Category Archives: Leadership

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Sniff for Myth

The mantra of modern business decision-making is often tied to the basic concept of data-driven reasoning. If you hold a leadership position within an organization, you know that understanding data is a mandate. Data is the foundation for supporting a thesis, building consensus around a point of view, or building an argument for change. Data won’t tell us everything we need to know, and data can easily be misinterpreted, but if we aren’t looking at objectively collected data in forming an analysis, we might be better off buying lottery tickets than investing our company’s money in a resource-heavy plan.

If we know that data is essential to our success, and we know that critical decisions are better informed with data than without it, how is it that so many myths creep into the workplace? By myth, I mean a widely shared belief in a set of rules that a company has adopted without a sufficient test or challenge. In the worst of all circumstances, that myth may have no foundation at all.

As companies grow and practices become routine, repeated behaviors can be handed down from one generation of managers to another. I’ve often written about the notion of “but we’ve always” to point out the routines we come to follow without question, long after the reasoning for those practices has become obsolete. Most companies are guilty of this in one form or another. The good ones find a way to eliminate obsolete practices before they do real damage. Failed companies often find themselves immersed in a death spiral because they stopped questioning what made them successful and found it more expedient to repeat the same actions long after their relevancy left the playing field.

Each year in our cycles of strategic planning, we ask ourselves what is working and what isn’t. Data is often a great indicator in both directions. When we see metrics trailing downward and don’t ask ourselves why, we allow passive behavior to perpetuate itself. Often when we dig into that data, we find there are reasons something that was working no longer is creating the value that was expected. Several things could be going on: a once solid practice has become obviated, a proven practice that was working is no longer ardently being followed, or a practice has emerged from grassroots innovation to replace an existing practice because the people who created the variation come to believe it works — without proper data to support it.

Any of these cases for decline are possible, as are a host of others. All of them allow myth to replace math. When myth in a company takes over workflow, nothing good is likely to happen. It is always our job to sniff for myths — to question existing practices when data reveals a negative trend that must be corrected. Bringing deliberate change is what effective leaders do. Allowing myth to perpetuate is how once-great companies join the dead brand graveyard.

We are always fighting myths. We discover practices we put into place a decade ago were never updated for new technology. We discover a practice we reinvented to drive better results is quietly being rejected by staff members who either don’t like it or don’t understand it, but are sure they are helping matters by covertly sticking to the old practice.

Perhaps we observe a decline in KPIs and temporarily conclude something must be wrong with raw materials because we know the processing methodology we put in place is sound, only to discover that methodology has been misunderstood by the team members utilizing it. We may discover that a team’s interpretation of methodology widely differs from the guidelines developed, not because the guidelines are unsound, but because they have been explained poorly.

In each instance, a myth of what we are doing and why we are doing it overtakes what should be standard operating procedure. It could be an honest set of mistakes. It could be a misunderstanding. It could be a lack of rigor in reevaluating once-proven practices. Regardless of cause, data tells us if we are winning or losing in the form of metrics and dollars. If those signals are getting worse and we fail to delve into the practices behind the decline, we let the myth of proper functioning triumph over the innovation required to unseat the myth.

Company culture is highly efficient at enforcing rules. Veterans in companies are eager to tell rookies “how things are done here.” Sometimes rookies learn existing processes, immediately convince themselves there is a better way, and think they are doing us a favor by doing things that better way without a proper framework for evaluating results. Sometimes company culture is our ally and creates peer reinforcement of best practices. Sometimes company culture invents its own set of operating principles assuring the peer group everything is going as planned when that is not true.

Organizations function from an agreed set of rules, but often the origination of those rules is long-forgotten while the perpetuation of those rules lives on. Myth-busting makes old rules go away, ad hoc rules become exposed, and misunderstood rules become clarified. If we’re looking at data that tells us something is wrong, our intuition in identifying wrongness is only a first step toward correcting it.

