A matter of perspective

FabrizioLeave a comment

Things are easy.

Particularly when we are not involved.

As a customer, it is easy to find ways to improve the service and food at the restaurant you have visited for dinner.

As a peer, it is easy to see the possibilities and potential of a project that your colleague is struggling to pull off.

As a parent, it is easy to imagine how much more wonderful your kids’ life would be if only they could focus on the things they already have.

And of course, when we are involved, things get immediately incredibly complicated.

The ability to walk in others’ shoes is something that can be trained.

In trouble

FabrizioLeave a comment

As we go about discovering who we are, we bring a whole lot of pain and joy in the lives of others. We start things, we move on, we create something new, we let it die, we search and cry, we find and cheer.

And as we witness others going about their own personal discovery, we bring a whole lot of pain and joy in our life. By making it all about ourselves.

If only we could just be. Now.

What for?

FabrizioLeave a comment

Most enterprises, most projects, most ideas will not succeed. It is a matter of fact.

So, if you are not enjoying the journey, what are you doing it for?

Overachievement

FabrizioLeave a comment

The excitement of an overachievement can ruin the chances of the following run.

If the result was brilliant, why was it? What happened that made it so? Who was involved, what were the circumstances, what is likely to change? How similar is all of that to what will happen next?

All questions to answer before taking the overachievement at face value and decide that it is the new normal.

People and systems

FabrizioLeave a comment

Companies talk a whole lot about individuals and they don’t talk enough about systems.

That person is not performing.

That lady is challenging.

That guy is always late.

That colleague never comes to the office.

That hire was a mistake.

And to be honest, if it happens once in a while, those statements might also be true.

But most companies spend too much time in what is not so different than gossiping, when often problems are in the way things are done, the way people are managed, the processes everyone is asked to follow.