Randy Cantrell

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Leo Bottary and I were enjoying lunch and conversation this week. We don’t get to see each other in person very often, the hazards of me living in Texas and him living in California. We do a podcast together – What Anyone Can Do (titled after Leo’s latest book by the same title). Buy a copy here. 

Among the many things I enjoy about my friendship with Leo is our diversity. He’s well educated. Me? Not so much. I left college with 18 hours shy of a degree in journalism. Leo has an advanced degree. Leo has spent a lifetime making a variety of connections in all sorts of spaces. Until about a decade ago I spent my entire career with my head down operating retail companies. He’s from Boston. I’m from Ada, Oklahoma. 😀 

Coming from two different worlds is beneficial to us. Well, I’ll speak for myself. It’s beneficial to me. Leo provides a perspective that’s often different from my own. It’s not about whether either one of us right. Or wrong. It’s like looking at anything – like a car (I only use that because I know auto manufacturers have websites that allow customers to take virtual tours of cars, inside and out). The view from the back is quite different from the front, which is altogether different than looking at the side, but together – it’s a more complete view. An improved view. 

Leo and I were talking about some future plans we have individually and collectively. At some point Leo challenged me to consider an approach that was 180 degrees different than the one I had planned. We talked about it, with me asking him to clarify so I could more fully understand. It made sense to me. I hadn’t considered it before. There’s the power of peers! (Ironically, the title of Leo’s first book, coauthored with Leon Shapiro)

Don’t get hung up on right or wrong. If the only view we have of a car is the rear, it’s neither right nor wrong. It just is. 

We walk around to the front and take a very different look. We don’t conclude, we’ll that’s not right. We understand that we’re looking at the same vehicle, just from a different PERSPECTIVE. 

Leo and I are both passionate about the same thing — the power of the collective, the truth that who we surround ourselves with matters. We both have a deep belief in the power of others and think it’s one of the most highly under-utilized strategies in every space, including business. It’s a big thing to have in common. But it doesn’t mean we see things, including details, in the same way. We’re committed to sharing and listening though. No judgment. No “you-should-do-this-not-that.” Just deep conversations, insightful questions and an ongoing quest for clarity so the best solutions can be found. 

Flipping it around – whatever IT is – isn’t always easy without somebody provoking us. We can improve the practice by intentionally looking at it from the opposite view. But that’s difficult without having others challenge us in a caring way. It’s the old parable of the blind men and the elephant. 

A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable.” So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. In the case of the first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said “This being is like a thick snake.” For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said, “elephant is a wall.” Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.

Various lessons stem from that parable, but for our purposes, I’m focused on our need as business owners for deeper understanding, and respect for different perspectives on the same object of observation.

The Peer Advantage by Bula Network is my professional effort (and passion) to serve just 7 business owners with an advantage of being surrounded by people who will do this for one another. I’m assembling 7 high performing, humble, but courageous business owners who understand how critical deeper understanding with the help of others can be to their personal and professional growth. You can find out more by going to ThePeerAdvantage.com. If you own a business anywhere in America please check it out. 

Have a great Friday and enjoy your weekend.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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It’s the reverse of what makes people feel comfortable. Or confident. 

We want to figure it all out first, then start. But that doesn’t work. It’s not how we do anything, or how we’ve done anything. 

There is no realized ROI on thinking. The ROI is in the action taken, which is certainly impacted by thinking…but thinking by itself is useless.

Every innovation I’ve ever been a part of began with an idea. A thought. A premise. But that’s not where the power was. The power was in putting it to the test. Will it work? We think it will, but we’re never sure until we prove it. So we start and figure it out along the way validating the idea or figuring out that it won’t work, prompting us to ditch it or morph it into something else. Often times something we never imagined when we began.

What are you thinking about right now? What innovations or creative solutions are you and your team considering? 

Have you been vetting the ideas for a while, but you still haven’t learned if they’ll work? 

