinking...
Sense of Urgency DEF'N: that's wanting to take prompt action when you know the right thing to do.
But, what about when you want to take prompt action and you aren't sure about the right thing to do - you simply have the urge to take action? Doesn't that also qualify as a Sense of Urgency?
No - I don't think simply wanting to take action satisfies the minimum standard associated with a meaningful Sense of Urgency...i.e., when Urgency is meaningful like the type of 'Urgency' Stephen R. Covey taught about in his Urgency-Important lessons.
[And, if we are not talking about that sort of meaningful Urgency, an Urgency that requires us to use Sense, then what kind of Urgency are we talking about?]
2 Related Points:
- When we know the right action to take in a given Situation and we feel that action should be initiated sooner rather than later...that's a Sense of Urgency...that's a good thing...that's closely linked with identifying Opportunities and acting quickly to seize advantage. That's the stuff of entrepreneurship.
- When we want to take prompt action without believing/knowing that action is the right action to be taking...well...that's a Sense of Adventure!
Sense of Adventure is a good thing too.
Sense of Adventure is a different thing.
Sense of Adventure fits certain Situations.
Sense of Urgency fits other Situations.
Perhaps we need to communicate more clearly when we are driven to take prompt action?
We wouldn't want other people to mistake our Sense of Adventure for a Sense of Urgency...would we?
We wouldn't want other people to mistake our Sense of Urgency for a Sense of Adventure...would we?
by Rick Baker
On Jul 18, 2014
The Thinking Behind The Tweet
Communicating our Interests. Communicating our Intent.
Good Habits to do.
by Rick Baker
On Jul 15, 2014
Accountability arrived before Responsibility...at least the on-line Merriam-Webster dictionary says that...the word Accountability joined the English language in 1770 and the word Responsibility arrived the following year.
Isn't that counter-intuitive?
Also, according to Merriam-Webster
Definition of ACCOUNTABILITY
: the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions
First known use 1770
and
Definition of RESPONSIBILITY
: the state of being the person who caused something to happen
: a duty or task that you are required or expected to do
First known use 1771
In the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary we see Accountability defined in terms of 'accepting responsibility' and 'accounting for one's actions' and Responsibility defined in terms of 'a duty you are expected to do'.
In business, Accountability is what we want.
In business we want people who accept responsibility for performing duties and understand the importance of accounting for their actions. When our businesses employ those sort of people we can rely on them to perform. And we can rely on them to let us know when they are having difficulties.
It's the communication implicit in accountability that caused it to arrive before responsibility.