What do you do when you miss an appointment, forget about something, fail to do what you promised you would?
You can hide, delay the difficult conversation until it gets too late to actually have it, never talk about that again, and miss the opportunity to own your lapse and grow.
Or you can say “I am sorry”.
Choose with intention.
Some companies decide to keep things loose. They have little hierarchy, initiatives can come from a variety of places as a response to a variety of inputs (customers, markets, intuition, experience, data, trials, mistakes, etc.), and the flexibility of the company makes it so it can adapt to changes and decisions fairly quickly without a lot of guidance.
Other companies decide to put structure around things. They build a clear hierarchy, initiatives often come from the top as a response to a limited amount of inputs (often gut feeling and previous experience), and the rigor of the company makes it so it will adapt to changes as quick as an heavy amount of guidance is deployed through its rank.
There is no right or wrong, you just have to figure out what works best for you and for the people that work with you and around you.
There is also a third kind of company. It is the company that puts structure while still wanting to keeping it loose. The company where decisions come from the top with the expectation that people will accept them just because. The company that pays lip service to the importance of its people while at the same time keeping them limited to tasks and urgencies. The company that struggles more than the others to adapt and change, just because nobody has a clear idea of what the hell is going on.
There are more company of the third kind than there are of the first and second combined.
You do not want your company to be of the third kind.
It is great to be excited about something, to be enthusiastic, to be waiting for it, to prepare and make sure everyone gets the best out of the experience.
It is way less great when the attitude gets past excitement and shifts to eagerness. Eager as in sour, bitter, rough, forceful, pungent. It is when you do not leave others space. When you cut others short to make a point. When saying what you think to know is more important than letting others tell of their experience. When you make decisions without consulting, when you change the work without informing, when you demand agreement without explaining, when you take the spotlight without elevating.
Enthusiasm is contagious. But if you are eager instead, you will go alone.
We all measure success by some kind of ruler, and this ruler needs to have two characteristics.
It needs to be consistent. So that you can measure ups and downs over time, and maintain the course on the same objective (or set of objectives).
And it needs to be relevant. To you, and to those you seek to serve, your audience, your people.
If you change the ruler, distort the scale, zoom in and zoom out, what you get is not a consistent and relevant measure of your success.
Why would I?
Wear a mask.
Commit to that project.
Take the first step to mend a relationship.
Respect the rules.
Be kind to others.
Pay taxes.
Give back to the community.
Sit down and just listen.
Not lie.
When nobody else is doing it?
It is a way of hiding that lowers the bar. In your family, your company, your circle, your life. Chances are that nobody is acting out of habit, ignorance, laziness. Perhaps all they need is somebody who shows them a different way.
That somebody could be you.
You've got this 