Perfectionism isn’t always the culprit. It’s the popular culprit, but sometimes it’s something not nearly as sexy. I mean, it’s a badge of honor for some people to declare how much of a perfectionist they are, when the truth is, they’re just lazy. Or a procrastinator. Or they’re scared. “I’m a perfectionist” is better than saying, “I’m scared.” Or is it? 

Starting is a commitment. Thinking isn’t. So we can keep thinking and be safe. No exposure. We can even talk about what we’re thinking. Still safe!

But try to do something and now we’re exposed. Feeling naked before the whole world, which we’re convinced are watching our every misstep. Funny how we can convince ourselves that the universe notices our every failure, but nobody sees our successes. New flash: nobody is paying attention to either one. We’ve all got our own stuff. No time to pay attention to everything you may try, much less to keep score of how well or how poorly you’re doing. 

Yesterday we talked about how it’s your life, and it’s your fault. Go back and listen to it — or listen to it again. Get that truth cemented in your head. Accept the truth of it. 

Now, what is there to be afraid of? Failure? Success? I’m not going to tell you be fearless. That’s unreasonable. And unrealistic. We all have fears. False evidence appearing real. 

The only way to combat our fear – this includes our fear of starting – is courage. Don’t get wrapped up thinking you’ll eliminate the fear. I wouldn’t even waste my time trying to reduce the fear. Instead, try to increase your courage. In this case, the courage to get going. 

Here’s the evidence — courage is best increased by doing, not by thinking. Displays of courage, even small acts of courage, foster more displays of courage. In short, courage begets courage. And it’s why you’re not able to figure things out more quickly. You’re trying to think your way to success and that’s not how success happens. Anywhere!

I’m not a scientist, but let’s consider some brainiac in a white lab coat. Maybe somebody working on a very noble mission, like finding a cure for cancer or dementia. All that learning and knowledge provokes ideas and thoughts. The group of lab coats can sit around sharing their ideas, but nobody will find any cure for anything if that’s all they do. They have to test their ideas. They have to start so they can get on with figuring it out. In this case, figuring out if the cure they envision can be found or not. 

Thinking doesn’t provide the feedback we need to grow, improve and transform. Nor does it give us evidence that our idea (our thinking) is accurate, lacking or woefully off base. We can sit around our offices thinking an idea will be terrific, but until we unleash our idea into the wild – by taking action (starting) – we’ll never know. You may as well sit around and think your way to growing revenues 50%. 

Magic doesn’t happen in your imagination. It happens when you start. When you do something based on your thinking, creativity, and imagination. 

For starters, think it through enough to get started.

If your aim is to think it through, considering every conceivable consequence, then you’ll be thinking forever. But that learning isn’t really learning. It’s your own head trash, viewpoints, assumptions and thoughts. Are they accurate? Valid? You think so, but you don’t know until you test them (just like those lab coats who must test their idea about a cure). 

Some ideas are more complex than others. I’ve never had a thought that deserves to be lumped alongside the cure of some disease, but I’ve had some thoughts about a complicated problem. Other problems aren’t complicated at all. Thinking through solutions for straight-forward problems doesn’t likely require some detailed blueprint. We can likely come up with a solution off the top of our head…with enough brain power to get started. 

Have you ever implemented a solution that created a new problem you didn’t have before? Sure, we’ve all done that if we’ve operated a business for any length of time at all. But, we then set about to fix that problem. Law of unintended consequences and all that.

Listen, I’m not admonishing you to not be thoughtful. I’m admonishing you to avoid being or getting stuck. You need enough brain power to get started. And it’s based on two factors: cost (call it risk or reward) and complexity (how complicated is the problem, and the proposed solution). The higher these two C’s are, the more time you’re going to need to THINK. But make sure your aim is to think through it enough to get started DOING something.

Get going as quickly as you can and pay attention.

Speed is key, but speed is not recklessness. A thoughtful start is your goal. But don’t start assuming you’ve got it all thought out. 

