Tag: relationships

Say it isn’t so

Fabrizio1 Comment

I have always been fascinated and vaguely astonished by the fact that, at times, communication is successful.

We do not put enough emphasis and preparation into it, and we have so many different ways to look at the world and interpret it, that it is quite a thing that two persons can come together at some point and understand each other.

What is your mental image of a tree? Of a car? Of a house? Of course, with such physical objects we often get past the ambiguity. But what with more complex concepts?

What do you think when you hear about honesty? And productivity? And work-life balance? What is your intent when you use words such as “democrat” and “republican”, “conservative” and “progressive” and “liberal”, “capitalist” and “communist”?

I promise you, it is different from how the person sitting next to you thinks about them.

And so, why are we not training for better communication? Why is this not a matter taught in school? Why are we left growing up under the false impression that everyone around us understands what we mean? And shares our same set of assumptions and priorities?

Communication is unorganized chaos for the most part, and when it succeed it truly is a work of magic.

Merely

FabrizioLeave a comment

Acceptance is not about understanding and appreciating that the world (your friends, acquaintances, family, colleagues, your context, your work, your environment, your company) is wrong, and then spending your life complaining, regretting, plotting.

Acceptance is about understanding and appreciating that the world merely is.

What is around you does not change, it is the degree to which you attempt to cling to it that makes all the difference.

The distance

FabrizioLeave a comment

You have spent resources improving your product with features analysts said are necessary in your category.

You have hired hundreds of new employees and built an organization that can sustain higher revenue.

You have rolled out a new tool because the old one was clunky and not providing enough flexibility.

You have gone all-in on that campaign because your experience and guts told you that was the right thing to do.

You have increased your marketing spend to better feed sales pipeline, investing in ads that interrupt people and are clicked only by robots.

You have changed your management team because the targets were not met.

And in the meantime, out there a potential customer is still wondering how to fix the issue your product is supposed to solve.

The distance between what happens within companies and what happens in the market is often shocking. Organisations and the people they are supposed to serve play in different fields, sometimes in completely different sports. The only way to fill such gap is to religiously do two things over time: figuring out who your customer is and understanding their world better than they do.

It is a strategy, not a tactic. And for this reason the distance continues to grow. And grow. And grow.

What is holding you back?

FabrizioLeave a comment

Your boss is not appreciating your work as they should.

That colleague of yours never invites you to important meetings.

Your family does not grant you enough time to cultivate your passion.

The company you want to work for did not answer your application.

Recruiters in your area are simply looking for a different profile.

Customers do not get what your product can do for them.

They probably are.

But the point is, what can you do to change that?

Do you have a problem with authority you can work on? Do you struggle to build relationships with peers? Can you have a conversation with your family to explain why your passion matters to you? Are there skills or holes in your experience that prevent you from being called back when you apply to jobs? Can you do a better job at understanding the people you serve?

Blaming it on the others is an easy escape, one that often gets us stuck. So, what is truly holding you back?

Fear, anger, pain

Fabrizio1 Comment

Fear, anger, pain. In certain cases, they can start an action. Yet, you need to leave them behind as soon as your action crystallizes and takes a concrete shape.

If you fail to do it, you’ll soon find yourself projecting that initial, important emotion on every body and every thing around you. You will burn down bridges, forgo opportunities, isolate in your own narrative.

Remember fear, anger and pain, but leave them behind as soon as you can.

The change you are seeking demands it.