Category Archives: keeping it real

14 Jul

The Company

roadimagesSometimes you take the wrong road and drive up to 30km across a variety of inhospitable metal surfaces, unable to turn back in a less than reliable car, in less than ideal weather.

Sometimes this is metaphorical, sometimes this is literal. This week we’ve already had both.

Today the physical road was a bit of a nail biter, and to distract myself from the sheer terror of getting stuck out of cellphone reception on an awful road, I wrote this blog post in my head.

My summations:

  • At some point in your life you’ll hit the metaphorical metal road, and more often than not you just have to keep going once you’re on them – turning back is ill-advised. Face the fear and push through it.
  • Good company ties the whole thing together – whatever the roads, great company is what helps you push through. Friends that are calm and confident (even if a little car sick in the front seat), right through to those who push you to your best when times are rough – make good company and be good company.
  • Fill up with petrol before the literal rough roads, and make good friends with your mechanic.
09 Jun

You don’t want you on your team

I was recently involved in a very fast paced venture, where quick thinking and prioritisation didn’t change daily, it changed hourly. Impromptu meetings and spur of the moment changes in direction became something to be expected, and life was somewhat chaotic while we got the project off the ground.

It was a challenging project, only made possible by a stellar lineup of heroic personality types. You might recognise someone you know in our team…

The Problem Solver282px-Gazerbeam

Able to take a situation and break it down to its constituent parts, the problem solver takes a jumble of new information, feeds it through an expert filter and comes out with efficient and timely solutions. Essential to any project management team, the problem solver gets the best return on the task – especially when it hits the inevitable problems.

The Activatorindex

Focused, driven and a tireless worker, this team player never lets up and keeps on task with astounding dedication. The Activator makes things happen and goes above and beyond, redefining hard work.

Any project is just a series of meetings without at least one activator on your team.

The Strategist285px-Psycwave

This big picture thinker reviews all the information and keeps a macro-level view of the whole project. This team player offers a different perspective, helping ensure the vision is outworked, even as task priorities change. Strategists bring agility to projects, while helping make sense of disparate information.

The calibre of this particular team was astounding, ensuring a successful project despite some seriously tough odds. And the greatest strength was clearly the team recognition of each person’s talents, and the ability to maximise those returns.

And there lies the rub: I don’t want me on my team – I want different people, people with talents that challenge and push me, people I admire that bring a different perspective to a project.

Value the diversity in your team, and make the most of those talented people around you.

10 Sep

Creativity

Creativity may be one of the most intrinsic ‘human’ qualities we possess.

Our dear friend Wiki provides this preamble on creativity:

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created (such as an idea, a joke, a literary work, a painting or musical composition, a solution, an invention etc.). 

That’s right, creativity results in something valuable.

Dan Pallotta’s recent post on creativity and innovation points at what’s driving this.  His theory: innovation is powered and developed by love.  Love is a force like nothing else; feeling loved by virtue of whoever decided screens on the back of aeroplane seats were a good idea, by video chats closing the relational distance around the world, loved as we are empowered to live with our friends and family feeling closer than ever.

Pallotta maintains: ‘You don’t have to give a million dollars to charity to be a philanthropist. You simply have to actively demonstrate your love of humanity.’