Ask yourself if there might be a myth undermining your success. Then go look for it, and without embarrassing anyone, quickly build a consensus to reveal the misapplied rule. Do this often enough and the myths you sniff will be systemically corrected. No company can eradicate all its myths, but companies in constant learning mode can shorten the longevity of misconceptions and revitalize broken practices by reconciling conjecture with data.

That’s how teams get past myth and win together with shared understanding.

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Image: Pixabay

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Why We Focus

There’s a theme running through our workplace this year. It’s as simple as it is profound. It’s not revolutionary; it’s more of a reminder.

It’s all about focus.

Focus matters. Focus works. Focus wins.

The “what” and “how” of focus are somewhat obvious. We need to set clear priorities, narrow our agenda to initiatives that significantly elevate performance, add resources to projects that will have an impact, and let go of distractions that dilute our effectiveness.

The “why” of focus might be less obvious. We focus out of necessity. To the extent we choose to believe this is not a necessity, we either overwhelm ourselves in the endless regression of task lists or we embark on so many things with so little precision that we risk accomplishing little at all.

Focus requires us to make critical choices, to sort our many priorities into real priorities. When we ask why we are forcing ourselves to focus, the answer becomes clear. It’s the best chance we have of testing a bold thesis against a data-driven outcome. When we have evidence something works, we can double down on it. When the data shows otherwise, we can comfortably move on and reallocate always-limited resources.

When talking to musicians, you often hear there is as much importance in the notes that aren’t played as those that are. A composition is a series of choices. It even encompasses a structured use of rests. Poetry and rhetorical speech are similar. There are words left in and words extracted in the creative process to keep the emphasis on the words that remain.

Work is similar. We have endless choices for tasks, but time is forever in short supply. Not focusing is the same as not applying discipline to our business plans. It’s somewhat ironic that working oneself to exhaustion can be a reflection of lazy planning. Pick the wrong projects, pick too many of them, put in endless hours, and you might come up with nothing.

That’s another reason why we focus  — to have confidence that the hours we invest are in fact invested for a prescribed return and not squandered on trivial contributions.

When we fail to focus, we nibble around the edges.

When we focus, we apply editorial selection to our competitive obsession.

I recently corresponded with a colleague on how easy it is to get lost in the day-to-day. Yes, a text will pop up every few minutes, email is without end, the phone will ring with the latest crisis when we least want to be interrupted. If we start the year with focus and then look back on the year with an evaluation of that focus, it becomes clear if those interruptions derailed us from critical focus. We have to anticipate interruptions — they are unavoidable — but if we did the hard work of applying focus upfront and then did the even harder work of staying focused on those priorities, the interruptions are unlikely to derail us.

I say it all the time: Do less, do it better.

How sure am I? Very, very sure. Each year I compel a process of goal-setting with our teams where we actively debate what things matter more than others. Throughout the year, we periodically stack rank these priorities as technology quickly evolves and business pressures change. Leaders in the company have the freedom to motivate their teams as they will, but once we have agreed on areas of focus, it is expected that those tasks will be accomplished with as much detail as necessary to equal or exceed the expected results.

At the end of the year, we look back on what got done and the impact it had. Of course, priorities shift in real-time due to current events and market forces, but I have never ended a year with a totally derailed team and no significant impact on our success.

It is true we can’t do everything and no one should believe we can. We do get a lot done. We improve processes. We align data with suppositions. We help each other get better at our jobs. We mandate exceeding the expectations of our customers.

A lot of people talk about focus. A lot fewer make it religion. If you look at the prized cohort of companies moving ahead of the competition, you are likely to see the embrace of focus.

Bring focus to bear and the year ahead will be clearer, brighter, more satisfying, and more rewarding. The alternative is often burnout and unmeasurable results. Think about next year’s review cycle and make the right commitments now. It’s not too late to get going on a breakthrough, just focus on that breakthrough and don’t let it get away from you for anything less.

