Strengths Finder Gone Rogue

Strengths Finder Gone Rogue

We’ve all met people who think they don’t have any flaws – not a single weakness. (Or at least, they don’t project any weakness). And we’ve all met people who don’t see how solid they are – how powerful they could be. But only if they knew. I’ve never actually heard of Clifton’s Strength Finder not finding some strengths in people, but the key to Strengths Finder is to focus on people’s Strengths. This can be a potent tool for those who need to hear it.

Learning: Strength Finder is an excellent exercise for a team, but it should not overshadow improvement in all areas.

Does this resonate with you? What are your thoughts on Strengths Finder? We’d love to hear from you.

Eventually, It Comes Back

Eventually, It Comes Back

Blame has no place in business and, specifically, no place in leadership. It’s one thing to seek reasons for mistakes or bad feedback, but finding blame is an entirely different thing. As a leader, if you are looking for blame, always start with yourself. Your team will respect you more and be more likely to emulate that behavior when they make mistakes.

Conclusion: Modeling a healthy demeanor towards feedback says a lot about a leader.

References and Resources

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin; Type: Book

Brené Brown on Blame by Brené Brown; Type: Video

Does this resonate with you? How do handle receiving feedback? Have you seen examples (either in yourself or in others) where blame has been used to deflect instead of reflect? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

Some Advice is Easy to Ignore

Some Advice is Easy to Ignore

I want to think that you can receive actionable feedback from anywhere. But that’s simply not true. In our busy lives and even busier minds, we only listen to feedback from sources we respect. And like. That’s a mistake. The best feedback comes from places you least expect (and sometimes don’t even respect). It’s a tough balance, but there are people out there who do actually want you to be your best.

Learning: Listen and measure all feedback you get – you’ll be better for it.

TLDR Strikes Again

TLDR Strikes Again

The phrase ‘Murder Your Darlings’ may be unfortunate, but it emphasizes the importance of copyediting and removing unnecessary words from your writing. ‘TLDR’ conveys a similar idea, reminding us that readers often lack the time or patience for wordy or complicated prose.

Learning: If you want to improve your brevity, AI is perfect for that. Try it here.

TL;DR: too long; didn’t read

References and Resources

Murder Your Darlings by Seth Fried/Tin House; Type: Article

Have you figured out any tricks for communicating effectively and taming your wordiness?

Ikigai – Is Nothing Sacred?

Ikigai – Is Nothing Sacred?

Ikigai (Pronounced Eee-key-guy) has found its way into business. Ikigai is a Japanese concept comprising two words: iki = life and gai = purpose. In other words, Ikigai means life’s purpose. The key to Ikigai is made up of four primary elements: what you love (your passion), what the world needs (your mission), what you are good at (your vocation), and what you can get paid for (your profession). There are so many ways to use Ikigai (and we highly recommend following the ‘my inner creative’ link below to learn more).

Learning: Ikigai is increasingly making its way into the business world, and though it’s an interesting way to explain multi-layered product goals, we hope it’s short-lived. This one has a spiritual element that feels diluted in the business context.

References and Resources

Setting personal and professional goals using Ikigai from My Inner Creative; Type: Article

How to Ikigai from Tim Tamashiro/TedX YYC; Type: Video

What are your thoughts on the use of Ikigai in the business context? Have you seen it’s increased usage? We’d love to hear from you.

Freddy Will NOT Be Attending

Freddy Will NOT Be Attending

True Story. To save money, we rented cabins at a closed-down camp for our annual Customer Success meeting. Although it saved the company money (as we came under budget), the team’s running joke was that we were lucky to leave the 3-day event.

Learning: As a general rule, you never want people overly concerned about whether they will leave a meeting alive by the end.

Have you ever found you and your team in odd situations? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

Thought Leader or Idea Guy?

Thought Leader or Idea Guy?

Most people agree that Thought Leadership means “Inspirational content to drive change.” But I can’t help but feel that the “Leadership” portion is often overlooked when actually practiced. Whenever someone claims to be a thought leader, I’m reminded of the famous Ellis Rosen cartoon.

Learning: Thought Leadership is only as good as the willingness of the Leader to do the work.

References and Resources

Thought Leadership: What It Is and How to Master It in 2023 from Margarita Loktionova/Sem Rush; Type: Article

There Are Other Places for That

There Are Other Places for That

It doesn’t belong in Slack if you have more than two sentences to write. If that is not a rule, it should be. Slack is impossible to search and won’t help you prioritize your work. Slack is not a Work prioritization tool; it is a “Hey, want coffee?” kind of tool. Email is still best if you have something to say and it’s longer than a Coffee question.

Learning: Managing interruptions is one thing – that is on the receiver’s side, but long messages are on the writer’s side. So, if you want to write a long message, use your email. Searching for messages in Slack still has a long way to go.

What Slack rules would you implement if you could? We’d love to hear from you.

Cultural Change: Starts Where?

Cultural Change: Starts Where?

If you are trying to change the culture at your company, it starts with you first. Lasting change is not something that others are responsible for doing first. Actions, Beliefs, and Experiences all impact the culture, and if you want to make a dent in changing the culture, start with a self-inventory.

Learning: Everything starts with you (or me). Maybe it’s both. The point is that change of any kind starts with ourselves. To do that, we have to know what we are being asked to change and why we are changing, and we have to know the end goal. If you are a leader, modeling the correct behavior means being willing to raise your hand to go first.

Does this resonate with you? How do you stay ahead of change and ensure others around you are supported? We’d love to hear from you.

When Always Playing Equals Not Playing

When Always Playing Equals Not Playing

When someone always plays devil’s advocate, they are not playing anything – they are a detractor, a nay-sayer, a progress-stopper. To be clear, healthy debate and discussion about a topic is healthy. Very healthy. But two things: There is a time and place for healthy debate, and once a decision is made, we move on collectively – even those with dissenting opinions. And, if someone is regularly “playing” the role of devil’s advocate, they aren’t playing.

Learning: If someone is always playing “Devil’s Advocate,” share this with them and see what they come back with on the following topic. That will tell you if it was a behavior they were unaware of or if they can’t help but be the critic. If the latter, then ask them to lead the next topic.

Have you ever seen this behavior before? If so, we’d love to hear from you.