asserts there are two types of problems: strong-link problems and weak-link problems.

When you have a strong link problem, you want to focus on getting more of the best of the group because these outliers have the greatest effect. When you have a weak link problem, you want to focus on eliminating the worst of the group because those outliers have the greatest effect. Like this:

We tend to treat strong-link problems as weak-link problems. I see this happen most frequently in management and leadership practices.

Take, for example, Optifye.ai. They’re creating an “AI performance monitoring system for factory workers.” Based on their video, the monitoring system tracks workers’ hand movements and output so a boss can look at graphs and yell at the workers about efficiency. Don’t believe me? Watch here.

Optifye.ai’s product fits within the paradigm of companies that track keystrokes and mouse movements. The only conclusion I can draw from this behavior is that the people implementing these policies fundamentally assume that all of their people wouldn’t work if no one watched them.

Alas, their thinking has roots in Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. His view of work perpetuated three fundamental assumptions. First, people only work for the payoffs it produces — namely, pay. Second, as long as the work produces adequate payoffs, it doesn't matter what work people do. Third, there must be an authority monitoring people to ensure they're doing the work.

This understanding of work has resulted in leaders treating performance as a weak-link problem. They need to design their system to “catch” all the inevitably unproductive people so they can force them to an acceptable level of productivity or have reason to fire them.

Leaders would get better results if they treated performance as a strong-link problem.

Instead of designing their culture and practices to mitigate low performance, they should make choices to encourage top performance. In other words, instead of saying, “These are bad. How do I eliminate them?” ask “These are excellent. How do I get more of them?”

If you ask the latter, you will put practices in place that not only make your good team members better, but will also create an environment that makes your best team members want to stay. And those who aren’t improving or performing will become painfully obvious, allowing you to remove them entirely rather than attempt to mitigate their drag.

This shift is essential for value-driven businesses that define performance not as efficient but as effective.

.

Subscribe now

You’ve likely heard the adage “One bad apple spoils the bunch.” Have you ever asked why?

I did.

Imagine ranking a bushel of apples on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is rotten and 10 is perfection. After evaluating each apple on a bushel, you give all the apples a ranking between 8 and 10 and have an average ranking of 9.2. Adding anl apple that ranks 10 will increase your average, but the impact will be modest because it’s only slightly above your average. On the other hand, adding a bad apple with a 2 rank significantly impacts your average because the difference between your average and this bad apple is large.

I learned that a bad apple pulls down the rest because it’s typically further away from your current average. Moreover, that one bad apple often has a greater effect than a good apple because the good apple isn’t as far away from your average as the bad apple.

This principle applies to your business in three ways:

.

1. People

Your bad apples have an outsized impact on your culture. In fact, the stronger and more cohesive your culture — or the worse the apple — the greater the drag. Make sure you strategically choose what behaviors you won’t tolerate as part of designing your business and be willing to remove people from your team if they continue to exhibit those behaviors.

Note that adding new people to your team won’t solve the issue any more than scoring 100% would. Moreover, they’re likely to adopt the behaviors in practice to fit in so if that bad apple is still there, you’re tainting every new team member.

.

2. Data

When you’re reviewing data, one low number can skew the results. Pull out that number and try to understand what’s causing it in isolation. The goal is to determine if it is in fact an outlier or an early indication of a pattern. An outlier is just that and you shouldn’t allow it to distort your insights. A pattern however could be caught early and addressed before it becomes pervasive — something that’s especially important if the pattern tells you that you aren’t effectively delivering value.
.

3. Regulations

Many laws, regulations, and other bureaucratic paperwork exist because of bad apples. You can start by not being the bad apple that makes life difficult for the other 97% of businesses. After that, keeping this reality in mind as you navigate different requirements can give you some perspective because you need to make strategic choices that account for the world as it is rather than the world as you think it should be.

You can also try to do something about them if they’re constraining your business whether that’s getting involved in the political process1 or choosing a different vendor whose requirements aren’t so laborious.

Subscribe now

Your team and the people you serve are two sides of the same coin. One cannot succeed without the other.

Let me explain.

*dramatic pause*

With a slight build and common attire, the figure walking into the city wouldn’t register among the other people going about their business inside the castle walls.

The figure turns out to be Merlin. We’ve followed him into Camelot in the first episode of the BBC series that bears his name.

Seeped in Arthurian lore, the twist lies in telling the story from Merlin's perspective (as the name of the show might suggest).

The show wastes no time revealing Merlin’s unique capabilities. For those of you playing for the home team, Merlin has magic — great magic unlike any seen before. *jazz hands*

We also meet Arthur in the first episode. Blond, broad-shouldered, and clad in chain mail, we find him knocking a servant about while practicing his fighting skills.

But the show doesn't focus on his abilities in the first episode; it focuses on his need.

In addition to needing a major attitude adjustment, he also needs protection. When Merlin arrives, he walks through the gates and into an execution, after which a witch (say that five times fast) threatens Arthur's life.

And by the end of the episode, we watch her get within a few chain mail of taking it.

Merlin's magical abilities allow him — and only him — to be in a position to evade the witch's spell and move Arthur out of the way just before the knife blade strikes his chest.

Your team members — and by definition, your business — are Merlin. What you do and how you do it deliver the person you serve the value they need.

It takes your team and the people you serve to run and grow a thriving business. Or as the dragon chained under Camelot tells Merlin, "You're like two sides of the same coin. You are one side, and Arthur is the other. Without him, you cannot hope to succeed."

As a business, you must deliver value to the people you serve. That’s the entire point of your business. If you don’t deliver value you will cease to exist as a business.

But you can’t deliver value without your team. You must design a business that allows them to do what they do effectively.

Keep the coin spinning.

"That will be $89.95."

"I beg your pardon?" I shifted the reusable bag strap on my shoulder to relieve some of the pressure. 

"$89.95."

"That doesn't make sense. My birth control has been free for as long as I can remember."

"Yeah. Maybe you want to call your insurance company?” the woman behind the counter asked. “We have chairs over there,” she added, pointing to her left.

I sighed and moved to the side. Taking a seat in a plastic CVS-red chair, I prepared myself to sit on hold. When I finally reached a human, I asked why my birth control was suddenly not covered by my insurance. He disappeared to find an answer.

When he came back, he let me know that my past prescription was for a schedule two drug and my new prescription was not a schedule two drug. 

That seemed random to me. 

He asked if I would like a list of the approved drugs.

"Shouldn't my doctor be the one to decide which medicine I take?"

.

Displacing the person served

This dynamic of displacing the person served occurs all too frequently in our economy. We engage with an entity that should deliver value to us, but what they do and how they do it is designed to provide value to someone else. 

Displacement occurs most frequently when the person the entity professes to serve is not the same as the entity’s source of revenue. No matter how you slice it, whoever provides the financial resources required to keep the entity running (and preferably growing) is the one the business truly serves. 

As the displaced, you often get limited or no value. Worse, your displacement can lead to the proffering of false value — something that isn’t valuable and may even be harmful to you — because the entity that is supposed to serve you now sees you as a means to an end rather than the person they exist to serve.

.

Displaced: Patient

One of the most pervasive examples of displacement is health insurance. In the United States, we pay for health insurance ourselves or our company pays (in whole or in part) for our health insurance as part of what we’ve come to call our benefits package.

Insurance in its most basic form pools together money from a group of people. That pool of money is then available when something catastrophic happens like a house fire. Catastrophes happen infrequently enough that the insurance company can both pay to fix the house and retain enough money for the next time something bad happens.

Health doesn’t lend itself to this model. Carrying a policy that covers the cost of multiple procedures and a prolonged hospital stay should you get hit by a bus crossing the street makes some sense. But that’s not what we do. We use insurance to pay for routine medical services and we typically only pay for services when we’re already sick.

Health is defined as “the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit” especially “freedom from physical disease or pain.” This result requires regular check-ins at a minimum, which makes a model designed for big, unforeseen, and infrequent accidents poorly suited to the job. 

Many health insurance companies now believe investing in preventative care will lower their costs. If we keep you healthy, you make fewer claims. But wedging a service model like preventative care into a model that requires delivering service as infrequently as possible doesn't work.

What’s worse, inserting a health insurance company into the healthcare process adds a middleman: you are no longer the person served. The insurance company is. It's why the first question you hear at medical institutions isn't "How are you feeling?” Or “How can I help?” but “Can I see your proof of insurance?” Everything that service provider does and how they do it comes down to what the insurance company dictates, not what the medical professionals would recommend or even what would be in the best interest of your health because the insurance company pays.

You, the patient, have been displaced.

Subscribe now

Displaced: Customer

The funding arena also displaces the person served. When an investor gets involved with a business, they transform that business into an asset. If they've invested sufficient capital, they become the person the business exists to serve. Now the business's sole focus is to give the investor the biggest financial return.

This is why Instacart and Uber are now advertising businesses; they’re looking for ways to bring in more money:

“As Instacart prepared to make its debut on the public markets, one thing was clear: it is a markedly different company today than when it was founded. Envisioned in 2012 as a service that matched people at home with contract workers who would shop for them and deliver groceries, it has increasingly focused on advertising and software products as its delivery business has slowed. Last month, Instacart revealed that the ads and software sales had allowed it to do what skeptics considered impossible — turn a profit. Instacart shows that one way for a historically unprofitable gig business to get to the public markets is to diversify into more lucrative areas and move away from its gig-economy roots."

Ads have nothing to do with the value you, as a customer, seek. As that revenue source grows, you will be further displaced, from being on the receiving end of increasingly spammy email communications to being charged more for a service that doesn’t include ads even though you could get that same service without ads at a lower price before.

“Though Netflix ushered in the era of ad-free, subscription-driven monetization, today ‘virtually every major streamer’ is offering a cheaper ad tier, which generates more money per user, The Wall Street Journal reports. Corporations outside of media, including United Airlines, are now considering starting their own ad-sales businesses, hoping they could bolster revenue. ’Attention is the new oil well of money making,’ says one ad expert.”

Or said another way:

You, the customer, have been displaced.

.

Displaced: Beneficiary

A similar displacement occurs with nonprofit organizations. As I’ve written about before, nonprofits operate with a split focus. The people they serve and their sources of revenue are not the same. Somehow, they must deliver value to their donors on top of delivering value to the people they serve. Delivering value to donors often takes time, resources, and focus away from the people they serve.

