November 3, 2014
Great cultures
Walter Isaacson speaks on Apple culture. He shares his insights on learning about Steve Jobs through writing the biography. When he asked what was his greatest product, Isaacson expected Jobs to say the ipod or iphone. Instead, Jobs said it’s much harder to build a team that can continuously develop great products, and that’s what Apple’s culture did.
Cultures are optimized. Zappos is optimized for service. Google is optimized for engineering. Apple is optimized for excellence and design. Yes, you can have many values. But the strongest companies are known for one or two above all else.
Uncategorized
You need to get something done. But you need someone in another department to make a change. You have no authority over them.
For some reason, they won’t do it. Maybe they don’t care. Maybe they’re too busy. What’s one to do?
The solution is to really get to know the other person.
It’s very likely they feel you don’t understand their role, their department, their workload, or their emotions. Because of this, they may not even hear your words. They have other priorities. But if you get to know them over time, they will feel you understand them. And only then will they really start to hear you.
There’s no way to circumvent building relationships within culture. Better to start now. Before there’s a problem.
October 28, 2014
Uncategorized
Sure you can do assessments, polling the whole organization, tracking it over time. But there’s a quick test you can use to determine if you’re in a company with a strong culture.
When people speak about the the company, do they use the word “we” or do they use the word “they?” When it’s “we,” clearly there’s a feeling of ownership, pride, and connection. With “they” there is a distance, a separation.
The feeling of “we” can be more powerful than you know. Tommy Lasorda said the greatest compliment he received from a player was from Kirk Gibson after the 1988 World Series win. Even though he had recently come from the Tigers, Gibson said, “I feel like I’ve been a Dodger my whole life.”
If you’re interviewing for a job, or consulting at a company, this can be very telling.
If you’re a leader, I hope you understand that you can’t make people say “we.” It comes naturally when people are co-creating the culture.
October 15, 2014
Hacks ,Productivity
An innovation hack is an action that is “low input, high output.” That means it takes very little investment, but the gains are tremendous. I watch for the hacks of effective CEO’s and this one is shared by both the late Steve Jobs and Tony Hsieh.
Yes. That simple. They go for walks, a lot. Whether it’s for meetings or just taking time for themselves, they take long walks.
Research is proving the common sense idea that sitting for extensive periods of time is very unnatural. One even called sitting the smoking of our generation.
I took an hour long walk today, with a 3×5 card and a pen. At first I listened to an audiobook with headphones while I walked. Then I noticed I stopped listening to the book and started listening to my own ideas. I would walk for awhile, let the ideas simmer, then write them down and repeat the process.
Some might call it taking the time to listen to our own intuition. Others may say there’s a spiritual element to it all. Whatever it is, it works. Try it right now. It may be the cheapest most effective innovation tool.
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