Watch a child learning something for the first time. That timid behavior is them feeling it out. Paying close attention to how it’s working out. It doesn’t work out perfectly at first. Ever. Riding a bike. Hitting a baseball. Kicking a soccer ball. Counting to 10. Reciting the alphabit. Mistakes get made. That’s where the learning happens. 

Your business works the same way. Get going, but keep your eyes and ears open. Pay close attention to what the real world is showing you about what you thought. 

Accept reality.

This one is hard for some business owners who so love their idea they don’t want to admit failure. Or that the idea may not have been as good as they once thought.

When I was young I was fortunate enough to work for an idea guy. We’d go to lunch and he’d unload a pocket full of ideas. But he was humble enough, comfortable enough with who he was to admit that 99 of 100 ideas he had were crap. He was always in search of the one that was brilliant though. We didn’t wait until we stumbled onto that one though. Maybe 5 were worth giving a shot. There was only one way to find out. Try it. And accept the results.

This doesn’t mean you start and if it’s not a homerun right off…you quit. It means you pay attention, get the feedback of the real world, and make adjustments. But you can continue to adjust without success. The kid learning to ride a bike eventually learns to ride the bike. Quitting won’t help him learn how to ride the bike. Determination and tenacity will. Unfortunately, our businesses aren’t like riding a bike – something proven easy for most kids to learn with practice. We’re operating in a different environment than that…trying things we’ve never done, and sometimes things nobody has done (at least not in our specific situation). 

Don’t fall in love with your ideas to the extent you refuse to face reality. When and how you go about that is up to you. Only you can decide when you’ve given it enough of a try. 

Value the ROI of doing, and grow a culture of starting.

This is one of the biggest deals to me because I’m a culture freak. I have operated for decades on the belief – now I know it’s the TRUTH – that the culture matters. What people believe, and how people feel makes the difference in how well they execute. 

Actions foster more actions. 

Committee meetings foster more committee meetings. 

Want to keep talking about it? Thinking about it? Easy. Keep doing more of that and don’t be fast to act. 

Want to be doing stuff, making stuff happen? Easy. Start doing more stuff. Find ways to do stuff faster. Show your organization how valuable action is to you. 

Learning stems from doing. Develop a team fixated on figuring things out. Don’t confuse figuring it out with just sitting around thinking about it. The thinking needs to be hit in the mouth with the real world to see if the idea will stand up, or fold. And be defeated. 

You’ll rack up more wins with more starts. Baseball playoffs are underway. I’m not a baseball fan, but I know enough to know that the more “at bats” a player gets, the better his chances of success. He can watch film. Take batting practice. But until he gets into the batter’s box in a real game, he’s got no way to know how good (or bad) he is. Your business isn’t any different. 

Step up. Get in the batter’s box with your ideas. Take swings in a real game, against real competition. You’ll figure it out, but that won’t happen in a film room or the dugout.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Soar with your strengths. It’s valid. I believe in it. Strongly. But…

Every small business is prone to stagnation. And it’s not restricted to businesses that have been around for a very long time. Stagnation can happen more quickly than we think. 

Small business ownership isn’t just mom ‘n pop shops. It’s the $50M manufacturing business. It’s the $3M retail shop. It’s the $127M custom home builder. It’s the $225M car dealer. 

Water stagnates when it stops flowing. Ditto for your small business. When growth stops, when improvement isn’t highly pursued and when innovation ceases…you’re stagnant. It’s time for an infusion of what you’re lacking. And I’m not talking about capital (although your stagnation has likely resulted in cash flow pressures and a restriction in resources, including capital). 

Ideas.

Routine. Sameness. Staying the course. 

These are just a few of the many enemies you face in your small business. Yes, boredom results, but there’s a deeper – more powerful – enemy, ideas stop flowing. Stagnation.

Questions.

History. Not as in learning from it, but as in trying to hang onto it. Living in the past. Every successful business has to face this threat.

Too much time spent admiring previous accomplishments freezes us. Makes us hesitate. 