As an example, one of my clients is a nonprofit that thrives on a subscriber model. They know their subscribers are the ones they exist to serve. When increasing grant funding came up as a goal the organization should pursue, the leadership noted, “Grants take a lot of time. They also come with regulations for what we do and how we do it. Accommodating all of that will take away from the projects our subscribers have asked us to pursue.”

This statement acknowledges the fundamental question, “What’s the point of pursuing grants? Is it the money? Or something else?”¹

Unfortunately, many nonprofits get their financial resources from someone other than their beneficiary. They have no choice but to invest time, change processes, and even develop programs to secure that funding. In short, many nonprofits are doing what they’re doing the way they’re doing it because “That’s what the donor wanted,” not necessarily because it’s what will effectively deliver value.

You, the beneficiary, have been displaced.

Subscribe now

Displaced: User

Perhaps the most culturally discussed example of displacement is that of social media and media at large. , Co-Founder of Substack, sums it up well: 

“This is a critical insight for writers who are seduced by the idea of ads on top of subscriptions for ‘revenue diversification.’

If you are doing ads as well as subscriptions, you are serving two completely different types of customers. In my opinion, everything gets better when you focus on subscribers as your customers.”

Most of us miss the human connection social media promised to provide. Some of us would settle for less angry yelling, empty videos, and other brain rot. I think we all would like media — social or otherwise — that produces content that we value. 

Herein lies the rub: because these companies serve the advertisers, they make choices that keep us on their platform — whether that’s what’s best for us or not. author of Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life, rightly said they can’t keep our attention if what’s being served up doesn’t get us to click, watch, keep scrolling, or even pile on with comments.

What gets clicks isn’t generally valuable. It’s geared to the lowest common denominator because mass appeal is the only answer when attention is for sale. Yes, you can argue that these companies publish clickbait headlines and design their platforms to prey on our biology to benefit advertisers. But we must also recognize that our obsession with stupid-ass puppy videos and inability to keep ourselves from posting that ranting comment contributes to our misery.

If we demanded something better, the platforms would have to find a way to give it to us to keep us engaged. While it could lessen our misery to some degree, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re still not who these media companies serve; their interest in keeping us engaged extends only so far as it benefits their advertisers. They will (and arguably have) manipulate us to get the content and attention they need.

You, the user, have been displaced.

.

Alternative: Substack

In the case of media, Substack claims to have an answer: refocus the relationship so that the person served and the source of revenue are the same. According to their homepage:

“Substack is much more than a newsletter platform. A Substack is an all-encompassing publication that accommodates text, video, audio, and video… Anyone can start a Substack and publish posts directly to subscribers’ inboxes…. Without ads or gatekeepers in the way, you can sustain a direct relationship with your audience and retain full control over your creative work.”

As for who pays, they wrote:

“This is the beating heart of our mission: we need integrity to build a trustworthy

media system, and at the core of it are writers and readers with full agency and

intention who invest their time, money, and attention into work they deeply value.”

This is the ideal situation in the value economy. I choose to pay a writer because I value what they’re delivering to me. That certainly includes the pieces they write, but can also include how they moderate their community or what additional resources they provide. 

The challenge, of course, is that few people pay. According to Substack’s own Going Paid Guide, you can expect 5-10% of your total subscribers to become paid subscribers. That means that 90-95% of the people receiving value from you don’t pay for it.

You’re therefore stuck either working for free or embarking on the same tired pursuit of more because you need many thousands of subscribers to make a living. 

Oof.

Subscribe now

Actually making the shift

As a culture, we’ve become accustomed to being displaced. 

We’re used to reading whatever we want on the internet without paying for it. We’ve always had a health insurance card. We accept or frankly don’t even register the trade-off that comes with investor and donor money.

When we aren’t the source of the financial resources required to keep the business operating, we give up our place as their focus and our role in defining what’s valuable. The choice to give up our place perpetuates a world that isn’t built for us. It fundamentally undercuts our options — and our own agency. There’s nothing more damaging to the value economy and our ability to make the most of our time.

We need to reclaim our place. That starts by adopting new habits and expectations. The first and perhaps most important is normalizing the idea that we’re generally better off exchanging our financial resources2 for the value we seek. As I discussed with over Notes, it will take time and it will require people to make the case for why we should pay for the things we’ve become accustomed to getting for free.3

Then we’ll need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable realities of change. We’ve been displaced in many arenas for so long, that undoing what we’ve created will require incremental shifts over a long time horizon. 

Replacing health insurance as we understand it would result in dismantling the current health insurance industry which would then force price changes as healthcare providers adjust to a new market: their patients. That says nothing of patients adjusting to a new way of selecting doctors or paying for service and medicine. 

Moreover, eliminating investors entirely would make certain businesses impossible to launch just as eliminating donors entirely would render many charities unable to exist. In addition to identifying better methods, we would need to rethink our definitions of success and at a minimum turn down funding that creates a new master.

We can start small. If we aren’t paying for something, we need to investigate who does. The largest revenue source will inevitably be the person who dictates value. If it isn’t us, we need to look for an alternative.4

I, for example, pay many of my healthcare providers directly, pay for quite a few newsletters (and deleted my social accounts), and refuse to take investor money to grow my company because I don’t want the investors dictating how I build my business.

I realize not everyone has the resources to make the choices I have. I also realize that transforming a business or a whole industry presents massive challenges. There’s a limit to our financial resources and tolerance for change.

 But we can start to move in the right direction.

5

Share

I almost scrolled by an article about a recent innovation in laundry. GE plans to make combination washer dryers.

Yes, you read that correctly — one machine will both wash and dry your clothes.

Why are they making this change? According to GE Appliances, the typical American load sits unattended for more than two hours. This finding was based on data collected from 13 million cycles across 90,000 homes between 2020 and 2022. Remembering to switch our clothes from one machine to another presents an obstacle to getting our laundry clean by way of the dreaded friction, so it is best to do away with the step altogether.

Perhaps you aren't like me. Perhaps this combination machine made you go, "Hot damn, that's going to make doing laundry even easier! No more doing a load of wash more than once because they sat too long and ended up a little smelly…" and went about your scrolling.

My question was, "Is my washing machine watching me?"

.

The man in the machine is watching me

On one hand, I commend GE for using behavioral data to deliver deeper value to the people they serve. No more remembering to switch. No more sad damp clothes. 

On the other hand, I have to question the extent of their insight into our lives. I don't want the company that made my washing machine to track my laundry habits any more than I want my new sneakers to track where I go, for how long, or at what pace.¹  

“But they’re using that data to make better decisions!” you say. “And you get better things!”

Yeah, maybe. It also gives a lot of faceless corporations and organizations a seat in my living room, my computer, and even my body to watch my every heartbeat. Moreover, what happens with this data? What if a bad actor gets it? What if this corporation is the bad actor? 

It takes precious little leap to feel naked and exposed for all to see.

Subscribe now

But we need data...

Indeed, it’s impossible to serve your people without information2 that gives you an understanding of who they are and what they value, as well as what might prevent them from experiencing that value. 

Talking to the people you serve is the best place to start. It doesn't require any fancy technology and can even illuminate knowledge we didn't know we sought.

At some point, you’ll also want behavioral information. The reason for this is twofold: First, people will often tell you what they want to be true rather than what is true. Second, a lot of people struggle to articulate what they value — sometimes they simply don't know.

Often the best way to improve the value your business exists to deliver isn't obvious because no one thought it possible. Behavioral data can offer you clues and a place to start.

.

How to keep this data from getting creepy

As a value-driven business, it's worth asking when you've moved from gathering data that enables you to deliver value effectively to stalking the people you serve.3

Here are six questions you need to answer: 

1. What do we collect?

Make a list. What data do you collect about the people you serve? It can be as simple as their name and their email. It can also include their exact cursor movements while using your application, their progress moving through your program, or their order history. It may also include their responses to your annual survey. Any data point about who they are, how they behave, or what they think goes on this list.

One of the best ways to be less creepy is to not collect data you don’t need. If you can’t add to your knowledge with this or that data, don’t collect it.

.

2. How do we handle getting permission?

You can either require people to opt out of the access you want or give people the opportunity to opt into sharing data at the level they choose.

Technically, both approaches allow people to choose; however, the opt-out approach makes it much more difficult for the person you serve. Take technology as an example. Given the level of feature bloat, it takes real commitment to scour all the settings to ensure you’re not sharing data you don’t want to share which likely means a lot of users are sharing data unwittingly.

Some people will hand over their privacy gift-wrapped. I believe we as human beings deserve the respect of being given a conscious choice. Telling the people you serve upfront what you can collect from them, then prompting them to choose what they will share puts them in the driver’s seat. 

.

3. Do we offer an anonymous option?

You may find that people will share data if it isn’t connected to them. Can you provide that option? How do you ensure the data is actually anonymous?

Subscribe now

4. What will we do with the data once we have it?

How exactly do you use the data? To inform decisions? To customize that individual’s experience? To comply with regulations? Something else? Make a list for each piece of data. 

Then think about how you store it. Where does it live? How long do you keep it?

Who can access insights? Do you publish certain reports publically? Do you reveal details that might expose a user? When? Where?

.

5. Will we give data to others?

Part of the reason businesses collect data is because people are willing to pay for it. Maybe you can’t make use of it, but the buyer can. Are you going to sell any of your data? If so, what pieces do you sell and to whom? What are they going to do with it? Do you even know?

Are you required to share data with anyone, like regulatory bodies or partners?

.

6. Can people request to have their data deleted?

Laws exist that require you to allow people to have their data removed from your servers. Laws also exist that prevent companies from deleting certain data. What can someone ask to have deleted? How do they make that request? How do they know it's actually gone? If for some reason you can’t get rid of their data for a period of time, did you tell them that when they agreed to give it to you?

Collecting information that allows you to better deliver value makes you a smart business. Doing so in a manner that respects the people whose information you collect makes you a value-driven business.

You can design something better than creepily stalking your people.

I had coffee with a colleague¹ a few months ago and he made the point that so often, what people want is for someone to take the time to care about them and their problems. He’s right. He’s also right that care is often better communicated personally rather than at scale. Read on for a brief example.

