New Day's Resolution

Now that we are in February, apparently many people have abandoned their New Year’s Resolutions. And while this is understandable, it is also regrettable.

Speaking for myself, I abandoned New Year’s Resolutions a long time ago. The way I look at it, resolve is so important, why would you only do it once a year?

If we are being honest, many people use New Year’s Resolutions as an excuse to procrastinate making changes they want to make. I know I have. And so, I came to find that much better than New Year’s Resolutions are New Day’s Resolutions.

By resetting and resolving everyday, I have been much more pleased with the outcomes. And if that seems like too much effort, let me give you an even more extreme example.

Judith Beck is the daughter of the late Aaron Beck, the father of cognitive behavioral psychology. One of the books Ms. Beck has written is called The Beck Diet Solution, where she applies cognitive behavioral psychology to dieting.

The book discusses no foods in particular, rather it focuses on the way we think about our diet and eating habits. Since many people struggle with overeating, I highly recommend Judith’s book. And even if you don’t, the book can be a great introduction to the world of cognitive behavioral psychology.

In the book, Ms. Beck, who has counseled many dieters, tells the story of a common pattern. If you have ever attempted to lose weight, you can probably relate.

To lose weight, most people will have to create and stick to a food plan. And though things may be going well for a time, one day you will probably screw up.

A lot of times the mistake is the result of lack of rest, or being stressed, or any of a number of problems. But regardless of the exact cause, sometimes dieters fall off the wagon and eat food forbidden by their food plan.

What Dr. Beck found is when a dieter stumbles and eats something “bad,” they often tell themselves something to the effect of “Since I have already screwed up, I might as well enjoy the rest of the day. I can restart my diet tomorrow.” I know I have been guilty.

But Dr. Beck specifically calls out the flawed logic, saying just because you messed up doesn’t mean you can’t get back on your food plan. There is no law that says you have to wait until tomorrow. You can give yourself some grace and forgiveness, and get right back on the wagon. You might call it a New Minute’s Resolution, and it makes a lot of sense. Especially the grace and forgiveness part.

I guess what I am saying is, waiting for the New Year is silly and wasteful. But whatever you choose, don’t beat yourself up. Life is challenging and nobody is perfect ❤️

Entrepreneur or Solopreneur

Are solopreneurs entrepreneurs? Or, is organization building an element of being an entrepreneur?

I am a pretty big fan of Seth Godin, and I know he says he is a proud freelancer. Having built three different companies Godin says he is better off being a solopreneur, because he says he takes being a boss too seriously, and suffers when people’s livelihoods are dependent upon him.

I don’t know about you but I find Godin’s honesty refreshing.

So while I am a fan of Godin, unlike him I rather quite enjoy building organizations. And regardless of whether you are an entrepreneur or solopreneur, you are well advised to be a lifelong learner and to consume wisdom wherever it is being dispensed.

Regular readers of his blog already know Peter Drucker is on my personal Mount Rushmore. If you wish to better understand organizations, I can think of no one better to study than Drucker.

That said, I recently stumbled upon an interesting person named Fabiana Lacerca-Allen. Ms. Lacerca-Allen grew up in Argentina during the so-called Dirty War, or Guerra Sucia, a time of rampant corruption and strife.

But as the old cliche says, pressure makes diamonds. And today, Ms. Lacerca-Allen lives in the USA and works with large organizations on compliance and risk management, and she recently published a book titled Crisis Capable.

In a brief eighteen seconds, below you hear Ms. Lacerca-Allen give a nice little summary of what to look for in a team member.

The Business of America is Business (or not)

Happy New Year! A time of renewal and optimism. And to that end, today many people are well along the path of their New Year’s resolutions. I don’t know about you, but I don’t mind if our plans are a little flexible. And as it turns out, today is an interesting and relevant birthday.

It was exactly 100 years ago, in January 1925, when President Calvin Coolidge famously said “The business of America is business.” A lot of people know the statement, but is it true? The reason I ask is because Coolidge said other pertinent things during that same speech. Things which usually get overlooked.

Coolidge also said “Americans make no concealment of the fact that we want wealth, but there are many other things we want much more. We want peace and honor, and charity which is so strong an element of all civilization. The chief ideal of the American people is idealism. I cannot repeat too often that America is a nation of idealists. That is the only motive to which they ever give any strong and lasting reaction.”

What do you think? How do you make sense of this apparent contradiction? And, perhaps more importantly, do you see value in grappling with contradictions? What are you resolved to do this year?

The Holiday Spirit

As we enter the holidays, I hope you revel in good spirits and cheer.

In the United States, obviously the main holiday is Christmas when we celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ.

Due to his profound wisdom, Jesus is widely considered a prophet.

To state a few obvious examples:

Jesus repeatedly taught the importance of love when instructing that we love our neighbors as ourselves.

He taught the heart of service through the Gospel of Matthew with the affirmation “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

And during the Sermon on the Mount, he taught the importance of forgiveness and compassion when he said we should “Turn the other cheek.”

But today, I wanted to relay one of His lesser known teachings.

From the Gospel of Thomas…

No, seriously, do NOT follow your passion

In the last post, I wrote about the advice to follow your passion. And today, because we are approaching that time of year when people make New Year’s resolutions, I am making a follow-up post to reiterate the point that the advice is actual dogshit. If you don’t wish to agree with me, let me put the words in the mouths of two other people. The two people I will reference are Robert Greene and Jensen Huang.