Easton is my 5-year-old grandson. He just started playing T-ball. He’ll hit the ball, but he won’t immediately drop the bat and run to first. He’ll learn that he can’t afford to look where the ball is going before dashing to first. 

The enemy is we stop asking questions. Especially tough questions. 

We assume that what once worked – or what worked in the past – is going to keep on working. Those assumptions coerce us to not see the slow erosion of effectiveness of our past. 

Curiosity.

This is especially threatening to our business if we’ve been in the industry for very long. We tend to think we’ve figured it all out if we’ve been in a space for a few years. All the dots in our industry have been figured out. Or so we think. 

Curiosity ends up being replaced by a “know-it-all” false confidence. It’s why so many industries get disrupted by newbies. Spend some time with 2-3-year-old kids and you’ll quickly get a lesson in curiosity. And you’ll also see why it’s so easy to lose it. Arrogance and pride. Too many small business owners are ashamed or embarrassed to be curious. They wrongly think it’s better to act like you’ve you’ve got all the answers. 

Ambition.

We get fat and happy. Laziness stifles accomplishment. Hunger is a powerful source of inspiration. Contentment is fine at the individual level, but it’ll kill a culture of accomplishment inside your small business. 

The big payday – success – has wrecked quite a lot of potential greatness. It’s a rare bird who can climb really high and still believe there’s a higher elevation left to discover. Most of us prefer to rest and enjoy the view. 

What do we do? How do we avoid stagnation in our small business?

One, don’t embrace loyalty over performance.

Don’t hate me. I’m not talking about booting people just for the sake of it. But I am talking about not getting so loyal to people in your business that you avoid tough scrutiny. 

“Mary has been here 15 years. We can’t get rid of Mary.” That dog won’t hunt if Mary isn’t contributing enough to the company. Sorry, but unless you’ve decided to morph your small business into a non-profit or make it a charitable enterprise, Mary may need to go. 

If your culture has stagnated into a loyalty-over-performance culture…you’re in trouble. Instead, be loyal to performance!

Two, get and maintain a diverse team.

Are you an owner who enjoys being surrounded by folks who agree with every idea you have? It’s okay to admit it. It’s death to keep it though. You need contrarians. 

When I say “diverse” I don’t mean you limit it to the stereotypical categories based on gender or race. I mean in any and every category, perhaps especially based on experience. Don’t always look for the person who has the experience you think you need. This drives me mad – literally angry – when I sit down with HR people or top-level leaders whose go-to-move is the person with 5 years industry experience, an MBA or whatever else they think is most needed. It’s wrong and lazy! Translation: we want to hire somebody we don’t have to train or serve. We want somebody who can hit the ground running. When you do that, you lose everything I’ve talked about. Ideas. Questions. Curiosity. Ambition. 

Look at people who have no experience in your space, but they have experiences, skills, and talents that may be easily adaptable to your environment. I know why you don’t do it. You’re stuck. You’re following the leader instead of being a leader. And you’re lazy, settling for the quick fix instead of putting in the work to push yourself and your company to new heights.

Three, lead by example. 

As the owner, you’re the top dog. The team takes their cues from you. They know how you roll. And what they know may be very different than how you think you roll. Don’t fool yourself. You can fancy yourself to be something you’re not. Many business owners do. 

Get real with yourself. Ideas, questions, curiosity, and ambition begin with YOU. 

It’s all too common for small business owners to feel like they embrace all these things, but when you talk with team members you hear just the opposite. Every small business owner needs a reality check. You need somebody – or a group of somebodies – willing and able to help you grow as a business owner and leader. 

