Bill Jensen's Blog, page 5

Are You Ready?

When the Aha moment hits: Will you be ready to fire yourself? To truly pursue what you are called to do?


"This epiphany turned my life upside down," says Swiss-born Patrick Streubi. "I was in my early 30s, and had an incredible and well-paid job as a commodities trader. I was in Peru on a business trip, meeting miners who had lost their jobs and saw how little money they made and how much money went back to our home office. I thought, 'Wow, what am I doing?'


"When I decided to leave that job, the world was against me. My parents, my friends kept asking me if I was crazy. I moved to Mexico, where I didn't even speak the language. I needed to move to someplace I'd never been and leave everything behind to find what I was meant to do."



"I realized I was given certain talents. And I wasn't living up to them. I needed to find something where I could use those talents to give back. With talents comes responsibilities. I wasn't living up to my responsibilities."





From that Aha moment, Streubi would go on to become the founder and CEO of Fairtrasia, whose mission is to develop millions of marginalized small-scale farmers around the globe and connect them to local and international markets to life them out of poverty. His personal mission now is to change the world — one fair trade banana at a time. He was awarded 2014 Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation, which celebrates sustainable models of social innovation.



Streubi's story is all our stories.



The future of work means that at least once in our careers — for many of us, several times — we will face that moment. The moment where we're called to fire ourselves and do a 180.



When that moment arrives, will you be ready? Will do what your life calls for your to do? How far will you go to live up to that calling?



These are not abstract, theoretical questions. They are very real. They must be answered in your lifetime.



And it all begins with seeing those opportunities when they present themselves. Clearly. Openly. Fully.



Are you ready?


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Have You Pushed Far Enough?

"We are all capable of far more than we think we are."




That's Roz Savage , the first woman to row, solo, across three oceans — Atlantic, Pacific and Indian.





"At first, I was very materialistic. I went into management consulting in an era when greed was good and lunch was for wimps. I thought that was what I wanted, that that would make me happy.


"What really brought it home to me was that I wasn't on the right path was when I wrote two versions of my own obituary. I imagined I was at the end of my life, looking back. The first version was the one that I wanted and the second one was where I was headed for. I wanted a life of meaning and adventure and personal challenge, but what I was headed for was a life of quiet desperation. Secure, but being stifled by that security.



"The hard decision was giving up all that had meant so much to me. I decided that I would row across oceans to raise environmental awareness." (Here, here and here are a few of her amazing podcasts with fellow adventurers who push themselves and endurance to their limits.)



"There's a growing awareness that the things that we thought represented security and happiness, do not. Becoming secure with insecurity is the best security that you can have."



Few of us will ever push ourselves, physically or into truly risky situations — as far as Savage has. 






And yet...

All of us need to push ourselves further when it comes to becoming secure with insecurity.


Most of us, when something overturns whatever boat and whatever journey we're on, still fight to get everything back to the way it was. Myself included. 



All of us need to realize that we can push ourselves further when it comes to being secure with insecurity. That risk, for most of us most of the time, is not life-threatening risk. That we can push beyond where we are now. We can. We must. Because on the other side of that decision lies happiness


Have you pushed far enough?


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No. Now what?

Get used to it.

You're going to have to say it and hear it a lot more.


There are amazing upsides to how interconnected we are. Amazing upsides! There are also difficult-to-manage downsides: Being overloaded, overwhelmed and over-pinged, over-emailed, over-everything'd.



It's becoming harder and harder to stay focused one's own work, life and priorities. The only way out of it is to say "No" more than makes you feel comfortable.



I was on the receiving end of No recently. In the process of writing my next book, Julianne Wurm was somebody I really wanted to interview. As an thought leader in education and a TED curator, I knew she'd add great insights on the future of work. For weeks, she kept saying Yes, then postponing due to this and that. Finally she realized she had to (politely, nicely) say No. Just too crazed.