We all have experiences with businesses that stick with us. Something happens that boosts our loyalty or repels us from the company.

Given where businesses invest their dollars, you’d assume that these experiences would come from meticulously optimized and automated marketing campaigns or gloriously orchestrated conferences.

I’m willing to bet that while you appreciate these things, they aren’t the experiences that stick with you. These touchpoints are expected, and we know that machines make them happen.

In many cases, the experiences that stick aren’t expected at all and have two things in common: people and care.

I’ll give you an example: My internet disappeared the other week. Faster than opening the next email, everything in my apartment stopped and all I had left was a WAN error.

While I set up my phone as a (albeit spotty) hotspot, I called NetBlazer to find out what was wrong. The woman who answered took the time not only to apologize but empathize2 with my plight. She kindly explained that there was an outage in my building, likely related to the hardware on site. They were sending someone PDQ to determine the problem so I could get back online.

I thanked her for the information, returned to my work, and figured I’d check every once in a while to see if the internet had come back (read: me refreshing my desktop browser window every 30 minutes while working on my laptop, which is still connected to the hotspot).

Then about an hour later, my phone rang. Google identified the caller as NetBlazer. Surprised, I answered the phone. It was the same woman who had talked to me earlier. Still obviously confused, I asked her why she was calling.

She responded as if she was doing something perfectly normal. “I was calling back to make sure your internet was working for you. Our systems say your building is back online, but I wanted to check to make sure you had everything you needed. I know this really interrupted your day.”

Wow.

I was so grateful that she’d thought to check on me. I refreshed my browser while she was still on the line (all systems were a go!) and thanked her profusely for taking the time to confirm all was well. She told me to have a wonderful day.

I will disclose that I went from being satisfied with my internet provider to quite loyal to this particular company. Why? They did something that made me feel like the humans on their end cared about me and my problems (I find being taken offline while working on a project with a deadline quite distressing if that wasn’t apparent already…)

Take this example and apply it to your business. Where can you show the people you serve that you care?

It doesn’t have to be a phone call, but whatever you choose to do will likely require you to slow down. You will need to listen, you will need to take a genuine interest, and you may even need to share a little of yourself. You will absolutely need to meet the person where they are rather than try to fit them into your box.3

Because that’s the point — to show that you care about them and the problem they’re experiencing, you have to focus on them rather than yourself.

And that always comes best from a human. 

.

Subscribe now

At the deliberately designed break in the story, an ad came on, blaring in what amounted to an affront on my ears. 

Groan.

I stopped what I was doing to turn down the volume and waited a few moments to turn it back up again, a process I find extraordinarily frustrating.

Damn advertisers.

The ad showed a beach. People started to clean it. 

Corona made this ad to tell me they plan to clean 100 beaches by 2025. 

Sigh. Another piece of pledge porn.

.

The problem with pledge porn

Learning a company has committed to a cause perks your ears. Do I care about this cause? Well, of course, I do. Causes are good. 

You see the commitment. NetZero by 2030? Removing plastic from beaches? Changing the world? Ugh, that feels so good.

And you can join in! Hell yes! Let me get my hashtag out and make a social media post to extend this post-coital vibe with the likes I'm sure to get for promoting something so good.

Congratulations, you’ve indulged in some pledge porn. I can't blame you; companies love to put this smut in front of you because it's a win, win, (win), win for them:

• You feel positively about the brand.

• You're primed to endorse it publicly.

• (Bonus: You might even choose that brand over another next time you have the opportunity).

• And they never have to do anything else.

Pledging to do something isn't the same as doing something, just like watching porn isn't the same as having sex, and goodness knows, it's nothing like having a real relationship. 

These companies and their advertisers bank on the reality that you don't have time in your day to check up on them, so their campaign never has to deliver anything of substance for us to get off.

Alas, many of us have wised up to the empty calories of pledges and want to know that companies made progress on — or dare I say achieved — what they promised to do.

In the case of Corona, I don't want to know how many beaches you say you're going to clean someday in the future. I want to know how many you've already cleaned.

Subscribe now

Wait, but they do tell you what they’ve accomplished so far.

Here's what's wild: A light spin on the ol' Google machine turned up a landing page for this beach cleaning effort. It says they’re on a mission to clean 100 beaches and remove 1 million pounds of plastic from their business and beaches by 2025. In tiny text, it says that they've cleaned 47 beaches and removed 735,613.61 pounds of plastic. They add, “That’s nearly 3x the weight of the Statue of Liberty!”

That description they tacked on at the end reveals why a company that can communicate something real continues to communicate something imaginary: just like porn, bigger must be better.

735,613.61 isn’t as large or as clear as 1 million. And since the ad was created in 2023, that number was likely even smaller. 1 million is so much cooler. It makes us look so much better.

Right? Wrong.

.

If you’re going to do porn, then give me the good stuff.

Before we get to the tough job of delivering the type of value these campaigns promise to deliver, let's start with a fundamental issue with the campaign itself.

Most of these pledges center on a goal encapsulated in massive (and therefore, really impressive) numbers. 

The challenge with these massive numbers? Compassion fade: "One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic."¹

Our brains don’t know what to do with these huge numbers. Some of us likely nod along. (“It’s big, right?”) But this study focused on charitable causes found that feelings, not analytical thinking, drive donations. When participants were presented with messaging laden with statistics and a story about a single starving girl, the second approach worked better. 

The same thing applies to businesses aligning themselves with a cause. If your goal is to stimulate all the feels, give me the good stuff.

Corona did create videos about individual beach cleanups, but they’re heavy on the numbers and well-branded team shots, absent the small child having their day at the beach stymied by plastic trash. 

Subscribe now

If you want to go beyond pledge porn, do this instead.

Now, for those who want to move beyond superficial stimulation and engage in real communication with people, share what you’ve done not what you promise to do. Here’s how you can do it without spouting numbers and falling victim to compassion fade.

1. Always tell the truth.

People must be able to trust what you share. Any perversion of artistic license, abuse of narrative, or other choice that would cause someone to doubt your motives creates mistrust that undermines your relationships. Don’t do it. Period.

2. Know where your numbers came from. 

Sometimes, you want to include numbers. (See that? Include. Not make the whole meal.) When you do, know exactly where they come from. You may even want to include footnotes to spell out the source of your numbers or how you arrived at them. Avoid vanity metrics that in no way represent real impact. 

3. The most effective stories center on one person. 

Avoid generalities and grand sweeping narratives in favor of telling one person’s story. 

4. Live in the details and specifics of each story. 

The particulars of the people you serve, your team, your practices, your location, your history — they’re what make you, you. Not only do they distinguish you from others, but they help people connect with and remember you because they can relate to you as real people.

5. Keep it simple.

Not every story you tell has to be a surprising, edge-of-your-seat epic. Some of the most successful and memorable stories are simple. Less is usually more. 

.

But what about my moonshot?

Yes, ambitious goals serve a purpose and can unite people to achieve amazing things. Using them as sensationalist messaging, however, provides no real value — everyone gets a cheap thrill, and nothing actually happens. 

The question is simple: What’s the point of making the pledge? Is it about the campaigns you can run and the employee volunteer days you can offer? Or are you trying to drive real value?

The first is a stunt.2 The latter means success is delivering value. It surfaces questions like, “Okay, you cleaned this beach in 2021. Are you planning to go back to keep it clean? What prevents the plastic from returning?”

It also means I don’t only want to know that you cleaned 47 beaches and removed 735,613.61 pounds of plastic; I want to know what difference that made.

In the case of Corona, I’d love to follow someone who went to the beach as a kid, was disappointed by the state of it when they brought their own kids, and how now, post Corona clean up, they enjoy the pristine beach (*music swells*) even better than when they were a kid. 

Delivering that value — and delivering it long-term — requires meaningful communication, consistent effort, and constant adjustment to ensure those efforts work. 

That’s what a real relationship looks like.

.

“And this is Boston Medical Center,” the guide said in a noticeable rhythm. 

He then highlighted two medical breakthroughs: antiseptic and general anesthesia. Both were introduced at about the same time. General anesthesia took off; antiseptic did not. The reason (according to the guide) was that while general anesthesia made life easier for surgeons (imagine not having to hold your patient down to keep them from thrashing about while you try to operate on them), antiseptic bothered their skin (burning, rash, dry skin — I can’t recall the specific issue). 

The surgeons knew that the antiseptic would allow them to become the person they wanted to be — someone who saves lives — by preventing infection. Yet they wouldn’t use it. Were I advising Ye Olde Antiseptic Co., I would recommend that they talk to the surgeons (the people they serve) to find out why.

The conversation would reveal an opposing force: a persistent resistance that prevents surgeons from using antiseptic every time they scrub which in turn puts patients at risk during every surgery.

Businesses in the value economy identify and account for opposing forces. An opposing force operates in opposition to effective value delivery. These forces include regulations, supply chain disruptions, individual resistance to change, and barriers within your business (to name a few).

.

How to identify opposing forces

I can think of few actions that won’t have resistance attached.¹ As a team, you want to identify opposing forces before you initiate action. You also need an ongoing process to identify and address opposing forces you didn’t anticipate (or risk getting knocked on your ass).

Not every choice requires the same depth of consideration. A good rule is to match the depth and breadth of your inquiry to the level of irreversibility. If you can reverse the action, don’t overthink; make a choice, act, and assess. If you can’t reverse the action, take the time to think deeply about all the opposing forces so you account for them before you step forward.

You can stimulate your thinking by evaluating each of these potential sources:

• individual team members

• team as a group

• individual(s) outside your team

• group(s) outside your team

• state government

• federal government

• cultural trends

• global trends

You can also think about the implementation process from inception through input loop2 and all the touchpoints that go with it. All those touchpoints — and the people attached to them — may illuminate a potential opposing force. 

Subscribe now

How to account for opposing forces

Now that you’ve identified opposing forces, you need to deliberately shape what you do and how you do it to account for those forces. 

There are four approaches:

1. Eliminate

In some cases, the best approach is to eliminate the opposing force entirely. For example, Ye Olde Antiseptic Co. could change the formulation of their antiseptic so it doesn’t irritate surgeons’ hands. Opposing force eliminated. 