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Photo: Pexels

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Making Sense of the Senseless

It’s a strange time, stranger than any I can remember in the second half of my life.

If you try to summarize the number of global issues our nation faces, it begins to feel unprecedented. There is violence on three fronts in Israel arising from the horrific terrorist attacks of Hamas. There is the question of how Iran and Hezbollah will accelerate that conflict. Putin is still waging a brutal war on Ukraine. No one is quite sure what Xi will do in Taiwan. Kim Jong Un remains a force of chaos in North Korea. That’s a lot of global conflict without much epicenter.

Then there is the building lack of faith in our government. The divisiveness between and within the parties is all but unbridgeable. Maybe we’ll fund the government, maybe we won’t. What happens if we have to make a really big decision, like going to war as a nation? Do we have the wherewithal to come together on anything that is consequential?

Inflation drags on family budgets. Healthcare costs continue to soar, while faith in modern medicine is frayed. Gun violence takes lives every day. The education gap widens and so does income inequality.

When we aren’t angry or fighting with each other with uncontained words, we often take on a cold silence of passive aggression, too exhausted to argue, knowing we can’t change each other’s minds. The internet should have been a gift of doors opening to each other, but we know it is anything but that.

In the midst of all that, we go to work. We try to focus on our goals. We try to do right by our customers, partners, and employees. We look for a path to salvation in our tangible achievements, but those are increasingly less tangible.

Two to three times each day people come into my office “just to talk” or call me on the phone with a long pause often preceding the inevitable opening remarks, “Hey, Ken, how are you doing with all this?”

I guess the flattering part is people think I might have something worthwhile to say. It feels like the days after 9-11. I had little worthwhile to say then. I have less now. It is impossible to make sense of the senseless.

I’m a trailing-edge baby boomer born many years after the last world war, but I wonder if this is how it might have felt then, when parts of Europe were being overrun and Asia was in equal turmoil. The US waited for its leadership to guide us toward the good. Then we were attacked, which made the response largely unanimous. Can we respond to anything unanimously today? Is there an FDR we have yet to meet waiting to show us what leadership means?

Back to the idea of trying to work steadily through all this. I often suggest to people that compartmentalizing can be an effective strategy for getting things done in a day despite the overwhelming distractions. I’m doing it increasingly, but I am finding it more challenging. Remember, we are making sense of the senseless. That’s hard to do and tackle your monthly sales quota without fail.

Few of us have the option of letting world events be an excuse for missing business goals. We all have inescapable responsibilities. We have to do what we have to do.

First of all, we have to be human. I am hopeful we can also be humane.

I write this as I am wrapping up project reviews for the past year, building a budget and a work plan for the new year with our team, and trying to listen closely to the smartest people around me offer wisdom on how to navigate the shaky ground we share. I read the Wall Street Journal for clues on where the economy is headed, but it is like a giant treasure hunt where no one knows if the treasure has actually been hidden let alone where. How do you find firm ground when the elephants won’t stop jumping on it, not even to take a breath?

Here’s what I know: Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, we don’t have to be in this alone. If you think it’s hard to make sense of the senseless, you might have retained enough of your good senses to share that concern with another caring soul who can help you by listening. Yes, you are still sane if you think we are dancing aimlessly in a circle of senselessness, but there is strength in numbers and even greater strength in diversity.

When people come to me and open their hearts with questions I am always listening. Sometimes they share perspectives I never expected. Sometimes they find a way to make me chuckle. I find that keeping some semblance of humor is a gut check on reason. The bonds between us that let us continue to be successful no matter the noise around us can only be severed if we let them.

I have no good answers. Senseless means senseless. Let today be a day of strength, tomorrow be a day of hope, and the next be one of empathy. We advance in infinitely small increments, sometimes so tiny they seem invisible. Yet the bonds between us were formed in better times, and the goals we share give us an abstract common purpose that brings with it the dawn of a future we can never fully imagine.