Fortunately for me (...er, my ego) she followed her own advice about How to Say "No," in a CNN blog:

1. Take your time deciding. Don't feel obligated to respond one way or the other while under pressure

2. Get more details about the request

3. Align with your priorities. Does the request fit within YOUR top priorities?

4. Have 'Go To' buddies. Ask others about saying Yes or No if you need help

5. Give up the guilt (of saying No). This step is hardest for most of us



(For a subordinate-to-boss version of this advice, check out on our Simplerwork site: How to Say No and Get Ahead)



But learning how to say "No" is only half the battle.

"Ouch, I heard No." is the other half.





What to do then?

From all those I have asked and from my own personal experience what I've found works best is...

A random act of kindness.



I've sent everyone who turned me down for interviews for my next book, a couple copies of my last books, along with a note/email thanking them for their time and consideration. Friends who have asked similar professional favors of others have sent hand-written thank you's, product samples from their companies, tweeted their thanks, and more.



Even if you bugged people multiple times with your original request (as I often have, in attempts to break through their incoming clutter)...

What people will remember is how you treated them after they said No.



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Honoring all of the above: Would you kindly say Yes to the following?

2 mins or less. Promise.


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What's Your One Do-Over?

If you could have just one do-over, what would it be?





"I was thinking how much further humanity would be if we could all learn from previous generations mistakes. No matter how much we study and learn individually, it appears that, the human race needs to make the same mistakes in order to learn from them." That's Saul Kornik, CEO of Africa Health Placements whose mission is to place healthcare workers where they are most needed in Africa, when and how they are most needed. (Watch their terrific video: A Day in the Life of a Rural Doctor in South Africa)


His biggest do-over: "If I was starting AHP again, I wouldn't start with the technical stuff, the business plans, the strategy stuff. I would focus first and foremost on culture. By culture I mean: How do I get a group of people united in how they do things. Now, after all I've learned, I wouldn't start where I did, which was: We need doctors on the ground, how do I make that happen? That's important! But the starting point needed to be: What's the culture that creates the positive experience for everyone involved? It took me too long to make that connection?"


That's Kornik's do-over. What would yours be? More importantly...


What's stopping you from doing that do-over now?



Every second of every day is THE moment for that do-over. Do not wait! The moment you have that Aha is the very moment to make changes.



Living a life of no regrets means, once you have that Aha, taking action on it.



What's your one do-over?



And... Have you acted on it?


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If Not You, Who? If Not Now, When?

Once again, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is escalating with horrifying results. For almost 70 years, both sides have claimed state sovereignty and the moral high ground. As in other parts of the Middle East, this conflict currently seems to be utterly unresolvable.





Yet one group has had the courage to try, in one area.




Their story is also your story: If not you, who? If not now, when?




Gidon Bromberg is Co-Founder of EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East, which brings together Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists to create sustainable development in the region and advance peace efforts in the Middle East. His is the only organization that is Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli working under a single roof. EcoPeace is focused on shared water resources.




From the organization’s beginning, in 1994, there were many obstacles and decades of distrust to overcome. They first met in 1994 in Taba, Egypt, which is on the Egypt/Israel border, and a stone’s throw across a sliver of the Red Sea to Jordan. At that time, Egyptian security had never seen a Jordanian passport and held everyone at the border until they were eventually told to let everyone through. So just getting to the very first meeting took heavy negotiations.




Initially, everyone in the meeting dug in with their own set of self-interests. On the second day, one individual said “Enough is enough: There needs to be a regional effort that addresses all our needs, and I’m going to help make it happen.” Says Bromberg, “That was the turning point, because none of the other players felt that they could afford to be left out. It happened because one individual was willing one individual was willing to personally commit. One individual became inspired by a vision and could not justify saying ’No,’ even though everyone felt the risks were too great.”




“The leadership lesson,” says Bromberg, “is that there are many times when the vision is so grand, so important, so contrary to the reality on the ground, that you just need to take the risk and give it everything you’ve got.”