.

2. Circumnavigate

You can also work around the opposing force. Ye Olde Antiseptic Co. could explore putting the antiseptic on everything except the surgeons’ hands. 

.

3. Mitigate

You might not be able to avoid the opposing force, in which case, your approach may be to limit it. Perhaps Ye Olde Antiseptic Co. can’t eliminate the issue with a reformulation, but they can reduce the level of inflammation.

.

4. Enhance

The opposing force may provide an opportunity for you. Instead of simply eliminating the opposing force by reformulating their patented antiseptic, Ye Olde Antiseptic Co. could also create a hand lotion that pairs with it to tend specifically to surgeons’ hands. In addition to delivering an additional layer of value to the people they serve, this enhancement acts as an added layer of insurance that the initial opposing force is no longer at play. 

Assess which approach will result in the most effective value delivery. (I’ll take the bet that fixing the formulation will likely yield better results than not applying it to the surgeons’ hands.)

You may also find that you need to deploy more than one approach simultaneously, particularly when the best approach will take a long time to implement. 

Say a state regulation didn’t allow Ye Olde Antiseptic Co. to sell both their Surgeon’s Partner™ antiseptic wash and their Surgeon’s Glove™ hand lotion; they could only sell one. They may advocate for a change in legislation as part of their longest time horizon while they focus on serving surgeons in other states in the shorter term. 

Subscribe now

Not all friction is an opposing force

When I teach opposing forces, many people interpret them this way: Any resistance is an opposing force to our ability to deliver value effectively and we must eliminate it.

That’s simply not true. Just because something pushes in opposition doesn't mean it's preventing effective value delivery. Friction can prove valuable if it’s in play deliberately.3 

Ye Olde Antiseptic Co. may have the ability to apply the antiseptic instantly but decide to leave in the friction that comes from surgeons’ applying it carefully to their hands and forearms before each surgery because the company determined that the process created another layer of value. Not only did having to apply the antiseptic themselves increase their ownership of that process, but the antiseptic application process became a ritual that gave the surgeons space to collect themselves before beginning surgery.4

.

Understanding forces at play

Businesses in the value economy exist to deliver value to the people they serve. In a perfect world, you would test choices in a vacuum, have those tests go well, and deliver value effectively.

But this is no perfect world. Not only do you need to account for other groups that may have found a better way to deliver the value you exist to deliver, you must also deal with forces that push against your efforts to deliver value in the first place.

Thinking holistically about these opposing forces puts you in a stronger strategic position. You can account for these forces as you plan. You can also adapt to them as you identify them in practice. 

That may mean leaving that friction in place because it makes you more effective, not less. 

Much of what we believe about non-profits doesn’t serve the organizations, the teams that run them, or the people they serve. And despite a lot of people pointing that out, these beliefs persist.

Underpinning these beliefs is the assumption that non-profit businesses aren’t real businesses. They’re a subset of softer, less professional, less sophisticated entities staffed by people who need real business people to help them find their way out of a paper bag. 

In the value economy, both for-profit and non-profit businesses exist to deliver value to the people they serve. They both need to deliver value to their team members and secure the resources required to do what they do. They both need to assess if their actions deliver value effectively and make choices to adjust accordingly.

Non-profit businesses will never be treated as real businesses until we stop saying certain things.

.

Sentences about non-profit businesses we need to eliminate

We perpetuate this idea of non-profit businesses as junior businesses because we continue to believe what we say about them, in many cases without realizing what we’re saying. Here are eight sentences we need to stop saying and my suggestions for what to say instead.

.

1. “Donations aren’t the only way you can help a non-profit.”

Sigh. I’ve worked with non-profit businesses that genuinely had a need that had nothing to do with writing a check and couldn't get their supporters to help. However, in most cases, write the damn check. And write it with no strings attached. Most of the other ways you can help only exist because the organization doesn’t have the resources it needs, nor does its staff have the respect they deserve. Let’s rewrite this sentence to read: 

“Invest in the organization so that the team has the resources they need to deliver the value the organization exists to deliver.”¹

.

2. “Every dollar that goes to overhead is a dollar that doesn't go to the people the organization serves.”

So, who exactly do you think is doing the work to serve those people? Oh, people who work because they’re passionate. Right. . . .

Passion doesn’t buy groceries, folks. The people who work at non-profits need resources to live. They also need resources to do their job and advance the organization. Sexy things like software, insurance, professional development, and supplies. Without these things, the organization can’t promote itself, protect itself, build relationships — or frankly do anything. 

Working in an environment that believes this statement is a perpetual cycle of bobbing for apples with your arms tied behind your back while your board asks you to explain where that $100 went and why you aren’t achieving more in between gasps for air. I’d like to see this statement rewritten as:

“Non-profit businesses must pay well to attract and retain the best people and provide those people with the right tools to get the job done.”

Subscribe now

3. “Volunteers make everything possible.”

Hogwash. This statement is often made to help volunteers feel special and like they make a difference. Sometimes they help. But in many cases, volunteers add to the staff's workload instead of reducing it because what needs to be done is more than a volunteer can do. That said, yes, you should always thank people for their contributions. No, you should not keep making this statement because it's simply not true.2 We need to amend it to reflect reality: 

“Volunteers, with much support, direction, and management by our staff, help us to do what we do.”

.

4. “The board members run the organization.”

The people who sit on boards are often corporate executives confident in their superior expertise. Since they’re aware of how much (*cough* how little) they’re paying people, they consciously or unconsciously assume that the people they hire aren’t the best or brightest. That’s okay because they can provide direction to the staff, so they tell the staff how to do their jobs. Or they spend a lot of money on a consultant to tell them what their staff has already told them (no joke) because, for whatever reason, when a consultant says it, it’s gold. Staff members get frustrated because they aren’t valued and often can’t do the job as well as they want. Any slip in performance is seen as the staff members’ fault, which causes the board to jump in and scrutinize even further until their behavior causes staff to leave. And the cycle begins again.

The funny thing is, there are a lot of brilliant people working in non-profit businesses despite the lack of proper pay and the difficult people dynamics involved. If nothing else, actually working in a non-profit gives one experience that many people serving on boards simply don’t have.3  Let’s revise this one to read:

“We hire people we trust to advance the organization and empower them to do their best work.”

.

5. “I started volunteering because I don’t feel fulfilled by my job.”

Non-profit businesses don’t exist to entertain you or fill your empty spaces. They exist to deliver value to the people they serve. Here’s the thing: For-profit businesses exist for the same reason. This sentence needs to read:

“I left my old job to take one at a value-driven business (of the for-profit or non-profit flavor) because I wanted my time to deliver value to others while simultaneously delivering value to me.”

.

6. “I made it a non-profit because then we can get grant money.”

I’ve heard this more times than I can count: Someone has an idea. Selling that idea as a for-profit business isn’t of interest, so they fix that problem by becoming a non-profit, giving them access to all that easy grant money.

These people have never applied for a grant, gotten a grant, or managed a grant. Ever. It’s labor intensive, often backassed, and always takes time away from doing the work the grant was meant to fund. If you even get the grant. Non-profit professionals know this. Newbie founders and volunteer board members often don’t. Moving forward, when you hear the word grant, raise your hand and ask, “Are you sure we want to take on that work?” It’s the first step that gets us to the revision: 

“I determined that the only route to funding is grants and have set expectations accordingly for the staff time required to properly win and manage those grants, as well as for the limits they may place on our autonomy.”

,

7. “We should hold a gala!”

For some non-profit businesses, big events like galas provide a legitimate source of revenue. For most, they are a revenue and energy black hole. This sentence gets repeated often enough that it’s one of the first suggestions people (volunteers) grab onto.4 Let’s revise it to say: 

“Let’s think outside the box when it comes to our revenue streams and compare the income to the costs to ensure it will be worth our time.”

.

8. “I have a separate rate for non-profits.”

On the surface, this sounds lovely. How nice of you, dear business owner, to offer your services for less. Unless the work required to do the same job for a for-profit business is somehow different when you do it for a non-profit business, you need to charge the same. You’re undercutting your own people and perpetuating the idea that non-profit businesses need handouts.5  Instead, this should read: 

“We make in-kind donations to non-profit businesses.”

Subscribe now

Non-profit businesses are hard businesses we’re making harder

The truth is that non-profit businesses are the hardest to run strategically. As I’ve written before, the difference between what we currently call a non-profit and a for-profit lies in the gap between their source of revenue and the people they serve.

Non-profit businesses have the largest gap. They must deliver value to the people they serve, but they must also invest time securing money from a completely different group (or groups) of people so they have the resources they need to do what they do. 

The value donors or other supporters seek likely has nothing to do with the value the people the organization serves seek. In fact, giving donors what they want often distracts the team from delivering the value the people they serve need. That says nothing about grant requirements or the time it takes to identify, engage, and retain this completely different group (or groups) of people. 

In short, everything a for-profit business does, a non-profit business must do. A non-profit business must also navigate a split focus on top of it all. 

It is amazing that this type of business is the one we consider inferior and starve of the resources required to deliver value the world needs.6

Let’s stop.

➔ I run a strategy and business design firm. I help teams develop a focused strategy that answers the question, “What’s the point?” (Surprised? I hope not). But I don’t stop there. I help you ask that question throughout your business so everything drives in one direction. If you’re intrigued, let’s jump on a call. 

“One of the biggest problems with strategy is that the business doesn’t have one.” 

It's common to read this phrase in articles that aim to identify why a business strategy isn't working.

And yet, every business has a strategy because strategy is about choices — and the team makes choices every day. The issue is that the choices they make do not advance the business.

Effective teams make deliberate choices so every action the business takes drives toward delivering the value the business exists to deliver. 

.

Seven common but ineffective business strategies

Whether you’re consciously aware of it or not, you make choices based on something. That something and your choices serve as your strategy. Here are seven common but ineffective strategies you may have inadvertently adopted:

1. You're reactive.

Whether it’s a new idea, a raging fire, or the ping in your inbox, you choose to act based on what hits you at that moment. I've made the mistake of saying this type of team isn’t strategic when I meant to say they aren't deliberate. You’re likely pedaling at full steam but not going anywhere.

