Tag: trust

Take my data

FabrizioLeave a comment

You are more ok with the idea of paying taxes if you regularly benefit from tangible services your taxes contribute to cover.

The same is valid with data.

The problem with companies collecting information about us is not the collection per se.

It’s the secrecy of the operation, the impossibility to control what is collected and what not, and the fact that six months after buying a new car you are still getting ads with car offers.

“Have you already purchased a car?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, from now on you will stop seeing car offers while navigating the web. If you want to reactivate car offers in the future, you can do so by typing ‘activate car offers’.”

“Thanks, and feel free to take my data.”

Talk

FabrizioLeave a comment

Talk about what’s holding you back.

Talk about that feeling you feel before speaking in front of others.

Talk about the fear that never let you leap.

Talk about how unease you are when somebody asks a direct question.

Talk about the challenge in putting your work out there.

Talk about how difficult it is to say you were wrong.

Talk about the knots in your stomach before meeting someone you like.

Because as you talk about all of this, you take the first step to make it all go away.

Wishful thinking

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you are a leader and complain about the fact that people in your team are not as committed, as present, as hardworking, as involved as you are, here are two things to think about.

You are the leader, and in most situations this comes with some benefits (not only monetary) that other team members do not get. So, the fact you care more is absolutely normal. You should care more, they will care less.

To change the situation, to some extent at least, you have to put in extra work. And that is an additional challenge. You have to sell a vision, a purpose, a reason (beyond salary) for the team members to feel that they are part of something bigger. You have to make it so that if they follow you they will enhance their public and self-image. You also have to praise them for their work, and to thank them for their contribution. You need to be present for them when they need it, and hide when they can go alone. It’s a difficult balance to strike between freedom and ownership, and it takes trust and time. If you have none of that, you are stuck at point one.

Any other approach to such a natural situation is delusional wishful thinking.

Picking

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you are waiting for someone to notice your work. If you are hoping tomorrow your boss is going to praise the project you are leading. If you desperately want somebody to enter the shop and admire your craft. If you believe your effort is not getting the attention it deserves.

If you are waiting to be picked.

Remember you can be the one starting it.

You can notice a colleague’s work, praise a peer’s project, enter a shop and admire someone’s craft, give the appropriate attention to those around you.

You can be the one who picks.

It’s contagious, and once you get in the habit, not only others are going to pick you more often, but you are also going to pick yourself with a lot less effort.

That’s the final goal, by the way.

Openly ask

FabrizioLeave a comment

Do you ever bother to openly ask?

A team member, what they would like to work on.

A customer, how they will be using your product.

A user, what topic would they be happy receiving content about.

Your partner, how would they feel if something would happen.

Your boss, what’s keeping them up at night.

Most of our businesses and lives are based on assumptions. Sometimes we hide them under the labels “experience” and “data”, and yet assumptions they are and they will be.

Should we instead bother and ask the question?