“If you believe in your vision,” says Bromberg, “you can’t give up. You need to try to reach the decision-maker, but that’s often not enough. It’s rare that a decision-maker leads. It’s rare that the leader leads. Sadly, my biggest lesson learned is that most leaders are incredibly risk-averse. They’re fearful of their vocal constituencies.




“If you want leadership to be empowered, you need to speak to their constituencies. You create the circumstances, by design, to help leaders lead.”




Bromberg then shared the same tips as most of us would try within our companies:

• Provide the data that makes the case for change

• Work with the stakeholders that are impacted by lack of change




Then he went on to share that tough change takes more. It’s all of our responsibility to lead from where we are: “Don’t be satisfied with the status quo. Not for the benefit of self, but for the benefit of the community, for a shared vision.”



He says his biggest lesson has been that Top Down, alone, isn’t enough. In hindsight, what he would do differently, from the beginning:

• Work Top Down and Bottom Up advocacy/togetherness/and pressuring, in tandem...equally, at the same time

• Engage and involve youth or those who are “naïve” enough to ask leaders the tough questions that need to be asked




Then, he goes further…

• Engage and work with community (team) leaders who the Top Down leaders trust

• Education is a must to break down preconceived notions; create symbolic events

• The most important success is trust-building, that can be leveraged elsewhere

• Small wins matter! (e.g., Peace Vegetables: Grown in Palestine soil, sold in Israel)



Don't wait for decision makers to lead.

Act now.

Find the courage.

Lead an effort: Small, big, doesn't matter.

Leadership starts with you. Now.

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Where to Look for Courage

Which would you rather do?

• Be alone with your thoughts?

• Give yourself an electric shock?


No brainer, right? Obviously: thinking, right? Well, consider that choice more deeply. You may realize you're no different than hundreds of study participants who gave themselves shocks.



Professors at University of Virginia recently published their findings of an experiment:

• They asked 409 college students to be alone with their thoughts in a bare room for (only!) 6 to 15 minutes: no phones or distractions of any kind

• In one part of the experiment, 67% of the men and 25% of the women chose to give themselves a mild electric jolt — like a little static electricity shock — rather than complete the entire thinking period



Putting aside your initial reactions... (like: What that men-to-women ratio reveals! Or... Those darn ADD kids!)... Dig deeper into being honest about how much introspection time you give yourself, and the quality and depth of that introspection. Your honest evaluation is key to your courage and success. Because...






One of the biggest sources of personal success and courage comes from introspection.
Both common wisdom as well as formal research bears this out. e.g.: The foundation of most Center for Creative Leadership's programs is based on deep reflection and introspection. 12 Quiet Rituals of Enormously Successful Humans is how one extremely popular happiness/productivity blog promotes personal reflection. 




The place to search for all the courage you will ever need is within you.

Within your experiences.

Within your hard-won wisdom.

Within your failures.

Within your values.

Within your passions. Within your dreams.


Even if you don't believe me... or CCL... or gazillions of leadership development coaches... or all the research... You can't deny it from the God of all songwriters, Bob Dylan!



The always-amazing Brain Pickings blog by Maria Popova just covered Bob Dylan on...How to Create the Perfect Environment for Creative Work. Among his insights:

...Put yourself in an environment where you can completely accept all the unconscious stuff that comes to you from your inner workings of your mind. And block yourself off to where you can control it all, take it down…The environment has to bring something out in me that wants to be brought out. It’s a contemplative, reflective thing…




Accept all that comes to you from your inner workings.

All the courage you will ever need is within you.

You are enough.

You needn't look elsewhere.


Put down your phone (an electric shock device that's more addictive than jolting) and all the other distractions... and just be with yourself. Hear the heartbeat of your own wisdom and courage. Discover it anew. Then roar with it, ready for anything!

800 Years in the Making: The Great Workplace Declaration

On June 15, 1215, King John of England sealed under his oath the Magna Carta , widely regarded as one of the foundational documents for all democracies and constitutional law.