2. You do what you want to do.

You build what you want to build. The quintessential example is a robotics company that wanted to build X even though all the input they received from their customers told them they needed Y. The company continued to build X because that’s what they wanted to build. Now, they don’t exist anymore. If you’re the only one reaping value, you have a hobby, not a business.

3. You do what you've always done.

You know the approach works. You’re comfortable doing it. And you definitely don’t want the stress of changing it. So you keep on keepin’ on. Alas, too many businesses no longer exist because they failed to evolve. You must adapt what you do and how you do it because the world changes all the time. 

Subscribe now

4. You chase the new cool thing.

Every day brings new priorities that start with emails like, “Check out how cool this is. We should do it.” Sometimes, you start a new thing because you enjoy creating. Sometimes, you do it because the new thing is simply more exciting than doing the hard work you actually need to do. Much like a reactive strategy, your team finds it hard to gain any traction or soothe their spinning heads.

5. You spend as little money as possible.

You scrutinize every investment looking for the cheapest option, including what could be done for free. Slowly, sometimes glacially, no one wants to work on your team, and your business loses all the resources required to do, well, anything.

6. You go after the money.

You see a way to get a lot of cash in the near term, so you immediately apply effort in that direction. Never mind what you were doing before. Never mind that you (somehow) want team members to keep doing that stuff too. If you can put a check in the bank today, you’ll worry about tomorrow later. Unfortunately, you may not have a business tomorrow.

7. You pursue more.

When someone asks for your strategy, you answer, “To be the biggest company in the world!” You pursue more markets, more users, and more followers. When asked why, you say, “Because we need to be the biggest!” Your team has a tough time making choices and a high likelihood of running an unprofitable business.

Subscribe now

How to make better choices

It’s not that the companies making choices in any of these seven ways don’t have a strategy; they don’t have a particularly good strategy. They may even operate using a few of these strategies at once, which only compounds the negative effects.

New businesses launch every day. We can create products and services faster than ever before. And soon, production will come at pennies on the dollar. The only way to thrive is to focus on delivering meaningful value. 

Define the value you deliver by engaging the people you serve. Then make choices so everything you do as a business drives toward delivering that value. To succeed, you’ll need to assess how your choices work — i.e. how effectively they deliver value — and adjust accordingly. 

Routinely gather input from the people you serve, your team and the external environment so you’re positioned to evolve your business as value shifts, your team grows, and the world changes.

.

Choose deliberately

You and your team make choices every day. You choose to hold this meeting, adopt this software, or launch this product. 

You need to make deliberate choices that advance your ability to effectively deliver value. 

The choices you make — and what you base them on — define your strategy. And like so many things, some strategies work better than others.

Originally published at www.entrepreneur.com on March 6, 2024. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

.

Share this post: One of the best ways to support my work is to share it. Share this post with a friend or click the 🖤 so more people will discover it on Substack. Thanks. You rock my socks.

“You don’t want a car. You want the car,” said an attempting-to-be-cool male voice on my TV. 

“Actually, I don’t want any car, thanks,” I responded as I wiped down my kitchen counter. 

He continued, talking about the vacation rather than a vacation (which I wasn’t interested in either). But his inflection caused me to stop wiping. Something clicked. 

I’ve wanted to write about “One Thing” articles for a while. You’ve seen these gangrenous posts in your feed. They tempt you with headlines like, “The one thing you need to do to increase your social media followers.” Or worse, “The only thing you need to know about leading effective one-on-ones.”1

They shut down thinking. We slow our scroll. We click the article. We need to know what’s inside. 

My lengthy Google search would lead one to believe we're tremendously lazy as a species. But I don’t think that’s the whole story. These headlines draw us in like flies to a warm light because we crave anything that will shelter us from the deluge of options that exist in our reality. 

As a living organism, we’re wired to conserve our energy lest we spend precious resources unnecessarily. This wiring extends to the way our brains work. We don’t deal with information we don’t need at that moment. We rely on wisdom passed down over generations. We do many things out of habit, whether we’re doing so consciously or not. 

It’s not surprising that a post serving up a singular solution on a silver platter appeals to our instincts; it’s called clickbait for a reason. Because we often seek simplistic solutions to complex problems, we know that adopting one solution as if it were a silver bullet typically has disappointing to disastrous consequences. 

Subscribe now

Businesses in the value economy can either wreak havoc by making their one thing a panacea or deliver a great deal of value by being specific. It all comes down to how you understand the word “the.”

When you say “the one thing,” you’re essentially writing a redundant statement. “The” means the noun that follows it is definite or not one among many.  

Many businesses try to make whatever they sell the solution to all problems, like Gus from My Big Fat Greek Wedding peddling for Windex. Need to clean the window? Windex. Have a scrape? Windex. Got a zit? You guessed it: “Put some Windex on it.” 

Windex as The One Solution is easier for people to remember. It’s easier to message. And it means that in our endless pursuit of more, everyone is Gus’s customer. 

In reality, it’s improbable that one solution works for everybody everywhere for all the things, all the time. It simply goes against what we understand about people and what we understand about value. Forcing your Thneed2 onto everyone — or everyone into your Thneed — dilutes your business and can harm society, depending on your scale.3 

Our friends at Sixt, the rental car company whose ad sparked this post, understand that “the” is a powerful word when you’re using it to be specific. We don’t want a car, one bland, generalized (and apparently boring) car among many. We want the car that’s right for us. 

That’s what makes these “one thing” claims so infectious. They not only tap into our human instincts to seek simplicity, but they also serve as a beacon in a sea of options. “The” is a decision; “a” is a choice I need to make. 

While it’s understandable that you’re exhausted by all the options you have as a business, those options are an opportunity. You can design every action your business takes and how you take them so everything you do drives toward delivering the value you exist to deliver and speaks to the people you serve. It takes time. It takes thought. It takes discipline. 

It’s worth it. 

“One Thing” headlines are designed to manipulate the part of us that craves simplicity. We can tap into that same need by being specific. 

With so many options out there, being specific — being the car for the people you serve and only the people you serve — makes their choice not only easier but actually gets them where they need or want to go. 

“YeeeUUUUSSSSS. We’re stickin’ with Ficken!”

My mother cheered in the living room like the players on the screen could hear her. Then she proceeded to do some type of dance that doesn’t require one to leave their armchair to get their groove on. It was a moment.

I asked, “Stickin’ with what now?”

“Ficken!” she replied, eyes a flame. The fire fizzled at the apparent lack of recognition on my face. “The kicker.”

About ten years ago, Sam Ficken had a hard go as the kicker for the Penn State Nittany¹ Lions football team. In his first season, he became a household name in Pennsylvania and the subject of Twitter torrents after he missed four field goals and didn’t get an extra point during Penn State's 17-16 loss to Virginia. 

Ficken ended up in the position when the previous kicker got transferred — a transfer that also meant Penn State didn't have the option to put Ficken back on the bench.

The team and the community decided to embrace Ficken. Students made posters to hold in the endzone that read “Stickin’ with Ficken.” They rattled them as hard as the cheerleaders shook their pom poms when his kicks connected. The coaches believed in him, and the team helped Ficken improve his technique. In the season finale against Wisconsin, Ficken’s 37-yard field goal in overtime got them the points they needed to win the game.

In many ways, these choices reflect the Nittany Lion’s values, namely that it isn’t about glory for any one player. It’s about the team.

.

What are values?

Values define how you — specifically — do things as a business. They function as a filter for behavior. 

Because values are a filter for behavior, communicate them as such rather than as abstract ideas. For example, if you value collaboration, express it as a behavior you want your team to exhibit: “We collaborate.”² Then, add details that make it clear what that value looks like in practice within the context of your business. 

You can also include what a value does not look like so your team gets both sides of the bumper guard, and you limit any unintended behavior. For example, if your value is “We collaborate,” you may add that collaboration does not mean the client calls all the shots.

.

Here are 8 approaches to practicing your values

.

1. Take a different stance

Most people believe they need to “hold people accountable” for their values to exist beyond the page. This belief likely finds its roots in old assumptions about work, and it doesn’t serve teams today. By definition, accountability puts people in a position of inquiring into other’s behavior and those on the receiving end of an inquiry on the defensive. This approach can easily devolve into a witch hunt, and the witch hunt into an ideological purity test, depending on how you defined your values.

Instead of focusing on accountability, expect individuals to be responsible. This behavior is essential to establishing the trust every team requires to work together. It also emphasizes the reality that putting values into practice requires team members to make choices about the actions they take — and how they take them — every day.

.

2. There’s only one team

Many businesses talk about their departments and working groups as teams. Football understands that this division is both false and unproductive. You only have one team — and you’re all playing for it.

You contribute to the team individually. Many of your contributions come from executing work on your own. You also contribute in groups when you gather to share information, put the pieces together, and make choices. 

But much like Penn State, you can’t blame your failures — or your wins — on one kicker or even on the offensive or defensive line. Your team wins and fails together as one team. That’s why we say, “Penn State lost to Michigan State.”

Subscribe now

3. You can’t kick anyone off the team

When you step into the stadium to play a football game, you need all the people on your offensive and defensive lines. Your business works the same way. As a member of the team, assume that you need everyone you work with to show up and play well. 

When you assume you need everyone and their contributions matter, it’s much easier to be responsible for yourself because you know the team depends on you. You’re also more motivated to help your fellow team members improve³ because, well, you’re all in this together. Stick with Ficken.

.

4. Practice at the play level

Most football teams develop a set of plays they can deploy in a game. Instead of hoping your team members find some way to deploy your values in their work, set your team up for success by designing your workflow, guidelines, and other systems to align with your values so you practice them by default. 

For that to work, it’s critical to onboard new team members with context. Don’t simply walk through the steps; tell them why you chose each of these steps and why you do them the way that you do them. 

You can also layer in micro-practices. Unlike your workflow and guidelines, which exist at a business-wide level, micro-practices exist at the individual level. One of the best micro-practices you can adopt is to ask questions.

.

5. Ask questions

You’ll ask better questions if you give your fellow team members the benefit of the doubt and assume they showed up today and played the best they could. 