Bend toward justice. Don’t let the bad guys win. Don’t give up. It’s called a dream for a reason. Dreams of peace and healing are not senseless.

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Photo: Pixabay

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Days of Empathy

Recently I was reviewing a difficult business situation with one of our company’s top problem-solvers. The challenge he agreed to tackle was similar to another he had turned around, and I asked him if his approach was likely to follow the same course. He is a thoughtful fellow with strong character and an abundance of pragmatism in his toolbox. He suggested he would focus without excuse or interruption on the situation with objectivity, creativity, and community.

“It sounds like you’re leading with empathy,” I said.

“If I understand what motivates the people I need to help this team realize its potential, then I can help them understand how critical they are to the solution,” he answered. “They have to believe we all can win together, which starts with me understanding what winning means to them.”

The two of us agreed that embracing empathy didn’t mean letting down standards, compromising expectations, or being less demanding of excellence. It meant listening before acting, considering perspectives beyond our own before being decisive, and building bridges where shared values around attaining goals became foundational.

Sometimes the most complex concepts come down to a simple idea. In this case, that idea was about caring for the talented people who would join us in our work to truly align their aspirations with our success.

Once again, that sounds like empathy. It occurred to me how broadly that notion applies to so much that is happening around us.

The Maui wildfires have been devastating. I feel a particular connection to this community because I spent some time in the Lahaina area in my younger days. The losses people have suffered are impossible to quantify. While the news reporting has done an adequate job of conveying the expanse of destruction, we know that all too soon the news cycle will pass and the next natural or manmade calamity will capture the headlines.

The people of Maui will be in need for years, rebuilding their homes and infrastructure, but also attempting to make some sense of the senseless and find a path to healing. Many of us are donating to the disaster relief effort now, but what happens in six months or a year when only the initial steps have been taken to recovery? Will our empathy remain?

Thousands of writers and actors have been walking the picket lines for months, hoping their unions will find a way to reach an agreement with the entertainment studios that employ them. I have also been down this path, again in my younger days, and I know that no strike goes on forever. Both sides will find a way to settle the disputes over participation in earning power and critical artistic rights threatened by emerging technology, but I wonder if this extended work stoppage could have been abbreviated by the application of empathy in the minds of those negotiating.

I don’t think that’s an unnecessarily idealistic approach. The business loss of a shutdown is similar to the collapse of a family budget that may never be recovered by the agreed terms of a new operating model. Opportunity cost is often lost forever. Could empathy not reveal that dollars lost by all sides during a stoppage might not be worth the long wait for a mutually unsatisfying resolution?

I think a lot about our customers these days trying to manage their family budgets. For so many of them, value in the products they buy is less about being a clever shopper than making necessary tradeoffs in how they stretch a paycheck to the end of each month. The often obtuse reflections of the Federal Reserve about balancing interest rates with inflation can provide little guidance and less comfort to families wanting to provide the best they can for themselves with the precious dollars and credit seldom adequate for the kind of broad prosperity our economic policies purport to address.

A little empathy here could go a long way, not in the political proclamations of those who seek their own gains, but in comprehending the underlying engine of what constitutes value creation in business. A satisfied, well-treated customer is at the heart of all economic success. That may also sound idealistic, but any tone-deafness in remembering how bills at a company get paid may cause that company to unwind ahead of its time. Empathy for customer needs may not be item one on your weekly staff agenda, but there are few other success factors more easily understandable or ripe for reinvention

Empathy in problem-solving, empathy for those suffering sudden devastation, empathy in negotiation, empathy in policy-making and business enterprise — starting to see a pattern? Take all the noise and polarization that is blocking success and start by looking at the conflict through the eyes of another. Perhaps the path to innovation will take a sudden turn in a more promising and mutually beneficial direction.

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Image: Hawaii Community Foundation