In celebration of the 800th anniversary of this crucial declaration (June 15, 2015) you are invited to join an 11-month crowdsourcing conversation and global movement!

Please join in co-authoring then launching the global Great Workplace Declaration!




Background: As an offshoot of the Great Work Cultures movement, Johann Gauthier, Sue Elliott and Bill Jensen reached out to people all around the world for ideas. Then they composed Draft 1 of the Declaration (below). But it’s only Draft 1.




For this to truly become a “We, the people…” Declaration: 

We need your insights, your passions, your reactions. 

Please...

• View the Declaration below

• Share your insights, comments and reactions below as comments

• Or email them to Bill 

• Download it from Pinterest... Share it with others

(Shortly, the Declaration will have its own site/blog to build a global community)




Thank you!

Ductus Exemplo: Lead by Example

Years ago, after my first book, Simplicity, came my first invitation to speak to the U.S. Navy SEALs. While I was there to share what I had learned... Honestly, I was the student at the feet of true leadership masters.



I am forever grateful to then Lieutenant Commander Rob Newson (now a U.S. Navy Fellow focused on Special Ops and Counter-Terrorism) and Navy SEAL Team Seven for all they taught me. His ideas on leadership would become one of the cornerstones for my second book, Work 2.0.



Among the many lessons that Newson and SEAL Team Seven taught me:

• True and good risk-taking is not about being daring. It's about a willingness to be vulnerable and to trust your success to others

• The team is everything

• Emotional Intelligence matters as much as brains, brawn and bravery

• We are what we do

• True leaders lead as team members — doing the same hard work as everyone else. And team leaders take care of everyone else before they address their own needs





This idea was popularized by Simon Sinek in his terrific 2014 TED talk: Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe. The core story within Sinek's talk: how military leaders in the field eat last, after their troops have eaten.



I was recently reminded of all this by ad agency JWT's blog series on the U.S. Marines — Ductus Exemplo: Leading by Example.



Echoing Newson's and Sinek's points, JWT notes that the Marines' principle of Ductus Exemplo (Latin for Lead by Example) isn't just taught, it's how every Marine leader leads. One of several subsets is Set the Example: "If your personal standards are high, then you can rightfully demand the same of your Marines." Bringing that into the the work world, JWT noted: Everything from project start to project execution should be demonstrated by leadership bringing mere value-based words to life.



The Big So What

In today's world of work...

Leading from where you are is the perfect act of courage.

Lead from within your team.

Lead your team to successes bigger than the team.

Eat after they've eaten.



In today's world of work...

Leading by example is leading courageously.

That's it.

No sacrifice of blood, treasure or reputation required.

Just be the example, set the example.

Set your standards high.

Live them.

Lead by living them.



As Rob Newson taught me...

The future of leadership is accountability for life's precious assets.

Tomorrow's leaders will shift from the heroic controlling and management of people's time, attention and talents to an authentic respect for these assets.

Two Types of People in the World: Which Are You?

Ben Lightfoot is CEO of McCann Worldgroup Singapore, which delivers marketing solutions that transform brands and grow businesses. Says this New Zealand native...





“There are two types of people in the world. Those with their arms wide open, and those with their arms closed. And those with their arms open will just have a go at anything! They’re open to what this world is bringing us.”




Lightfoot's beliefs grew from his childhood. “My parents were hippies. It was a high-communication, highly-artistic, highly encouraging and supportive environment. We were brought up to believe that we could do anything we wanted. And when I look back, that formed a lot of who I am as a leader. If you surround yourself with the right people, they’ll do the things they’re bloody good at. And if they’re doing the things that they’re bloody good at, our clients will do well, and we’ll succeed. Good financial results come from putting people first.”




He  continues, “Human beings are remarkable when we’re allowed to be. My job is to help others to be the best they can be. So they can be brilliant. My job is the remove any barriers to that."