The most important thing to ask about is context. In many cases, your fellow team members may think they are practicing the values; they may simply see things differently than you do. For example, if your team member proposes a solution you don’t think aligns with one or more of your business’s values, instead of saying, “That doesn’t align with our values,” or worse, “What you’re saying doesn’t align with our values,” (Yikes. So accusatory. So personal.) ask, “Can you talk me through how you think this aligns with our values?”

By discussing their reasoning and yours, you’ll come to a clearer understanding of each other and likely a better way to move forward.⁴

.

6. Lean on your coaches

The leaders of your team serve as coaches. They’re not referees to break apart disputes or decide who was right and who was wrong. 

Strength and conditioning coaches in football demonstrate each exercise. Business leaders do the same. They should show you how to practice the business’s values through their actions and by explaining how their choices align with those values. 

They should also provide learning opportunities for team members to build the skills necessary to practice the values. (In fact, the learning opportunity can be a form of practicing one or more of your company’s values.)

Strength and conditioning coaches also provide support during the exercise by encouraging you and taking the weight off your shoulders if you can’t lift it anymore. Business leaders reinforce that their teams can put their values into practice and recognize when the team does this well. They also make the tough calls so team members don’t have to carry that burden. 

What are the tough calls? Well, based on what I’ve written, you may think you’re permanently stuck with everyone you hired — including bad apples who simply don’t play well with others.

That’s not true. Your culture is defined as much by the behavior you cultivate as by the behavior you tolerate. Leadership owns removing people from the team who don’t work well within the boundaries of the business's values or who otherwise create an undesired environment (a.k.a. treat people like shit). 

Leaders can often limit the number of times they have to make this tough call by hiring for values so people come in inclined to thrive. They can also offer support to help people gain the skills or understanding they need to work in alignment with the values. But at a certain point, leaders need to be comfortable saying, “This isn’t the right team for you.”

Subscribe now

7. Accept that you’ll step out of bounds

Even when everyone does their best to put the company values into practice, you will step out of bounds or downright fumble the ball. That’s why we practice our values: even the team that wins the Superbowl shows up next season for practice.

When you step out of bounds, dust yourself off and recommit. Learn from the missed passes and the fumbles. Set up routine moments — both business-wide and as an individual — to check in on your business’s values and calibrate accordingly. In so many cases, the gap between the words on the page and how you practice those words in your work comes down to losing sight of the words on the page.

While you want to learn from the fumbles, don’t keep a record of every bad pass your team members threw. Once you reflect, learn, and apply the learnings — move on.

.

8. Show, don’t tell

Trying to tell a football player how to throw better won’t get you far.⁵ Football teams record themselves and review the tapes so they can see what they’re doing well and what they can do better.

Your business can do similar things. First, write your business’s values as behaviors followed by illustrative descriptions. Then, use examples of real people doing real things. These examples can double as a way to recognize your team members, but sometimes, that overshadows walking through what happened as an illustrative example. Consider separating recognition from showing how someone on your team practices your values in their work.

You can also consider including illustrative practices in your business. For example, Amazon had a value about frugality. They created desks from doors and saw horses in the early days to practice that value and maintained the practice to illustrate it⁶ long after they could have maintained frugality with something less visible.

.

The specifics make you, you

There’s a reason a lot of teams emphasize the need to “live their values.” They know their values shouldn’t only be words on paper but part of how their team works every day. 

Strategic businesses choose not only every action they take but how they take those actions. The how is defined by their values. How you do what you do should deepen the value you deliver.

Moreover, when you practice your values consistently, you tell people who you are and what it’s like to be part of this team. You’ll more easily attract people who will thrive on your team — and deter those who won’t. 

The same is true for the people you serve. Practicing your values shows them not only who you are, but that you get them. That’s how they find you in the crowd and know you’re their kind of people. Before you know it, they’re following you in preseason and ultimately screaming in the stands because they want you to win. 

Because when you win, they win.

.

[1] For years, as a kid, I thought it was Nitley, not Nittany. I may even say it wrong when I record.

[2] “We collaborate” still doesn’t quite get you where you need to go. First, it isn’t specific enough to your team. Think about the specific words you choose and what it looks like on your team instead of someone else’s team. Second, the more you can make the value statement memorable, the better. As a better example, consider: “We put in an extra 15 minutes.” It tells me about the behavior and even mentality of the business. It’s also intriguing enough to get me to read the illustrative description.

[3] I have run into teams who are content to simply bitch. They seem to relish in their problems and would struggle to know how to exist without constant complaining. This is a culture. They value bitching. This is not a place I encourage you to work.

[4] Sometimes, you have to address misalignment after the fact. Questions are still your friend, but you need to frame the conversation first. For example, “XYZ didn’t seem to align with our values. Specifically [describe how]. How we do things here matters. How can we do this differently the next time?” Notice it’s all about the we because you’re one team.

[5] I have this mental picture of a coach awkwardly trying to describe something, not having the words, and then when the player tries to do what the coach described, the coach yells, “Not that left. The other left!” And then the poor player trips themselves.

[6] Or so I read somewhere once upon a time.

[*] If a behavior is table stakes for being in business, like communicating honestly or taking actions within the confines of the law, there’s probably no need to formalize it in a value

.

.

⊗ I’m Katie. I’m the mastermind behind MatterLogic™, the only system for running a business in the value economy. I’m an essentialist thinker, Entrepreneur contributor, thoughtful speaker, and jargon slayer. I shift your focus by asking “What’s the point?” Connect with me on LinkedIn and subscribe to WTP to get more of my perspective. Have a terrific day.

.

“Sorry, I’m not really sure if I said that okay.”

That sentence follows 94%¹ of the responses I get to the prompt, “So tell me more about you and your business.”

It's hard for people to tell their story. Getting clarity on your own story is like trying to get clarity on your own backside: you lack the perspective to find the points of connection and simplicity that make your story (not your ass) sing. 

We tend to think of our story as a noun, a thing we draft and set like a script. This definition of story makes sense when you take a step back and look at how most of us understand the purpose of our story and how to create one. 

Most people think of their story as a way to sell. When experts talk about storytelling, they inevitably conjure up fantastic narratives. They’ll also break down those narratives into formulas you can follow to nail your story. Inevitably, Apple and the Hero’s Journey show up in the slide deck.

I appreciate that part of the reason you tell your story is to sell. I also appreciate the role of formulas (not only the Hero’s Journey). But you have a story and tell it for more reasons than selling. While I’ve used formulas to help my clients shake out cobwebs or come at their stories from a different angle, formulas are the recipes of storytelling, and soon, they all sound the same. Moreover, formulas imply that your story is a script.

Your story is a conversation. 

Your story isn’t a story unless you tell it to someone else. There’s also a key difference between your business story and something you pick up while browsing the Barnes and Noble fiction section: it evolves as you add new chapters. 

Your story allows you to translate your business strategy — the value you deliver, the world you’re building, what actions you take to get there, and how you take those actions — into something powerful and accessible. In other words, it should communicate who you are, what you do, and why it matters. The purpose of your story is to connect with and ultimately engage all the people who make your business possible. 

When we think about our story as a script, as a set of carefully wordsmithed sentences shined to perfection, we become rigid and self-focused. 

Ever sat on a demo call with a sales rep who can’t deviate from their script? It’s a little painful. Not only because you can see the smoke coming out their ears when you ask them to go out of order but because they’re not engaging with you. They’re simply talking at you.

Conversations require an exchange. Your focus as the storyteller should be on the person you’re engaging. Are you meeting them where they are? Are you answering the questions they have? Are you providing them with the details they care about? Are you connecting with them as a human being?

Dropping the script requires an extreme level of comfort and confidence that you know who you are, what you do, and why it matters — and that you can communicate that using words that don’t sound like a marketer ran them through the snazzy word machine.

Subscribe now

But Katie, you say, I’m not sure I believe all that. I mean, my blog, social media, and other marketing efforts all tell my story. It's all written down or recorded. That's not a conversation.

Au contraire. 

As soon as you tell your story to someone else, it functions as a conversation. That’s how your story works. Here are three main areas where you’re likely telling your story and why they’re all conversations.

1. Your relationships are a series of conversations.

You’re likely engaged in some form of networking. Maybe you’re headed out to events or have an automatic LinkedIn connection campaign going. However you’re doing it, you have to talk directly to another human being. 

You won’t talk to that person once. You’ll likely talk to them more than once to convert them from a prospect to a buyer, donor, or partner. Your exchange will need to adapt to the rhythm that fits them. You’ll also need to continue the conversation to keep them engaged. Ghosting does nothing for your relationships.

Moreover, you also have a relationship with your team members. You share your story in conversations with them from the moment you start recruiting them. (Or you should. It amazes me how many leaders don’t).

2. Your content is a conversation.

Yes, you have to set a piece of content to publish it. I’m willing to wager that you’re publishing content not only so people know you exist but also because you want the audience of that content to do something. That’s an exchange. You share something, and they take action in response. And at some point, you likely engage in direct conversation.

3. Your brand is a conversation. 

You don’t control your brand. You control the choices you make and how consistently you make them. The reputation that forms in the minds of others — and how they go out and talk about you (*cough* conversation) — comes (at least in part) from them.

You can course-correct if they’re forming the wrong picture or lean into what you’ve been doing to burn your brand further into the world. Either way, you’re reacting to their perception of your business.

Okay, so if my story really is a conversation, how do I get better at having that conversation (otherwise known as telling my story)?

Start by embracing the fact that it’s not about you. The point of your story is the value you deliver. Then, understand that great stories aren’t about sticking to a formula; they’re about people. You deliver value to someone. Put ‘em front and center in all their special snowflake glory. The beating heart of your business, and a big part of what makes it distinctive, is who your people are and what you help them do, achieve, or experience.

When you sit down to get clarity on your story, think in terms of questions and answers. What do the people you’re going to talk to want to know? What language do they use to talk about it? Are you able to communicate the value you deliver and to whom?

Then, treat people as someone, not something. You’ll build stronger relationships when you care about the person. You’ll deliver better content when you create with a real human recipient in mind. You’ll build a better brand when you recognize that you build that brand with all the people who make your business possible.

And when you think of your business as a conversation, you’ll run a better business. Instead of the C-suite poofing up answers behind closed office doors, you’ll make the space to ask questions and strategically co-create your next steps with your team and the people you serve.