We all have blind spots. And weaknesses. And strengths. The more we shore up our weaknesses, the more we bet on our strengths and the more we eliminate our blind spots…the better we’ll be. Our growth, improvement and transformations as business owners has a direct impact on the growth of our business. It seems so obvious, but so many business owners devote very little time or money investing in themselves. Partly because they don’t think they need it. Partly because they’re unaware that the path to greatness is humility – the realization that there’s always so much left to learn, and so much more left to accomplish. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Let’s talk about OTHER PEOPLE. During the early years of my career OPM entered every business person’s vocabulary. It stood for “Other People’s Money.” This was long before business people were the heroes. And it was really before VC’s (venture capitalists) were legendary. The goal of business owners who had a business that seemed scalable was the IPO (Initial Public Offering). We all dreamed of what it might be like to “go public.” That’s where the big money was, taking your company public and being listed on the stock market. It was the path to get your chips off the table and cash out a portion of your equity. 

Money is great. We all want more of it, but when I talk about the power of others I don’t want to restrict it mere dollars because there are other things that have even higher value. Money will fix some things, but it won’t fix everything. It won’t solve every business problem. It won’t solve very many personal or private problems. It’s a great resource, but it’s not more valuable to us than the help and support we can get from other people. Particularly, people who get us and our situation. People who can actually do something other than listen to us. People who can help us think more clearly. People who can ask us questions that foster better answers. And people willing to hold us accountable to the very things we most want to accomplish. 

Other people improve every facet of our lives. We have to make sure we’re surrounded by the right ones – the ones who can best serve us. Ironically, those are also the people who will accept our help. That give and take relationship makes it a very special thing — to have others encircling us and to have others allow us to be part of the group surrounding them. 

You know what I love about the business world today versus when I was breaking in? Connection, collaboration and cooperation. It didn’t exist much when I was younger. We were competitive. Sometimes even hostile. We thought the world was a zero-sum game, meaning if we lost then it meant somebody else won. And if we won (which was always the goal), then somebody necessarily lost. That proverbial pie everybody was chasing was a finite thing. A fixed size. Nobody thought about growing the pie. We only thought about our ability to get our piece. The biggest piece possible. 

If you were born in the last 30 plus years, you’ve learned how wrong we were. You’ve learned how big the markets are, how many customers are available, how other people are THE path to greater accomplishments, opportunities, and success. 

This is at the heart of my career change with The Peer Advantage by Bula Network. 

Have you ever gone through some really tough time? Maybe it was personal and private. Maybe it was completely business-related. Maybe both. 

Something that wrecked you. Caused you to lose sleep. Lots of it. Something that caused you to lose your appetite. Something that vexed you night and day. You couldn’t get your mind off of it. 

Jason Isbell released a song in 2013 on his album, Southeastern. It was entitled Elephant. A sad, awful song about a woman with terminal cancer, something that has afflicted many of us. Try as we might, cancer defines so many people. Not what we want. Or what we hope. But those who suffer it know it’s the constant topic of every conversation. 

We all have elephants who occupy the rooms of our lives. Dominate our minds and hearts. 

Try as we might, they don’t leave us alone. Big, imposing creatures impossible to ignore. That’s what our elephants represent. 

For you, it may be something that awful as cancer. Your own, or a loved one.

It may be a child you fret about 24/7. Or a spouse.

It may be a particular business challenge you just can’t figure out. Or one that worries you enormously. 

Elephants. Only a fool deals with them alone. Others – trusted confidants help. 

You’re not likely intentional about the others in your life. If you’re like 99% of business owners – or any humans – then you bravely try to act like you don’t need any help. Secretly, you crave it though. You privately wish you had some people you could lean on. People who don’t judge you…they just help you. Not by telling you what you should do, but people who help you clearly assess the situation and make sure you’re seeing it accurately. People who care only about your success because they know life isn’t a zero-sum game. They know when they face their elephant, you’ll be there to help them. It’s mutual service and it’s insanely powerful. Extraordinary. Remarkable. 

You’re tired of going it alone. Problems, issues, and opportunities deserve to be addressed with wisdom, thoughtfulness, experience, and insights. 

That, my friends, is the power of others. Others lift us higher. Sustain us when we’re down. Resurrect us when we feel like we’re both down and out. Speed us up when we’re dragging. Slow us down we’re speeding out of control. They do for us what we’re unable to do for ourselves! 