Lightfoot combines his highly compassionate style of leading with how he learned fast decision-making and discipline in tough situations: “That comes from my love of extreme sports. As a teenager, I almost lost an arm in a skateboarding accident. Now, I do downhill mountain biking. Risk-heavy sports teach you fast decision-making. If you don’t turn, you’ll hit that tree at 90 kilometers per hour.”




Sharing more about being an Arms Wide Open person...

Lightfoot: “The real criteria for decisions needs to be: ‘Am I going to back this up in my heart and my head?’ 




“Never stop learning. Never stop talking to people. It’s no longer about training and development. It’s about experiences. It’s about taking in information and visiting places and talking to people that may or may not have anything to do with what you do for a job. It’s about filling up our hearts and minds with cool shit.




“One of my favorite parts of the day is talking to Singapore taxi drivers. They have the most awesome stories! They have so much that we can learn from. So I created a competition among my staff on who could collect the coolest story from a taxi driver. It was awesome! And that was having our arms open. At first, a lot of my team were arms closed — they didn’t want to do it. But when they realized they could get a free holiday out of it, they opened up.




“The point was to get my staff to keep learning. Go have a conversation. There’s a whole world out there. 




"Take the afternoon off. Go sit in a café and listen to people’s conversations, and watch. My only request is that you bring your observations back and share what you learned. That will spark the work conversations we need.”

So...

Which type of person are you?

Arms wide open? Or closed?


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Cooler Paths Lead to Cooler Work

Serial entrepreneur Jerome Jarre wants to “shake things up and would like to change what’s not working in society. I have big dreams.”






And his first building blocks for this change? Six second Vine videos. Getting featured on Ellen.





Let’s back up and give a little context. Jarre was business student in university in France, but wasn’t doing well. He thought about dropping out. His teachers, parents and classmates warned him he’d fail in life if he did that. So he got as far away as he could from that negativity. He went to China. Taught himself Chinese by speaking to people in the street. He learned English by reading a book his roommate gave him, Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk, who would later become his business partner in their mobile-first marketing agency, GrapeStory. 




“I was not an entrepreneur, but this book inspired me,” says Jarre. “Gary V. taught me that you can make a business out of anything. When we launched GrapeStory, the newspapers said that ours was the stupidest startup of the month. We’re now generating $4,000,000 a year in revenue for our talent.” 




Time out…. Did you catch all the Future of Work messages in there? 

Among them...

• Career paths are no longer what they used to be

• Entrepreneurship is a great path, for any and all

• You can make a business out of anything

• Courage is simply charting a new course, and going for it, on the fly

• Learning comes from passion, curiosity and experiences — not necessarily formal education

• Personal networks and connections matter

• Success includes proving the naysayers wrong

• Success is when everybody goes one way, you head in the opposite direction




Back to Jerome…

His plan to make a difference in the world: Cooler Love, Cooler Entrepreneurship, Cooler Art




“My dream is a society where everyone is dancing and singing in the street. Love became boring because of religion. In France, you can’t clap your hands in church. Why not?!? I want love to be cool again!” (He walks his talk. Jarre signs every email “I love you.” And he was invited to appear on Ellen because his Vine messages are so filled with love and joy.)




He continues, “The educational system has done a poor job in making entrepreneurship cool. We don’t need to be so afraid of failing. Try something and if doesn’t work, try something else. And art… It’s already cool, but it’s almost too cool. Art is in every component of society. We all need to enjoy coming up with things that have never been created before. Art is love. You need love to create art.




“The way to have the least fear as possible is to constantly go after it. Take a pen and paper and list your fears, then just tackle them one at a time.” 




Write Your Own Script…

“We are all actors. It’s part of the human instinct to act. You can decide what to act. Write your own script. Don’t let society write your script. Don’t just take the script from your parents and what your teachers and friends tell you. The good news is that you can rewrite it anytime. So have fun with your script, and play it well!” 




The Future of Work?

It’s your script. 

Write it yourself. Rewrite it as often as needed.

Whatever you do, make it cooler than you found it.

Play, love, enjoy!

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