Bottom line: when you drop the script and engage in a conversation, you’re more likely to connect with the real human being across the table or Zoom room — because you’re behaving more like a human being yourself.

[1] This is 100% a made-up number.

.

⊗ Hey, I’m Katie. I’m the mastermind behind MatterLogic™, the only system for running a business in the value economy. I’m an essentialist thinker, Entrepreneur contributor, thoughtful speaker, and jargon slayer. I shift your focus by asking “What’s the point?” Connect with me on LinkedIn and subscribe to WTP to get more of my perspective.

I leaned over to my right, despite my back’s protest, so I could see in between the heads in front of me. The orchestra painted whole new worlds using emotions like thick oil paint. 

Perhaps if I were more of a classical music aficionado, my thoughts would have rested on the caliber of the music or perhaps wandered to the particular playing style of a given orchestra member (see Dr. Hannibal Lector watching the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra, his sharp eye trained on the poor playing of a flutist).

But I’m not. What I noted beyond my own soul’s exuberance for the sound dancing on the night air was the conductor, John Williams — admittedly the man I came to see. 

With works like Star Wars, Superman, E.T., Indiana Jones, Jaws, Schindler’s List, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, John Williams defined the sound of contemporary cinema. In addition to his film work, he’s a concert composer and conductor, including conducting the Boston Pops for thirteen years.

As a registered Jedi and someone who enjoys many of his other works¹ in galaxies not so far away, I wanted to see him conduct. I first saw the poster advertising Film Night when I was in college. A variation of that poster would appear in a gold-framed case outside the BSO every spring. 

And for over a decade, I missed the concert. Every year. 

Finally, with the help of my team member, Erin, I got tickets. I came to the concert with no preconceived notions about the man behind the music. 

What I saw was joy. 

Joy in conducting the music, joy in the audience’s delight in hearing it, and joy in the eyes and smiles lit up across the orchestra (and chorus — because Dual of the Fates needs a chorus).

All I could think was, “How do I become a leader like that?”

I left with that question on my mind. It stuck with me long enough that I pulled up interviews to learn more about him before writing a letter with my question.

Alas, Kobe Bryant had beaten me to it. 

Bryant said he wanted to learn how Williams kept all the moving pieces working together. Bryant quoted Williams as saying, “‘Kobe, if I hear something is off, I can just interject and give them the answer. But I’ve found it’s better to ask them questions, because most of the time, the answer I’ll get back will be a better answer than the one I had.’”

Herein lies one of the best traits of a leader in the value economy. They recognize that the work will be better if they rely on the collective brainpower of their team and ask questions to bring it out.

It’s logical, but so many of us don’t do it. Why? What does Williams understand that I — and many others — don’t?

My digging led me to an answer: humility.

Subscribe now

Maybe he picked up somewhere that humility was a good trait. Maybe he repeats a mantra every day to keep himself grounded. Or maybe it’s simply hardwired into who he is as a human being. Whatever the case may be, in almost every interview I read, the interviewer described Williams as humble. From my vantage point in the audience, his posture and remarks exuded humility. 

Some of us see humility as a sign of weakness, or as a way to respond to compliments lest we err and reveal our ego. In reality, I believe the truly humble have a different perspective on themselves and their work that allows them to simultaneously serve as better leaders and reach a greater level of excellence. 

When you don’t see yourself as the center of the universe, you don’t need to make everything about you. Unhumble leaders take credit for the ideas of others and bend numbers to show how good they are instead of how good the team is.

More fundamentally, a leader without humility dismisses my value as a team member as soon as they walk into the room. If you have all the answers and exist as the sole reason for our success, what do you need me for?

Humble leaders believe that they’re working with their people, not sitting above them. This vantage point makes it natural to respect your team members as key contributors to your success and to want to collaborate with them rather than lord over them.

Humility doesn’t mean you have no answers, nor does it mean you lack confidence or have no awareness of your abilities. It does mean that you see yourself as a constant work in progress. In other words, humble leaders don’t see themselves as having attained excellence — which means they can continue to strive for it. 

In one interview,  I learned that Williams does not listen to his own music once a piece is completed. “Once I’ve done, finished with it, I close the book and go on to the next empty page, which has become a way of life where I’m very happy to get up each day to work,” he said. 

When he does achieve greatness — and he has, repeatedly — he doesn’t bask in his own glory. The project is over. He moves to the next one and returns to the process of actually doing the work.

Realistically, the wins come few and far between, even for the best companies. For those of us in the value economy, the wins are hard-won because it often takes time to achieve an outcome and then to make an impact.

It’s essential to find joy in the work itself. As a humble leader, joy comes from a place of gratitude. You find satisfaction in practicing your craft, and you’re grateful for the opportunity to try and achieve excellence again.

I’d argue it’s more fulfilling to get up every day and do the work if you’re not thinking about your next win: only the blank page and doing the best job that you can right here, right now.

Williams does most of his work sitting for hours at a time at his Steinway, composing in pencil². And he will tell you success comes not from hard work, but from doing the hard work over and over again.

[1] I have created a John Williams playlist. It needs a lot of work, but you can check it out now.

[2] John Williams, 90, steps away from film, but not music

.

Hey, I’m Katie. I’m the mastermind behind MatterLogic™, the only system for running a business in the value economy. I’m an essentialist thinker, Entrepreneur contributor, thoughtful speaker, and jargon slayer. I shift your focus by asking “What’s the point?” Connect with me on LinkedIn and subscribe to WTP to get more of my perspective.

.

Something moved. 

I sat on the couch as the clock ticked past midnight. I saw a shadow scurry along the baseboard in the dim light, and my first thought was, “Fuck…”

I had to investigate, or I’d never sleep.

I put down my laptop, rose from the cushion with my butt imprinted on it, and immediately saw the cockroach slink its way behind my desk. 

Until it was outside my apartment — or dead — I would not sleep. And I really wanted some sleep.

With a sigh, I sought out my shoes. Nothing worse than a bug scuttling across your toes. Then I grabbed my handy blue flashlight and chased the bug around the perimeter of my apartment, eventually cornering it in my pint-sized bathroom.

I stood outside the door wiping the sweat off my face while considering my next steps. I could see the cockroach by bending to the left and looking in the mirror. The devious little menace had positioned itself on the wall near the ceiling, clearly aware that it ruled over the apartment.

For now.

I removed my towels to ensure a dead bug wouldn’t fall on them. I also put on pants (why they didn’t get put on with the shoes, I don’t know).

Then I grabbed my hammer spear¹. 

I carefully positioned the head so it was flat against the wall. The length of the handle allowed me to stand back near the tub, a solid three feet away from the bug. Once my weapon was set, I lined myself up, aware I would get one shot before it raced off to some unknown corner of my apartment. 

I braced myself, counted to three, and SLAM! I thrust my spear at the wall, hitting the bug dead on. I held it there for a second, secure that, for the moment, I was in total control. So much for the high ground.

Once I removed my hammer spear, the bug fell to the floor, still twitching. I changed positions so I could slam my hammer spear into the tile over and over again until I was certain it was dead. 

After a trip to the floor trash room to revive a cardboard box for a whole new purpose (bug casket), I removed the bug from my apartment.

I slept like a baby. 

Subscribe now

I don’t own an actual hammer spear. I own a Swiffer — a Swiffer Sweeper, to be precise. 

One visit to the Swiffer homepage would lead you to believe that they’re in the business of making cleaning not only easier but more effective than your grandmother’s mop. 

Every commercial gives you a taste of the world they’re creating, where you enjoy a beautifully clean house without all the struggle. They know that to experience this world, you have to achieve a number of things, including trapping your dirt so you don’t spread it around, removing tough spots, and cleaning all floor types.

It’s no surprise to me that they capture all of these outcomes under a new verb: swiffering. 

As a value economy business, the team would monitor how well they deliver the value they intend to provide. Are their customers able to get sticky spots up with ease? How well are they able to contain pet hair? And can they do all of this with less hassle and in less time than before?

The team would learn from their customers and improve what they do and how they do it.

I’m willing to bet that nowhere in strategic conversations at Swiffer² did someone stand up and say, “Hey! I think we should develop a hammer spear.” Swiffering doesn’t (currently) include “killing bugs swiftly and without having to touch them.”

But I get that value out of my Swiffer. And the ultimate value of a good night’s sleep.

While it’s critical to assess how well you’re delivering the value you intended, it’s also important to understand what additional, albeit unintentional, value you also deliver.

As part of identifying any unintentional value, ask the people you serve questions like, "How else do you use your Swiffer?" Balance questions with other sources of information. What people post on social media or how your product broke can provide applicable insights. Someone may use your product differently than you intended because they’ve identified an additional use (and corresponding value). 

If you provide a service, explore where clients get value out of the intermediate steps of your process. You’re likely delivering more value than you realize.

Sometimes, the value you identify will align with your existing strategy and you can pursue opportunities to expand or deepen the value you deliver without losing focus. For example, I use my Swiffer dry cloths to dust things beyond the floor.

In other cases, the additional value you identify won’t align. You will need to debate and choose whether to expand your core to encompass that value or find another way to deliver it. 

Both of these options hinge on there being a sufficient number of people seeking this additional layer of value. If there are only one or two people who care — *cough* lonely me with my hammer spear — then it is simply bonus value for those one or two people.

[1] Full credit for this name goes to Alex Priore who coined it as a name for the metal legs that held up our high school’s risers. That’s what my Swiffer looks like in my head when I’m wielding it. 

[2] Swiffer is a brand owned by Procter & Gamble. For illustrative purposes, I’m treating Swiffer as its own business.

.

“What do you mean it’s closed?”

My mother stood air fried on the sidewalk in front of a man in a gray shirt. She appeared to any passerby like a child whose bright red balloon had just been popped. Standing there with only an empty stick, I dare say that tears were imminent. 

The man repeated himself with the addition of “I’m sorry,” to the first half of his statement, as in “I’m sorry, but we’re closed for a private event.”

I’ll spare you more detail and say that her pleading (We came all the way from Philadelphia…) gained us sufficient sympathy and, with our metaphorical red balloon reinflated, entrance to the Boston Fire Museum. 