Aren’t you ready to join the most elite people on the planet? The people who have learned that by leveraging the power of others they can grow their business, their leadership and their lives. Then figure it out. Find a way to surround yourself with powerful people. I’m working on just 2 answers — two groups of 7 business owners from around America who can do for others what they can’t do alone. And who can have done for them what only others can do! Visit ThePeerAdvantage.com for more details. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Acting & Feeling Your Age/Experience

I don’t feel much different than I did when I was a teenager. Kids don’t realize that in 20 years they’re not going to feel much different. And today, a 40-year-old or 60-year-old doesn’t look remotely like they did when I was a kid. Google pictures of the 1960’s compared to a picture of today. You’ll notice the differences. 

Is it culture? Modern health practices? Modern medicine? All of that, and more? Yes. 

I grew up hearing older folks tell us, as kids, to act our age. Of course, when you’re 16 you feel and think you’re acting like a 16-year-old. Honestly, you likely are acting your age. The older people want you to act older, which means they want you to act like you’ve got way more experience, wisdom, and thoughtfulness than exists in your life. 

Fake is fun, but it’s fatal.

I’m mature. I’m not old. I’m at my best right now…at this moment. 

I’ve got decades of real-world operating businesses experience and know-how, the stuff you can’t learn any other way than by doing it. 

I’ve got decades of wisdom that I didn’t have earlier, but I’m still driven by the curiosity of the things I know I need to still learn.

I’m not alone. Draw a timeline that can represent a lifetime. Make marks at 18, 24, 30, 36…and on. Every mark, every age, and experience brings value. My current value is what it is. But it’s not like my value just kicked in. 

Age and experience are realities that too many people get messed up on. Young people want to be older. Older people want to be younger. Both sometimes want to act the opposite of what they are. Or where they are. 

It’s why there’s so much fakery. We wrongly think we can fool people. Forget it. Even if you do fool people, remember you’ve only fooled the fools. 

Owning your present reality isn’t a cop-out. It doesn’t mean you don’t grow, feed your curiosities, or devote yourself fully to the mountain climb! Fact is, that’s exactly what it does mean. You do all that and more. You create, innovate, disrupt and learn — all aimed at your own life first. 

What you’ve figured out is important. What you haven’t figured out may be more important. At the heart of it all is figuring out YOU. I’m focusing on this as I return from being dormant for about a month because I continue to see people posing as something they’re genuinely not. From executives seeking new opportunities, to leaders who are finding it difficult to mimic somebody they admire, to business owners who feel the urge to jump on every latest technical tactic or strategy, even the ones they’ve not spent enough time to fully understand. It’s a big game of people grasping at straws. And it makes no sense to me.

Plus, there’s a ton of people looking for positive reinforcement for every dumb idea they’ve got. The lack of candor and accountability is the death of too many already. 

So people puff up to inflate themselves, like puffer fish trying to scare off predators. Pretending to be better, bigger, more sophisticated, more successful than they really are. It’s an addiction that will end poorly, but in the short-term, it feels great. We’re deluded. Not thinking clearly.

Reality is the recipe, the counter punch needed. 

Feeling good in the short-term produces long-term pain and guilt. Scan the Wall Street Journal, randomly looking at companies reporting performance. If the results are positive, you’ll hear company officials talk a certain way. But if the results are lackluster, or poor, you’ll get complex language aimed at avoiding responsibility and accountability. The blame game is popular when you want to avoid reality. 

What does this mean for you and your business? Or your leadership?

Do what is necessary to get a clear mind. Discover the truth.

We usually know when our vision isn’t quite right because we know what seeing clearly looks like. But it’s possible to ignore the signs and over time we don’t realize just how blind we are. Enter the eye exam or test. It’s a way for us to know – not think, but to really know – that our vision isn’t what it should be. We’re not seeing things clearly. 

