Category: leadership

Revolution and evolution

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Change can happen through revolution or evolution.

Revolution is when things turn around abruptly. It is usually a sudden change, one that is often associated with extreme measures. It creates fracture and discontinuity. The origin of the word is Latin – revolvere, literally “roll back”, “revolve”. Despite the current accepted meaning, therefore, it does not delineate a move or a push forward, a progression.

Evolution, on the other hand, is a slow and ongoing process. It is change, but over a considerable amount of time. So much so that one could possibly identify the different stages and find some kind of continuity. It also comes from a Latin word – evolvere, literally “unrolling”, “opening a scroll”, “revealing”. In its most profound sense, therefore, it does portray a discovery, and only later on it got associated with development and betterment.

Both are needed in certain situations.

Think of a company that has been badly administered for years, and is now on the verge of bankruptcy. The newly appointed CEO will most likely want a revolution in the way of doing things, a sudden change that could turn around and save the business.

On the other hand, if a company is not achieving the expected results with their marketing campaigns, it is auspicable that the new CMO would like to proceed by evolution, slowly bringing tactics in alignment with strategy.

The next time we see that something is not working around us, it is important we consider whether what is needed is a revolution or an evolution. The latter will work in most of the circumstances. Despite our sense of urgency and often misplaced understanding of what is important.

And often, when choosing it, we start building consensus and gathering appreciation, that also helps us “discover” in which direction we want to take the change.

When your idea is not chosen

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When another person’s idea prevails on your, and is chosen to be executed, there are three important things you can do.

Focus on the positive aspects and on the potential of the idea. No idea is completely good or bad, so the idea that was chosen does most likely have positive aspects. Understand them, ask the owner to explain them, and build the narrative of what is happening around them. “This is idea has the potential to achieve this” or “I like this idea, because if well executed could deliver that” is a much better option than “I was not the one proposing it and I think it is wrong”.

Be involved in the execution and deliver your best work. This is not about you, so leave your ego and all your regrets behind and be ready to help the best you can. People will remember your contribution, and even if they won’t, you will feel much better for having done something active and practical about it.

Keep your mind ready for the next round. Ideas are always needed, so there’s no need to tank if your idea is not chosen this time (or the next, or the one after the next). Try to perfect the ones you had if they are still on the table, or come up with new ones for a different situation. Make sure to understand if your presentation was somehow flawed, if you could have done anything better, write down ideas as they come and try to elaborate on them, and eventually your brain will be prepared for the next chance.

Whose dream?

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I was tired of living someone else’s dream and not living mine.

This is something we hear a lot these days, as we celebrate leaders and not followers.
It is very good to acknowledge, yet it is probably even more important to have the following clear:

1. what your dream is;

2. what living your dream means (in terms of sacrifices, things to leave behind, compromises to make, and so on);

3. living someone else’s dream is not a subpar option (the dream might be, but there are plenty out there).

Lies spread

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Many years ago, I was once interviewing with a company, and during the hiring process I realised that they were lying to their audience.

It was not a big lie, it was about inflating some numbers to look bigger, something that most companies do. I was kind of surprised with the tone one of the executives in the room told me that was a lie: it felt like I was talking to a kid caught with their hands in the cookie jar, he was very apologetic, and he had a very good and thorough explanation on the reasoning behind the lie.

That episode should have been an eye-opener to the culture I could have found in the day-to-day operations. Because the fact is, lies spread.

A lie leads to more lies. It is very difficult to stop at one lie, to just say this little one once, for the best possible reason, and then go back to telling the truth.

A lie infects others. It is more than likely that, if you start with a lie, others around you will not be honest and transparent in return.

A lie begs for a wider audience. If you tell a lie to your customers, chances are next you are going to lie to your business partner, to the shareholders, to the employees, to the community.

Interviews are full of these kind of hints. But we are often blind to them, as we tell ourselves the story that having a job is the priority. It is not, and we could be better at picking jobs that align with our values.

Burning or building

Fabrizio4 Comments

There are two ways to approach failure.

Focus on blame. And then put all your energy in arguing, sentencing, punishing, recovering from the missed opportunity, and eventually (only eventually, with what’s left) rush to some practical action.

Or focus on responsibility. Own it, consult for possible solutions, move on to mitigating actions, and genuinely learn from what has happened.

The first approach burns bridges. It aims at making things clear, crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s, shaming those involved, making sure this will not happen ever again. Even when we do not mean ill, the results are the same. And we are a bit more alone, no matter if the failure was on us.

The second approach builds bridges. It aims at creating a connection, finding ways to work together, building resilience and be ready for the next one. It is incremental, and the more you do it, the more benefit you and the ones around you will get from it.

The same thing is valid for change as well, by the way.