I have heard it said that all of your heroes should be dead, and the point is well taken. The reason for that advice is because the verdict is in and it is final. For example, if you study the entire life of Henry Ford you will discover only the first half is worth learning from. Today’s examples are both still alive, so let us stay focused on their advice in this particular domain of passion.

Mr. Greene is an author and clearly a highly intelligent person. He has written a number of books, including an entire book on the subject of mastery. Mr. Huang has built one of the current darlings of Wall Street. The name of his company is Nvidia and they are known for making the computer component called the GPU, or graphics processing unit.

People who tell you to follow your passion are usually trying to sell you something useless

What should your contribution be?

At a Stanford commencement address, Steve Jobs famously advised the students “Follow your passion.” While the advice can feel exciting, I have found it to be almost useless. I have spent years trying to identify my passion, and I have finally figured it out, but it isn’t what most people think.

For example, if you think your passion is a particular line of work I think you will run out of steam, because most jobs will eventually become mundane. So, let me tell you how to follow your passion from the perspective of Sadhguru and Stephen Covey.

Very simply, Sadhguru says you can be passionate about anything and everything. Underwhelming, I know, because the advice doesn’t help narrow things down.

So let us switch to Stephen Covey, who said all people want the 4 L’s from life. All people want: to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy. And when you really think about it, you can probably get passionate about all four of those things. So, Covey’s advice does help narrow things down.

Show me a profession full of loving service, where you are constantly learning and can leave a legacy, and I will show you something you can probably get passionate about. But make no mistake, the passion isn’t the job, the passion is the 4 L’s.

Lastly, you know I have to mention Drucker, because he always seems to break things down clearly and concisely. Drucker died before Jobs’s “follow your passion” advice became a meme, but he addressed the related phenomenon of people in the 1960s wanting to “do their own thing.”

In this 2008 book Management, Drucker writes “To ‘do one’s own thing’ is not freedom. It is license. It does not have results. It does not contribute. But to start out with the question, ‘What should I contribute?’ gives freedom. It gives freedom because it gives responsibility.”

And he adds “The decision that answers ‘What should my contribution be?’ thus balances three elements. First comes the question, ‘What does the situation require?’ Then comes the question, ‘How could I make the greatest contribution with my strengths, my way of performing, my values, to what needs to be done?’ Finally, there is the question, ‘What results have to be achieved to make a difference?’ This then leads to the action conclusions.”

In support of the notion that great minds think alike, Sadhguru said something very similar to Drucker. SG recommends that everyday we joyfully do what needs to be done. I agree. For example, though it was an enormous amount of work, since my company needed leadership development training, and since it matches my strengths, I created it (joyfully, most of the time) 😂

What should your contribution be?

Culture does NOT eat strategy for breakfast

People often quote Peter Drucker as saying “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” and it is total bullshit. However, I love when people use said quote because it shows that person doesn’t know Drucker. Drucker is at the very top of my Mount Rushmore, and I can assure you he never said that quote, nor would he say such a thing.

Here is the pisser. The list of people who have used that quote include some people I really respect, and it has caused me to wonder why they would make such a mistake. I think there are at least three possible reasons.

I think one reason is this, however hard it is to understand culture it is harder to understand strategy. Reason number two is working on culture happens much more often than working on strategy. And reason number three is, people tend to think their job is the most important job in the world.

Let me start with my favorite person who has unfortunately used this inaccurate quote. That person would be Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft. He used the misquote in his book Hit Refresh, and I think reason #2 explains why he did it. Once Satya set a new direction for Microsoft, his day-to-day task was nurturing the right culture to get the company to its new destination. In other words, since culture is about executing the strategy it is more time consuming, and one could imagine more valuable.

Another person I hold in high regard who used the misquote is Laszlo Bock. For about ten years Mr. Bock was the head of human resources at Google, and in his book Work Rules! you will find both the story of his time at Google and the butchering of Drucker. And, I think my third reason explains why Bock made such a flub. A good HR department will nurture and maintain a quality culture, and it would be understandingly human for Bock to think his is the most important job.

I realize this may seem like much ado about nothing, but I mention the mistreatment of Drucker because getting your strategy right is hard enough. Nobody needs the added confusion from bullshit quotes. To help show you how Drucker thought, here is a quote from his 2008 book Management “As it becomes successful, an organization tends increasingly to take its theory of the business for granted, becoming less and less conscious of it. Then the organization becomes sloppy ... culture is no substitute for discipline, and the theory is a discipline.”

Drucker claims to have written the first book on business strategy, but he acknowledges he didn’t use the word "strategy" because it was too militaristic. According to Drucker, the first book on business strategy was his 1964 book Managing For Results. And as you can see from the quote in the previous paragraph, throughout his life Drucker tended to use the phrase “theory of the business” more than strategy.

Much of Drucker’s work centrally revolved around strategy, so he is an ideal person to study. A more contemporary teacher would be Seth Godin, the man who inspired today’s post because two weeks ago he published a new book titled This is Strategy. Though I have yet to read the book, I can confidently recommend it for two reasons: 1. Over the years, in my eyes Godin has already proven his expertise. 2. I saw him promoting the book on a podcast and he accurately claimed culture is a part of strategy.

For me, nobody tops Drucker. But, I am also a big fan of Godin. So, maybe pick up his new book. And, I will see ya next time.