We should never forget who we were so we can remember how far we have come. Progress is a story that has an ever-growing first act. Our past grows as our present moves into yesterday. We should remember just enough of our past to provide the context of who we are in our second act (today) and
It’s tough to understand when to change and when to double down on a proven method. There is clearly a time for both. The problem occurs when our preference becomes our default. If we like potential change, we will find reasons to advocate for it. If we like the way things are, we will find reasons to
Teams that like their favorite way become predictable and rely too much on a narrow window of circumstance to succeed. The inflexible decision-maker can fall into the trap of believing so much in their “tried and true” way that if it doesn’t work in every circumstance, it wasn’t meant to be. As the favorite way becomes more
Thinking through how the team will respond to various possible scenarios allows a team to better prepare for unknowns and situations that are outside the team’s control. There is a nuanced difference between winging it and responding based on the imagination of the planners. A robust imagination can help game-plans better prepare for the unknown.
Defenders of the status quo never quite have the same goals in mind as the leader who wants to improve. Improvement and progress are not the “win” of the DSQ. They aim only for business as usual. Anything that changes that becomes a threat to both their comfort and probably their power and influence. The DSQ can
When I first started driving I spent a lot of mental energy performing all the tasks required to get from point A to point B. I was hyper-aware until all the braking, signals and changing gears became automatic. Everything we do requires a time of hyper-awareness. Another way we describe this stage is to call it a
It is important to make sure that the direction is clearly defined and that everyone has a chance to get behind it. Moving too fast and assuming everyone is excited about the direction is a mistake many leaders make. When the team is not given a chance to talk through the direction, they miss the chance to
I notice that pleasant memories of the past tend to pop up when we are frustrated with the effort required in the present. The thing is that we tend to forget the bad part of our pleasant past. Our past was not likely as pleasant as we remember. This is especially true if we are remembering a
Regret is also a habit of the nostalgic. Remembering watershed moments is important but allowing ourselves to become overly affectionate about the “good ole days” can cause us to miss the good of today or the potential of the future. It can also set us up for regret when things do not turn out like they used
Not every idea is a good idea, but every idea has a potential to inspire the direction the team should choose. We must be careful to explore ideas that cause us a little discomfort because these are the ones that could potentially move us to do something that we never considered possible. Saying no too soon squashes