The Boston Fire Museum has occupied the old firehouse at 344 Congress Street in Boston’s seaport district since 1983. The museum committee, which oversees the operation of the museum, is an all-volunteer group dedicated to informing friends and visitors about the history of firefighting. Since the Boston Fire Department is one of the oldest in the nation, there’s a lot to share.

Part of their collection includes different helmets. These helmets line the top shelf running along one wall of the space. According to the note I found near the helmets, they were collected by Deputy Chief Francis Bates of the Salem, Massachusetts Fire Department. 

Some helmets hail from as far away as Australia and some appeared quite old. One antique gold helmet had a different notation underneath its perch:

.

WE DON’T KNOW. TELL US. 

.

Maybe your instincts kicked in and you thought, “That doesn’t seem like a good thing to put out there…”

Me? I thought it was brilliant. 

Instead of hiding this helmet behind the fridge and pretending it didn’t exist, this group chose to be open about their knowledge gap in order to fill it. 

The Boston Fire Museum isn’t the only business with a knowledge gap. Newsflash — no one knows everything. 

Your role as a leader isn’t to have all the answers; it’s to own a knowledge gap when you find it and choose an approach to acquire that knowledge. 

In this case, the museum committee chose to crowdsource an answer from the museum’s many visitors. You could also tap into your collective brainpower by asking your team. You could do some research to find an answer. You could run experiments or engage someone with the expertise you need.  

Your approach will vary depending on the type of knowledge you’re trying to obtain. Seeking knowledge on a regular basis will allow your team to build that muscle so they become more adept at it over time.

And even if you can’t achieve a total gap closure, you still know that it’s there to be filled in the future. 

Happy Monday,

Katie
Your Friendly Weekly Writer

.

.

I went to a food court last week. Complete with two bars, an outside beer garden, and niche food stands, it was a pleasant work field trip.

Until it came time to actually get food. It wasn’t clear initially that I had to go back to where I ordered my food to pick it up; I had to infer it from the person on the other side of the stone counter by way of their handing me a plastic buzzer (an action done with limited enthusiasm).

Once I finished my meal, I wasn’t sure what to do with my tray or plates. Would someone come to get them? Did I need to take my tray to the magical place where they store and wash the trays? Or should I take my tray back to the person behind the stone counter because every stand had its own special trays and dishes? 

I finally figured it out, by way of stalking another diner and matching their behavior. Of course, this particular stratagem didn’t necessarily result in a correct answer, only in my ability to point and say, “They did it too.”

Many teams approach the way they communicate the same way. Their small team set up whatever was most comfortable for them and ran with it. New people might get a nod in the right direction by way of a new email address or a notification that they’ve been added to the company Slack channel.

But that’s it. They have to infer how to communicate. 

They may copy other team members in an effort to fit in. They may also go about doing their own thing because that’s what works for them.

However it goes, you’ve got information all over the place and may even put your arm in a few ketchup-covered trays. 

Instead of leaving communication practices up for interpretation, standardize communication norms and expectations through dedicated guidelines. Make them clear and brief. Your goal is to provide guidance, not micromanage behavior. 

Here some are questions to answer: 

channels: What channel do you use when? Are any channels or platforms inappropriate or off-limits? 

timeliness: How quickly are you expected to respond? Is that different depending on the channel?

availability: When are you expected to be online? How do you communicate when you’re unavailable? Do you communicate with people who are offline or schedule those communications for when they return? Do you have no contact hours or days? 

updates: How often do you provide updates and to whom? What’s the best way to share information one way? 

announcements: Where do you find company-wide announcements? Will you receive a notification, or do you need to remember to look? How often can you expect to receive them?

tone: What tone do you use when you talk to each other internally? Can you use emojis? If so, when? 

problems: How do you identify and solve problems? How do you navigate challenges? How do you share what you learned from both?

conflicts and difficult topics: How do you communicate bad news? How do you discuss difficult topics? How do you resolve conflicts?

guidelines: Where can you find a copy of all your company’s guidelines? When you have a question about a guideline or an improvement to suggest, whom do you talk to?

celebrating success: How do you recognize each other’s contributions and successes? 

How you talk to each other as a team determines how you interact with one another. It’s the foundation for all the other work you do together.

Make sure your team doesn’t have to infer what they’re supposed to do.

Happy Monday,

Katie
Your Friendly Weekly Writer

.

Subscribe now

.

“You can pick your nose. You can pick your friend’s nose. But you can’t pick your family.”

Now, I don’t know what type of friends you have, but I cannot pick my friend’s nose.

And while I cannot pick my family, I think family and noses have a lot in common.

Sometimes, your nose does exactly what it’s supposed to do. Sometimes, you can’t breathe. Sometimes, your nose gets burned. And sometimes, things get messy and it runs all over the place.

Even if you choose not to spend time with your family, they're still your family, hanging around like the snot in your nose as a fundamental part of your life.

Your team doesn’t work the same way.

While a good team has your back and can help you grow, they aren’t your family — most importantly because you can pick them.

Leaders can choose whom they bring onto the team. They can also choose who to let go.

Individuals can choose the teams they chase. They can also choose to walk away.

When we see teams as a series of choices, we can think about how to build them differently. 

Leaders can pick people who complement each other. No need to walk on eggshells because you don’t want to upset cousin Nicky at Thanksgiving dinner.

Leaders can pick people who will thrive within the bumper guards of their company’s values. Say goodbye to on time people putting up with late people.

Leaders can search far and wide for the highest caliber people to bring onto their team. You don’t have to resign yourself to sailing through the trees with people truly horrible at ziplining.

Now remember, individuals can also choose which team to pursue — even if you choose them, they can say, “No, thank you.” 

Individuals seek out a team for a myriad of reasons based on what they value. Some may seek a position that will allow them to develop new skills. Some may value flexibility above other benefits. And others may want a role precisely because your values align with theirs.

Whatever mosaic of value they look through, almost everyone will seek viable financial compensation for the time they invest as part of your team. It’s the first way you say you value them, and it’s something most of us need to live a good life.

I don’t want to suggest that you can wholly avoid dealing with conflict or that who you seek and who seeks you will always line up; all work involving people also involves friction.

But your team isn't a family. You have the ability to choose who's on it and which one you play for. 

Pick well.

.

Subscribe now

.

I try to avoid using the word should.

There are worse words in the dictionary, but this word occupies a special place for me.

When I use the word should, as in “I should exercise today…” while I’m sinking into my couch, I’m telling myself something I already know. The word should provides space in the form of an out-of-body self that’s trying to convince the sedentary me to make a better choice. 

What I’m not saying is, “Let’s exercise now,” which starts a train of actions that ends with my completing an exercise routine. The should comes with the weight of obligation but allows me to avoid actually making the commitment.

Judging by the imprint on the middle cushion of my couch, this wishful self-exchange reflects that some part of me has determined exercise is the right choice, but more of me would prefer that I not. Since I believe how we think shapes what we do, eliminating the should would drive better actions (in this case, any action would be an improvement…but I digress).

When someone uses the word should — as in, “You should take out the trash,” while they stare a hole through you from the kitchen as you do whatever you’re currently doing — they’re maintaining that same space. It’s an encouragement or suggestion rather than a directive. “Robert, take the trash out now.”

When should gets used in an exchange between two people, it not only creates space between suggestion and action; it also positions the should-er as the authority. 

When you’re a parent talking to a child, that position is generally appropriate. In many other conversations, it isn’t the best way to engage. 

For example, when someone uses the word should, as in "We should create profiles of all the members of our audience…" in a meeting — that person assumes what they suggested is a new idea. That someone on the team hasn't already tried it or checked that box a long time ago. 

Whether intentional or not, the should-er has now positioned themselves as an authority. They could get smacked down, they could elicit tired sighs, or they could send the group circling drains they've already traveled — it all depends on the context and the people in the room. 

The next time you go to say "We should..." try these instead: 

• "Have we considered...?" 

• "Do we have XYZ information..?” 

• “What do people think about...?" 

Now you've put yourself in a position to make progress by building on the expertise of your other team members and any work that's already been done with the lessons learned attached. 

It’s useful to mind your shoulds in most conversations, but it's especially important when you’re working together as a team.

It's not always what you say, but how you say it.

Happy Monday,

Katie
Your Friendly Weekly Writer

.

Subscribe now

.

“I really wanna make an impact, so I’m thinking about starting a nonprofit.”

It’s a sentence I often hear expressed by people looking to solve a problem, make a change, or otherwise improve someone’s life. You know, deliver value to the world.

They’ve come to believe that businesses aren’t about making impact. Nonprofits do that because they aren’t in it for the money (it’s in the name and all).

Unfortunately, that’s a transactional view rooted in the old story about work. The old story says for-profits only care about making money and often leaves nonprofits trapped in a starvation cycle without enough money for the infrastructure they need to serve their people well.

Either way, we’re lessening our impact.

In the value economy, businesses exist to deliver value. The difference between what we currently call a nonprofit and a for-profit lies in the gap between their source of revenue and the people they serve.

If the gap is zero, you’re what we currently call a for-profit business. You serve your customers and your customers pay you for the value you deliver. 

The key here is that a business with no gap can concentrate solely on delivering value to the people they serve because they’re the same people who provide the financial resources the business needs to run.

As the gap increases, you have to split your focus.

For example, if you have a bit of a gap, you may be a business that deals in memberships, where companies pay for individual team members to join. 

You serve the individual first, but you must also deliver value to the company that paid their membership. That will require you to balance what you help the individual do or achieve and what you help the company do or achieve.

If you have a large gap, then you’re what we currently call a charity. You must deliver value to the people you serve, but you must also invest time securing money from a completely different group of people so you have the resources you need to do what you do.

The value your donors or other supporters seek likely has nothing to do with the value you deliver to the people you serve. In fact, sometimes giving donors what they want can distract you from delivering the value the people you serve need. That says nothing about grant requirements or the time it takes to identify, engage, and retain this completely different group of people.

Yes, there are tax and legal implications to different entity types, but the key difference between them isn’t whether or not they make impact — it’s the gap between their source of revenue and the people they serve. 

Select the entity type that allows you to deliver meaningful value with the greatest amount of focus. By concentrating your focus, you’ll increase your impact.

Happy Monday,

Katie
Your Friendly Weekly Writer

.

Subscribe now

.