Our business ownership and leadership need that kind of scrutiny so we know we’re seeing things as they are, not as we hope them to be. You can take a number of actions to help. I’m going to suggest you start communicating with your people. Candor and listening are key. Be frank in communicating what you’re hoping to accomplish – a quest to discover the truth. You want the truth of what’s right, what’s wrong, what needs to be fixed, what needs to be enhanced, what needs to stop…you want the most open dialogue you can foster. That’s going to be hard if you’ve never done it before because people are going to be mistrustful. You’re going to have to prove to everybody how serious you are. 

Ask questions, then listen. Don’t prime the pump for the answers you want. You want the truth. You want and need reality. Your leadership, your ownership, and your business will benefit most from the truth, not some fake reality you all wish was true. 

Changing the culture to foster truth takes time. Be patient.

This can’t be a one-off. You need to make this how you roll all the time. Once you sense people are trusting enough to divulge the truth, praise it. Act on it. But be patient knowing that if this is going to stick, you’ll have to keep pushing. 

Insist on the truth. Show people that the quicker they get to the truth, the better for them, and the entire operation. While speed matters, and I’m fanatical about it when it comes to execution, you have to be patient knowing that if this is brand new inside your business…it’s going to take time for people to continue to embrace this new way.

Challenge your leadership team by not tolerating anything other than brutal honesty. Not brutal in the sense that it’s filled with judgment and finger-pointing. Brutal in the sense that it’s fast and respectfully unfiltered. The word is “thoughtful.” Do not tolerate anything other than thoughtful honesty and discussion about the truth – how things really are.

Disagreement is okay. In fact, it’s good. Leverage it.

Understand that somebody’s truth is somebody else’s fakery. We don’t all see things the same way. We all make judgments. It’s necessary so we can do anything. Discernment, dot-connecting – it’s all part of what we do every day. All of us. 

But sometimes we get it wrong. Convinced we had it right until somebody or something shows us we were wrong…we were convinced we were right. How you overcome that? 

By sharing experiences and insights.

When somebody reveals a truth, make sure everybody expresses why they believe that to be true. Push and make people defend it. Let others push you to defend what you believe to be true. There has to be a standard by which you’re going to measure truth. And a way for you to get to it. This is it. 

Get close to the source. A common problem with leadership is a poor perspective. Their viewpoint is from an angle far removed from the work. Yes, you need that wide-angle view that leadership provides, but you also need to zoom in and get up close to the problem. It’s easy to discount the feedback – the experiences and insights – of the front line workers because leaders tend to look down on them (BIG mistake) and think they know more. The employees doing the work have a viewpoint you must hear! Listen without judgment. Reward candor and honesty. Again, just make sure everybody knows their experiences and insights are valuable but open to honesty challenging. Don’t get defensive, but people have to know excuse-making and griping aren’t the objectives – getting to the truth is what matters. You want to make things better and that can best be done when you know what the problems are. Liken it to a doctor’s visit where you reveal the symptoms, but the doctor has to perform tests to make sure you both know what you’re up against.

If your end of the boat sinks, so does mine.

This is very important. It’s not a zero-sum game. It’s mutually beneficial or mutually detrimental. The company can grow, and the individual inside the organization can grow, too. Expanding the pie, that’s the goal. Impress your company with that goal. Don’t just talk the talk, do it. Daily.

Pronouns matter. Lose “I” and “me” from your vocabulary. Yes, I know you own the joint. So does everybody else. But you don’t have to rub everybody’s nose in it. These people have their lives invested in their work. The company matters to them. They don’t need equity for the company to matter to them. 

Embrace “we” and “our” into your daily vocabulary. It’s a powerful way for you to demonstrate the power of “if your end of the boat sinks, so does mine.” As the captain of the boat, do all you can to make sure everybody understands the power of truth to help you steer the boat in the most favorable direction so everybody benefits. 

Don’t let anybody fake anything. Keep it all real. Truthful. Fake is deadly. Fatal. 

Be well, Do good. Grow great!

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